The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents an interesting challenge for modern high-end hardware. The benchmark results for the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 show a configuration that is heavily skewed toward GPU-bound performance at higher resolutions, while revealing significant CPU overhead at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the measured data to provide a clear picture of what this specific combo offers.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for the best experience across the three resolutions tested. At 3840x2160, the High preset delivers 79 FPS on average, while the Medium preset achieves 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and a maximum of 107. The Ultra preset drops to 62 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay on many displays. Given this data, the High preset is the optimal choice for 4K, offering a solid balance between visual fidelity and performance that stays comfortably above 60 FPS. While Medium provides a 14 FPS boost, the jump to High is more significant for visual quality and remains well within playable territory.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 144 FPS on average, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset provides 169 FPS with a minimum of 144 FPS, while Ultra drops to 113 FPS. For 1440p, the High preset is again the recommended starting point, as it delivers a perfect 144 FPS average that matches common 144Hz display refresh rates. The Medium preset offers a higher ceiling for competitive play, but the visual compromise is unnecessary when High maintains a 144 FPS floor for minimums.

At 1920x1080, the data shows a different pattern. The High preset reaches 221 FPS, Medium hits 259 FPS, and Low pushes to 337 FPS. The Ultra preset manages 173 FPS. For 1080p, the Medium preset provides the best balance, as it delivers 259 FPS while keeping minimums above 220 FPS. The High preset is still excellent, but Medium offers a significant 38 FPS advantage with minimal visual impact at this resolution. The Low preset, while fastest, sacrifices too much visual quality for a marginal gain over Medium. The Ultra preset, while demanding, still maintains a high 173 FPS average, making it viable for those who prioritize image quality above all else.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this configuration. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, the card has a massive 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This bandwidth is critical for The Technomancer, which appears to scale well with GPU resources. The GPU's base clock is 2017 MHz, boosting to 2407 MHz, and this helps drive the high frame rates observed in the benchmark data.

The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is primarily responsible for the performance gap between settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 62, which indicates the GPU is being pushed to its limits with the highest visual effects. The drop from High to Ultra at 4K is 17 FPS, a 21.5% reduction, which shows that the Ultra preset introduces significant rendering overhead. In contrast, the drop from High to Medium at 4K is 14 FPS, a 17.7% reduction, suggesting Medium is a more efficient step.

The GPU's percentile rank of 92nd among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79842, places it near the top of the performance spectrum. Its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB with a delta of 0.3%, show that the RTX 5090 is not just fast but also well-balanced in its compute capabilities. The data indicates that the RTX 5090 is rarely the limiting factor in this game, except at the highest settings where its 32 GB VRAM and processing power are fully utilized.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. With a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, it provides substantial single-thread performance. This is evident in its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 and its Passmark single-thread score of 4823. The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for game logic and physics.

In The Technomancer, the CPU's role becomes apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 337 FPS, which is 76 FPS higher than at 1080p High. This gap suggests that at Low settings, the GPU is not fully utilized, and the CPU is better able to feed frames to the renderer. The CPU's Passmark multithread score of 60860 and its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 indicate strong multi-threaded capability, but the game appears to rely more on single-thread performance for its core loop.

The CPU's percentile rank of 96th among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84003, shows it is a top-tier processor. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has a delta of just 0.2%, meaning the 290K Plus offers marginal gains over its predecessor. In this game, the CPU is rarely the bottleneck, as evidenced by the fact that at 1440p High, the FPS is 144, which is exactly the same as the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium, indicating the CPU is holding a steady frame delivery rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 35th out of 2825 tested combos in The Technomancer. This places it in the top 1.2% of all configurations tested, which is an exceptional result. The high rank is a direct consequence of both components being near the top of their respective performance charts.

