The Technomancer

# The Technomancer with Intel Core Ultra 7 265K + Intel Arc B390

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an extreme challenge for this particular hardware pairing. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K represents a high-end desktop CPU with a 20-core, 20-thread Arrow Lake architecture, while the Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture. Benchmark data shows this combination ranks 2500 out of 2825 tested combos in this game, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems tested. The measured FPS figures across all resolutions and settings reveal a system that struggles to maintain playable frame rates, with the Arc B390 acting as the definitive performance limiter. The data indicates that even at 1080p Low settings, the system manages only 79 FPS average, and this figure drops precipitously as resolution and quality settings increase.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior of this combo is severe and exposes the integrated GPU as the primary bottleneck. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average FPS drops from 52 to 34, a reduction of approximately 34.6%. Scaling further to 3840x2160 at High settings yields just 19 FPS average, representing a 63.5% drop from the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario where pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor.

At Low settings, the resolution scaling is even more dramatic in absolute terms. The 1080p Low average of 79 FPS falls to 52 FPS at 1440p, and then to 28 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 34.2% from 1080p to 1440p, and 46.2% from 1440p to 4K. This steep decline at 4K, even with minimal graphical settings, indicates that the Arc B390's 24 ROPs and 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are fundamentally insufficient for 2160p rendering in this title.

The Medium preset data points, which include minimum and maximum FPS values, provide additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 61 FPS with a minimum of 52 and maximum of 70. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 and maximum of 46. At 4K Medium, the system manages only 22 FPS average, with a minimum of 19 and maximum of 25. The consistency of the frame times, as indicated by the relatively tight min-max ranges, suggests the GPU is delivering steady but inadequate performance rather than exhibiting erratic behavior.

The Ultra preset data reveals the most extreme scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the system achieves 40 FPS average; at 1440p Ultra, this drops to 26 FPS; and at 4K Ultra, the system falls to 15 FPS. The progression from 1080p to 1440p represents a 35% reduction, while the jump to 4K represents another 42.3% reduction. This pattern confirms that the Arc B390's memory bandwidth, which is system-dependent shared memory, cannot support the bandwidth demands of 4K Ultra rendering in The Technomancer.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated GPU with a 300 MHz base clock and 2500 MHz boost clock, built on the Xe3-LPG architecture with the Panther Lake chip design. The GPU features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. Its memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with memory type, bus width, and bandwidth all marked as system-dependent. The GPU's FP32 performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS, with pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s.

Benchmark data places this GPU in the 9th percentile of all GPUs tested, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463, which is 1.3% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (scoring 1460, 1.5% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (scoring 1446, 2.5% slower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (scoring 1443, 2.7% slower). All of these rival GPUs are entry-level or legacy mobile/desktop parts, underscoring the Arc B390's position at the very bottom of the GPU performance hierarchy.

In the context of The Technomancer, the GPU's limitations are clearly demonstrated by the measured FPS data. The game's demands at 1080p High (52 FPS average) and 1080p Ultra (40 FPS average) show that even at the lowest common resolution, the Arc B390 cannot maintain 60 FPS at higher quality presets. The 4K results, ranging from 15 FPS at Ultra to 28 FPS at Low, are uniformly below playable thresholds. The GPU's 2500 MHz boost clock and 1536 shading units provide adequate performance for basic 1080p gaming at Low settings, where the system achieves 79 FPS, but the architectural limitations of an integrated solution with shared system memory become apparent as workload intensity increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K provides substantial processing capability that far exceeds what the Arc B390 GPU can utilize in this game. The CPU features 20 cores and 20 threads based on the Arrow Lake-S architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock is 3.90 GHz with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and it includes 30 MB of shared L3 cache along with 3 MB L2 per core and 192 KB L1 per core. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ultra 7 265K demonstrates strong performance. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 35850, with a single-core score of 2020. Geekbench results show a multi-core score of 23085 and a single-core score of 2713. The CPU's Passmark multithread score is 58594, with a single-thread score of 4928. These figures place the CPU in the 94th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 70879. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6511P (scoring 71051, 0.2% higher), the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (scoring 71370, 0.7% higher), the Intel Core i7-14700KF (scoring 70163, 1.0% lower), and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (scoring 69996, 1.3% lower).

