The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that quickly exposes the limits of lower-tier graphics hardware. This analysis pairs the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, a 24-core desktop processor with a 5.80 GHz boost clock and 36 MB of shared L3 cache, with the AMD Radeon RX 570, a 4 GB GDDR5 card built on the Polaris 20 chip. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets show a system that is firmly GPU-bound, where the CPU's immense processing power is largely left unused. The data indicates that this combination ranks 2712 out of 2825 tested combos for this game, placing it in the bottom 4% of all configurations. This is a pairing where the graphics card, an end-of-life product from 2017, becomes the definitive bottleneck, making the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus a severely mismatched partner.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 2712 out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places the system in the 96th percentile from the bottom, meaning only a fraction of tested configurations perform worse. The ranking is a direct consequence of the graphics card's performance ceiling, not the CPU's capability. The RX 570's average benchmark score is 28766, and its percentile versus all GPUs is 74, indicating it is a mid-range performer in general, but its age and 4 GB memory buffer prove insufficient for this game's demands at higher settings.

The CPU, in stark contrast, is a top-tier component. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003 and a percentile versus all CPUs of 96. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which scores 83807 (a mere 0.2% difference), and the AMD EPYC 7F72, which scores 85072 (a -1.3% difference). This data confirms that the processor is operating at the very high end of the performance spectrum, with its closest competitors being server-class EPYC chips. The discrepancy between the CPU's elite standing and the combo's near-bottom ranking in this game is stark. The bottleneck is unequivocally the GPU; the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus could easily drive a much more powerful graphics card, but the RX 570's limited fillrate and memory bandwidth prevent it from translating the CPU's power into high frame rates. The result is a system that is theoretically capable, but practically limited by its weakest link, making the overall ranking a reflection of the GPU's age rather than any fault in the processor.

Settings Recommendations

For a playable experience at 1920x1080, the data shows that the "Low" preset is the only setting that provides a comfortable frame rate. The measured average FPS at 1080p Low is 68, which is well above the threshold for smooth, responsive gameplay. This should be the default choice for any user seeking a consistent experience. The 1080p Medium preset drops to an average of 53 FPS, with minimum frame rates recorded at 45. This is still playable, but the lower minimums indicate a less stable frame pacing, which could be noticeable in combat or during fast camera movements. The 1080p High preset yields an average of 45 FPS, which is on the border of acceptable for an action RPG, but the lack of min/max data makes it a riskier recommendation. The 1080p Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of only 35 FPS, which will feel sluggish.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more constrained. The "Low" preset produces an average of 45 FPS, which is acceptable for slower-paced exploration but may struggle in intense scenes. The Medium preset at this resolution averages 34 FPS, with a minimum of 29, which is below the ideal threshold for a reaction-based game. The High and Ultra presets at 1440p, averaging 29 and 23 FPS respectively, are not recommended for a smooth experience. At 3840x2160, all presets are effectively unplayable. The highest average is 25 FPS on Low, and the Ultra preset averages just 13 FPS. The data clearly indicates that this combo is a 1080p-oriented system. For the best balance between visual quality and performance, the 1080p Medium preset is the highest setting that maintains a mostly stable frame rate. However, for users who prioritize a rock-solid frame rate over visual fidelity, the 1080p Low preset is the only option that delivers a consistently fluid experience. The gap between Low and Medium is significant, representing a 15 FPS average drop at 1080p, which suggests a substantial increase in shader complexity or memory pressure that the RX 570 cannot handle efficiently.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with High settings, the average FPS is 45. Moving to 1440p High, the average drops to 29 FPS, a reduction of 35.6%. At 4K High, the average plummets to 16 FPS, a further 44.8% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline with increasing pixel count is a textbook sign that the rendering pipeline is saturated at the graphics card level. The number of pixels at 4K is roughly four times that of 1080p, and the frame rate scaling is almost inversely proportional, dropping from 45 to 16 FPS, which is a 64.4% reduction. This is far more severe than what a CPU-bound system would show, where the frame rate would remain relatively stable as resolution increases, since the CPU workload is primarily tied to game logic and draw calls, not pixel fill.

The pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For instance, at Low settings, the 1080p average is 68 FPS, which drops to 45 FPS at 1440p (a 33.8% decrease) and then to 25 FPS at 4K (a 44.4% decrease from 1440p). The fact that the relative performance drop is similar across both Low and High presets reinforces the conclusion that the limiting factor is the GPU's fillrate and memory bandwidth. The RX 570's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s, becomes a severe constraint as the framebuffer size increases. The GPU's pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are simply not sufficient to handle the increased load at higher resolutions. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, with its 24 cores and 36 MB of L3 cache, is not the bottleneck here. Its performance would be consistent across resolutions; the frame rate drop is entirely attributable to the graphics card's inability to keep up with the pixel processing demands. This analysis shows that users should not expect any significant benefit from the powerful CPU when increasing resolution, as the GPU is the sole limiting factor in this configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a precise picture of this combo's capabilities in The Technomancer. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 68 FPS on Low settings, making it the only configuration that breaks the 60 FPS barrier. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 53 FPS, with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS, indicating that frame times are variable. The High preset averages 45 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to an average of 35 FPS. These numbers show that 1080p is the only viable resolution for this card, and even then, only the Low and Medium presets offer a consistently acceptable experience. The 18 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p highlights the significant performance cost of the game's higher visual fidelity options.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance degrades considerably. The Low preset averages 45 FPS, which is identical to the 1080p High setting, showing that the resolution increase exacts a heavy toll. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 34 FPS, with minimums of 29 FPS and maximums of 40 FPS. The High preset averages 29 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages just 23 FPS. None of these 1440p settings provide a frame rate that would be considered smooth for an action game. The data shows a clear step-down in performance, with the 1440p Medium preset performing similarly to the 1080p Ultra preset in terms of average FPS. At 3840x2160, the system is not usable for gameplay. The Low preset averages 25 FPS, the Medium preset averages 19 FPS (with a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 22), the High preset averages 16 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages a slideshow-like 13 FPS. These 4K numbers confirm that the RX 570 is completely out of its depth at this resolution, regardless of the quality settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the primary and overwhelming bottleneck in this configuration. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory is a critical limitation for The Technomancer, as the game's texture and geometry data at higher presets likely exceeds this capacity, leading to significant performance penalties. The memory operates at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. This is a modest figure by modern standards and is insufficient for the demands of 1440p and 4K rendering. The GPU's core is based on the Polaris 20 chip, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It features 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s, with a FP32 compute performance of 5.095 TFLOPS. These are the hardware limits that dictate the frame rates measured in the benchmark.

The GPU's benchmark scores further contextualize its standing. Its average benchmark score is 28766, and its percentile versus all GPUs is 74. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, which scores 28874 (a -0.4% difference), and the AMD Radeon RX 470, which scores 28996 (a -0.8% difference). This shows that the RX 570 is a competent mid-range card from its generation, but it is now several generations old. The data from 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 shows a score of 880, which is low, reflecting its age. The Geekbench scores for Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan are 39349, 32084, and 42752, respectively. In The Technomancer, the GPU's clock speeds of 1168 MHz base and 1244 MHz boost are fixed, and the benchmark results show that these clocks cannot be leveraged into higher frame rates because the card is hitting its memory bandwidth and fillrate limits. The core is simply not fast enough to process the scene data at high resolutions, and the 4 GB memory buffer forces texture swapping and lower draw distances, contributing to the severe frame rate drops observed at 1440p and 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is an exceptionally powerful processor that is entirely underutilized in this pairing. It features 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. This is a desktop processor built on a 3 nm process at TSMC, using the Arrow Lake Refresh codename. Its cache hierarchy is substantial, with 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 36 MB of L3 cache. The CPU's memory support is DDR5 with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s. These specifications make it a top-tier CPU for any modern workload, including gaming. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 51731 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7303 in single-core, placing it in the 96th percentile versus all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 84003 puts it just ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which scores 83807 (a 0.2% delta), and behind the AMD EPYC 7F72, which scores 85072 (a -1.3% delta).

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic. The measured frame rates show that the CPU is never the limiting factor. Evidence for this is the steep frame rate drop when increasing resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would be similar at 1080p and 4K, as the CPU workload would not change significantly with resolution. Instead, the data shows a dramatic decrease from 68 FPS at 1080p Low to 25 FPS at 4K Low, which is a 63.2% reduction. This is a definitive sign of a GPU bottleneck. The Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is capable of generating far more frames than the RX 570 can render. Its high single-thread performance, evidenced by a 4823 score in Passmark's single-thread test, ensures that it can handle the game's main thread with ease. The game, being from 2016, is likely not optimized for 24 cores, so most of the CPU's processing power is left idle. The data suggests that this processor is overkill for this specific GPU and game combination. A significantly weaker CPU would likely produce identical frame rates in The Technomancer, as the RX 570's performance ceiling is so low. The CPU's 5.80 GHz boost clock and 36 MB of L3 cache are wasted potential in this scenario, as the graphics card simply cannot keep up with the processor's output.