The Technomancer

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the Intel Arc B370 produces a severely bottlenecked experience in The Technomancer, with the CPU's immense processing power being almost entirely negated by the GPU's limited throughput. The benchmark data indicates that this combo ranks in the bottom 8% of all tested configurations, making it unsuitable for anything beyond minimal settings at lower resolutions.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake-R architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications place the i9-14900K in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with peak synthetic scores like 39,399.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,262.5 in single-core. In Passmark multithread, it scores 58,674, and in Geekbench multi-core it reaches 21,697.

However, in The Technomancer, this CPU power is largely irrelevant. The measured frame rates show a pattern where the GPU is the clear limiting factor. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 71 FPS average, which is the highest result in the entire dataset. At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 37 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the frame rates to remain relatively flat across different resolutions, but instead, they scale heavily with both resolution and settings, indicating GPU limitation. The i9-14900K's 6.00 GHz boost clock and 32 threads are far more than this 2016 Action RPG requires; the data suggests the game is not stressing the CPU's capabilities, as even at 4K Ultra with the GPU struggling to produce 13 FPS, the processor is unlikely to be the constraining factor.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i9-14900KF, which scores 79,371 average (0.3% higher), and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, which scores 77,740 (1.7% lower). These deltas are minor, but they do not translate into any meaningful difference in The Technomancer because the GPU saturates far before the CPU's potential is reached. The data shows that the i9-14900K's raw compute advantages — such as scoring 210,622 in Passmark integer math and 152,975 in floating point math — have no bearing on the game's outcome, as the bottleneck is elsewhere.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data presents a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and playability, and the results are decisively in favor of the Low preset. At 1080p, the Low setting yields an average of 71 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that approaches a fluid experience. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 55 FPS, with a minimum of 47 and maximum of 63, which is playable but noticeably less smooth. High at 1080p drops to 47 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS.

The situation degrades rapidly at higher resolutions. At 1440p, the Low preset averages 47 FPS, which is still borderline acceptable, but Medium drops to 36 FPS, High to 31 FPS, and Ultra to 24 FPS. At 4K, no setting is viable: Low averages 26 FPS, Medium averages 20 FPS (with a min of 17 and max of 23), High averages 17 FPS, and Ultra averages 13 FPS.

Given these numbers, the only sensible recommendation is the Low preset at 1080p. This is the sole configuration that maintains an average above 60 FPS, and even then, it does not provide a large headroom. The Medium preset at 1080p, with its 55 FPS average, could be considered if the user prioritizes visual quality over frame rate consistency, but the 47 FPS minimum suggests potential stutter in demanding scenes. The High and Ultra presets at 1080p, and any preset at 1440p or 4K, produce averages that fall below the threshold for acceptable gameplay. The data indicates that this hardware combination cannot handle the game's higher presets without significant performance degradation.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The frame rate scaling across resolutions is the most revealing aspect of this benchmark data, as it clearly demonstrates a GPU-bound scenario. Moving from 1080p to 1440p on the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 71 to 47, a reduction of approximately 34%. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Low, the average falls from 47 to 26, another 45% reduction. The cumulative drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is from 71 FPS to 26 FPS, a 63% decrease.

This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is overwhelmed by pixel count. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain largely static regardless of resolution, because the CPU's workload (draw calls, game logic) does not increase proportionally with resolution. Instead, we see a steep, consistent decline in performance as resolution increases, which is the signature of a graphics card being pushed to its limits. The Intel Arc B370, with its 1,280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs, is simply not equipped to handle the pixel throughput demanded by 4K, let alone with high-quality settings.

The data also shows that the performance penalty for increasing settings is consistent across resolutions. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 34 FPS (71 to 37). At 1440p, the gap is 23 FPS (47 to 24). At 4K, the gap is 13 FPS (26 to 13). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor; as the resolution increases, the GPU spends more time on pixel shading, leaving less headroom for the additional work required by higher settings. The conclusion is unambiguous: this combo is only viable at 1080p, and even then, only with the lowest settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2,603 out of 2,825 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the bottom 7.9% of all configurations, a starkly poor result given the CPU's high-end positioning. The CPU itself sits in the 95th percentile of all processors, but the GPU sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, meaning this pairing is a massive imbalance of components.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark score of 1,184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 places it in the 5th percentile, with its nearest rivals being the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1,186, 0.2% higher), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1,190, 0.5% higher), and AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1,192, 0.7% higher). These rivals are all over a decade old, underscoring how underpowered the Arc B370 is for this task. The combo's rank of 2,603 out of 2,825 is a direct consequence of this GPU limitation, as the CPU's high benchmark scores (e.g., 79,097 average benchmark score) cannot compensate for the GPU's inability to render frames at an acceptable rate.

The data shows that this is not a case where the CPU is dragging down the system; rather, the GPU is a severe bottleneck. The i9-14900K's 6,103 score in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 2,935 in Cinebench R20 single-core are irrelevant when the GPU cannot push more than 71 FPS at 1080p Low. The rank of 2,603 is a warning to users that this specific CPU-GPU pairing is poorly matched for The Technomancer, and the experience will be dominated by the GPU's limitations.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated GPU based on the Xe3-LPG architecture (Panther Lake chip), built on a 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2,400 MHz. The GPU has 1,280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units, along with 10 ray tracing cores. Its pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 6.144 TFLOPS. The memory is system shared, meaning it uses the system's main memory with bandwidth that is system dependent.

These specifications are extremely modest for a game like The Technomancer, especially at higher resolutions. The GPU's 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1,184, is reflected in the measured FPS. The data shows that at 4K, the GPU cannot maintain a playable frame rate on any setting, with the best result being 26 FPS at Low. Even at 1080p, the GPU struggles with higher presets, managing only 47 FPS at High and 37 FPS at Ultra.

The boost clock of 2,400 MHz is high for an integrated part, but the low shading unit count and the system-shared memory are the limiting factors. The memory bandwidth being "System Dependent" means it is shared with the CPU, which can cause additional contention, but the primary bottleneck is the GPU's raw compute power. The 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is insufficient for the game's rendering requirements at 1440p and 4K. The GPU's nearest rivals include the ATI Radeon HD 5770, which is a discrete GPU from 2009, and the AMD FirePro M2000, which is a professional mobile GPU from 2012. The Arc B370's performance is comparable to these aging parts, which explains its poor showing in this game. The data indicates that the GPU is the sole reason for the combo's low rank, as its computational limits are reached far before the CPU can demonstrate any advantage.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in The Technomancer?

A: The highest average FPS is 71, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Is this combo capable of running The Technomancer at 4K?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the best average FPS is 26 on Low, with Medium at 20, High at 17, and Ultra at 13. None of these are playable.

Q: How does the Intel Core i9-14900K compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i9-14900K scores 79,097 average, while the Intel Core i9-14900KF scores 79,371, which is 0.3% higher. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80,041, which is 1.2% higher.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The Intel Arc B370 is in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1,184.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combos in this game?

A: The combo ranks 2,603 out of 2,825 total combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 1440p?

A: The minimum FPS for the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is 30, with an average of 36 and a maximum of 41.