The Technomancer

# The Technomancer with Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus + Intel Arc B390

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the Intel Arc B390 iGPU delivers a playable but constrained experience in The Technomancer, with benchmark data showing that this combination ranks near the bottom of tested configurations. The CPU is a top-tier desktop processor, sitting in the 96th percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU's integrated graphics solution lands in the 9th percentile against all GPUs — a stark imbalance that defines every performance result in this title. The measured FPS data across three resolutions and four quality presets reveals a system that is firmly GPU-limited, with the CPU's substantial multi-threading headroom never becoming the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and consistent across all settings presets, confirming that the Arc B390's integrated graphics are the primary limiting factor in The Technomancer. At Low settings, average FPS falls from 79 at 1920x1080 to 52 at 2560x1440, then further to 28 at 3840x2160 — a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 61 FPS at 1080p, 40 at 1440p, and 22 at 4K, representing a 64% drop across the resolution range. High settings follow the same trajectory with 52 FPS at 1080p, 34 at 1440p, and 19 at 4K, while Ultra settings see 40 FPS at 1080p, 26 at 1440p, and 15 at 4K.

The scaling ratio between 1080p and 1440p is nearly identical across all presets. At Low, the drop from 79 to 52 FPS is a 34% reduction; at Medium, 61 to 40 is a 34% reduction; at High, 52 to 34 is a 35% reduction; and at Ultra, 40 to 26 is a 35% reduction. This consistency suggests the rendering pipeline is uniformly stressed by pixel count, with no resolution-dependent bottleneck emerging from the CPU or memory subsystem. The 1440p to 4K transition is steeper in percentage terms — 52 to 28 at Low (46% drop), 40 to 22 at Medium (45% drop), 34 to 19 at High (44% drop), and 26 to 15 at Ultra (42% drop) — indicating that the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity degrade more rapidly as pixel density increases beyond 1440p.

The data indicates that 1080p is the only viable resolution for this combo in The Technomancer. Even at 1080p, only the Low preset achieves an average above 60 FPS, with Medium hitting 61 FPS. At 1440p, no preset reaches 60 FPS, and at 4K, all presets fall below 30 FPS. The frame time data available for Medium settings shows the spread widening with resolution: at 1080p, the range is 52 to 70 FPS; at 1440p, it is 34 to 46 FPS; and at 4K, it is 19 to 25 FPS. This increasing variance at higher resolutions points to the GPU struggling to maintain consistent frame pacing under heavier pixel loads.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. Its shading units number 1536, with 48 texture mapping units and 24 render output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz and boosts to 2500 MHz, with pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput is 7.680 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1). Memory is system-shared, meaning the GPU draws from the same DDR5 pool as the CPU, with bandwidth described as system dependent.

The GPU's benchmark standing is weak. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463, 1.3% behind), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% behind), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% behind), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% behind). These are all legacy or entry-level discrete GPUs, which contextualizes the Arc B390's performance tier — it is competing with hardware from over a decade ago despite its modern architecture.

The 80 W TDP and IGP slot width confirm this is not a performance-oriented part. The system-shared memory architecture means there is no dedicated VRAM allocation, so the GPU competes with the CPU for memory bandwidth. In The Technomancer, this manifests as the severe FPS drops at higher resolutions, where the GPU must access more texture data and geometry through the shared memory path. The boost clock of 2500 MHz is respectable for an iGPU, but the limited shading units and ROPs constrain overall throughput. The 3DMark score relative to the GT 710 — a card never intended for modern gaming — underscores that this GPU is suited for light workloads rather than demanding action RPGs.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on preset selection for this combo. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 79 FPS average, which is the only setting that provides substantial headroom above 60 FPS. Medium at 1080p achieves 61 FPS average with a range of 52 to 70 FPS, meaning it dips below 60 FPS at times but remains playable for most scenes. High at 1080p drops to 52 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 40 FPS — both below the 60 FPS threshold that many players target.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 52 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. Medium averages 40 FPS with a range of 34 to 46 FPS, making it suitable for players who prioritize visual quality over frame rate. High at 1440p averages 34 FPS, and Ultra drops to 26 FPS — both becoming increasingly choppy. At 3840x2160, all presets are below 30 FPS: Low at 28, Medium at 22 (range 19 to 25), High at 19, and Ultra at 15. None of these 4K results are recommended for regular play.

