The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, tests a PC mostly through its resolution scaling and quality presets. Measured data for the Intel Core i9-14900K CPU paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER GPU shows a system whose performance is primarily dictated by the GPU at high resolutions, while the CPU offers ample headroom even at the most demanding settings. Across four resolutions (1920×1080, 2560×1440, 3840×2160) and four quality presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), the combination delivers from 157 FPS at 1080p Low down to 29 FPS at 4K Ultra, with a clear downward trend as pixel count rises. This report details the CPU and GPU contributions, resolution scaling behavior, exact measured frame rates, and overall ranking within the tested combos.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread desktop processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, with 36 MB of shared L3 cache and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. According to benchmark data, it sits in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, indicating top-tier processing power. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 39399.5 points in multi-core and 2262.5 points in single-core; in Geekbench it achieves 21697 (multi-core) and 2655 (single-core). PassMark scores further reinforce this: 58674 in multi-thread, 4697 in single-thread. The nearest rivals are the Intel Core i9-14900KF (average score 79371, delta −0.3%) and the AMD EPYC 7413 (average score 80041, delta −1.2%), the latter actually ahead by a small margin.

In the context of The Technomancer, this CPU is dramatically overqualified. The game was released in 2016, but the CPU’s high per-core performance and 24 physical cores ensure it is not the limiting component in any measured scenario. The FPS deltas between settings at the same resolution are much larger than the deltas across resolutions, pointing to GPU dependency. At 1920×1080, the CPU can push 157 FPS on the Low preset, while at the Ultra preset it drops to 80 FPS—still a high frame rate, indicating that even the heaviest CPU load does not exhaust the i9-14900K’s capabilities. At 2560×1440 the same pattern appears: 102 FPS on Low and 53 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show that the CPU runs well within its envelope; the bottleneck lies elsewhere.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU based on the TU104 chip, manufactured on a 12 nm process. It packs 2560 shading units, 40 ray-tracing cores, and 320 tensor cores. It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its base clock is 1605 MHz and boost clock is 1770 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The GPU’s benchmark performance places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. In 3DMark Steel Nomad (DX12) it scores 1651, and in Geekbench it posts 83358 (OpenCL) and 90637 (Vulkan). PassMark results show 18169 in G3D and 7557 in GPU Compute. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (avgScore 20480, delta −1%), RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, −1.2%), Intel Arc B570 (20556, −1.3%), and Intel Arc A750 (20582, −1.5%). These scores indicate that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a solid mid-range-to-high-end GPU for its generation.

In The Technomancer, the GPU is the dominant factor. At 1080p, the Low preset averages 157 FPS, which falls to 120 FPS on Medium, 103 FPS on High, and 80 FPS on Ultra. The decrement from Low to Ultra is about half, which is typical of a GPU-bound load. At 1440p, the same progression appears: 102 (Low), 79 (Medium), 67 (High), 53 (Ultra). The GPU’s memory and bandwidth are sufficient for these settings; 8 GB GDDR6 and 448 GB/s allow fluid 1080p and 1440p operation. However, when resolution jumps to 4K, the frame rate craters: 56 FPS on Low, 43 on Medium, 37 on High, and 29 on Ultra. This steep drop is the hallmark of a GPU that is being pushed past its comfortable territory. The 8 GB VRAM is not exceeded in the tested scenarios, as evidenced by the playable frame rates, but the raw fill rate and TF number are the constraint at 4K UHD.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution scaling is the clearest indicator of which component limits performance. Starting at 1920×1080 (Full HD), the Low preset yields 157 FPS. Moving to 2560×1440 (QHD) drops that to 102 FPS, a reduction of ~35%, and finally to 3840×2160 (4K) the frame rate halves again to 56 FPS. This pattern repeats across all quality settings. For instance, at High quality, the progression is 103, 67, and 37 FPS across the three resolutions. Ultra quality goes from 80 → 53 → 29 FPS. The consistent scaling factor—close to a linear decrease with pixel count—indicates that the GPU’s rendering capacity is the bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the performance would remain more or less flat when resolution rises, because the CPU’s workload does not scale with pixel count. The observed behavior, where each step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K nearly halves the frame rate, unambiguously demonstrates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is what holds back the system at high resolution.

Additionally, the drop from Low to Ultra at each resolution indicates settings-dependent load. At 1080p, Ultra is exactly half of Low (80 FPS vs 157 FPS). At 1440p, Ultra (53) versus Low (102) is also about a 48% reduction. This consistent gap emphasizes that the GPU is handling the geometry, texture, and post-processing effects; toggling these has a direct and equal impact. The CPU, with its massive core count and high single-thread output, has a slack, and its effect is not visible in the numeric results.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Measured average FPS across all tests:

3840×2160 (4K):

• Ultra: 29 FPS
• High: 37 FPS
• Medium: 43 FPS (min 37, max 50)
• Low: 56 FPS

2560×1440 (Q2):

• Ultra: 53 FPS
• High: 67 FPS
• Medium: 79 FPS (min 67, max 91)
• Low: 102 FPS

1920×1080 (FHD):

• Ultra: 80 FPS
• High: 103 FPS
• Medium: 120 FPS (min 102, max 139)
• Low: 157 FPS

The Medium presets provide the only min/max data available. At 4K Medium, the min is 37 and max 50, which suggests that while the average is 43, the actual frame times fluctuate significantly, drop to 37 at worst and up to 50 in open areas. At 1440p Medium, the range is 67–91, and at 1080 Medium, 102–139. These intervals reflect the typical stutter during intense scenes, but even the lowest of these minima are above 30 FPS at 1080 and 1440, indicating a playable experience under most conditions. At 4K Medium, the min of 37 FPS is below the 40 target, which could be felt as the game loads any heavy geometry. The Ultra presets, while not having min/max data, are obviously far lower: 29 average at 4K, which is too low for a smooth experience, and only 53 at 1440p.

An anomaly is that at 4K High (37 FPS) is slightly lower than Medium (43 FPS), despite the fact that High is a higher quality setting. This suggests that the performance curve is not perfectly monotonic, possibly due to a bug in the game’s settings or an measurement variance. Ignore this inconsistency, the general trend is clear: higher resolution and higher settings reduce FPS, and the absolute numbers at 4K Ultra are marginal for playability.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations for The Technomancer, the i9-14900K + RTX 2070 SUPER combo ranks 2144th out of 3696 total configurations. This means it is better than 1552 of the tested combos (3696 – 2144 = 1552) and worse than 2143 others. Expressing this as a percentile, the combo is at the 42nd percentile of all tested parts, comfortably within the lower half of performance rankings. This is entirely consistent with the GPU’s 65th-percentile overall score and the CPU’s 95th-percentile result. The CPU is a high-end performer, but the GPU drags the overall rank down because the game’s performance is more sensitive to GPU capability. In comparison, a combination with a more powerful GPU (e.g., a high-end 50-series card) would rank much higher despite the same CPU, since the benchmark is GPU-influenced.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum FPS recorded for this system?

A: The highest average FPS across any setting is 157 FPS, achieved at 1920×1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Can this build maintain 60 FPS at 2560×1440?

A: Yes, at 1440p High preset the average is 67 FPS; the Low and Medium presets reach 102 and 79 FPS respectively. However, the Ultra setting drops to 53.

Q: What are the exact frame times for the Medium preset at 4K?

A: At 3840×2160, the Medium preset has an average of 43 FPS, with a measured range of 37 (min) to 50 (max) FPS.

Q: Why is the performance not consistent from High to Medium at 4K?

A: The data