The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 action RPG, presents a demanding workload that heavily taxes the graphics subsystem. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the Intel Arc B390, a combination that ranks near the bottom of the tested pool. The data reveals a system constrained by the integrated GPU, where CPU headroom is substantial but largely irrelevant to the final frame rates. The following sections break down the results by settings, resolution scaling, component roles, and overall standing to provide a methodical view of this hardware pairing's capabilities in this specific title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for this combination shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and playability across the four available presets. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 79 FPS, which is the highest performance level achieved in any configuration. This represents a 30% improvement over the Medium preset’s 61 FPS and a 52% improvement over the High preset’s 52 FPS. While the Ultra preset drops to 40 FPS, the gap between Low and the next step up is significant enough to recommend Low as the primary choice for smooth gameplay.

At 1440p, the performance hierarchy remains consistent, but the absolute numbers become more restrictive. The Low preset yields 52 FPS, which is playable, while Medium falls to 40 FPS and High to 34 FPS. The Ultra preset bottoms out at 26 FPS, which is below the threshold for a comfortable experience. For users prioritizing frame rate over visual detail at this resolution, Low is the only preset that consistently stays above 50 FPS.

The 4K results are uniformly poor, with the Low preset achieving only 28 FPS. The Medium preset averages 22 FPS, High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra drops to 15 FPS. None of these configurations reach a playable 30 FPS baseline. Given that the minimum FPS for 4K Medium is recorded at 19 FPS, even the most modest preset struggles to maintain stability. The data suggests that for this combination, the Low preset at 1080p is the only configuration that provides a consistently smooth experience, while Medium at 1080p offers a balanced alternative for users willing to accept lower frame rates for improved visuals.

The measured minimum FPS values for the Medium preset across all resolutions show a pattern: at 1080p, the minimum is 52 FPS; at 1440p, it is 34 FPS; and at 4K, it is 19 FPS. This indicates that the Medium preset at 1080p is the highest quality setting that maintains a minimum frame rate above 50 FPS. Consequently, the recommendation is to prioritize the Low preset at 1080p for maximum fluidity, with Medium at 1080p as a secondary option for those who prefer higher detail levels, provided they can tolerate the occasional dips toward 50 FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary performance limiter in this configuration. Its benchmark data shows a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This low percentile is corroborated by its nearest rivals, which include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463, a 1.3% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (scoring 1460, a 1.5% delta). These comparisons underscore that the Arc B390 operates in a performance tier that is fundamentally unsuited for demanding modern titles like The Technomancer.

The GPU’s architecture is Xe3-LPG, built on a 3 nm process, with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with the bus width and bandwidth also marked as system-dependent. This reliance on shared system memory, rather than dedicated VRAM, is a critical factor in the observed performance, as it introduces additional latency and bandwidth contention that dedicated graphics memory would mitigate.

The GPU’s raw compute capabilities, such as 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s, are present in the specifications, but these theoretical figures do not translate into playable frame rates in this game. The measured FPS data shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU cannot maintain a 30 FPS average at 4K. The boost clock of 2500 MHz is the maximum achievable, but sustained workloads in The Technomancer likely cause the GPU to operate below this threshold due to thermal or power constraints, given its 80 W TDP. The data indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck at every resolution and setting, as performance scales almost entirely with resolution changes, showing minimal CPU involvement.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 79 at 1080p to 52 at 1440p, a 34% decrease, and then further to 28 at 4K, a 46% decrease from the 1440p figure. This steep decline with increasing pixel count is a direct indicator that the GPU is saturated, as the workload scales with the number of rendered pixels.

For the Medium preset, the averages are 61 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and 22 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 34%, and from 1440p to 4K is 45%. The High preset follows a similar pattern: 52 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows 40 FPS at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all presets—roughly a one-third reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further one-half reduction from 1440p to 4K—confirms that the limiting component is the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would show less variation with resolution changes, as the CPU workload would remain relatively constant. Instead, the data shows a near-linear scaling with pixel count, which is characteristic of a system where the graphics processor is fully utilized. The minimum FPS values for the Medium preset (52 at 1080p, 34 at 1440p, 19 at 4K) reinforce this finding, as they also scale proportionally with resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Technomancer with this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where the Low preset achieves an average above 60 FPS (79 FPS). At 1440p, the Low preset averages 52 FPS, and at 4K, the Low preset averages 28 FPS. Therefore, 1080p is the only resolution that offers a consistently smooth experience.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Arc B390 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% lower). This places the Arc B390 slightly above these older entry-level GPUs.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. This is evident from the resolution scaling, where frame rates drop by roughly one-third from 1080p to 1440p and by another one-half from 1440p to 4K across all presets. If the CPU were the limiting factor, resolution changes would have a minimal impact on FPS.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset?

