The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 combination. The measured frame rates reveal a system where the GPU is the clear performance ceiling, with the processor's substantial core count providing ample headroom that goes largely unused in this title. The data shows a component pairing that struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions and settings, while offering a glimpse of acceptable performance only at the most modest configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K clearly identifies the limiting component in this pairing. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 69.7 FPS, but this drops dramatically to 41.6 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 25.8 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 63% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the graphics card is being saturated by the increasing pixel count. The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings levels, confirming that the GTX 1650's 4 GB of VRAM and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth are the primary bottlenecks.

The High settings preset tells a similar story, with frame rates falling from 46.1 FPS at 1080p to 26.6 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 18.9 FPS at 4K. The drop between 1080p and 1440p is particularly steep at 42%, suggesting that the GPU's rendering capabilities are being overwhelmed well before reaching 4K resolution. At Ultra settings, the situation becomes more severe, with the 4K result of 12.9 FPS being barely interactive. The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases, from a 48% difference at 1080p to a 50% difference at 4K, indicating that the GPU's shading units and texture units are the critical resource constraints.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance this combo can achieve in The Technomancer?

A: The highest measured frame rate is 69.7 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration that approaches a consistently smooth experience.

Q: How does the GTX 1650's VRAM capacity affect 4K performance?

A: The 4 GB VRAM buffer is a significant limitation at 3840x2160. The Ultra preset at 4K yields only 12.9 FPS, and even Low settings cannot break 26 FPS, suggesting that both memory capacity and bandwidth are overwhelmed.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700F a bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests no. The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads, along with its 5.40 GHz boost clock, are far more capable than what this game requires. The consistent frame rate drops with resolution increases point exclusively to GPU limitations.

Q: What settings should be used for a playable experience?

A: Only 1080p with Low settings (69.7 FPS) or Medium settings (50.2 FPS) provide frame rates above 30 FPS. At 1440p, even Low settings barely reach 41.6 FPS, which is marginal for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 1596 out of 1656 tested combos for this game, placing it in the bottom 4% of all systems tested. This indicates that it is a below-average performer for The Technomancer.

Q: Does the CPU's high benchmark score translate to better game performance?

A: No. The CPU's average benchmark score of 54097, which places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, does not help in-game. The GPU's 43rd percentile ranking among all GPUs is the determining factor, as the game's frame rates are entirely GPU-bound.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process. Its base clock of 2.10 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz provide substantial computational power, reflected in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35443 and single-core score of 5003. The processor's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 further contribute to its high average benchmark score of 54097, which ranks it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs.

However, these CPU capabilities are largely irrelevant for The Technomancer. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU limitation; the frame rates scale almost entirely with resolution and graphics settings, which are GPU-bound workloads. The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with a delta of -0.6% and the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 with a delta of 1.2%, would be expected to perform identically in this game. The processor's single-thread performance, as measured by its Passmark single-thread score of 4261, is more than adequate for the game's logic and physics calculations, but these operations do not constitute the primary performance bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 1596 out of 1656 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the bottom 4% of all systems tested, which is a poor result for a pairing that includes a top-tier processor. The rank is almost entirely determined by the GPU, given that the CPU's performance is far above what this game requires. The data indicates that swapping the GTX 1650 for even a marginally better graphics card would dramatically improve the ranking, while upgrading the CPU would yield no measurable benefit in this title.

The ranking underscores the imbalance of this particular pairing. The CPU's 94th percentile performance is effectively wasted in this game, while the GPU's 43rd percentile performance becomes the sole determinant of the combo's overall rank. The i7-14700F's nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and AMD EPYC 7313P, would produce nearly identical results when paired with the same GPU, as the game's frame rates are not sensitive to processor performance beyond a modest threshold.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a Turing-architecture GPU built on a 12 nm process, featuring 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. Its base clock of 1485 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz, combined with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, provide a memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. The GPU's FP32 performance of 2.984 TFLOPS and its 75 W TDP make it a low-power, entry-level card, which is reflected in its 43rd percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 8713.

In The Technomancer, the GTX 1650's limitations are immediately apparent. The 4 GB VRAM is a critical constraint at higher resolutions, as the game's texture and geometry data exceed this capacity at 1440p and 4K. The memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s also becomes a bottleneck, as seen in the steep performance drops when moving from 1080p to 1440p. The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores, including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (delta -0.4%) and AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (delta -0.5%), would perform nearly identically, confirming that this level of GPU performance is simply insufficient for demanding modern titles at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the GTX 1650 delivers its best results: 69.7 FPS on Low settings, 50.2 FPS on Medium, 46.1 FPS on High, and 36.5 FPS on Ultra. These numbers indicate that 1080p is the only resolution where the game remains playable, with Low and Medium settings providing adequate frame rates for smooth gameplay. The 33% performance drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows the GPU's rendering limits, as the increased shading and texture loads begin to saturate the 896 shading units.

At 2560x1440, performance falls below comfortable levels: 41.6 FPS on Low, 32.1 FPS on Medium, 26.6 FPS on High, and 24.7 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium narrows to 23%, while the drop from Medium to High is 17%, indicating that the GPU is struggling with the increased pixel count. At this resolution, only Low settings approach a playable frame rate, and even then, the experience is marginal.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is completely overwhelmed: 25.8 FPS on Low, 19.8 FPS on Medium, 18.9 FPS on High, and 12.9 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results show a compression of performance across all settings, with only a 50% difference between Low and Ultra, compared to a 48% difference at 1080p. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU's memory bandwidth and VRAM capacity are the primary constraints, regardless of the graphics settings chosen. The data shows that this combo is not viable for 4K gaming in The Technomancer, and even 1440p requires significant compromises.