For The Technomancer, the CPU's role in the measured results appears minimal. The game was released in 2016, and its threading model is unlikely to fully utilize 20 cores. However, the CPU's high single-thread performance, evidenced by the 2020 Cinebench R23 single-core score and 4928 Passmark single-thread score, ensures that the CPU is not the limiting factor in any of the measured configurations. The FPS differences between settings at the same resolution are consistent with GPU-side scaling, and the CPU's capable performance means the Arc B390 is the sole bottleneck in every scenario measured. The 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier indicate this is a high-end desktop processor, but its capabilities are largely wasted when paired with an integrated GPU in this GPU-bound title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2500 out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places the system in the 11.5th percentile of all combinations tested, meaning approximately 88.5% of tested systems perform better in this game. The ranking reflects the severe mismatch between the high-end CPU and the entry-level integrated GPU, where the system's overall gaming performance is dictated almost entirely by the weakest component.

The 94th percentile CPU ranking and the 9th percentile GPU ranking create an extreme bottleneck scenario. The CPU's capabilities are effectively irrelevant to the gaming experience in The Technomancer, as the GPU cannot translate the CPU's processing power into frame rate. The combo rank of 2500 out of 2825 suggests that most other tested combinations, even those with modest CPUs, outperform this system because they include dedicated graphics solutions. The data shows that the Arc B390, which has only 24 ROPs and 48 TMUs, is fundamentally unsuited for this game at any resolution above 1080p, and even at 1080p it only achieves playable frame rates at Low settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance this combo can achieve in The Technomancer?

A: The highest average FPS measured is 79 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that approaches smooth gameplay, while all other settings at 1080p and above produce averages below 61 FPS.

Q: Can this system play The Technomancer at 4K resolution?

A: The 4K results are uniformly poor across all settings. The highest 4K average is 28 FPS at Low settings, with Medium at 22 FPS, High at 19 FPS, and Ultra at 15 FPS. None of these are playable for an action RPG.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 800M, 2.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile relative to all tested CPUs?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is in the 94th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 70879. Its strongest results include a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35850 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 23085.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS values recorded at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the system records a minimum of 52 FPS and maximum of 70 FPS with an average of 61 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 34 FPS and maximum is 46 FPS with a 40 FPS average. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 19 FPS and maximum is 25 FPS with a 22 FPS average.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at different resolutions?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the average is 40 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 26 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average is 15 FPS. The progression shows a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 42.3% reduction from 1440p to 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo in The Technomancer is as follows:

At 3840x2160 (4K), the system achieves an average of 19 FPS at High settings, 28 FPS at Low settings, 22 FPS at Medium settings (with a minimum of 19 FPS and maximum of 25 FPS), and 15 FPS at Ultra settings. The 4K results demonstrate that this resolution is beyond the capabilities of the Arc B390, with all averages falling well below the 30 FPS threshold typically considered minimally playable.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the system achieves an average of 34 FPS at High settings, 52 FPS at Low settings, 40 FPS at Medium settings (with a minimum of 34 FPS and maximum of 46 FPS), and 26 FPS at Ultra settings. The 1440p results show that only the Low preset approaches acceptable playability, with the 52 FPS average being the sole configuration above 50 FPS at this resolution.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the system achieves an average of 52 FPS at High settings, 79 FPS at Low settings, 61 FPS at Medium settings (with a minimum of 52 FPS and maximum of 70 FPS), and 40 FPS at Ultra settings. The 1080p results represent the best performance this combo can deliver, with Low settings providing the only average above 60 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the recommended configuration for this combo in The Technomancer is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which produces an average of 79 FPS. This is the only measured configuration that achieves an average above 60 FPS, providing the smoothest gameplay experience possible with this hardware pairing. The Low preset at 1080p sacrifices visual quality but delivers a playable frame rate, which is the priority given the GPU's limitations.

For users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, the 1080p Medium preset offers a compromise with a 61 FPS average, though this is close to the 60 FPS threshold and may dip below it during demanding scenes. The 1080p High preset at 52 FPS average is playable but not ideal for an action RPG that benefits from smooth motion. The 1080p Ultra preset at 40 FPS average is the highest visual quality achievable with an acceptable frame rate, but it represents a significant reduction in smoothness compared to the Low preset.

At 1440p, the only recommended configuration is the Low preset with a 52 FPS average, which is marginally playable but not ideal. The Medium preset at 40 FPS and High preset at 34 FPS may be acceptable for less action-intensive sections, but the Ultra preset at 26 FPS is not recommended. All 4K configurations produce averages below 30 FPS and should be avoided with this hardware. The data clearly indicates that this system is best utilized at 1080p with the Low or Medium preset, depending on whether frame rate or visual fidelity is prioritized for a given gaming session.