The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress test for the Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. The data shows a system that is clearly capable of delivering smooth gameplay at mainstream resolutions, but which hits a hard wall when pushed to 4K with maximum settings. This analysis breaks down the measured performance to show exactly where this combo excels and where it falls short.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average of 73.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p at Ultra, the average falls to 47.6 FPS, a reduction of roughly 35%. The jump to 4K at Ultra is even more punishing, with the average plummeting to 27.3 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p result. This significant scaling penalty indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. At High settings, the system averages 91.1 FPS at 1080p, drops to 63.1 FPS at 1440p, and then falls to 32.4 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K is consistently large, often representing a near-halving of frame rates. For example, at Low settings, the 94.2 FPS at 1440p drops to 50.6 FPS at 4K. This scaling behavior is typical of a mid-range GPU being pushed beyond its comfortable pixel throughput limits; the CPU’s performance headroom is not the issue here, as the frame rate drops are directly proportional to the increase in rendering resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the workhorse of this pairing, and its specifications explain the performance ceiling observed. It is built on the 12 nm TU106 chip with a die size of 445 mm² and houses 2176 shading units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1470 MHz and a boost clock of 1650 MHz, which are the clocks responsible for the processing power in these tests. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data suggests it is a bottleneck at 4K, where the fill rate and memory pressure increase dramatically.

The GPU’s compute capabilities, rated at 7.181 TFLOPS for FP32, are adequate for the game’s demands at lower resolutions. However, the benchmark results show that the RTX 2060 SUPER’s performance is far from uniform across settings. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 142.1 FPS versus 73.1 FPS, a 69 FPS spread that shows how sensitive the GPU is to the graphical load. In the context of its rivals, the RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, placing it just 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN and 0.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070. This places it in a specific performance tier, and the measured FPS numbers are consistent with that positioning, showing it can handle 1440p well but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with high-fidelity settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested configurations for The Technomancer, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-13700K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER achieves a combo rank of 1172 out of 1656 total combinations. This places it in the lower-mid tier of all tested systems, which is a direct reflection of the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s capabilities. While the processor is a top-tier part, the graphics card holds the combo back from achieving a higher ranking.

The data suggests that this ranking is heavily influenced by the 4K results, where the combo scores poorly. If the ranking were based solely on 1080p performance, it would likely be much higher, as the average frame rates there are quite respectable. The 1172nd place ranking serves as a warning that while this system is excellent for 1080p and good for 1440p, it is not a high-end 4K machine. The gap between this combo and the top performers is almost certainly due to the GPU’s inability to maintain high frame rates at 4K, as evidenced by the sub-30 FPS averages at Ultra settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the system’s capabilities at each resolution and settings level.

At 1920x1080, the system is at its best. The average frame rates are as follows:

• Low: 142.1 FPS
• Medium: 112.9 FPS
• High: 91.1 FPS
• Ultra: 73.1 FPS

These numbers indicate a very smooth experience at any preset, with even the most demanding Ultra settings providing a frame rate well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance is still strong but the strain begins to show:

• Low: 94.2 FPS
• Medium: 73.2 FPS
• High: 63.1 FPS
• Ultra: 47.6 FPS

The Ultra preset dips below 60 FPS, which might be noticeable to some users, but the High and Medium presets remain perfectly playable.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck:

• Low: 50.6 FPS
• Medium: 39.4 FPS
• High: 32.4 FPS
• Ultra: 27.3 FPS

These results show that 4K gaming is only possible at Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is not ideal. The Ultra preset’s 27.3 FPS is a slideshow, and the High preset’s 32.4 FPS is still below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and smooth performance, the data points to the High preset at 2560x1440 as the sweet spot. This configuration yields an average of 63.1 FPS, which is perfectly playable, while still offering a significant visual upgrade over Medium settings. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs about 10 FPS (from 73.2 to 63.1), but the visual improvement is generally worth it for this type of game.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation, as the 73.1 FPS average ensures a fluid experience with all the graphical bells and whistles enabled. There is no reason to compromise on settings at this resolution. For users with a 4K display, the recommendation would be to use the Low preset to achieve an average of 50.6 FPS. However, this requires a significant sacrifice in visual quality. The Medium preset at 4K, which averages 39.4 FPS, presents a poor trade-off between visual quality and performance, making the Low preset the more practical choice for playability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is an absolute powerhouse, and the benchmark results show that it is not the bottleneck in this system. With 16 cores and 24 threads, it has immense parallel processing capability, reflected in its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000 and its 3DMark max threads score of 12412. Its boost clock of 5.40 GHz provides excellent single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5505 and its 3DMark single-thread score of 1136.

The CPU’s 30 MB of shared L3 cache and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory give it ample bandwidth for gaming. In The Technomancer, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with data, and given that the frame rates scale dramatically with resolution, it’s clear that the CPU is delivering frames faster than the GPU can render them at higher resolutions. The performance difference between the 1080p and 4K results is almost entirely attributable to the GPU’s workload. The i7-13700K sits in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs and is a near-perfect match for a more powerful GPU, but with the RTX 2060 SUPER, its potential is largely untapped. The data indicates this combo is heavily GPU-limited in this title.