The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that balances CPU and GPU resources. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT across three resolutions and four quality settings. The data reveals a configuration that scales predictably with resolution, showing clear signs of GPU limitation at higher pixel counts while maintaining strong CPU headroom at lower settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 173.3 at 1080p with Low settings. At the standard High preset, the same resolution yields 110.5 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Core Ultra 7 265K scores 79,102 on average, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF and the Intel Core i9-14900KF, both of which average 79,240 and 79,245 respectively.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The Radeon RX 6700 XT holds the 77th percentile, indicating it outperforms 77% of all GPUs in the benchmark database. Its average benchmark score is 33,721.

Q: Does the combo rank in the top half of all tested combinations for this game?

A: Yes. The combo ranks 937 out of 1,656 total tested combinations, placing it slightly above the median performance tier for The Technomancer.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 113.3 FPS, while Ultra drops to 56.7 FPS. This represents a 56.6 FPS reduction from the lowest to the highest quality setting.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have, and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The Radeon RX 6700 XT features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a key factor in its 4K performance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process. Its core configuration includes 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2321 MHz and a boost clock of 2581 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2424 MHz. These clocks, combined with the 12 GB GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, deliver 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the High preset achieves 110.5 FPS, but this drops to 71.3 FPS at 1440p and further to 38.9 FPS at 4K. This progression shows a clear GPU bottleneck at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 33.5 FPS indicates the card is struggling with the pixel fill rate demands, despite its 165.2 GPixel/s pixel rate and 413.0 GTexel/s texture rate.

The Radeon RX 6700 XT's synthetic benchmark scores reinforce its position. Its Passmark G3D score is 19,786, with a DirectX 12 score of 77. In the Geekbench Vulkan test, it scores 108,032. The GPU's percentile rank of 77 places it near competitors like the AMD Radeon RX 6800, which scores 0.7% higher, and the NVIDIA RTX A5000, which scores 1.3% lower. However, the data shows the RX 6700 XT trails the AMD Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480 by 1% in average score. For The Technomancer, the GPU's performance ceiling is evident in the 4K results where it cannot maintain 60 FPS even at Low settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K provides substantial computational headroom for this configuration. With 20 cores and 20 threads, it operates with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The processor's 30 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensure data flows efficiently to the GPU.

In synthetic workloads, the CPU demonstrates its strength. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 50,009 and single-core score of 7,060 indicate robust performance across both threaded and lightly-threaded tasks. The Passmark multithread score of 58,838 and single-thread score of 4,904 further confirm its capability. The CPU's 97th percentile rank among all CPUs places it in the top 3% of processors tested.

The CPU's role in The Technomancer is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 173.3 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU well beyond its limits. However, the 20-core design with a 125 W TDP shows efficiency in maintaining high frame rates. The nearest CPU rivals, the Core Ultra 7 265KF and Core i9-14900KF, both score 0.2% higher in average benchmarks, while the Core i9-14900K is 0.9% higher. This indicates the 265K is not leaving performance on the table in CPU-bound scenarios, though the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core Ultra 7 265K and Radeon RX 6700 XT achieves a rank of 937 out of 1,656 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places the configuration in the 56.6th percentile of all tested pairings, meaning it outperforms a slight majority of combinations.

This ranking reflects a balance between a high-end CPU and a mid-range GPU. The CPU's 97th percentile ranking suggests it is not the bottleneck, while the GPU's 77th percentile indicates the graphics card is the limiting factor in most scenarios. The gap between the CPU's synthetic performance (0.2% behind the Core Ultra 7 265KF) and the GPU's synthetic performance (0.7% behind the RX 6800) is consistent with the combo's overall mid-tier ranking.

The rank suggests that for The Technomancer, this pairing delivers playable performance at 1080p and 1440p, but falls short of high-refresh-rate expectations at 4K. The data shows the combo sits among 1,656 total configurations, with the specific rank indicating a moderate position in the distribution.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a consistent pattern of GPU limitation. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 110.5 at 1080p to 71.3 at 1440p, a 35.5% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K High, the FPS falls to 38.9, a further 45.4% decrease. This exponential decay in performance with pixel count is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

The Low settings show a similar trend. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 173.3 FPS, which drops to 113.3 at 1440p and 58.4 at 4K. The 4K Low result of 58.4 FPS is notably higher than the 4K High result of 38.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU's compute and memory resources are stretched at higher quality presets.

The scaling from Medium to Ultra at each resolution provides additional insight. At 1080p, the range spans from 133.9 FPS (Medium) to 85.4 FPS (Ultra). At 1440p, this range tightens to 84.2 FPS (Medium) and 56.7 FPS (Ultra). At 4K, the spread narrows further to 48.5 FPS (Medium) and 33.5 FPS (Ultra). This tightening of the FPS range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming the dominant bottleneck, with settings having less relative impact on frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all tested conditions. At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo achieves strong results across all settings. Low settings produce 173.3 FPS, Medium yields 133.9 FPS, High reaches 110.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 85.4 FPS. These numbers indicate smooth gameplay for most monitor refresh rates at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results show a proportional decrease. Low averages 113.3 FPS, Medium produces 84.2 FPS, High delivers 71.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 56.7 FPS. The 1440p High result of 71.3 FPS remains playable, while the Ultra setting approaches the edge of smoothness at 56.7 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low achieves 58.4 FPS, Medium produces 48.5 FPS, High averages 38.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 33.5 FPS. The 4K results demonstrate that this combo cannot maintain 60 FPS at any setting at this resolution. The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p is well within the GPU's capabilities, 1440p is playable at most settings, and 4K requires Low settings for near-60 FPS performance. The progression from 173.3 FPS at 1080p Low to 33.5 FPS at 4K Ultra represents a 139.8 FPS swing, highlighting the extreme sensitivity to resolution and quality in this title.