The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress test for modern hardware. When paired with the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, the data reveals a configuration that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but capable of delivering exceptionally high frame rates. This analysis breaks down the performance metrics from the measured FPS data, focusing on resolution scaling, component roles, and settings optimization.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and dramatic scaling curve across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 325 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same Low preset, the average drops to 220 FPS, a significant reduction of 32%. At 4K with Low settings, the average falls to 121 FPS, which is a 45% drop from the 1440p figure and a 63% drop from the initial 1080p result. This steep decline indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the rendering load at 4K is substantial.

The scaling pattern becomes more telling when examining the High preset. The combo delivers 221 FPS at 1080p, 144 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35%, and from 1440p to 4K is another 45%. This consistent reduction suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases. The RTX 5090’s immense power is still challenged by the pixel count at 4K, even in a title from 2016.

Looking at the Ultra preset, the trend continues but with absolute numbers that are more manageable. The combo produces 173 FPS at 1080p, 113 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. The relative drops are 35% and 45% respectively, mirroring the High preset scaling. This consistency across presets reinforces the conclusion that the game’s engine scales predictably with resolution, and the performance ceiling at 4K is firmly set by the GPU’s fill rate and shading capacity.

The data suggests that the sweet spot for this combo is at 1440p, where even Ultra settings maintain an average above 100 FPS. At 4K, the user must make a trade-off: accept the 62 FPS average on Ultra, or step down to High for a 27% improvement to 79 FPS. The Low preset at 4K yields 121 FPS, which is playable, but the visual compromise is substantial. The scaling analysis indicates that the system is well-balanced for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming, but 4K gaming will require settings adjustments to hit 60 FPS or beyond.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications fully explain the performance ceiling observed in the data. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. For a game like The Technomancer, which was released in 2016, this memory capacity is far beyond what is necessary, but the bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and memory-intensive operations are never bottlenecks, even at 4K.

Clock speeds for the RTX 5090 are listed with a base of 2017 MHz and a boost of 2407 MHz. These high clocks, combined with 21,760 shading units, deliver a theoretical FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS. This raw compute power is what allows the card to achieve 325 FPS at 1080p Low, but the data shows that the architecture is still constrained by the geometric and pixel workload at higher resolutions. The 176 ROPs and 680 TMUs are tasked with rasterization and texturing, and the 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS indicates that these units are fully saturated.

The RTX 5090’s benchmark scores further contextualize its role. It holds a 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79,605, a delta of 0.3%. This indicates that the RTX 5090 is at the very top of the performance hierarchy, yet The Technomancer still manages to bring it to its knees at 4K Ultra. This is not a fault of the GPU, but rather proof of the game’s unoptimized rendering pipeline that scales poorly with modern hardware.

The GPU’s VRAM, while not a limiting factor in this game, does have implications for the overall system. With 32 GB of GDDR7, there is no risk of memory capacity being exhausted, even with high-resolution textures. The data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K, but it is a computational bottleneck rather than a memory bandwidth issue. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is sufficient to feed the GPU’s cores, as evidenced by the fact that reducing settings from Ultra to High at 4K yields a 27% FPS increase, indicating that the shading units are the limiting factor, not memory.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a combo rank of 45 out of 2,825 tested combinations for The Technomancer. This places the configuration in the top 1.6% of all tested systems, indicating that it is among the fastest setups for this title. The rank is a holistic measure that considers both CPU and GPU performance in the context of this specific game’s engine.

The high rank is expected given the components involved. The RTX 5090 is a top-tier GPU, and the Core Ultra 5 235, while not the flagship CPU, provides sufficient headroom to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at most settings. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 325 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s frame rate limit. At this resolution, the CPU’s role becomes more significant, but the 14-core, 14-thread processor with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz is well-equipped to handle the game’s logic.

However, the rank of 45 also suggests that there are 44 other combinations that perform better. These likely feature more powerful CPUs, such as those with higher single-thread performance or additional cache. The Core Ultra 5 235’s nearest CPU rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and the Intel Core i9-13900HX, have average scores that are within 0.1% of each other, indicating that the CPU performance class is tightly packed. In a game like The Technomancer, which may rely on CPU for physics and AI, a marginal CPU difference could account for the ranking variance.

