The Technomancer

# The Technomancer with Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX + AMD Radeon 8060S

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress test for this modern mobile pairing. The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and AMD Radeon 8060S combination delivers a wide range of performance across resolutions and settings, with the data revealing a system that is clearly capable of high refresh rates at 1080p but begins to strain under the demands of 4K Ultra. The benchmark results show a consistent pattern where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the 24-core processor appears to have ample headroom even in this CPU-intensive genre.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and predictable drop as resolution scales from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 103 FPS at 1080p to 67 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 37 FPS at 4K. This represents a 64% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K at High settings, which is a substantial performance penalty. The scaling pattern suggests that the AMD Radeon 8060S is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the frame rate drops nearly proportionally with the increase in pixel count.

The Low settings preset tells a similar story, with average FPS dropping from 157 at 1080p to 102 at 1440p and 56 at 4K. The 4K Low result of 56 FPS is particularly telling — it indicates that even at the lowest graphical fidelity, the GPU cannot maintain a smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K. This is a clear sign that the Radeon 8060S, while powerful for an integrated solution, does not have enough raw fill rate for 4K gaming in this title.

Medium settings show the same trend with average FPS of 120 at 1080p, 79 at 1440p, and 43 at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with average FPS falling from 80 at 1080p to 52 at 1440p and just 29 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 29 FPS is barely playable, and the scaling from 1440p to 4K at Ultra settings represents a 44% performance drop, which is slightly less severe than the 64% drop seen at High settings, likely due to the increased CPU involvement at lower resolutions.

The resolution scaling data strongly implies that this system is optimized for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being feasible only at Low or Medium settings. The GPU is clearly the bottleneck at 4K, as evidenced by the fact that even dropping from Ultra to Low at 4K only improves performance from 29 to 56 FPS — a significant jump, but still not enough to reach 60 FPS. This suggests that the Radeon 8060S's 14.85 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient for 4K in this title, regardless of settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-HX architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock of 2.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2204 and Geekbench single-core score of 2458. The processor's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 per core contribute to its strong multi-threaded capabilities, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35589.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role appears to be less critical than the GPU's, given the dramatic FPS scaling with resolution. However, the processor's performance percentile of 94 versus all CPUs indicates it is in the top 6% of all processors tested, which should provide more than enough headroom for this 2016 title. The nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Xeon w5-3525 (deltaPct -0.3) and AMD EPYC 4484PX (deltaPct -0.5), both of which are server-class processors, suggesting the Ultra 9 275HX is punching well above its mobile weight class.

The fact that the 1080p Low preset achieves 157 FPS while the 4K Ultra preset only reaches 29 FPS strongly suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in this game. If the CPU were limiting performance, we would expect to see less variation across resolutions. The 24 threads and high boost clock of 5.40 GHz are likely more than sufficient for The Technomancer's AI, physics, and game logic, even at high frame rates. The Passmark single-thread score of 4713 and multi-thread score of 55759 further confirm that this processor has ample compute resources for gaming workloads.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 8060S is an integrated GPU based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process by TSMC. Its 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs provide a theoretical FP32 performance of 14.85 TFLOPS, with a boost clock of 2900 MHz. The GPU's memory configuration is "System Shared", meaning it relies on the CPU's DDR5 memory, with bandwidth listed as "System Dependent" — this could be a limiting factor in memory-intensive scenarios.

The Radeon 8060S's benchmark scores include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2162 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 84626, placing it in the 87th percentile versus all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (deltaPct 0.1) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 (deltaPct -0.6), which is remarkable for an integrated solution. However, the deltaPct values are tight, with the Radeon Pro W5700X (deltaPct 1.7) and RTX 4080 (deltaPct 2.8) also close by, indicating that the 8060S is competitive with discrete GPUs from previous generations.

In The Technomancer, the GPU's role is clearly dominant, as the FPS scales almost linearly with resolution. The 4K High result of 37 FPS and 4K Ultra result of 29 FPS indicate that the GPU's pixel throughput is insufficient for 4K gaming at high settings. The pixel rate of 185.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 464.0 GTexel/s, while impressive for an iGPU, are simply not enough to drive 8.3 million pixels at 4K with complex shading. The system-shared memory architecture may also introduce latency and bandwidth constraints that become more apparent at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and AMD Radeon 8060S ranks 1632 out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer, placing it in the 42nd percentile of all combinations tested. This ranking is surprisingly low given the individual component performance percentiles (94th for CPU, 87th for GPU), which suggests that either the game is not optimized for this hardware combination or that the system-shared memory architecture creates a bottleneck that doesn't appear in synthetic benchmarks.