The optimal experience per the measured rows is 1080p with the Medium preset. This configuration provides 61 FPS average, which approaches the 60 FPS target while offering improved visual fidelity over Low. The Low preset's 79 FPS is smoother but sacrifices visual quality, and the Medium preset's minimum of 52 FPS indicates occasional dips but no sustained stuttering. For players who prefer a higher frame rate, 1080p Low at 79 FPS is the best choice. The 1440p Low preset at 52 FPS is a reasonable compromise for those who want higher resolution, but it comes with a 34% FPS penalty compared to 1080p Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2500 out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the GPU's severe performance limitation rather than any deficiency in the CPU. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has an average benchmark score of 93785 across all tested workloads, sitting in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6520P (scoring 93786, a 0% delta), AMD EPYC 4564P (95183, -1.5% delta), AMD EPYC 9175F (95615, -1.9% delta), and AMD EPYC 4565P (95764, -2.1% delta) — all server-class processors with similar aggregate performance.

The GPU, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 1482, ranking in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The gap between the CPU's 96th percentile and the GPU's 9th percentile is extreme, indicating that this combo is massively unbalanced for gaming workloads. The combo rank of 2500 out of 2825 suggests that most other tested configurations, even those with weaker CPUs, outperform this pairing in The Technomancer because they include more capable graphics solutions. The data implies that the Arc B390 is the sole determinant of gaming performance here, and its low standing relative to other GPUs drags the entire combo down despite the CPU's elite status.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread desktop processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 115.2 GB/s bandwidth, along with ECC support. The CPU uses Intel Socket 1851 and features PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes. Its integrated graphics are Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units, which is separate from the Arc B390 being tested.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is minimal based on the measured FPS data. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus delivers strong synthetic benchmark scores — Cinebench R23 multi-core at 44253 and single-core at 2439, Cinebench R20 at 24461 multi-core and 3453 single-core, and Cinebench R15 at 6656 multi-core and 354 single-core. Passmark results show multithreaded performance of 68574, single-thread of 5068, and a physics score of 4064. These numbers indicate that the CPU has far more computational headroom than the GPU can utilize in this game.

The 24 cores and 24 threads are excessive for a title like The Technomancer, which is an action RPG from 2016 that would not be expected to scale across that many threads. The high boost clock of 5.50 GHz and strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2439) mean that even lightly-threaded game logic would run without issue. The data compression score of 804322 and encryption score of 59097 further demonstrate the CPU's capacity for general computation, but none of this translates to higher FPS because the GPU saturates first. The memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s and dual-channel DDR5 support are ample for the system-shared GPU, but the Arc B390's limited compute resources remain the bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play The Technomancer with this combo?

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where any preset reaches 60 FPS or higher. At 2560x1440, the best average is 52 FPS on Low settings, and at 3840x2160, all presets fall below 30 FPS. Stick to 1080p for a playable experience.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance of performance and quality?

A: At 1080p, the Medium preset averages 61 FPS with a range of 52 to 70 FPS, which closely approaches the 60 FPS target. The Low preset at 79 FPS is smoother but reduces visual fidelity. Medium at 1080p is the recommended choice based on the measured rows.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to other GPUs in this game?

A: The Arc B390 ranks in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463, 1.3% behind), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% behind), GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% behind), and GT 710 (1443, 2.7% behind). This places it at the level of legacy entry-level discrete GPUs.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus the bottleneck in this system?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 96th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 93785, and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 44253. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking and 1482 average score indicate that the Arc B390 is the limiting component in The Technomancer.

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

A: The measured data shows 4K performance is poor across all presets: Low averages 28 FPS, Medium averages 22 FPS (range 19 to 25), High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. None of these results are suitable for comfortable play, so 4K is not recommended.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 2500 out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all configurations. This low ranking is attributable to the GPU's limited performance, not the CPU, which is in the 96th percentile of all CPUs.