The Technomancer

FAQ

Q: What is the overall ranking of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination in The Technomancer?

A: This combo ranks 1497 out of 2825 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the tested field. The rank suggests that while the system is capable, a significant portion of other hardware pairings deliver higher frame rates in this title.

Q: Does the game favor the CPU or the GPU in this pairing?

A: Benchmark results indicate a balanced but resolution-dependent relationship. At 1080p Low, the average FPS reaches 169, which is nearly three times the 4K Ultra score of 31 FPS. The scaling pattern shows the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, while the CPU's 20 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the best measured performance for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 169 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The most balanced experience appears at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, delivering 85 average FPS with a minimum of 72 and maximum of 97 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 17639 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon HD 7790, which scores 17666 (a -0.2% delta). The AMD Radeon 780M trails by 0.3%, while the AMD Radeon Pro 560 and Pro 460 are 0.5% and 0.7% behind, respectively. This indicates the RTX 4060 sits in a tightly contested performance band.

Q: What is the CPU's synthetic benchmark standing relative to other processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 achieves an average benchmark score of 64640, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 4464P, scores 64823 (-0.3% delta), while the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F is 0.3% ahead of this chip.

Q: Does the measured FPS data include minimum and maximum values for all settings?

A: No, only the Medium settings rows include both minimum and maximum FPS values. For 3840x2160 Medium, the range is 40 to 53 FPS; for 2560x1440 Medium, it is 72 to 97 FPS; and for 1920x1080 Medium, it is 110 to 149 FPS. All other settings rows report only the average FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operates across a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock of 1830 MHz boosts to 2460 MHz under load, with memory clocked at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). These specifications define a mid-range card that, according to the data, produces an average benchmark score of 17639 and sits in the 61st percentile of all GPUs.

In The Technomancer, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution climbs. At 1080p, the RTX 4060 delivers 86 FPS at Ultra settings, which drops to 56 FPS at 1440p Ultra and further to 31 FPS at 4K Ultra. This steep decline—a 64% reduction from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra—points to the GPU's 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory interface struggling with the higher pixel counts and texture loads. The 115 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU indicate a power-efficient design, yet the card's 48 ROPs and 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 throughput limit its ability to sustain high frame rates at demanding resolutions.

Interestingly, the GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all AMD Radeon products from older generations or integrated graphics. The Radeon HD 7790, a card from a much earlier era, scores within 0.2% of the RTX 4060. This suggests that in purely synthetic terms, the RTX 4060's raw compute is comparable to older discrete GPUs, though its modern feature set—including 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores—provides capabilities those rivals lack. In this game, however, the measured FPS data shows the GPU handling 1080p comfortably but capping out at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 achieves a rank of 1497 out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places the pairing in the 53rd percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly half of the tested combinations perform better. Given the CPU's strong synthetic standing—93rd percentile among all processors—and the GPU's more modest 61st percentile, the ranking suggests the graphics card is the primary constraint on this system's gaming performance.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all server-class AMD EPYC processors, with the EPYC 4464P, EPYC 7343, and EPYC 9124 all scoring within 1% of the Core Ultra 7 265. These are multi-core workhorses, yet their presence as rivals highlights the Core Ultra 7 265's exceptional multithreaded performance—its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42216 and Passmark multithread score of 49682 demonstrate serious compute capability. However, in a game like The Technomancer, this CPU power only translates into high frame rates when the GPU can keep up.

