The Technomancer

# The Technomancer with Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload for this particular pairing of Intel's flagship Core Ultra 9 290K Plus processor and AMD's mid-range Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics card. With measured frame rates spanning from a smooth 142 FPS at 1080p Low down to a stutter-prone 26 FPS at 4K Ultra, the data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the GPU in most scenarios. The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy: as resolution increases, the RX 6600 XT becomes the dominant bottleneck, while the 24-core CPU remains largely underutilized in this title. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across all twelve tested configurations, examines the respective roles of the CPU and GPU, and provides practical settings recommendations based strictly on the observed frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across the four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) and three resolutions (1080p, 1440p, 4K) tells a clear story about where the optimal experience lies. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 93 FPS average, which is a solid 20 FPS above the Medium preset's 109 FPS? No, let's re-read: Medium at 1080p gives 109 FPS and High gives 93 FPS, so Medium is actually faster. The jump from Medium to Low at 1080p is substantial: 109 to 142 FPS, a 30% increase. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 73 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 33% performance loss compared to High.

For the best balance of visual fidelity and smoothness at 1080p, the Medium preset appears optimal, delivering 109 FPS average with a minimum of 93 FPS and maximum of 126 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining higher quality than Low. The High preset at 93 FPS is also viable, but the data shows that Medium offers a 17% performance boost over High with presumably modest visual differences.

At 2560x1440, the situation shifts. Medium delivers 71 FPS average (minimum 61, maximum 82), which is the only preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS. High drops to 61 FPS average, which is borderline, while Low reaches 93 FPS and Ultra falls to 48 FPS. For 1440p gaming, Medium is the recommended preset, as it provides a stable experience with the minimum FPS exactly at 61, ensuring no drops below the 60 FPS target.

At 3840x2160, the results are far less encouraging. Even Low settings only reach 51 FPS average, with Medium at 39 FPS and High at 33 FPS. The Ultra preset bottoms out at 26 FPS, which is essentially unplayable for most action games. The data suggests that 4K is not a viable resolution for this game with this GPU, regardless of settings. If forced to play at 4K, Low settings provide the best playable experience at 51 FPS, but even this is below the ideal 60 FPS threshold.

The overall recommendation, based on the measured rows, is to use the Medium preset at either 1080p or 1440p. At 1080p, Medium gives 109 FPS with a tight 93-126 FPS range, offering the best combination of performance and quality. At 1440p, Medium's 71 FPS average with 61 FPS minimum is the only preset that guarantees a smooth experience. The High preset at 1440p is a viable alternative for those prioritizing visuals, but the 61 FPS average leaves no headroom for demanding scenes.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, is clearly the limiting factor in this configuration for The Technomancer. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth, along with 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its base clock is 1968 MHz, with a game clock of 2359 MHz and boost clock of 2589 MHz. These specifications place the GPU at the 70th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24442.

The measured FPS data demonstrates the GPU's dominance as the bottleneck. At 1080p, the performance difference between Low (142 FPS) and Ultra (73 FPS) is a massive 94% spread, indicating that the GPU is being pushed to its limits by the higher settings. The VRAM capacity of 8 GB may also be a factor at 4K Ultra, where the game likely requires more memory than available, contributing to the extremely low 26 FPS result.

Comparing the RX 6600 XT to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database shows it sits in a competitive position. It is 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630, 0.8% ahead of the GTX 780 Ti, and 1.1% ahead of the RTX 2080 SUPER, while being 0.8% behind the Intel Arc A350M. These small deltas suggest that the RX 6600 XT's performance in synthetic benchmarks is closely matched with these other cards, though real-world gaming performance can vary significantly.

The GPU's memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s is likely a critical factor in The Technomancer's performance. As resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, the demand for memory bandwidth grows exponentially, and the RX 6600 XT's 128-bit bus may not be sufficient to feed the GPU's 2048 shading units at higher resolutions. This explains the dramatic FPS drops: from 93 FPS at 1080p High to 61 FPS at 1440p High (a 34% drop) and then to 33 FPS at 4K High (a 46% drop from 1440p).

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It features a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, with 36 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303, placing it at the 96th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 84003.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role appears minimal based on the FPS data. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 142 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's frame rate ceiling for this game, but the fact that the same CPU with a more powerful GPU would likely achieve higher FPS suggests this is not a CPU bottleneck. The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (0.2% higher score), AMD EPYC 4584PX (1.1% higher), and AMD EPYC 9135 (1.2% higher), while the EPYC 7F72 is 1.3% lower. These differences are negligible for gaming.

The CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads are far more than The Technomancer, a 2016 title, likely utilizes. The game was released before the era of high-core-count gaming CPUs, so it probably scales well with single-thread performance rather than multicore capabilities. The CPU's single-core Cinebench R23 score of 7303 is excellent, but the game's performance at 1080p Low (142 FPS) suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in most tests.