It is important to note that the combo rank reflects the overall system capability, not just the GPU. With a rank of 45 out of 2,825, the data indicates that this is a high-performance pairing that will deliver a smooth experience at most settings. The only scenario where the rank might disappoint is at 4K Ultra, where the 62 FPS average is below the 144 Hz refresh rate that the RTX 5090 is often associated with. But relative to the entire test pool, this is an exceptional result.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For users with a 1080p 144 Hz or 240 Hz monitor, the Ultra preset is the clear choice, delivering an average of 173 FPS. This is well above the 144 Hz threshold and provides the best visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness. The High preset at 1080p offers 221 FPS, which is beneficial for 240 Hz displays, but the visual difference between High and Ultra in a 2016 title may be minimal.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset achieves 113 FPS, which is excellent for a 120 Hz display but slightly short of a 144 Hz target. The High preset at 1440p produces 144 FPS, perfectly matching a 144 Hz refresh rate. Given that the data shows a 27% performance uplift from Ultra to High at this resolution, the High preset is the recommended choice for users prioritizing frame rate consistency. The Medium preset offers 169 FPS, which is overkill for most displays and represents a visual downgrade that is not necessary.

For 4K gaming, the situation is more nuanced. The Ultra preset yields 62 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The High preset increases this to 79 FPS, a 27% improvement, and is the recommended setting for a stable 60+ FPS experience. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 93 FPS, which is a significant jump and may be preferable for users with high refresh rate 4K monitors. However, the visual difference between High and Medium could be noticeable. The Low preset at 4K, at 121 FPS, is only recommended for competitive play where frame rate is paramount, as the graphical sacrifices will be severe.

The data suggests that the Medium preset provides the best balance of performance and visual quality for this combo. At 1440p Medium, the combo achieves 169 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it achieves 93 FPS. The measured minimum FPS for Medium settings is 144 at 1440p and 79 at 4K, indicating that frame pacing is consistent. For most users, the Medium preset will offer a smooth experience without the steep performance penalty of Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 79, which is a 27% improvement over the Ultra preset’s 62 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 5090’s 32 GB of VRAM affect performance in this game?

A: The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory is not a limiting factor in The Technomancer. The performance bottleneck at higher resolutions is the GPU’s computational throughput, not memory capacity or bandwidth.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 45th out of 2,825 tested combinations for this game, placing it in the top 1.6% of all systems.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144 Hz 1440p monitor?

A: The High preset at 1440p delivers an average of 144 FPS, which exactly matches a 144 Hz refresh rate. The Ultra preset is slightly lower at 113 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 325 FPS, suggesting the CPU can handle the game’s logic. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has 14 cores and a 5.00 GHz boost clock, which is sufficient for this title.

Q: What are the measured minimum FPS values for Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS for Medium settings is 220 at 1080p, 144 at 1440p, and 79 at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 plays a supporting role in this configuration, but its specifications are crucial for ensuring the RTX 5090 is not starved of data. The CPU features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This single-thread performance is critical for game logic, and the boost clock ensures that the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s frame generation at lower resolutions.

The CPU’s architecture, Arrow Lake-S, is built on a 3 nm process by TSMC, featuring 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 24 MB of L3 cache. This cache configuration is substantial for a 14-core chip, and the 24 MB of L3 is likely sufficient for the game’s working set. The CPU’s benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and a single-core score of 2,085, place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of The Technomancer, the CPU’s role is to handle AI, physics, and game state updates. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 325 FPS, which is a clear indicator that the CPU can process frames faster than the GPU can render them at that resolution. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 with an average score of 46,030 and the Intel Core i9-13900HX with 46,098, are within 0.1% of the Core Ultra 5 235’s score of 46,062. This means that swapping the CPU for a comparable rival would not yield a significant performance difference in this game.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR5 with a dual-channel bus and 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth is another factor. While the game may not be memory-bandwidth sensitive, the fast memory ensures that data can be fed to the CPU quickly, avoiding stalls. The 65W TDP is modest, but the CPU’s performance is not compromised, as evidenced by its high benchmark scores. In summary, the Core Ultra 5 235 is a capable partner for the RTX 5090, providing enough single-thread headroom to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at 1080p and 1440p, and only at 4K does the GPU’s workload become the definitive limiting factor.