The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, proves to be a demanding title at higher resolutions, and the pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a performance profile that is heavily dictated by resolution and settings. The data indicates a system that is overpowered for 1080p gaming, capable of high refresh rates, but which becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution scales to 4K, where playability hinges on settings adjustments.

Resolution Scaling

The most significant takeaway from the measured data is the dramatic impact of resolution on frame rates. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces an average of 117 FPS, but this drops to 77 FPS at 1440p and further to 42 FPS at 4K. This represents a 64% performance decrease from 1080p to 4K at the High preset, clearly indicating that the AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The 1080p to 1440p transition (a 34% drop) is less severe than the 1440p to 4K transition (a 45% drop), showing that the GPU's rendering workload scales exponentially with pixel count.

This pattern is consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 179 FPS at 1080p to 117 FPS at 1440p and then to 64 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure at Low is still higher than the 4K Ultra figure (33 FPS) by nearly double, underscoring how much headroom can be gained by reducing graphical fidelity. The data suggests that at 1080p, the system is likely CPU-bound or at least balanced, as the frame rates are exceptionally high. However, the steep decline at 1440p and 4K demonstrates that the Radeon RX 7700's pixel throughput is the bottleneck, not the processing power of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus.

The scaling from Medium to High settings further illustrates this point. At 4K, Medium yields 49 FPS, while High yields 42 FPS, a modest 7 FPS difference. At 1080p, the same settings comparison shows a 20 FPS difference (137 FPS to 117 FPS). This smaller absolute gap at 4K suggests that the GPU is so saturated at that resolution that the additional workload from High settings has a proportionally smaller impact on the average frame rate, although it still pushes the result further away from the 60 FPS target. The system's performance is clearly a function of resolution first, with settings serving as a secondary adjustment lever.

Settings Recommendations

Benchmark results indicate that the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 4K gaming, the data suggests that players should make significant compromises. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of just 33 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth, playable action in a fast-paced RPG. Dropping to High improves this to 42 FPS, but this is still short of a stable 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K is the first point where the average FPS (49) approaches playability, though it still falls short of 60. For a consistent 60+ FPS experience at 4K, the Low preset is the only option, delivering an average of 64 FPS. However, this comes with significant visual compromises.

At 1440p, the situation is much more favorable. The High preset delivers 77 FPS, providing a smooth experience with good visual fidelity. The Medium preset offers 90 FPS, and Low pushes to 117 FPS. For players with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, the Medium or High presets appear to offer the best balance of visual quality and performance, both exceeding the 60 FPS threshold comfortably. The Ultra preset at 1440p is also viable, hitting an average of 60 FPS exactly, which makes it a suitable choice for those prioritizing image quality over a high frame rate.

For 1080p, the system has ample power for any setting. The Ultra preset achieves 92 FPS, which is excellent for most displays. High settings provide 117 FPS, and the Medium preset reaches 137 FPS. The Low preset, at 179 FPS, is only useful for competitive play on very high refresh rate monitors. The recommendation for 1080p is to use the Ultra preset, as it provides the highest visual quality while still maintaining a frame rate well above 60 FPS. The data shows that for this combination, 1080p is the only resolution where the Ultra preset is the clear best choice without any performance concerns. For 1440p, High or Medium is the sweet spot, and for 4K, Low is the only way to achieve a consistently playable frame rate.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 plays the central role in determining the gaming experience at higher resolutions. Its specifications, including 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, provide ample resources for The Technomancer. The 16 GB VRAM buffer is particularly notable, as it is unlikely to be a limiting factor even at 4K with High textures, allowing the card to operate without memory-related stuttering. The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 1900 MHz and a boost of 2459 MHz, are the engine driving its performance.

The benchmark scores for the GPU show a mixed picture. Its Passmark G3D score of 20974 places it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, indicating it is a mid-range performer. In the gaming-specific results, the data shows that the card's performance is its primary constraint in this title. The scaling from 1080p to 4K is not linear, and the card's raw throughput is what limits the frame rates at higher resolutions. The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, has an average score of 16129, which is 1.7% higher than the RX 7700's average score of 15852. This indicates that the RX 7700 is a competitive mid-range option, but its performance ceiling is evident in the 4K results.