This rank of 1632 out of 2825 means that roughly 58% of tested combos perform better in this specific game. The discrepancy between the component-level percentiles and the in-game ranking is noteworthy — it implies that The Technomancer may favor certain hardware configurations, possibly those with dedicated VRAM, since the Radeon 8060S's system-shared memory could be a disadvantage in this title. The game's 2016 release date may also mean it is better optimized for older architectures, potentially explaining why this modern pairing doesn't rank as highly as its raw specs would suggest.

The data indicates that while this combo is far from the bottom of the rankings, it is also not in the upper echelon for this specific game. The 2825 total combos tested provide a broad comparison, and being in the lower-middle portion suggests that users seeking maximum performance in The Technomancer might need to consider different hardware, or alternatively, adjust their settings expectations downward from what the component specs might imply.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160 resolution, the Ultra settings produce an average of 29 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users. High settings improve this to 37 FPS, Medium to 43 FPS, and Low to 56 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum of 37 FPS and maximum of 50 FPS, indicating noticeable frame-time variance. None of the 4K presets achieve a consistent 60 FPS, making 4K gaming challenging with this combo.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance becomes more playable. Ultra averages 52 FPS, High averages 67 FPS, Medium averages 79 FPS (with min 67 and max 90), and Low averages 102 FPS. The 1440p High result of 67 FPS is a solid gaming experience, while Low at 102 FPS provides a smooth experience for high-refresh-rate displays. The Medium preset's min of 67 FPS indicates that frame drops are unlikely to cause noticeable stuttering.

At 1920x1080, the system truly shines. Ultra averages 80 FPS, High averages 103 FPS, Medium averages 120 FPS (with min 102 and max 138), and Low averages 157 FPS. These results show that the combo is well-suited for 1080p gaming, with even the Ultra preset maintaining a smooth 80 FPS average. The Low preset's 157 FPS is ideal for 144Hz or 165Hz monitors, and the Medium preset's 120 FPS average with a 102 FPS minimum suggests consistent performance without major drops.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 4K gaming is possible but limited. At Low settings, the average FPS is 56, while Medium achieves 43 FPS. High and Ultra presets drop to 37 and 29 FPS respectively. None of the 4K presets reach 60 FPS, so users would need to accept lower frame rates or reduce resolution.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combination?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 provides the best experience, with all presets exceeding 80 FPS. The 2560x1440 resolution is also viable, with High settings achieving 67 FPS and Low reaching 102 FPS. The 4K resolution is only playable at Low or Medium settings.

Q: How does the Ultra 9 275HX compare to its nearest rivals?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the Ultra 9 275HX scores 67469 on average, which is 0.3% behind the Intel Xeon w5-3525 (67673), 0.5% behind the AMD EPYC 4484PX (67822), and 0.6% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5955WX (67868). It is 0.7% ahead of the Intel Xeon 6515P (67006).

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile and how does it compare to discrete GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon 8060S is in the 87th percentile versus all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 55757 is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698), 0.6% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 (56083), 1.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828), and 2.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (54247).

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

A: The Medium preset has measured minimum FPS values of 102 at 1920x1080, 67 at 2560x1440, and 37 at 3840x2160. These minimums represent the lowest frame rates recorded during testing, providing insight into potential stuttering.

Q: How does the combo's in-game rank compare to its component percentiles?

A: The combo ranks 1632 out of 2825 combinations in The Technomancer, which is in the 42nd percentile of all tested combos. This is notably lower than the CPU's 94th percentile and GPU's 87th percentile, suggesting the game does not fully utilize the hardware's capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the recommended choice. It achieves an average of 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even during intense combat scenes. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 17 FPS (120 to 103), which may not be worth the visual improvement for competitive play, but High is still an excellent option at 103 FPS for those prioritizing visuals.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 67 FPS is the sweet spot for a quality experience, as it maintains playable frame rates while offering better visual fidelity than Medium (79 FPS) or Low (102 FPS). The Ultra preset at 52 FPS is borderline playable but may cause noticeable frame drops in demanding scenes. For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 56 FPS is the only viable option, as Medium (43 FPS), High (37 FPS), and Ultra (29 FPS) all fall below the 60 FPS threshold that most users consider necessary for a smooth experience.

Users with high-refresh-rate monitors (144Hz or higher) should use the Low preset at 1080p, which delivers 157 FPS, or the Medium preset at 120 FPS for a balance of responsiveness and visual quality. The Ultra preset at 1080p (80 FPS) is suitable for users with 60Hz monitors who want maximum visual detail, as it provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS target. Overall, the data suggests that this combo is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, with 4K reserved for less demanding titles or users willing to accept lower frame rates.