The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a fascinating test case for a modern flagship pairing. The data here captures the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 in a game built for a previous generation of hardware. The measured frame rates reveal a component dynamic that is heavily skewed toward the GPU, but with notable CPU limitations emerging at lower resolutions and high settings.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the system delivers 224 FPS at 1920x1080, dropping to 148.5 FPS at 2560x1440, and further down to 81.8 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 63.5% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is almost perfectly linear with pixel count, indicating that the RTX 5090 is doing the heavy lifting and its workload is scaling directly with resolution.

The Low settings preset tells a similar story, but with a critical twist. At 1080p Low, the system hits 305.3 FPS, which is extraordinarily high. However, the drop to 4K Low is 120.8 FPS, a 60.4% reduction. While still substantial, the fact that the gap between 1080p and 1440p Low (223.2 FPS) is smaller in percentage terms than the gap between 1440p and 4K suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU is starting to become a limiting factor. The Core i7-14700F, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, is capable, but even it has a ceiling when trying to feed a graphics card capable of over 300 frames per second.

The Ultra preset shows the most significant drop, falling from 174.4 FPS at 1080p to 62 FPS at 4K. This is a 64.4% reduction, and the 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS point in the entire dataset, though it is close to the line. The data suggests that at 4K, the RTX 5090's rendering workload is so immense that the CPU has ample headroom, and the frame rate is purely dictated by the GPU's fill rate and compute power. The game is clearly GPU-bound at 4K regardless of settings, while at 1080p, the CPU becomes a more significant factor, especially at lower settings where the GPU can produce frames faster than the CPU can process them.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the experience. The most significant finding is the massive cost of the Ultra preset. At 4K, moving from High to Ultra drops the frame rate from 81.8 FPS to 62 FPS, a substantial 24.2% performance penalty. Given that the visual difference between High and Ultra in a game from 2016 is unlikely to be transformative, the High preset is the clear choice for 4K gaming. It maintains a smooth, playable frame rate above 60 FPS while still delivering a high level of graphical fidelity.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset delivers 116.4 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Here, the user has more headroom to experiment. While High at 148.5 FPS is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays, Ultra at 116.4 FPS is still very fast and would be the better choice for users prioritizing visual quality on a 144Hz monitor. The data indicates that the system is capable of handling the Ultra settings at this resolution without compromising playability.

For 1080p, the situation is reversed. The Ultra preset still produces a very high 174.4 FPS, but the Low preset produces a staggering 305.3 FPS. For competitive play or use on a 240Hz or 360Hz monitor, the Low preset would be the optimal choice to maximize frame rates. However, for most users, the Medium preset at 263.2 FPS offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance, as the jump from Low to Medium is massive, while the drop from Medium to High is relatively smaller. The data clearly shows that the Ultra preset should be avoided at 4K, but is a viable option at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run The Technomancer at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, but just barely. The measured average frame rate at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 62 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS target but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The High preset at 4K provides a more comfortable margin at 81.8 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700F a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: The data suggests it can be at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 305.3 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit for this game. At 4K, the GPU's workload is so high that the CPU is not a limiting factor, as seen by the linear scaling of frame rates with resolution.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets?

A: The cost of Ultra is significant. At 4K, the frame rate drops from 81.8 FPS to 62 FPS when moving from High to Ultra, a 24.2% decrease. At 1440p, the drop is from 148.5 FPS to 116.4 FPS, and at 1080p, it drops from 224 FPS to 174.4 FPS.

Q: How does the system perform at 1440p?

A: Exceptionally well. All settings presets, including Ultra, produce average frame rates above 116 FPS. The High preset delivers 148.5 FPS, and the Medium preset delivers 170.3 FPS, making it an excellent resolution for this combination of hardware.

Q: Is the jump from Low to Medium settings worth the performance cost?

A: The data indicates yes. At 1080p, the system achieves 305.3 FPS on Low and 263.2 FPS on Medium, a drop of only 13.8%. At 1440p, the drop from 223.2 FPS to 170.3 FPS is more significant but still results in a very high frame rate. The visual improvement from Low to Medium typically outweighs the performance cost.

Q: What is the best preset for a 60Hz 4K display?

A: The High preset is the optimal choice. It delivers an average of 81.8 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS refresh rate and provides smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset, at 62 FPS, is too close to the 60 FPS threshold and could result in noticeable stuttering if frame times are inconsistent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The performance data is comprehensive, covering three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast across the board. The Low preset leads with an average of 305.3 FPS, followed by Medium at 263.2 FPS, High at 224 FPS, and Ultra at 174.4 FPS. The scaling shows a clear pattern: each step up in settings costs a significant number of frames, with the gap between Low and Ultra being 130.9 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but the gaps tighten. The Low preset delivers 223.2 FPS, Medium follows at 170.3 FPS, High at 148.5 FPS, and Ultra at 116.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 106.8 FPS. The data shows that at this resolution, the system is still capable of driving high-refresh-rate monitors with even the most demanding preset.

At 3840x2160, the system's performance is more constrained. The Low preset produces 120.8 FPS, which is still very smooth. Medium drops to 95.6 FPS, High to 81.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 62 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 58.8 FPS drop. This resolution is where the RTX 5090's raw power is most needed, and the data shows that even this flagship GPU must make concessions to maintain high frame rates. The 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS is a critical data point, indicating the performance ceiling of this combination in this specific game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in these benchmark results. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for a 2016 title, ensuring that texture streaming and memory-intensive effects are never a bottleneck. The GPU's raw compute power is immense, with 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. This is reflected in its Passmark G3D score of 39650, placing it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs.

The benchmark data shows that the RTX 5090's performance scales predictably with resolution and settings. The fact that 4K Ultra is the only data point below 81.8 FPS suggests that the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates in this game. The game is not VRAM-limited, even at 4K with Ultra settings, as the 32 GB frame buffer is vastly larger than what The Technomancer requires. The GPU is clearly the limiting factor at 4K, as evidenced by the linear scaling of frame rates with resolution. Its performance relative to rivals is tight, with a 0.1% lead over the RTX 5090 D and a 1.3% lead over the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 in average benchmark scores.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F plays a supporting, but crucial, role in these results. With 20 cores and 28 threads, it is a powerful processor, and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35443 places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its single-core performance is also strong, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5003, which is critical for gaming. The CPU's boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures that it can respond quickly to game logic and draw calls.

The data reveals the CPU's influence primarily at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 305.3 FPS. This is an extremely high frame rate, and it is likely that the CPU is nearing its limit in this scenario, as the GPU could theoretically produce even more frames. The fact that the frame rate at 1440p Low (223.2 FPS) is not proportionally lower than the 1080p result suggests that the CPU is starting to become a bottleneck. However, at 4K, the CPU has ample headroom, and the GPU's workload is the sole determinant of performance. The i7-14700F's average benchmark score of 54097 is only 0.6% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, indicating that it is a top-tier performer, but the data shows that even top-tier CPUs can limit a flagship GPU in lightly-threaded, high-frame-rate scenarios.