The RDNA 3.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process, provides the foundation for the card's capabilities. While it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, the game's 2016 release date suggests it is likely using an older DirectX 11 path, which can sometimes leave newer hardware underutilized. However, the data does not support this theory, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings, indicating the GPU is being fully utilized. The card's 25.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the theoretical peak, and the measured results in The Technomancer show that this translates to a capable but not top-tier gaming experience. The 4K results, particularly at Ultra settings with an average of 33 FPS, clearly show the GPU is the bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1275th out of 2825 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the 45th percentile, meaning it outperforms less than half of all tested systems. This rank is a reflection of the GPU's mid-range positioning, as the CPU is a top-tier component. The ranking suggests that this is a solid, mainstream gaming setup, but it is not a high-end enthusiast configuration. The system is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming but will struggle to maintain high frame rates at 4K with demanding settings.

The rank is likely dragged down by the GPU's performance in the 4K tests, where the average frame rates are low. Systems with more powerful GPUs would achieve significantly higher scores in this game, pushing them higher up the ranks. The combo's position reflects the balance between the two components; the CPU provides enough headroom to not bottleneck the GPU at any resolution, but the GPU's own limits define the system's overall capability. This is not a pairing that will top any charts for The Technomancer, but it is a competent and capable one for the vast majority of gaming scenarios.

The CPU's own benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731, place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. This highlights the disparity between the components. The CPU is a top 4% performer, while the GPU is in the top 58%. In this game, the performance is almost entirely dictated by the GPU. The combo's rank of 1275th reflects this, as it is essentially a mid-range GPU performance level. Had the GPU been more powerful, the rank would be significantly higher. This data point is crucial for understanding that the overall system performance is only as strong as its weakest link, which in this case is the Radeon RX 7700.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a high-end processor with 24 cores and 24 threads, a base clock of 3.70 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. Its 36 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s provide a robust foundation for gaming. The benchmark data shows that this CPU is not a limiting factor in The Technomancer. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303 are exceptional, and its Passmark single-thread score of 4823 is also very strong.

In the context of this game, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data and process the game's logic. The measured frame rates, especially at 1080p where the CPU is more likely to be a factor, are extremely high. At 1080p Low, the system hits 179 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is more than capable of handling the game's demands. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has an average score of 83807, which is only 0.2% lower than the 290K Plus's score of 84003. This indicates that the 290K Plus is at the very top of the performance stack for its generation.

The lack of a bottleneck from the CPU is evident in the scaling data. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions, as the CPU's workload would remain constant. However, the frame rates drop significantly as resolution increases, which is the classic sign of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU is also capable of handling the game's single-threaded tasks, as indicated by its high single-core scores. The 24-core configuration is overkill for a game from 2016, which is unlikely to utilize more than a few cores, but it ensures that the CPU is never the source of a performance issue. This component provides a massive performance buffer, ensuring that all graphical workloads are handed off to the GPU as efficiently as possible.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the system's performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the system performs admirably at all settings. The Low preset yields an average of 179 FPS, the Medium preset averages 137 FPS with a minimum of 117 FPS and a maximum of 158 FPS, the High preset averages 117 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 92 FPS. All of these results are well above the 60 FPS threshold, making 1080p gaming a non-issue for this combo.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the GPU's increasing load. The Low preset delivers an average of 117 FPS. The Medium preset averages 90 FPS, with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS. The High preset drops to an average of 77 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to an exact average of 60 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1440p is a sweet spot, offering high frame rates with only a moderate settings compromise for those seeking 90+ FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become clear. The Low preset is the only one to break the 60 FPS barrier, averaging 64 FPS. The Medium preset averages 49 FPS, with a minimum of 42 FPS and a maximum of 57 FPS. The High preset averages 42 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to an average of just 33 FPS. The data shows a clear and consistent trend: the system is capable of excellent performance at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K gaming requires significant graphical compromises to achieve playable frame rates, with the Low preset being the only viable option for a smooth experience.