The GPU's 92nd percentile and the CPU's 96th percentile combine to create a system that excels in this game. The rank of 35 out of 2825 indicates that while there are 34 other combos that perform better, this is a highly competitive setup. The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals show that the 290K Plus is only 0.2% faster than the 285K, meaning the CPU choice has minimal impact on this game's performance. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rival, the Tesla P100, is 0.3% slower, but the RTX 5090's superior memory bandwidth and compute features give it an edge in actual gaming scenarios.

The combo's performance at 4K High, hitting 79 FPS, is a strong indicator of its overall capability. The fact that it can maintain 60 FPS or higher at 4K Ultra, albeit barely, shows that it can handle the most demanding settings in this game. The rank is further justified by the smooth scaling across resolutions, with the combo delivering 337 FPS at 1080p Low and 62 FPS at 4K Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the best setting for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset at 3840x2160 delivers 79 FPS on average, which is the recommended choice. The Ultra preset drops to 62 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for some displays, while Medium provides 93 FPS but with lower visual fidelity.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the combo achieves 337 FPS, which is significantly higher than the 221 FPS at High. This suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at very high frame rates, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as settings increase.

Q: How much faster is this combo compared to its nearest CPU rival?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K's score of 83807. This difference is negligible in real-world gaming.

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

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 144, with an average of 169 and a maximum of 195. This ensures a consistent experience on 144Hz monitors.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 significantly better than its closest GPU rival?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79842, which is 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB's score of 79605. However, the RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, which is a major advantage for modern games.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 Ultra, the combo achieves 62 FPS on average. This is playable, but it is the lowest average FPS recorded in the data, so users with 60Hz displays will be satisfied, while those with higher refresh rates may prefer High settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset delivers 62 FPS, High delivers 79 FPS, Medium delivers 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and a maximum of 107, and Low delivers 121 FPS. The spread from Ultra to Low is 59 FPS, showing a significant performance range based on visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset achieves 113 FPS, High achieves 144 FPS, Medium achieves 169 FPS with a minimum of 144 and a maximum of 195, and Low achieves 220 FPS. The spread here is 107 FPS, which is wider than at 4K, indicating that the GPU has more headroom to exploit at lower resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset reaches 173 FPS, High reaches 221 FPS, Medium reaches 259 FPS with a minimum of 220 and a maximum of 298, and Low reaches 337 FPS. The spread at 1080p is 164 FPS, the largest of all resolutions, which clearly demonstrates that the CPU is able to push frame rates far beyond what the GPU can render at higher settings.

The data shows a consistent pattern: as resolution decreases, the performance gap between settings widens. This is because the GPU becomes less of a bottleneck at lower resolutions, allowing the CPU to drive higher frame rates. The Medium settings consistently provide the best balance of performance and stability, with minimum FPS values that are close to the average of the next higher setting.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 221 at 1080p to 144 at 1440p, a 34.8% reduction, and then to 79 at 4K, a 64.3% reduction from 1080p. This steep drop indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the rendering workload increases exponentially with pixel count.

At Low settings, the FPS drops from 337 at 1080p to 220 at 1440p, a 34.7% reduction, and then to 121 at 4K, a 64.1% reduction. The similarity in percentage drops across different settings suggests that resolution scaling is consistent, regardless of visual quality. This is a strong indicator that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are the dominant constraints.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At High settings, the FPS drops from 144 to 79, a 45.1% reduction. At Medium settings, the drop is from 169 to 93, a 45.0% reduction. This consistent ~45% drop when moving from 1440p to 4K suggests that the GPU is being pushed to its limits at 4K, and the CPU is not a factor in this transition. The fact that the 4K Ultra preset hits 62 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold, shows that the RTX 5090 is nearly maxed out by this game's most demanding settings.

The data also shows that the CPU can keep up with the GPU at all resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 337 FPS indicates that the CPU is capable of handling the game's logic at incredibly high frame rates. However, at 4K Ultra, the 62 FPS shows that the GPU is the bottleneck. The resolution scaling analysis confirms that this combo is GPU-limited at 4K, CPU-limited at 1080p Low, and well-balanced at 1440p High and Medium.