The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for modern hardware. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 across a range of resolutions and quality settings. The data provides a clear picture of the system's capabilities and limitations, indicating a strong 1440p performer that can handle 4K with adjusted settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Technomancer with this hardware combo?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. At High settings, the combo achieves an average of 72 FPS, while Low settings reach 110 FPS and Medium settings hit 85 FPS. This provides a smooth experience, whereas 4K at High settings drops to 40 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 7 165H has an average benchmark score of 34083, placing it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H, scores 33989, making the Ultra 7 just 0.3% faster. Other close competitors include the AMD EPYC 4244P and AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, which are 0.4% slower, and the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, which is 0.5% slower.

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

A: At 1920x1080, the difference is substantial. The Low preset delivers an average of 169 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 86 FPS. This represents a significant drop of 83 FPS, or roughly 49%, when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Is the RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM a limiting factor in this game?

A: The data does not explicitly indicate VRAM limitations. The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. While the benchmark results show performance scaling with resolution and settings, there is no min-FPS data for most presets to suggest stuttering from memory overflow, with the exception of Medium settings which do show min/max values.

Q: How does this specific combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 1497 out of 2825 tested combos for this game. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all systems tested, indicating it is a capable but not top-tier configuration for The Technomancer.

Q: What is the performance scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 111 at 1920x1080 to 72 at 2560x1440, and finally to 40 at 3840x2160. This shows a clear and consistent decline as resolution increases, with the most significant absolute drop occurring between 1440p and 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of presets, each offering a different trade-off between visual quality and frame rate. For users with a 60Hz display, the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot, as it delivers an average of 130 FPS at 1080p and 85 FPS at 1440p. This ensures a consistently smooth experience well above the 60 FPS threshold.

For those targeting higher refresh rates at 1080p, the High preset is a strong choice, hitting 111 FPS. While not as high as the Low preset's 169 FPS, it offers significantly better visual fidelity for a moderate performance cost. At 1440p, High settings also remain viable with a 72 FPS average, making it a good option for gamers with a 75Hz or 144Hz monitor who are willing to adjust settings.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. The High preset struggles at 40 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold for most players. The Medium preset offers a more playable 47 FPS average, but this is still not a locked 60 FPS experience. For a smoother 4K experience, the Low preset is the only option that exceeds 60 FPS, averaging 61 FPS. Given the data, the best overall recommendation is the Medium preset for 1080p and 1440p gameplay, and the Low preset if 4K resolution is a priority.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture. It features a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The data shows it is a strong performer in synthetic benchmarks, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14551 and a single-core score of 1759. This processing power is more than sufficient to feed the RTX 4070 in most gaming scenarios.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls. Given the high frame rates observed at 1080p, such as 169 FPS on Low settings, the Ultra 7 165H is clearly not a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K—where the average FPS at High settings drops from 111 to 40—indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as resolution increases.

The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for this title. Its performance relative to rivals is tight, being only 0.3% faster than the Core Ultra 5 338H and 0.5% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X. This suggests that while the CPU is a solid performer, it is not a class-leading part, and its gaming performance is well-matched with a mid-range to high-end GPU like the RTX 4070.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 achieves a rank of 1497 out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the 47th percentile of all systems tested, meaning that a slight majority of other CPU-GPU pairings perform better in this specific game.

This ranking reflects the balance of the components. The RTX 4070 is a strong GPU, but it is not the absolute fastest on the market, and the Core Ultra 7 165H, while capable, is a mobile-focused chip that does not match the top-tier desktop processors. The result is a system that is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming and comfortable 1440p gaming, but it will not dominate at 4K. The data shows that the combo is more than twice as fast as the bottom half of the rankings but lacks the raw power to break into the top tier, where combinations with more powerful desktop CPUs and flagship GPUs reside.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the primary driver of visual performance in this system. It is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1920 MHz and boosts up to 2475 MHz. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a crucial factor for high-resolution textures.

The benchmark data highlights the GPU's role in The Technomancer. The Passmark G3D score of 26927 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 indicate solid overall performance. In-game, the GPU's capabilities are clearly demonstrated by the FPS scaling. At 1080p, the GPU can push frame rates to 169 FPS on Low settings, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 31 FPS. This shows that the RTX 4070 has enough power for high frame rates at lower resolutions but is heavily taxed by the pixel count at 4K.

The GPU's performance is comparable to the NVIDIA Tesla P4, which is only 0.1% slower in average score. It is also 1.3% slower than the RTX 4080 Mobile and 0.4% faster than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56. This places the RTX 4070 in a specific performance tier that is well-suited for 1440p gaming, as evidenced by its 72 FPS average at High settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all settings and resolutions.

1080p (1920x1080): The system excels here. The Low preset achieves an average of 169 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset averages 130 FPS, with a minimum of 110 FPS and a maximum of 149 FPS, indicating a consistently smooth experience. The High preset averages 111 FPS, still very smooth. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, averaging 86 FPS, which is still playable on a 60Hz or 75Hz display.

1440p (2560x1440): Performance remains strong. The Low preset averages 110 FPS, which is excellent. The Medium preset averages 85 FPS, with a minimum of 72 FPS and a maximum of 97 FPS, ensuring a largely stutter-free experience. The High preset averages 72 FPS, which is right at the edge for a 144Hz monitor but perfect for a 60Hz one. The Ultra preset drops to a 56 FPS average, which is less ideal for smooth gameplay but still playable.

4K (3840x2160): This is where the system starts to struggle. The Low preset is the only one to break the 60 FPS barrier, averaging 61 FPS. The Medium preset averages 47 FPS, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS, which can lead to noticeable dips. The High preset averages 40 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 31 FPS. These lower frame rates make 4K gaming a compromise on this hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The impact of resolution on performance is stark. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 111 at 1080p to 72 at 1440p, a 35% decrease. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the average FPS drops from 72 to 40, a 44% decrease. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions.

This is expected, as the number of pixels being rendered increases exponentially. At 4K, there are four times as many pixels as at 1080p, placing a massive load on the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth. The RTX 4070's 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth and 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are taxed to their limits. The CPU, which is only 0.3% faster than its nearest rival, has less impact on the scaling, as the frame rate drop is more directly correlated with the GPU's workload.

The data suggests that for this game, the Core Ultra 7 165H is powerful enough to keep up with the RTX 4070 at 1080p and 1440p, but the GPU's capabilities define the ceiling. To achieve a consistent 60 FPS at 4K, users would need to lower settings to Low, indicating that the GPU is the true bottleneck at that resolution.