A: The measured minimum FPS for the Medium preset is 52 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. These values indicate that even the Medium preset cannot maintain a stable 60 FPS at any resolution.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. This is 39 FPS lower than the Low preset’s average of 79 FPS, representing a 49% performance penalty for the highest visual quality settings.

Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU-GPU combination?

A: In The Technomancer, this combination ranks 2500 out of 2825 tested configurations. This places it in the bottom 12% of all tested combos, highlighting its limited capability for this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700F and Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 2500 out of 2825 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the bottom 11.5% of all configurations, indicating that it is significantly underpowered for this game. The rank is a direct consequence of the GPU’s low performance, as the Arc B390 sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 91st percentile of all CPUs.

The disparity between the CPU and GPU performance is stark. The i7-14700F, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, is a high-end desktop processor, while the Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution with a 3DMark score near the bottom of the database. This mismatch means that the CPU’s capabilities are almost entirely wasted in this game, as it is never the limiting factor. The combo’s rank reflects the GPU’s performance ceiling, which is around the level of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (which scores 1443, a 2.7% delta from the Arc B390).

In practical terms, this rank means that the vast majority of other tested combinations, including those with older or more modest dedicated GPUs, will outperform this setup in The Technomancer. The data shows that the combo’s performance is consistent with its GPU tier, and users should expect frame rates that are typical of entry-level integrated graphics. The rank serves as a quantitative measure of the system’s unsuitability for this title, as most other configs will deliver higher average FPS at equivalent settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its benchmark results are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 and a single-core score of 4958. The Geekbench multi-core score is 19620, and the Passmark multithread score is 41317. These figures place the CPU in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, indicating substantial processing power.

Despite this capability, the CPU’s role in The Technomancer is minimal due to the GPU bottleneck. The measured FPS data shows that the frame rates are almost entirely determined by the GPU’s rendering capabilities. For example, at 1080p with the Low preset, the CPU could theoretically handle many more frames per second, but the GPU limits the output to 79 FPS. The lack of variation in FPS across settings that increase CPU load (such as physics or AI) is not visible in the data, but the consistent resolution scaling strongly implies that the CPU is idle for significant portions of each frame.

The CPU’s 33 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4 and DDR5) provide ample bandwidth for the system, but this does not help the GPU, which relies on system-shared memory. The CPU’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Passmark single-thread score of 4257, is irrelevant here because the game’s frame rate is not limited by CPU processing. In this specific title, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and geometry, but the GPU’s low throughput means that the CPU is often waiting for the GPU to complete its work. The data confirms that the CPU is not a factor in the final performance numbers, as the same FPS would likely be achieved with a much weaker processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combination covers three resolutions and four settings, providing a comprehensive view of its performance envelope. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 79 FPS, the Medium preset averages 61 FPS with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS, the High preset averages 52 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. This represents a performance range of 39 FPS between the lowest and highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 52 FPS, the Medium preset averages 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS, the High preset averages 34 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 26 FPS. The range here is 26 FPS, with the Low preset being the only one to exceed 50 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 28 FPS, the Medium preset averages 22 FPS with a minimum of 19 FPS and a maximum of 25 FPS, the High preset averages 19 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 15 FPS. The range is 13 FPS, and no preset achieves a 30 FPS average.

The minimum FPS values are only recorded for the Medium preset, showing 52 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. These minimums are closer to the averages for lower settings, indicating that the Medium preset has relatively stable frame pacing compared to the unrecorded settings. The maximum FPS values for the Medium preset are 70 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K, which show that the GPU can occasionally reach higher frame rates but is generally constrained. Overall, the breakdown illustrates a clear performance ceiling, with the system unable to provide a playable experience at 4K and only marginally playable at 1440p with the Low preset.