The Technomancer

The Technomancer pairing the Intel Core i7-14700F with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT lands near the top of the database, ranked 361st out of 1,656 tested combos. That places it in the top 22% of all configurations, a strong showing for a game released in 2016. The CPU is the clear anchor here, sitting at the 94th percentile among all processors, while the GPU holds the 82nd percentile among all graphics cards. The data suggests the processor has more headroom than the graphics card in this title, which becomes evident when examining frame rates across resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s overall position of 361 out of 1,656 is driven by a balanced pairing, but the CPU’s synthetic benchmarks reveal why it can push high frame rates. The Core i7-14700F scores 35,443 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5,003 in single-core, with an average benchmark score of 54,097. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, scores 54,450, a negligible 0.6% difference, meaning the i7-14700F is effectively on par with a top-tier Ryzen in raw compute. The GPU, meanwhile, posts an average benchmark score of 38,358, with its closest competitor being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile at 38,349 (0% delta) and the NVIDIA CMP 70HX at 38,225 (0.3% ahead). This tells a clear story: the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution, while the GPU is the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

In The Technomancer specifically, the combo’s rank reflects a system that can handle high refresh rates at 1080p but begins to strain at 4K. The measured frames per second show a spread of 207.9 FPS between the lowest and highest settings at 1080p, but that spread narrows to 42.3 FPS at 4K. This compression indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to saturate it, while at 4K, the GPU’s rendering workload dominates and the CPU advantage becomes less relevant. Compared to the 1,655 other combos, this configuration is in the upper quartile for overall performance, making it a sensible choice for high-refresh 1440p gaming in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations in The Technomancer?

A: This combo ranks 361st out of 1,656 tested combos, placing it in the top 22% of all systems.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F has an average benchmark score of 54,097, which is 0.6% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X’s 54,450, making the two effectively equivalent in compute performance.

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 251.9 FPS average, which drops to 129.6 FPS at Ultra settings.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The average FPS ranges from 86.3 (Low) to 44.0 (Ultra), showing a steep decline as settings increase, while the CPU’s high single-core score of 5,003 in Cinebench R23 suggests it is not the constraint.

Q: How does the GPU’s percentile rank compare to the CPU’s?

A: The GPU sits at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU is at the 94th percentile among all CPUs, indicating the processor is a stronger component relative to its peers.

Q: What is the FPS drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS falls from 163.8 on Low to 85.7 on Ultra, a 78.1 FPS reduction that highlights the GPU’s workload scaling.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p, the combo delivers 251.9 FPS on Low and 163.0 FPS on High, indicating that the CPU and GPU are both capable of pushing well beyond standard 60 Hz displays. Moving to 1440p, those numbers drop to 163.8 FPS (Low) and 104.4 FPS (High), a reduction of roughly 35% at each setting. This is typical for a GPU-bound scenario, where the RX 7900 XT’s 800.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 51.48 TFLOPS FP32 performance are being utilized more heavily.

At 4K, the scaling becomes even more pronounced. Low settings yield 86.3 FPS, High drops to 56.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44.0 FPS. The jump from 1440p to 4K at High settings is a 47.9 FPS loss (104.4 to 56.5), a 46% reduction that far exceeds the pixel count increase of 125%. This suggests that the GPU’s 20 GB of GDDR6 memory and 320-bit bus are sufficient for capacity, but the raw compute power of the Navi 31 chip begins to saturate. The CPU, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, shows no signs of bottlenecking here—its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35,443 is more than enough to keep up with the GPU’s frame delivery.

The limiting component is unambiguously the GPU at 4K. Evidence comes from the FPS delta between Low and Ultra settings: at 1080p, that delta is 122.3 FPS (251.9 to 129.6), while at 4K it is only 42.3 FPS (86.3 to 44.0). When the GPU is the bottleneck, lowering settings produces diminishing returns because the render resolution itself is the constraint. At 1080p, the CPU can push more frames, so settings changes have a larger impact. This is a classic sign of a system where the processor has significant headroom over the graphics card in older titles like The Technomancer.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data is presented across three resolutions and four quality presets, with all values representing average frame rates. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 251.9 FPS on Low, 190.3 FPS on Medium, 163.0 FPS on High, and 129.6 FPS on Ultra. The step from Low to Medium is a 61.6 FPS drop, while the step from High to Ultra is 33.4 FPS, showing that the most significant performance hit occurs when moving from the lowest settings to medium.

At 2560x1440, the figures are 163.8 FPS (Low), 129.1 FPS (Medium), 104.4 FPS (High), and 85.7 FPS (Ultra). The relative drop from Low to Ultra is 78.1 FPS, or 47.7%, which is consistent with the GPU becoming more heavily loaded. The 1440p High setting is particularly notable because it stays above the 100 FPS threshold, making it a strong candidate for high-refresh monitors.

At 3840x2160, the numbers fall to 86.3 FPS (Low), 66.3 FPS (Medium), 56.5 FPS (High), and 44.0 FPS (Ultra). No setting at 4K reaches 90 FPS, and Ultra dips below the 45 FPS mark, which is below the standard 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 42.3 FPS, the tightest of any resolution, reinforcing that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. Across all resolutions, the CPU’s influence is minimal—the i7-14700F’s boost clock of 5.40 GHz and 33 MB of L3 cache ensure it can deliver frames without stuttering, but the GPU’s 5376 shading units and 192 ROPs determine the final output.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience on this combo, the data points to 1440p High as the optimal balance. At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo averages 104.4 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for high-refresh displays. The jump to Ultra at the same resolution drops to 85.7 FPS, a 17.9% reduction that is noticeable but still playable. However, the visual fidelity gain from High to Ultra in a 2016 title is often marginal, making High the more sensible choice for maintaining smooth motion.

At 1080p, the recommendation is to push for Ultra settings, as the combo still averages 129.6 FPS. This is the highest setting that remains above 120 FPS, making it ideal for competitive play or for users with 144 Hz monitors. Low and Medium at 1080p yield 251.9 FPS and 190.3 FPS respectively, but these settings are unnecessary given the GPU headroom—they would only be useful for extreme refresh rates beyond 240 Hz.

For 4K, the data does not support Ultra settings, as the 44.0 FPS average falls below the 60 FPS target. The best 4K option is Low settings, which delivers 86.3 FPS and remains smooth, though it sacrifices visual quality. Medium at 4K (66.3 FPS) is another viable option if the user prefers better fidelity but can tolerate slightly lower frame rates. High at 4K (56.5 FPS) is borderline and may cause noticeable stutter on standard 60 Hz panels. Overall, the combo is best utilized at 1440p or 1080p, where the CPU’s strength can be fully expressed and the GPU is not overwhelmed.