The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, proves to be a demanding title for modern mobile hardware. The measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile combination reveals a system that delivers a smooth 1080p experience but begins to struggle as resolution scales toward 4K. The results show a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strong multi-core performance ensures frame rates remain stable at lower settings where the graphics card is not the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and clearly illustrates the shift from a balanced workload to a GPU-limited one. At 1080p with Medium settings, the combo achieves an average of 112 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same settings, the average drops to 73 FPS, a 35% reduction. Scaling further to 4K, the average plummets to 40 FPS, representing another 45% decrease from the 1440p figure. This trajectory is characteristic of a system where the RTX 5060 Mobile's rendering capabilities become the primary constraint as pixel count increases.

The pattern holds across all settings, but the magnitude of the drop varies. At High settings, the transition from 1080p (96 FPS) to 1440p (63 FPS) is a 34% reduction, and from 1440p to 4K (34 FPS) is a 46% reduction. The Low preset shows a similar trend, with 146 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that the Core Ultra 9 185H, with its 16 cores and 22 threads, is more than capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p, evidenced by the high frame rates. As resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become the limiting factors, causing the frame rate to scale inversely with the number of pixels rendered.

The most telling evidence of a GPU bottleneck at 4K is the Ultra preset performance. Here, the combo manages only 27 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The difference between 4K Low (52 FPS) and 4K Ultra (27 FPS) is a 48% performance penalty, highlighting how much headroom the GPU has to sacrifice for visual fidelity at this extreme resolution. At 1080p, the same settings transition costs 49% of the frame rate (146 FPS to 75 FPS), but the starting point is high enough that even the Ultra preset remains playable. This suggests that for a locked 60 FPS experience, users will need to prioritize resolution over quality, as the GPU simply cannot sustain high frame rates at 4K with demanding presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. This bandwidth is a critical factor in The Technomancer, as the game's texture streaming and scene complexity can quickly saturate a narrower memory interface. The data shows that at 4K, where memory pressure is highest, the GPU's performance falls off a cliff, with the average frame rate dropping to 34 FPS on High settings. This is a 46% reduction from the 1440p High result of 63 FPS, a decline that is more severe than the pure pixel count increase would suggest, indicating that memory bandwidth limitations are compounding the rendering load.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 952 MHz and a boost of 1455 MHz, are relatively modest for a high-performance mobile part. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3013.5 places this GPU in the 67th percentile of all GPUs, which is respectable but not top-tier. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, scores an average of 22549, a delta of -0.5%, meaning the RTX 5060 Mobile is effectively within a statistical tie. However, the real-world gaming data suggests that this theoretical parity does not translate to consistent performance at 4K, where the 8 GB VRAM capacity and 128-bit bus are likely the primary bottlenecks.

The 8 GB VRAM is a significant constraint at 4K. With the Ultra preset, the GPU can only muster 27 FPS, suggesting that the card is running out of memory or is severely hampered by the bandwidth required to manage it. At 1080p, the same settings produce 75 FPS, indicating that the memory subsystem is sufficient for that resolution. The 24 Gbps effective memory speed is high, but the overall bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s is not enough to compensate for the narrow bus width at higher resolutions. The data strongly implies that this GPU is designed for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being a stretch goal that requires significant settings compromises.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal experience for this combo is at 2560x1440 with High settings. This yields an average of 63 FPS, which is a solid playable frame rate for an Action RPG. The Medium preset at this resolution offers a higher average of 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, providing a more stable experience with only a marginal visual downgrade. For users prioritizing smoothness over fidelity, 1440p Medium is the recommended balance, as it maintains a minimum frame rate above 60 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the system has ample headroom. The Ultra preset delivers 75 FPS, which is perfectly playable and offers the best visual quality. Users can safely enable Ultra at this resolution without worrying about frame rate drops. The High preset at 1080p provides 96 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays, while Medium hits 112 FPS. The Low preset at 146 FPS is unnecessary unless the user is chasing maximum frame rates for competitive play, which is unlikely for this genre.

For 4K, the data does not support a fully smooth experience. The Medium preset yields 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The High preset at 34 FPS and Ultra at 27 FPS are not recommended for a playable experience. The only 4K option that approaches playability is Low at 52 FPS, but this requires a significant sacrifice in visual quality. The data suggests that 4K is not a viable target for this combo, and users should stick to 1440p or 1080p for the best balance of performance and visuals.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data represents the exact measured average frame rates for the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile in The Technomancer.

• 1920x1080: At Low settings, the combo averages 146 FPS. Medium settings reduce this to 112 FPS, with a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 129 FPS. High settings produce an average of 96 FPS. Ultra settings yield 75 FPS.

• 2560x1440: Low settings average 95 FPS. Medium settings average 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 84 FPS. High settings drop to 63 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 49 FPS.

• 3840x2160: Low settings average 52 FPS. Medium settings average 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS. High settings drop to 34 FPS. Ultra settings yield a low average of 27 FPS.

The delta between Medium and High settings is consistent across resolutions, with High being approximately 14% slower than Medium. This is a smaller gap than the 25% difference between Low and Medium, suggesting that the High preset introduces a moderate but not overwhelming increase in graphical load. The jump from High to Ultra is more punishing, with a 24% performance penalty at 1080p (96 to 75 FPS) and a 21% penalty at 1440p (63 to 49 FPS). At 4K, the Ultra preset's performance is the worst measured result in the entire set, indicating that the GPU is entirely overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile combination ranks 2453 out of 3696 tested combos for this game. This places it in the lower third of all systems tested, which is a surprising result given the individual component specs. The RTX 5060 Mobile's GPU benchmark score of 18852 in Passmark G3D and its 67th percentile ranking suggest it should perform better than this game-specific ranking indicates.

The ranking suggests that The Technomancer is particularly sensitive to memory bandwidth or VRAM capacity, which are the RTX 5060 Mobile's weak points. The CPU, however, is a strong performer. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17984.5 places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X, has an average score of 35909, which is a delta of -0.7%, meaning the Intel chip is slightly slower in synthetic tests. This raw CPU power is not enough to overcome the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions. The low ranking relative to the component's individual percentiles indicates that the combination is bottlenecked by the GPU in this specific title, and the game's engine does not scale well with the RTX 5060 Mobile's architecture.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in The Technomancer?

A: The data indicates 2560x1440 is the sweet spot, where the High preset achieves 63 FPS and the Medium preset achieves 73 FPS, both providing a solid playable experience.

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

A: No. The highest 4K average is 52 FPS on Low settings, with Medium at 40 FPS, High at 34 FPS, and Ultra at 27 FPS. These are all below a stable 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU is powerful enough to drive 146 FPS at 1080p Low, but as resolution increases, the RTX 5060 Mobile's performance drops significantly, indicating a GPU bottleneck.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 Mobile compare to its direct rival, the RTX 4060 Mobile?

A: The average benchmark scores show the RTX 5060 Mobile is 1.3% slower than the RTX 4060 Mobile, making them essentially equal in synthetic performance.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: Medium settings average 112 FPS, while Ultra settings average 75 FPS. This represents a 33% reduction in frame rate for the maximum visual quality preset.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM impact performance?

A: Yes, the data suggests it does. The severe drop in frame rates at 4K, particularly with the Ultra preset (27 FPS), indicates that the 8 GB VRAM capacity is a significant bottleneck at that resolution.