The Technomancer

# The Technomancer with Intel Core Ultra 7 265K + AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

This combination pairs a high-end 20-core desktop processor with a mid-range RDNA 1.0 graphics card from 2019, producing results that are heavily GPU-bound in The Technomancer. The data shows a system that delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with adjusted settings, but struggles at 4K Ultra where the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 9.754 TFLOPS compute throughput become limiting factors.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 1920x1080?

A: Yes, at 1080p every tested setting preset exceeds 60 FPS. The Low preset averages 140 FPS, Medium hits 109.6 FPS, High reaches 90.8 FPS, and even Ultra maintains 73.7 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 2560x1440?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset averages 91.5 FPS, Medium delivers 71.2 FPS, and High produces 57.6 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 45.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold but still playable on adaptive sync displays.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in The Technomancer?

A: Only at Low settings, where it averages 50.5 FPS. Medium drops to 36.6 FPS, High falls to 30.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 24.5 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth struggle with 3840x2160 resolutions.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 24731 places it 0.1% behind the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile, 0.3% ahead of the Intel Arc A350M, and 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile. It sits at the 68th percentile of all GPUs.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K ranks at the 97th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 79102. It trails the Intel Core i9-14900K by 0.9% and the AMD EPYC 7413 by 1.2%, while matching the Core Ultra 7 265KF within 0.2%.

Q: What is the ranking of this specific combo among all tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 1281st out of 1656 total tested combinations for The Technomancer. This places it in the lower quarter of tested systems, reflecting the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than the CPU's high-end capability.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the Navi 10 chip using RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It contains 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die. The card operates with a base clock of 1605 MHz, a game clock of 1755 MHz, and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. Memory runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed across a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is the primary constraint at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the card averages just 24.5 FPS, while dropping to Low settings recovers 26 FPS to reach 50.5 FPS. This 106% performance swing between presets at 3840x2160 indicates severe memory bandwidth pressure. The pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s provide adequate fill rates for 1080p and 1440p gaming but fall short of 4K demands.

Compute performance is rated at 9.754 TFLOPS FP32, with the 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs driving the card's DirectX 12 (12_1) output. The GPU scores 2134 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 93691 in Geekbench Metal, and 77773 in Geekbench OpenCL. Its PassMark G3D score of 16277 and DirectX 11 score of 116 place it at the 68th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile, scores 0.1% higher on average, showing the RX 5700 XT remains competitive with recent mobile parts despite its 2019 release date.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K uses the Arrow Lake-S architecture on a 3 nm process, packing 17,800 million transistors into a 243 mm² die. It provides 20 cores and 20 threads across a dual-channel DDR5 memory interface with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth. Base clock is 3.90 GHz with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, while the 125 W TDP reflects the power envelope of this desktop part.

Cinebench results show strong multi-threaded performance: 5040 in R15 multicore, 21003 in R20 multicore, and 50009 in R23 multicore. Single-core scores are 711 in R15, 2965 in R20, and 7060 in R23. PassMark tests reinforce this, with a multithread score of 58838 and single-thread score of 4904. The CPU's 97th percentile ranking among all processors means it is not the bottleneck in The Technomancer.

In this game, the CPU's role is to feed frames to the GPU without becoming the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 140 FPS, indicating the CPU can sustain high frame rates when the GPU is not overburdened. The gap between 1080p Low (140 FPS) and 4K Low (50.5 FPS) demonstrates that the GPU's workload, not CPU throughput, determines performance across resolutions. The 30 MB shared L3 cache and 192 KB per-core L1 cache provide sufficient data locality for game logic, while the 3 MB per-core L2 cache handles thread-local workloads efficiently.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Core Ultra 7 265KF (0.2% faster), Core i9-14900KF (0.2% faster), Core i9-14900K (0.9% faster), and AMD EPYC 7413 (1.2% faster). These margins are negligible in gaming scenarios where the RX 5700 XT governs frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 140 FPS average, Medium reaches 109.6 FPS, High achieves 90.8 FPS, and Ultra maintains 73.7 FPS. All presets clear the 60 FPS bar with headroom, making 1080p a comfortable resolution for this pairing.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance gap between presets widens. Low settings average 91.5 FPS, Medium drops to 71.2 FPS, and High falls to 57.6 FPS. Ultra settings yield 45.8 FPS, which dips below 60 FPS but remains serviceable for slower-paced action RPG gameplay. The 45.7 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution highlights the GPU's sensitivity to visual fidelity settings.

At 3840x2160, the card struggles across all presets. Low averages 50.5 FPS, Medium drops to 36.6 FPS, High manages 30.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 24.5 FPS. The 26 FPS improvement from Ultra to Low at 4K shows that settings adjustments can recover playability, but even Low fails to maintain a consistent 60 FPS experience. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely exceeded at this resolution with higher presets, explaining the steep performance penalties.

The scaling pattern across resolutions follows expectations: 1080p Low to 1440p Low shows a 34.6% drop, while 1440p Low to 4K Low shows a 44.8% drop. This non-linear scaling indicates that memory bandwidth and ROP throughput saturate as pixel count increases.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing ranks 1281st out of 1656 tested combinations for The Technomancer, placing it in the bottom 23% of all systems. The GPU's 68th percentile standing drives this ranking, as the CPU's 97th percentile performance cannot compensate for the graphics card's mid-range positioning.

The RX 5700 XT's average benchmark score of 24731 sits just 0.1% below the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile and 0.3% above the Intel Arc A350M. This tight clustering suggests the card performs near contemporary mid-range mobile GPUs despite its desktop form factor and 225 W TDP. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 16277 and DirectX 12 score of 64 indicate moderate DirectX 12 efficiency, which matters for a 2016 title that predates widespread DX12 adoption.

The CPU's high percentile ranking (97th) means this combo's low rank stems entirely from GPU limitations. In CPU-bound scenarios, the Core Ultra 7 265K would excel, but The Technomancer's measured FPS data shows consistent GPU-limited behavior across all tested configurations. The combo's rank improves at lower resolutions — at 1080p, the system outperforms many higher-ranked combos that may use weaker CPUs paired with similar GPUs.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080 displays, Ultra settings are the best choice. The 73.7 FPS average provides smooth gameplay with maximum visual quality, and the 140 FPS Low preset shows there is ample headroom if higher refresh rates are desired. Medium at 109.6 FPS offers a balanced alternative for 144 Hz monitors.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings deliver the best experience with 71.2 FPS. High settings at 57.6 FPS are acceptable for players who prioritize image quality over frame rate consistency, but the 13.6 FPS penalty over Medium may cause noticeable stutter in combat scenes. Low at 91.5 FPS is the competitive choice for fast-paced encounters.

For 3840x2160, Low settings are the only viable option, averaging 50.5 FPS. Medium at 36.6 FPS and High at 30.4 FPS fall below the threshold for responsive gameplay in an action RPG. Ultra at 24.5 FPS should be avoided entirely. Players seeking 4K Ultra should consider a GPU with more VRAM and higher compute throughput, as this combo's 8 GB frame buffer and 9.754 TFLOPS cannot handle that workload. The data indicates that 1440p Medium is the sweet spot for this pairing, balancing visual fidelity with playable frame rates across the majority of game scenarios.