The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that stresses both processor and graphics hardware. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, based exclusively on the provided benchmark data. The data shows a configuration capable of high refresh rates at mainstream resolutions, with performance scaling that reveals the game's engine characteristics.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of how the RX 9070 XT handles The Technomancer across four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the data shows a wide spread: Low delivers 233 FPS, Medium 179 FPS, High 153 FPS, and Ultra drops to 119 FPS. The jump from Medium to High is a 26 FPS reduction, while the jump from High to Ultra is 34 FPS. For players with 144Hz displays, the High preset at 153 FPS is the optimal balance, as it stays above the refresh threshold while maintaining substantial visual quality over Medium.

At 2560x1440, the scaling pattern shifts. The High preset produces 100 FPS, which is a 35% reduction from the 1080p High result. Medium runs at 117 FPS, offering a 17 FPS advantage over High. Given that the game is an Action RPG where combat fluidity matters, the Medium preset at 1440p is the recommended choice for maintaining a 100+ FPS experience, as it provides a 17 FPS buffer over High while still delivering respectable detail levels.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. High averages 55 FPS, Medium 64 FPS, and Ultra falls to 43 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one that remains comfortably above 60 FPS, making it the clear recommendation for 4K. The data indicates that Ultra at 4K is not viable for smooth play, as it drops below 45 FPS. Players prioritizing visual fidelity over smoothness could consider High, but the 9 FPS difference between Medium and High suggests diminishing returns.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is the High preset at 1920x1080, delivering 153 FPS. This provides a triple-digit frame rate that comfortably exceeds standard 144Hz monitors. For 1440p users, Medium at 117 FPS is the sweet spot, offering a 17 FPS improvement over High while sacrificing some shadow and texture detail. At 4K, Medium at 64 FPS is the only preset that keeps the experience fluid without dipping below the 60 FPS threshold.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the primary driver of The Technomancer's frame rate, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The RDNA 4.0 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC, contains 4,096 shading units and 128 ROPs. The boost clock reaches 2970 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz.

The memory configuration is substantial for a 2016 title. The Technomancer's texture streaming and open-world environments benefit from the 16 GB capacity, which prevents any VRAM-related stuttering that could occur on smaller memory pools. The 644.6 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture data is fed to the GPU without bottlenecking, which is critical for maintaining consistent frame times in action sequences.

The GPU's compute capabilities are reflected in its benchmark scores. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test shows a score of 7260, while Geekbench Vulkan reaches 65879. These scores place the RX 9070 XT in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13543. The nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7770M with a deltaPct of 0.1 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 with a deltaPct of 0.2, indicating that the RX 9070 XT's average score is statistically close to these older parts in this specific test suite.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The drop from 83 FPS at Low to 43 FPS at Ultra represents a 48% performance loss, driven by the increased shader and ROP workload. The 128 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s, which is sufficient for 1080p but strained at 4K with full effects. The data suggests that the RX 9070 XT is well-matched to 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates, while 4K requires preset compromises.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable at 1920x1080 with this combo?

A: The data shows the highest average FPS at 1080p is 233 FPS, achieved with the Low preset. The High preset delivers 153 FPS, which is the highest quality setting that still exceeds 150 FPS.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra preset compare to the 1080p Low preset in terms of frame rate?

A: The 4K Ultra preset averages 43 FPS, while the 1080p Low preset averages 233 FPS. This represents a 190 FPS difference, or an 81.5% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest quality at 1080p to the highest quality at 4K.

Q: Does the RX 9070 XT have sufficient VRAM for The Technomancer?

A: Yes, the GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. This is ample for a 2016 title, and the data shows no indication of memory-related performance drops. The 644.6 GB/s bandwidth also supports high-resolution texture streaming.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of the RX 9070 XT among all GPUs, based on average benchmark scores?

A: The RX 9070 XT ranks in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13543. This places it above the median but below high-end parts.

Q: How much FPS is gained by dropping from High to Medium at 2560x1440?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset averages 117 FPS, which is 17 FPS higher than the High preset's 100 FPS. This represents a 17% improvement in frame rate.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data shows the 1080p Low preset reaches 233 FPS, which is very high. Given that the CPU has 24 cores and 24 threads with a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, it is unlikely to be a bottleneck at these frame rates, though the lack of min FPS data for most presets limits further analysis.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT ranks 627th out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places the combo in the top 22.2% of all configurations. The rank reflects the overall performance across all measured presets and resolutions.

The CPU contributes to this ranking through its strong multi-threaded performance. The Core Ultra 9 290K Plus scores 51731 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, which is in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has an average score of 83807 with a deltaPct of 0.2, meaning the 290K Plus is effectively tied with the 285K. The AMD EPYC 7F72 has a deltaPct of -1.3, indicating the 290K Plus is 1.3% faster.

