The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that scales predictably with resolution. The pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience, but it is at 4K where the GPU's limits become clearly defined. Benchmark data indicates this combo is best suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p, with 4K requiring settings compromises to maintain playable frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and reveals a system that becomes progressively more GPU-bound as pixel count increases. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 138 FPS at 1920x1080 to 90 FPS at 2560x1440, a 34.8% reduction. Moving to 3840x2160, the average further drops to 50 FPS, which represents a 63.8% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline is characteristic of a scenario where the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT's rendering throughput becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern between Low and Ultra settings reinforces this analysis. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 210 FPS at 1080p to 137 FPS at 1440p and then to 76 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is 63.8% lower than the 1080p Low result, nearly identical to the scaling seen at High settings. This consistency across settings suggests that the resolution scaling is driven by the GPU's pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth, rather than by CPU-side limitations or specific rendering features.

The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling. At Medium settings, the difference is 48 FPS (106 FPS at 1440p versus 58 FPS at 4K), a 45.3% drop. This is a larger relative decline than the 1080p to 1440p transition, which saw a 34.6% drop (162 FPS to 106 FPS). The increasing performance penalty at higher resolutions confirms that the RX 7800 XT's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus, while capable at 1440p, struggle to maintain the same level of performance when pushing the larger 4K frame buffer.

Ultra settings present the most demanding scenario, yielding 108 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, and just 39 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest in the entire dataset, and the 35.2% drop from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra is the largest percentage decline between successive resolutions for any settings preset. This indicates that at maximum quality, the combination of increased pixel count and enhanced graphical effects overwhelms the GPU, making 4K Ultra effectively unplayable for smooth gameplay.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, is the decisive component in this pairing's gaming performance. Its boost clock of 2430 MHz and game clock of 2124 MHz provide the raw compute power, while the 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1440p gaming at high settings, where the card achieves 90 FPS on High, but the 4K results show where the bandwidth and compute limits are reached.

The GPU's 37.32 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 233.3 GPixel/s pixel rate are directly reflected in the scaling data. At 4K High, the 50 FPS average suggests the card is operating near its limits, as the 60 render output units (ROPs) must process over 8.3 million pixels per frame. The 96 ROPs are a key specification here, as they directly handle pixel output; the data shows that at 4K, the card cannot maintain 60 FPS even at Medium settings, where it averages 58 FPS with a minimum of 49 FPS.

The GPU's benchmark scores corroborate its mid-range positioning. With a percentile of 51 among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 11627, it sits in the middle of the pack. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (deltaPct -0.5) and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT (deltaPct -1.8), though these comparisons are based on average scores and do not reflect gaming-specific performance. The RX 7800 XT's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) is relevant for The Technomancer, which can utilize modern rendering features, though the game's age means it likely relies more on raw rasterization performance.

In practice, the GPU's role is clear: it provides excellent 1080p performance (138 FPS High, 210 FPS Low) and very good 1440p performance (90 FPS High, 106 FPS Medium), but it becomes the limiting factor at 4K. The 4K Low result of 76 FPS shows that even with reduced graphical fidelity, the GPU cannot reach the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions, confirming that pixel throughput is the primary constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT ranks 900th out of 2825 tested combos for The Technomancer. This places it in the 68.2nd percentile of all tested systems, indicating that it performs better than roughly two-thirds of the combinations in the database but trails the top-performing configurations.

The ranking suggests that while this combo is capable, it is not optimized for maximum performance in this particular title. The CPU is a high-end part with a 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs, but the GPU's 51st percentile ranking holds the combo back. The data indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck, as the CPU's substantial compute resources (24 cores, 24 threads, boosting up to 5.80 GHz) are not fully utilized in this scenario.