The GPU's nearest rivals tell a different story. The RTX 4060's synthetic scores are nearly indistinguishable from the AMD Radeon HD 7790, Radeon 780M, Radeon Pro 560, and Radeon Pro 460—all within 0.7% of each other. This clustering suggests that in raw benchmark terms, the RTX 4060's performance tier is well-established. Yet the measured FPS data shows this combo delivering playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K being the only resolution where performance dips below 60 FPS on all settings. The combo's rank of 1497 reflects this middle-ground positioning: capable for mainstream gaming but not a top-tier performer.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 169 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth for any display. Medium settings yield 130 FPS with a minimum of 110 and maximum of 149 FPS, showing consistent frame delivery. High settings drop to 111 FPS average, while Ultra settings still manage a respectable 86 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the combo has substantial headroom, and even the most demanding preset remains well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance scales down predictably. Low settings average 110 FPS, which is still excellent for high-refresh-rate gaming. Medium settings produce 85 FPS average with a 72 to 97 FPS range, keeping gameplay smooth in most scenarios. High settings drop to 72 FPS, which remains playable, while Ultra settings fall to 56 FPS—below the 60 FPS mark but still acceptable for many players. The 1440p results show the RTX 4060 hitting its practical limit at Ultra settings.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically. Low settings average 61 FPS, just barely clearing the 60 FPS bar. Medium settings drop to 47 FPS with a range of 40 to 53 FPS, while High settings average 40 FPS. Ultra settings bottom out at 31 FPS, which is a challenging experience for most gamers. The 4K data reveals that this combo is not suited for ultra-high-resolution gaming at high presets; only the Low setting achieves a playable average. The gap between 1080p Low (169 FPS) and 4K Low (61 FPS) underscores the GPU's limitations at higher pixel counts.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. Comparing the same settings across resolutions, the scaling is consistent and steep. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 169 at 1080p to 110 at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and further to 61 at 4K (a 64% reduction from 1080p). At Medium settings, the progression is 130 to 85 to 47 FPS, representing a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 64% drop from 1080p to 4K. High settings follow suit: 111 to 72 to 40 FPS, with a 35% reduction to 1440p and 64% reduction to 4K. Ultra settings show the same relative scaling: 86 to 56 to 31 FPS.

This consistent scaling pattern—roughly 35% loss from 1080p to 1440p and 64% loss from 1080p to 4K—strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the processor's workload does not change significantly with pixel count. Instead, the smooth degradation tracks with the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth constraints. The RTX 4060's 272.0 GB/s bandwidth and 128-bit bus are the likely culprits, as 4K resolution demands significantly more data throughput than 1080p.

The fact that the FPS drops by nearly two-thirds from 1080p to 4K across all settings suggests that the GPU is operating at its compute limit at 4K. The 8 GB VRAM may also be a factor, as 4K textures can exceed this capacity in some scenarios. For gamers targeting 4K, the data implies that even Low settings are borderline, and Ultra settings are impractical. The sweet spot for this combo is clearly 1080p, where all settings deliver playable frame rates, or 1440p with Medium or High settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock of 2.40 GHz boosts to 5.30 GHz, and it features a substantial 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's synthetic benchmarks are impressive: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42216 and a single-core score of 5960, alongside a Passmark multithread score of 49682 and a single-thread score of 4689. These figures place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system hits 169 FPS, which suggests the CPU can sustain very high frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck. The 20 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock provide ample single-thread performance for game engines, which often rely on a few fast cores. The single-core Cinebench R15 score of 600 and R20 score of 884 indicate strong per-core performance.

However, the CPU's capabilities are underutilized at higher resolutions. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU's performance is largely irrelevant to the final FPS. The data does not show any signs of CPU bottlenecking—there is no flattening of FPS at higher resolutions that would indicate the processor struggling to keep up. Instead, the smooth scaling pattern points to a GPU-bound system at 1440p and above. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for this game, and its 20 threads provide headroom for background processes or streaming while gaming.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings deliver 86 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides the best visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low settings at 169 FPS offer an exceptionally smooth experience, though the visual downgrade may not be worth it on most displays. Medium settings at 130 FPS strike a balance between quality and performance, with the 110 to 149 FPS range ensuring consistent delivery.

At 2560x1440, High settings produce 72 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive gaming. Medium settings at 85 FPS provide a better experience, with the 72 to 97 FPS range keeping frame times stable. Low settings at 110 FPS are the best choice for high-refresh-rate monitors, while Ultra at 56 FPS is borderline and best avoided unless visual fidelity is paramount. The data suggests that 1440p Medium or High offers the best experience on this combo, balancing visual quality with smooth gameplay.

For 3840x2160, the recommendations are more constrained. Low settings at 61 FPS are the only configuration that clears the 60 FPS bar, and even this is marginal. Medium settings at 47 FPS are playable for slower-paced games, but the 40 FPS minimum could cause noticeable stutters in action sequences. High and Ultra settings at 40 and 31 FPS respectively are not recommended for a game like The Technomancer, which features combat that benefits from responsive controls. Given the data, 4K gaming on this combo is only viable at Low settings, and players with 4K displays should consider dropping to 1440p for a substantially better experience. The measured rows indicate that the 1080p Ultra setting (86 FPS) and 1440p Medium setting (85 FPS) offer nearly identical frame rates, making the latter a strong choice for higher-resolution displays without sacrificing performance.