The GPU's ranking is more modest. With a 55th percentile placement, the RX 9070 XT is not a top-tier part in the benchmark database's aggregate scoring. However, the combo's overall rank of 627 suggests that the CPU's high percentile (96th) helps boost the combined standing. The measured FPS data shows that the combo is well-suited for high-refresh 1080p gaming, which likely contributes to its position above the median.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. The L3 cache is 36 MB shared, with 3 MB L2 per core and 192 KB L1 per core. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The game was released in 2016, and its engine is not particularly multi-threaded, but the 290K Plus's high single-thread performance (736 in Cinebench R15 single-core, 7303 in R23 single-core) ensures that it can handle the game's main thread without becoming a bottleneck. The 5.80 GHz boost clock is particularly beneficial for older titles that rely on high clock speeds rather than core counts.

The CPU's benchmark scores show strong overall performance. The PassMark multi-thread score is 60860, and the single-thread score is 4823. The data compression score is 698346, and the floating-point math score is 214760. These scores indicate a processor that excels at both integer and floating-point workloads, which is relevant for game logic and physics.

At 1080p with the Low preset, the combo achieves 233 FPS. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is capable of sustaining very high draw call throughput. The lack of min FPS data for most presets means we cannot assess frame time consistency, but the average FPS figures indicate that the CPU is not holding back the GPU at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 43 FPS at Ultra, which is well below the CPU's capability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings.

1920x1080:

• Low: 233 FPS average
• Medium: 179 FPS average, with min 152 FPS and max 205 FPS
• High: 153 FPS average
• Ultra: 119 FPS average

At 1080p, the Medium preset shows a narrow range between min and max (53 FPS), indicating consistent frame pacing. The Low preset's 233 FPS is the highest measurement in the entire dataset, showing that the combo can push very high frame rates when visual effects are reduced.

2560x1440:

• Low: 152 FPS average
• Medium: 117 FPS average, with min 99 FPS and max 134 FPS
• High: 100 FPS average
• Ultra: 78 FPS average

At 1440p, the Medium preset shows a min of 99 FPS, which is just below the 100 FPS threshold. The range between min and max is 35 FPS, narrower than at 1080p. The High preset at 100 FPS is exactly at the 100 FPS mark, while Ultra drops to 78 FPS, which is a 22% reduction from High.

3840x2160:

• Low: 83 FPS average
• Medium: 64 FPS average, with min 55 FPS and max 74 FPS
• High: 55 FPS average
• Ultra: 43 FPS average

At 4K, the Medium preset shows a min of 55 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The range between min and max is 19 FPS, indicating tighter frame pacing at higher resolutions. The High preset at 55 FPS is 9 FPS lower than Medium, while Ultra at 43 FPS is 12 FPS lower than High.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each step up in quality reduces the average FPS by a similar margin. At 1080p, the average reduction from Low to Ultra is 38 FPS per step. At 1440p, it is 24.7 FPS per step. At 4K, it is 13.3 FPS per step. This indicates that the GPU's workload scales sub-linearly with resolution, meaning the relative cost of each quality setting decreases as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component in this configuration. At the Low preset, the average FPS decreases from 233 at 1080p to 152 at 1440p to 83 at 4K. This represents a 64.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is less than the theoretical 4x pixel count increase (1080p has 2.07 million pixels, 4K has 8.29 million). This suggests that the GPU is not the sole limiter at 1080p Low, as the CPU may be constraining the maximum frame rate.

At the Ultra preset, the average FPS decreases from 119 at 1080p to 78 at 1440p to 43 at 4K. This is a 63.9% reduction, slightly less than the Low preset's reduction. The fact that the percentage reduction is similar across presets indicates that the GPU is scaling consistently with resolution, and the CPU is not becoming a bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The Medium preset provides the most detailed data, with min and max FPS at each resolution. At 1080p, the min is 152 FPS and max is 205 FPS, a 34.9% range. At 1440p, the min is 99 FPS and max is 134 FPS, a 35.4% range. At 4K, the min is 55 FPS and max is 74 FPS, a 34.5% range. The consistency of this range across resolutions suggests that frame pacing is stable, and the GPU is handling the workload uniformly.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a larger drop than from 1080p to 1440p. At Low, the drop from 1440p to 4K is 69 FPS (152 to 83), while the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 81 FPS (233 to 152). This non-linear scaling is typical of GPU-bound scenarios, where the pixel count increase from 1440p (3.69 million) to 4K (8.29 million) is 2.25x, while the FPS drop is 1.83x. This indicates that the GPU is approaching its fill-rate limit at 4K, where the 128 ROPs and 380.2 GPixel/s pixel rate become the constraining factor.

The data confirms that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it delivers high frame rates. At 4K, the GPU's pixel throughput limits performance to sub-60 FPS at High and Ultra presets, making Medium the only viable option for smooth play. The CPU's high single-thread performance ensures that it does not become the limiting factor at any resolution, as evidenced by the consistent scaling patterns across all presets.