The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that scales significantly with resolution and visual fidelity. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, interpreting the data to identify the primary performance bottlenecks and the overall capability of this combination. The dataset provides a clear picture of how this specific pairing handles the game's engine, revealing distinct behavioral patterns across different settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and consistent performance decline as resolution increases, which is a classic indicator of a GPU-bound workload at higher pixel counts. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 104.1 FPS, but this drops to 67.2 FPS at 1440p and further to 36.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 1440p and a further 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K, demonstrating the immense pressure placed on the graphics card by the increased pixel count.

The scaling pattern strongly suggests that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The transition from 1080p to 4K at High settings results in a 65% performance loss, a magnitude that is characteristic of a GPU struggling to maintain its fill rate and memory bandwidth. Conversely, the CPU's role appears to diminish as resolution increases; the performance delta between settings becomes more pronounced at 4K, where the GPU is fully saturated and the frame rate is dictated almost entirely by its capabilities.

This behavior is typical of a system where the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions but is overtaken by the GPU's workload as pixel throughput demands rise. The data indicates that for users targeting 4K, the RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary barrier to high frame rates, while at 1080p, the system is better balanced, allowing the CPU's strength to be more fully utilized.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the extensive database of tested configurations, this specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER achieves a rank of 1042 out of 1656 combos for this game. This places it in the lower-mid tier of all tested systems, indicating that while it is not among the weakest, it is far from the top performers. The ranking suggests that this pairing is not optimized for The Technomancer, as many other CPU-GPU combinations deliver higher average frame rates.

This ranking is likely a reflection of the GPU's age relative to the CPU. The RTX 2070 SUPER, with its overall benchmark percentile of 65, holds back the potential of the Core Ultra 7 265K, which sits in the 97th percentile of all CPUs. The data implies that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in this pairing, as a more powerful graphics card would likely propel this combo much higher in the rankings. The combination's rank is a direct consequence of the GPU's performance ceiling in this title, which prevents the high-end CPU from demonstrating its full potential.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the 12 nm Turing architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The card's base clock is 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and it houses 2560 shading units. In the context of The Technomancer, these specifications are put to the test, especially at higher resolutions and settings. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a critical factor, as the game's High and Ultra presets at 4K are likely to be demanding on memory, potentially causing the card to hit its limits.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a strong DirectX 11 performance with a passmark score of 151, but a notably lower DirectX 12 score of 67. This suggests that The Technomancer, which likely uses an older DirectX 11 pipeline, may be more aligned with the card's strengths. However, the raw compute power of 9.062 TFLOPS is the primary driver for the FPS numbers. The 4K Ultra setting produces a very playable-but-low 28.4 FPS, indicating that the card is being pushed to its absolute limit. The scaling from 54.7 FPS at 4K Low to 28.4 FPS at 4K Ultra shows a clear relationship between the card's processing load and the final frame rate, with the GPU being the sole determinant of performance in this resolution range.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The comprehensive FPS data reveals a wide performance envelope for this combo, ranging from 156 FPS at 1080p Low to 28.4 FPS at 4K Ultra. At 1080p, the system is highly capable, with the Ultra preset still delivering a smooth 77.9 FPS and High providing 104.1 FPS. This shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor here, as the frame rates scale predictably with the GPU's workload. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 120.6 FPS, and the Low preset achieves 156 FPS, demonstrating a linear progression that is typical of a GPU-bound scenario.

Moving to 1440p, the performance drops are more pronounced. The High preset delivers 67.2 FPS, which is playable, but the Ultra preset falls to 49.4 FPS, indicating a significant strain on the GPU. At 4K, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates, with even the Low preset only achieving 54.7 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K produces 43.1 FPS, and High drops to 36.3 FPS. The most demanding configuration, 4K Ultra, results in 28.4 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. This data clearly shows that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the definitive performance ceiling, with the CPU providing ample headroom that is only fully utilized at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a high-end desktop processor with 20 cores and 20 threads, based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, supported by a 30 MB shared L3 cache. This CPU is a performance powerhouse, as evidenced by its strong benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 50009 and a single-core score of 7060. Its 97th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its position in the top tier of processing power.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data and process game logic. The benchmark data suggests that this CPU is never the bottleneck in this pairing. At 1080p, where the GPU workload is lower, the high single-core performance and multi-core capabilities of the Core Ultra 7 265K ensure that frame rates are not artificially limited. The fact that the FPS at 1080p Low (156 FPS) is significantly higher than at 1080p Ultra (77.9 FPS) shows that the CPU is more than capable of handling the game's demands, as the performance difference is entirely attributable to the GPU's processing load.

The CPU's performance with its nearest rivals is nearly identical, with a deltaPct of -0.2% compared to the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF and Intel Core i9-14900KF, and -0.9% against the Intel Core i9-14900K. This indicates that the Core Ultra 7 265K provides a similar level of performance to other top-tier CPUs, meaning the game's performance is not being hindered by any CPU deficiency. The data confirms that the GPU, not the CPU, is the limiting factor in this system, and the full potential of the Core Ultra 7 265K is only realized when paired with a more powerful graphics card.