Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a strong performance profile for Lockdown Protocol, with measured frame rates that comfortably exceed the 60 FPS playability threshold across most settings and resolutions. The data indicates that this combination is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, while still maintaining playable performance at 4K with adjusted settings. Based on the measured FPS data, the combo ranks 1572 out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the upper half of all tested systems for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination produces exceptional frame rates across all four tested presets. The Low preset delivers an average of 215.2 FPS, which is the highest measured performance in the entire dataset. Moving to Medium yields 154 FPS, while High settings produce 135.5 FPS. The most demanding Ultra preset still maintains an average of 102.6 FPS, meaning every setting at 1080p clears the 60 FPS playability threshold by a substantial margin. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a drop of approximately 112.6 FPS, or about 52%, indicating that the GPU has ample headroom even at the highest quality settings.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected impact of increased pixel count. The Low preset achieves 157.6 FPS, which is still well above the playability threshold. Medium settings produce 109.6 FPS, and High settings deliver 96.5 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution maintains 74.3 FPS, which remains comfortably playable. The transition from 1080p to 1440p reduces performance by roughly 27% at Low settings (from 215.2 to 157.6 FPS) and by about 28% at Ultra settings (from 102.6 to 74.3 FPS), showing consistent scaling behavior across the preset range.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. The Low preset still delivers a playable 104.4 FPS, while Medium settings achieve 71.6 FPS. High settings barely clear the playability bar at 62.2 FPS, making it the most demanding playable preset at this resolution. The Ultra preset drops to 46.4 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold and is not considered playable. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K is substantial, with a difference of 15.8 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant additional load on the GPU at this resolution.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data shows a clear pattern where the GPU becomes the dominant performance factor as resolution increases, while the CPU's role is more prominent at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080, the spread between Low and Ultra settings is 112.6 FPS (from 215.2 to 102.6 FPS), which is the largest absolute difference across all resolutions. This wide spread suggests that at 1080p, the system has enough CPU headroom to let the GPU's workload scaling drive frame rate differences, but the sheer magnitude of the numbers indicates that neither component is severely bottlenecked.

At 2560x1440, the spread between Low and Ultra narrows to 83.3 FPS (from 157.6 to 74.3 FPS). The proportional reduction from 1080p to 1440p is relatively uniform across presets, with Low dropping by 26.7%, Medium by 28.9%, High by 28.8%, and Ultra by 27.6%. This uniform scaling suggests that the system is transitioning from a more balanced CPU-GPU utilization at 1080p to a progressively more GPU-bound state at 1440p, as the pixel throughput demands begin to outweigh the CPU's frame generation capabilities.

At 3840x2160, the scaling pattern changes more dramatically. The Low preset drops to 104.4 FPS, which is a 33.7% reduction from 1440p, while Ultra drops to 46.4 FPS, a 37.6% reduction. However, the critical observation is that the High preset at 4K (62.2 FPS) is only 35.5% lower than its 1440p counterpart (96.5 FPS), and the Medium preset drops by 34.7%. These consistent reductions of roughly one-third across all presets when moving from 1440p to 4K indicate that the RTX 3070 is the primary limiting factor at this resolution, as the CPU's role diminishes and the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become the determining constraints.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 3840x2160, the Low, Medium, and High presets all achieve average frame rates above the 60 FPS threshold, with High being the best playable setting at 62.2 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 46.4 FPS, which is below the playable threshold.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset delivers 74.3 FPS, making it the most demanding setting that remains playable. All four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) exceed the 60 FPS threshold at this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, placing it 0.7% above the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, 1% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, and 1.1% above the AMD Radeon HD 7970M. It trails the NVIDIA Tesla K40c by 1.5%.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the system delivers 135.5 FPS at 1920x1080 and 62.2 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a 54.1% reduction in average frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the wide performance spread between Low (215.2 FPS) and Ultra (102.6 FPS) suggests that the system has CPU headroom to support high frame rates, with the GPU becoming the limiting factor as settings increase. The Ryzen 5 9600X's single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1253, helps maintain high frame rates at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for Lockdown Protocol?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 1572 out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the upper half of all tested systems.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 1572 out of 3714 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, positioning it in the 58th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking places it in the upper half of configurations, though not in the top tier. The CPU itself ranks in the 81st percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 61st percentile against all GPUs, indicating that the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card within this pairing.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark performance include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE, which scores 0.2% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H, which scores 0.5% lower. The GPU's nearest rivals show a similar pattern, with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT scoring 0.7% higher and the NVIDIA Tesla K40c scoring 1.5% higher. These marginal differences suggest that both components perform near the middle of their respective performance tiers, making the overall combo ranking a reflection of the balanced but not exceptional combination.

The Verdict

This PC can run Lockdown Protocol at playable frame rates across all tested resolutions, with some caveats at 4K. At 1920x1080, the system clears the 60 FPS threshold on all presets, with the lowest performing preset (Ultra) still delivering 102.6 FPS. At 2560x1440, all four presets also maintain playable performance, with Ultra achieving 74.3 FPS. At 3840x2160, the system achieves playable frame rates on Low (104.4 FPS), Medium (71.6 FPS), and High (62.2 FPS) presets, but the Ultra preset falls short at 46.4 FPS.

The verdict by resolution is clear: 1080p and 1440p allow for full flexibility in settings selection, with even the most demanding Ultra preset remaining playable. At 4K, users must select High settings or lower to stay above the 60 FPS threshold, as Ultra is the only non-playable configuration in the dataset.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best settings preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which delivers an average of 102.6 FPS. This is the most demanding preset available, and it maintains a substantial margin above the playability threshold, making it the recommended choice for 1080p gaming.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset is also the best playable option, achieving 74.3 FPS. This provides a comfortable 14.3 FPS buffer above the 60 FPS threshold, allowing for the highest visual quality while maintaining smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the best settings preset is High, which delivers 62.2 FPS. While this is only 2.2 FPS above the playability threshold, it represents the most demanding preset that remains playable at 4K. Users seeking a larger safety margin could opt for Medium at 71.6 FPS, but High offers the best visual quality within playable performance limits.