The fact that FPS scales so dramatically with resolution (from 142 FPS at 1080p Low to 51 FPS at 4K Low) indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint. The CPU's high boost clock of 5.80 GHz and strong single-thread performance ensure that it can keep up with the GPU's demands, but the data does not show any scenario where CPU performance is the main bottleneck. Even at 4K Ultra (26 FPS), the CPU is likely waiting for the GPU to finish rendering each frame.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 2018 out of 2825 tested combinations in The Technomancer. This places the combo in the bottom 29% of all tested systems, which is a surprisingly low ranking given the high-end CPU. This ranking strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the 24-core CPU's potential is wasted when paired with a mid-range graphics card in this specific game.

The combo's rank of 2018 out of 2825 means that 607 other combinations performed worse, while 2017 combinations performed better. This is a below-average result for a system featuring a top-tier CPU, and it underscores the importance of GPU selection for gaming performance. The RX 6600 XT, while ranking at the 70th percentile among all GPUs, is simply not powerful enough to drive The Technomancer at high settings and resolutions.

The data suggests that this pairing is heavily imbalanced for this game. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs contrasts sharply with the GPU's 70th percentile ranking, creating a situation where the system's overall gaming performance is determined almost entirely by the GPU. For a game like The Technomancer, which appears to be GPU-bound at most settings, the CPU's massive multicore capabilities provide no benefit.

The rank of 2018 out of 2825 also implies that many systems with much weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs would outperform this combo. The measured FPS at 1080p Ultra (73 FPS) is respectable, but the low ranking suggests that other combinations with more balanced CPU-GPU pairings achieve better results. This is a classic case of over-spending on the CPU at the expense of GPU performance for gaming workloads.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across the three resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 142 at 1080p to 93 at 1440p (a 35% decrease) and then to 51 at 4K (a 45% decrease from 1440p). This scaling is consistent with a GPU that is running out of pixel throughput and memory bandwidth as resolution increases.

At Medium settings, the progression is 109 FPS (1080p) to 71 FPS (1440p) to 39 FPS (4K), representing drops of 35% and 45% respectively. The High settings show 93 FPS to 61 FPS to 33 FPS, with similar percentage drops. The Ultra settings show 73 FPS to 48 FPS to 26 FPS, with the drop from 1440p to 4K being 46%.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings presets is telling. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS decrease is approximately 35%, and from 1440p to 4K, it's approximately 45%. This uniform scaling suggests that the GPU is the sole limiting factor, as a CPU bottleneck would show less FPS variation with resolution changes.

The fact that the RX 6600 XT cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K even on Low settings (51 FPS) confirms that the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K gaming in this title. The 128-bit memory bus is particularly problematic at 4K, where texture bandwidth requirements are extremely high. At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU can keep pace with the CPU's output, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck.

The resolution scaling data also indicates that players with this combo should stick to 1080p or 1440p. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 109 FPS with a minimum of 93 FPS, providing a smooth experience. At 1440p Medium, the 71 FPS average is still good, but the 61 FPS minimum means there will be occasional dips below 60 FPS. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with no preset exceeding 51 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset delivers 109 FPS average with a minimum of 93 FPS and maximum of 126 FPS, making it the optimal choice. The High preset at 93 FPS is also playable, but Medium offers a 17% performance improvement with likely minimal visual differences.

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

A: The data shows that 4K is not viable. Even at Low settings, the system only achieves 51 FPS average, and the Ultra preset drops to 26 FPS. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K in this title.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus the bottleneck in this game?

A: No, the data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU is at the 96th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 70th percentile. The FPS drops consistently as resolution increases, which is a sign of GPU limitation, not CPU.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 2018 out of 2825 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 29%. This low ranking is due to the GPU's limited performance relative to the high-end CPU.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 61 FPS, with an average of 71 FPS and maximum of 82 FPS. This ensures no drops below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 142 FPS while Ultra achieves 73 FPS, making Low approximately 95% faster. This represents a nearly 2x performance difference between the lowest and highest settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates for The Technomancer with the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is as follows:

3840x2160 (4K):

• Ultra: 26 FPS average
• High: 33 FPS average
• Medium: 39 FPS average, with a minimum of 33 FPS and maximum of 45 FPS
• Low: 51 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Ultra: 48 FPS average
• High: 61 FPS average
• Medium: 71 FPS average, with a minimum of 61 FPS and maximum of 82 FPS
• Low: 93 FPS average

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Ultra: 73 FPS average
• High: 93 FPS average
• Medium: 109 FPS average, with a minimum of 93 FPS and maximum of 126 FPS
• Low: 142 FPS average

The data shows that the Medium preset is the only one at 1440p that maintains a minimum FPS above 60, with the 61 FPS minimum providing a stable experience. At 1080p, all presets except Ultra maintain minimum FPS above 93, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. The 4K results are uniformly below 60 FPS, with even the Low preset falling 15% short of that target. The performance gap between Low and Ultra is consistent across resolutions: approximately 95% at 1080p, 94% at 1440p, and 96% at 4K, confirming that the GPU's workload scales predictably with settings.