The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for older and entry-level hardware. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, based strictly on the provided benchmark data. The dataset covers 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions across Low, Medium, High, and Ultra settings, offering a clear picture of this combination's capabilities and limitations. The findings indicate a system that struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions and settings, with the data pointing to the GPU as the primary constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in The Technomancer?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 68 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K resolution with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops to 13 FPS. This is the lowest average recorded and indicates a non-playable experience under these conditions.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, switching from Low to Ultra settings reduces the average frame rate from 68 FPS to 35 FPS. This represents a significant 33 FPS decrease, showing the substantial cost of higher graphical fidelity.

Q: Is this system better suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming in The Technomancer?

A: The data shows a clear advantage for 1080p. At 1440p, the highest average frame rate is 44 FPS on Low settings, while at 1080p, the High preset still achieves 45 FPS. For more demanding presets, 1080p Medium (52 FPS) is notably smoother than 1440p Medium (34 FPS).

Q: Which component is the limiting factor based on the benchmark results?

A: The frame rate scaling between resolutions and settings indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. For instance, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 68 FPS, but this drops to 44 FPS at 1440p and 24 FPS at 4K, showing a strong dependency on pixel count. The CPU's high benchmark scores suggest it is not the limiting factor in this scenario.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested combinations?

A: The combination ranks 2738 out of 2825 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the bottom 3% of all tested systems, indicating it is one of the less capable configurations for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the central component in this system's performance profile. Its specifications, including 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 128.1 GB/s bandwidth, directly impact its ability to render The Technomancer. The card's base clock of 1485 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz define its processing speed. With 896 shading units, it provides a certain level of compute capability, but its 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 performance places it in the lower tier of modern GPUs.

The GPU's VRAM capacity of 4 GB is a critical factor. The measured frame rates show a steep decline as resolution increases, which is consistent with the card's limited memory bandwidth and capacity being overwhelmed by larger frame buffers. The data shows that at 1080p, the average frame rate drops from 68 FPS on Low to 35 FPS on Ultra. This 33 FPS difference highlights the GPU's struggle with higher-detail textures and effects. The GPU's benchmark percentile of 40 versus all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 7472, place it in the lower half of the performance spectrum, which aligns with its in-game results.

The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Radeon HD 8850M and Intel UHD Graphics 750, with the GTX 1650 scoring only 0.3% and 0.4% higher, respectively. This indicates that while it is not the absolute weakest option, it is within a hair's breadth of integrated graphics solutions. In the context of The Technomancer, the data suggests that the GPU is responsible for the inability to maintain high frame rates at higher settings. The 4K results, where average FPS ranges from 13 on Ultra to 24 on Low, are particularly telling. The card is simply not powerful enough to drive a 4K display in this game, regardless of the graphical preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 provides the processing foundation for this system. It features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This is a modern processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process. Its benchmarks are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769 and a single-core score of 2085. The PassMark single-thread score of 4516 and multi-thread score of 37816 further demonstrate its capability. The CPU's percentile of 89 versus all CPUs indicates it is a high-performing processor in general terms.

In the context of The Technomancer, the CPU appears to be more than sufficient. The measured frame rates show a clear pattern of GPU limitation. For example, at 1080p, the average FPS scales almost linearly with the graphical preset (68 Low, 52 Medium, 45 High, 35 Ultra), which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would be more consistent across different settings. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Intel Core i9-13900HX, have nearly identical average benchmark scores, with delta percentages of 0.1% and -0.1%, respectively. This suggests the CPU is a capable performer that is not holding back the GPU in this title.