The rank of 900 out of 2825 is a middling result that reflects the balance of this pairing. Systems with lower-ranked CPUs but higher-ranked GPUs would likely achieve better frame rates in The Technomancer, as the game appears to be GPU-bound at all tested resolutions. The combo's performance is consistent with its component mix: a top-tier CPU paired with a mid-range GPU yields mid-to-upper-tier gaming performance, but not class-leading results.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers excellent frame rates across the board. Low settings produce an average of 210 FPS, Medium averages 162 FPS with a minimum of 137 FPS and maximum of 186 FPS, High averages 138 FPS, and Ultra averages 108 FPS. These results show that at 1080p, the system is capable of driving high-refresh-rate monitors even at maximum quality settings.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but begins to show the GPU's limitations. Low settings average 137 FPS, Medium averages 106 FPS (minimum 90 FPS, maximum 121 FPS), High averages 90 FPS, and Ultra drops to 70 FPS. The 1440p results are all playable, with even the most demanding Ultra preset maintaining a 70 FPS average. The Medium preset's minimum of 90 FPS indicates consistent frame pacing without significant drops.

The 3840x2160 results reveal the most significant performance challenges. Low settings average 76 FPS, Medium averages 58 FPS (minimum 49 FPS, maximum 67 FPS), High averages 50 FPS, and Ultra averages 39 FPS. At 4K, only the Low preset maintains an average above 60 FPS, while Medium and High presets dip into the 50s and below. The Ultra preset's 39 FPS average is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the Medium preset's minimum of 49 FPS suggests occasional stuttering.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p is fully playable at all settings, 1440p is playable at all settings with Ultra being the most demanding, and 4K requires Low settings for a consistently smooth experience or Medium settings for a playable but not optimal frame rate. The jump from 1080p High (138 FPS) to 4K High (50 FPS) represents a 63.8% performance loss, which is the most substantial drop in the dataset.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved with this combo in The Technomancer?

A: The highest average frame rate is 210 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K, only the Low settings preset averages above 60 FPS (76 FPS). The Medium preset averages 58 FPS, which is below 60 FPS, and both High (50 FPS) and Ultra (39 FPS) fall further short.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1440p High and 4K High?

A: At 2560x1440 High settings, the average frame rate is 90 FPS. At 3840x2160 High settings, the average drops to 50 FPS, representing a 44.4% decrease in performance.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark percentile relate to its gaming performance?

A: The GPU has a 51st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 11627. This mid-range positioning is reflected in its gaming performance, which is strong at 1080p and 1440p but limited at 4K.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum frame rate recorded is 49 FPS, observed at 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: The combo ranks 900th out of 2825 tested combinations, placing it in the upper portion of the database but not among the top performers.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a high-end desktop processor with 24 cores and 24 threads, based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz provide substantial single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 and multi-core score of 51731. The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 115.2 GB/s dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth ensure that data can be fed to the GPU efficiently.

However, in The Technomancer, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that the 290K Plus is far more powerful than the average processor, but the game's rendering demands at higher resolutions place the performance ceiling on the GPU. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4823 and multithread score of 60860 show that it is more than capable of handling the game's logic and physics, but these resources are not the limiting factor.

The data supports this interpretation: at 1080p, where CPU overhead is more likely to matter, the combo achieves 138 FPS on High settings. If the CPU were a bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at higher resolutions, but instead they continue to scale down with resolution, indicating GPU-bound performance. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (deltaPct 0.2) and AMD EPYC 4584PX (deltaPct 1.1), all of which are within 1.3% of its score, confirming its position at the top of the CPU hierarchy.

The 125W TDP and Intel Socket 1851 platform provide a solid foundation for gaming, but the CPU's performance headroom is not fully utilized in this title. The game's age (released in 2016) means it likely relies on fewer threads than modern titles, so the 24-core configuration may be overkill. Nevertheless, the CPU ensures that there are no frame rate drops due to processing bottlenecks, allowing the GPU to operate at its full potential. The result is a well-balanced system for 1440p gaming, where the CPU provides ample overhead and the GPU delivers 90 FPS on High settings, with the constraint being purely the graphics card's rendering capabilities.