The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress profile for modern hardware. Testing the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER reveals a combination that is heavily influenced by resolution and graphics settings, with the CPU demonstrating significant headroom at lower resolutions. The measured data shows a system capable of high refresh-rate gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K Ultra pushes the GPU to its limits. This analysis breaks down the performance characteristics of this specific combo across the tested spectrum.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 170 FPS at 1920x1080 to 111 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 59 FPS. Moving up to 3840x2160, the average further drops to 61 FPS. This scaling pattern—a near-linear decline as pixel count increases—is classic evidence of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. The RTX 4070 SUPER's rendering workload grows exponentially with resolution, and the data reflects that strain.

The scaling behavior shifts when we look at the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves a massive 259 FPS average. At 1440p Low, it still manages 169 FPS, but the jump to 4K Low brings it down to 93 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 1440p Low (90 FPS) is larger than the delta between 1440p and 4K Low (76 FPS), suggesting that the CPU is beginning to cap performance at the very high frame rates seen at 1080p Low. The game's engine, even with the powerful Core Ultra 5 225, cannot feed frames fast enough to fully saturate the GPU at that extreme low-setting, low-resolution combination.

This indicates a dual-phase scaling profile. At 1080p with lower settings, the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is the limiting component, as frame rates plateau and do not scale linearly with the GPU's potential. However, from 1440p upwards, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER becomes the primary constraint. The 4K Ultra result of 48 FPS, compared to the 1080p Ultra result of 133 FPS, shows a 64% performance loss, a steep curve that unequivocally points to the GPU being overwhelmed by the pixel throughput required for Ultra settings at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the defining component for this game's visual fidelity. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for The Technomancer's textures and assets, even at 4K resolution. The data shows no evidence of a memory capacity or bandwidth shortfall causing a catastrophic frame drop; instead, the performance decline is consistent with the increasing computational load on the GPU's 7168 shading units.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 1980 MHz and a boost of 2475 MHz, are crucial for maintaining the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions. The Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, allows for these high clocks while staying within a 220 W TDP. In this game, the GPU's raw compute power is the primary driver of performance differences between the High, Medium, and Low presets. The measured FPS at 1440p underscores this: High averages 111 FPS, Medium averages 130 FPS, and Low averages 169 FPS, showing a clear correlation between the graphical load and the GPU's output.

At 4K, the GPU's limits are exposed. The average FPS at High is 61, which is playable, but the step to Ultra drops it to 48 FPS. This suggests that the transition to Ultra settings introduces effects or draw distances that are particularly taxing on the GPU's ROPS (80) and texture units (224). The GPU is clearly the bottleneck at 4K, as the CPU has ample headroom to handle the game logic, but the graphics card cannot render the frames fast enough to keep up with the higher settings and resolution. The combination's performance here is a direct reflection of the RTX 4070 SUPER's position in the market, as indicated by its 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 plays a supporting but essential role in this combination. With 10 cores and 10 threads, it provides a solid foundation for the game's engine. Its base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz are key to its performance, particularly in maintaining high average frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios like 1080p Low. The data at 1080p Low shows a 259 FPS average, which reflects the CPU's single-thread capabilities, as it manages to keep the GPU well-fed.

However, the game does not appear to be heavily threaded. The Core Ultra 5 225's 10 threads are sufficient, and the data does not indicate that additional threads would yield higher performance. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache likely help reduce memory latency, contributing to smooth frame pacing. The architecture's performance is reflected in its benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and a single-core score of 3655, which place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU's influence on the measured FPS is most apparent when comparing the scaling between 1080p and 1440p at lower settings. The 90 FPS drop from 259 to 169 when moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is significant, but the further drop to 93 FPS at 4K Low is less steep. This suggests that while the CPU can push high frame rates, it is not the sole arbiter of performance. The game's engine still relies on the GPU for the majority of the rendering pipeline. The Core Ultra 5 225 is a capable partner, but it is not the star of the show in The Technomancer; it simply ensures that the RTX 4070 SUPER is not held back in most scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER holds a specific position. The combo ranks 414th out of 2825 tested configurations for The Technomancer. This places it in the top 15% of all tested combos, which is a strong showing given the age of the game and the power of modern components. The ranking reflects the system's ability to deliver high frame rates at popular resolutions, even if it struggles with the most demanding 4K Ultra settings.

This ranking makes sense when considering the individual components. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, has an identical average benchmark score, with a deltaPct of 0. This indicates that the Core Ultra 5 225 is performing exactly as expected for its class. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB, shows a deltaPct of -0.1, meaning the RTX 4070 SUPER is on par with that professional card in synthetic benchmarks. The combination of a top-tier mid-range CPU and a high-end consumer GPU yields a system that is well-balanced for gaming, and the 414th rank out of 2825 combos confirms this.

The position is not higher because 4K Ultra performance (48 FPS) is below the 60 FPS threshold many consider the gold standard. However, the combo's performance at 1440p High (111 FPS) and 4K High (61 FPS) is very respectable. The data suggests that this combo is near the sweet spot for high-refresh 1440p gaming and entry-level 4K gaming. The ranking demonstrates that while this is not an absolute top-tier combination for this specific title, it is far above average and capable of providing an excellent experience on most display configurations.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend entirely on the user's target resolution and refresh rate. For 4K displays, the High preset is the clear recommendation. It delivers an average of 61 FPS, which is exactly at the standard 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 48 FPS, which is a noticeable decline and not worth the visual gain for most users. The Medium preset at 4K offers 71 FPS, but the jump from High to Medium doesn't provide a massive performance boost relative to the potential visual quality loss.

For 1440p displays, the High preset is again the sweet spot, offering an average of 111 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS target and provides a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields 87 FPS, which is still very playable and may be preferable for users who prioritize visual fidelity over maximum frame rates. The Medium preset at 130 FPS is an option for those seeking even higher refresh rates, but the High preset offers a better balance of image quality and performance.

For 1080p displays, the High preset is the best overall choice, achieving 170 FPS on average. This is high enough to take full advantage of 144Hz or 165Hz monitors. The Ultra preset at 133 FPS is also an excellent option, providing near-maximum visual quality without sacrificing the high-refresh experience. The Medium preset at 199 FPS is overkill for most displays and the Low preset at 259 FPS is only useful for competitive play where every frame counts. The data clearly shows that High or Ultra at 1080p provides the best experience, with no need to drop to lower settings for playable performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the complete breakdown of measured average frame rates for this combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER in The Technomancer.

At 1920x1080, the performance is exceptionally high. The Low preset achieves an average of 259 FPS. The Medium preset averages 199 FPS, with a minimum of 169 FPS and a maximum of 229 FPS. The High preset averages 170 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 133 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains very strong. The Low preset averages 169 FPS. The Medium preset averages 130 FPS, with a minimum of 111 FPS and a maximum of 150 FPS. The High preset averages 111 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 87 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more demanding. The Low preset averages 93 FPS. The Medium preset averages 71 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 82 FPS. The High preset averages 61 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 48 FPS.

These numbers provide a clear picture of the system's capabilities. The 1080p results are consistently high, indicating a system that can easily handle high refresh rates. The 1440p results are also excellent, with even the Ultra preset maintaining an average above 60 FPS. The 4K results show a system that can handle High settings at 60 FPS but struggles with Ultra settings. The data is a definitive guide for users to optimize their settings for their specific display.