The data implies that the processor's high single-thread performance is more than adequate for the game's logic and physics. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth also provide a solid foundation. However, the benchmark results for the game are so heavily skewed by the GPU that the CPU's influence on the final frame rate is minimal. It is a classic case of a modern, powerful CPU being paired with a dated, low-end GPU, resulting in a system where the GPU is the definitive limiting factor for gaming performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at this system's performance across a grid of resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combination achieves its best results. The Low preset yields an average of 68 FPS, which is the only playable high-refresh rate option. Medium settings bring the average down to 52 FPS, with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS, indicating some frame pacing instability. High settings reduce the average to 45 FPS, and Ultra settings further drop it to 35 FPS. These numbers show that 1080p is the only resolution where this system can approach playable frame rates, and only at Low or Medium settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance degrades significantly. The Low preset now averages 44 FPS, a 24 FPS drop from 1080p. Medium settings average 34 FPS, with a minimum of 29 and maximum of 39 FPS. High settings average 29 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 23 FPS. These results indicate that 1440p is not a viable resolution for this game on this hardware, as even the lowest settings struggle to maintain a stable 45 FPS. The frame rate drops are steep and consistent, confirming the GPU's limited rendering power.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly out of its depth. The Low preset averages only 24 FPS, which is barely playable in a turn-based or slow-paced game but not for an action RPG. Medium settings average 19 FPS, with a minimum of 16 and maximum of 22 FPS. High settings average 16 FPS, and Ultra settings plummet to 13 FPS. These frame rates are essentially a slideshow and render the game unplayable at 4K. The data shows a linear progression of performance loss, with the 4K results being roughly half of the 1440p results, which in turn are roughly half of the 1080p results.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is a critical indicator of system balance. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average frame rate on Low settings drops from 68 FPS to 44 FPS, a decrease of 35%. This is a significant drop that is disproportionate to the pixel increase of 78%. This suggests that the GPU is hitting a memory bandwidth or fill-rate wall. The scaling from 1440p to 2160p is even more severe. At Low settings, the average drops from 44 FPS to 24 FPS, a 45% decrease. At 4K, the GPU is clearly overwhelmed.

This scaling behavior points to the GPU as the definitive limiting component. A CPU-bound system would show a much smaller frame rate drop as resolution increases, because the CPU's workload remains constant. The data shows that the GPU's workload scales directly with the pixel count, and its performance collapses under the load. For example, at 1080p Medium, the system averages 52 FPS, but at 1440p Medium, it averages 34 FPS (a 35% drop), and at 4K Medium, it averages 19 FPS (a 63% drop from 1440p). This non-linear scaling is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of processing power and memory bandwidth.

The data indicates that the GTX 1650's 128.1 GB/s memory bandwidth is insufficient for the demands of 1440p and 4K rendering in The Technomancer. The 4 GB VRAM is also likely a limiting factor, as higher resolutions require larger texture buffers and frame buffers. The result is that the system's performance is directly tied to the GPU's ability to process pixels, which is poor at higher resolutions. The CPU's role is minimal in this scaling, as it is not the bottleneck. The frame rates are almost entirely dictated by the GPU's rendering capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings for this combination are at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only configuration that provides an average frame rate above 60 FPS, at 68 FPS. This allows for a smooth, responsive experience, which is important for an action RPG. While the visual quality will be reduced, the playability is significantly better than any other option. The Medium preset at 1080p, with an average of 52 FPS, is also a viable option for players who prioritize visual fidelity over maximum smoothness. The data shows a minimum of 44 FPS, which is still generally playable.

For players who cannot tolerate lower visual settings, the High preset at 1080p is a compromise, averaging 45 FPS. However, this is on the edge of playability for an action game, and frame drops below 45 FPS are likely in combat-heavy scenes. The Ultra preset at 1080p, averaging 35 FPS, is not recommended due to its low average frame rate, which will result in a sluggish and unresponsive experience. At 1440p, the data shows that even the Low preset, at 44 FPS, is not ideal for an action RPG. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 34 FPS, and the High and Ultra presets at 29 and 23 FPS, respectively, are not playable.

The 4K resolution results are not viable for this game, with all presets averaging below 25 FPS. The data strongly suggests that users should stick to 1080p. The best experience per the measured rows is clearly the 1080p Low preset, which offers the highest frame rate and is the only configuration that meets the 60 FPS threshold. If a player is willing to accept a lower frame rate, 1080p Medium provides a better visual experience while still maintaining a playable average. The data shows that any other combination of resolution and settings will result in a sub-optimal experience.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested combinations for The Technomancer, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 2738 out of 2825 total combos. This places it in the bottom 3% of all tested systems, which is a very poor showing. The rank of 2738 indicates that the vast majority of other tested CPU-GPU combinations, regardless of their age or price point, are capable of achieving higher frame rates in this game. This is a direct consequence of the GTX 1650's low performance ceiling.

The ranking is a stark contrast to the CPU's individual performance. The Core Ultra 5 235 ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, but its inclusion in this combo does little to boost the overall gaming performance. This highlights the fact that for gaming, the GPU is far more critical. The data shows that this combo's in-game performance is almost entirely dictated by the GPU's limitations, and the powerful CPU is essentially idle, waiting for the GPU to catch up.

This poor ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data. The system's inability to break 70 FPS at 1080p Low, and its complete failure at 1440p and 4K, are the reasons for its low position. The combo's rank serves as a clear warning for anyone considering this hardware configuration for playing The Technomancer. It indicates that the system is not a viable gaming platform for this title, and users would need to significantly lower their expectations for visual quality and performance. The data suggests that this is one of the least capable systems in the database for running this specific game.