Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a lopsided combination in Lockdown Protocol: the GPU is so dominant that every preset, at every resolution tested, clears the 60 FPS playable threshold by a wide margin. The data shows this is a combination where the CPU, not the GPU, becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution drops and frame rates climb. This pairing ranks 269th out of 3,714 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 7.2% of all configurations. The practical takeaway: you have headroom to max out settings everywhere, but the Ryzen 7 5700X3D will hold back the RTX 5090 at 1080p and 1440p in a way that matters for high-refresh monitors.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 86.5 FPS, which is the most demanding setting that stays above 60 FPS. The data confirms all four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — are playable at 4K, meaning you can simply select Ultra and enjoy the maximum visual quality without worrying about frame rate. The 86.5 FPS average leaves a comfortable 26.5 FPS margin above the playable threshold, so even demanding scenes should hold up reasonably well.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset runs at an average of 130.4 FPS. This is a substantial jump from 4K and indicates that the GPU still has plenty of headroom at this resolution. All settings are playable, and Ultra is the obvious choice unless you are targeting a 144 Hz or higher refresh rate display — in which case you could drop to High at 175.1 FPS or Medium at 187.3 FPS for additional smoothness.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 176.2 FPS. This is the fastest playable configuration at the lowest tested resolution. The frame rate at Ultra is 59.7 FPS higher than at 4K Ultra, showing a massive scaling benefit from the resolution drop. For competitive play on a 240 Hz monitor, Low at 233.2 FPS or Medium at 207.5 FPS would be better choices, but Ultra remains well above 60 FPS.

CPU and GPU Roles

The RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, but its influence is most visible at 4K. The scaling from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at Ultra settings shows a drop from 130.4 FPS to 86.5 FPS — a 33.6% reduction — which is the classic signature of GPU-bound rendering. The GPU is doing the heavy lifting at higher resolutions, and the CPU has little impact on the frame rate ceiling there.

At lower resolutions, the CPU becomes the limiting factor. The jump from 3840x2160 Ultra at 86.5 FPS to 2560x1440 Ultra at 130.4 FPS is a 50.8% increase, but the jump from 2560x1440 Ultra to 1920x1080 Ultra is only 35.1% — from 130.4 FPS to 176.2 FPS. This diminishing return indicates that the Ryzen 7 5700X3D is approaching its performance ceiling around 176 FPS in this game, and the RTX 5090 is waiting on the CPU to feed it frames. The 5700X3D, with its 8 cores and 16 threads based on Zen 3, scores 22,366 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,157 in single-core — respectable numbers, but not enough to fully unlock the RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute at 1080p.

The pattern holds across presets. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low (233.2 FPS) and Ultra (176.2 FPS) is 57 FPS, which suggests that lower settings reduce GPU load and push the bottleneck further onto the CPU. At 3840x2160, the difference between Low (178.9 FPS) and Ultra (86.5 FPS) is 92.4 FPS, indicating the GPU workload dominates and the CPU is less of a factor. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensure that memory capacity and bandwidth are never constraints at any resolution tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low runs at 178.9 FPS, Medium at 128.4 FPS, High at 111.7 FPS, and Ultra at 86.5 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 51.7% reduction in frame rate, which is steep but expected given the 4K pixel count. The gap between Medium and High is 16.7 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 25.2 FPS — the Ultra preset is notably more demanding than High.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are: Low at 213.2 FPS, Medium at 187.3 FPS, High at 175.1 FPS, and Ultra at 130.4 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 82.8 FPS, a 38.8% reduction. Interestingly, the difference between High and Ultra (44.7 FPS) is much larger than the difference between Medium and High (12.2 FPS), suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces a significant rendering cost at this resolution.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are: Low at 233.2 FPS, Medium at 207.5 FPS, High at 196.1 FPS, and Ultra at 176.2 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 57 FPS, a 24.4% reduction — the smallest percentage drop of any resolution. This reinforces the CPU-limited nature at 1080p: the GPU can handle the extra settings load without much frame rate penalty, but the CPU caps the overall throughput. The minimum and maximum FPS values were not recorded in the data, so the analysis here relies solely on average frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 269th out of 3,714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 92.8th percentile of all configurations. This is a strong result, but not a top-tier one — the ranking reflects the CPU's limitations more than the GPU's strengths. The RTX 5090 alone sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 79,842, while the Ryzen 7 5700X3D sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs with an average score of 24,709. The combo rank of 269 is lower than the GPU's individual standing, confirming that the CPU drags the overall result down.

The measured FPS data supports this interpretation. At 4K Ultra, the combo hits 86.5 FPS, which is excellent for a 2024 release like Lockdown Protocol, but the 1080p Ultra result of 176.2 FPS suggests the CPU is capping performance well below what the RTX 5090 could deliver on its own. In a game with a 60 FPS playable threshold, this combo is overkill in the most literal sense — it never drops below 86.5 FPS even at the highest settings and resolution tested.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D has an average benchmark score of 24,728, which is just 0.1% higher than the Ryzen 7 5700X3D's 24,709. In practical terms, swapping to the 7600X3D would yield nearly identical frame rates in Lockdown Protocol — the 5700X3D's 96 MB of L3 cache and 8-core configuration are well matched against the 7600X3D's newer architecture but fewer cores. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX scores 24,822, a 0.5% advantage, meaning it would behave essentially the same in this game. The Intel Core i5-12450HX and Intel Core i5-11600 score 24,576 and 24,563 respectively, which are 0.5% and 0.6% lower — again, no meaningful difference for Lockdown Protocol.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are surprising: the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605, just 0.3% below the RTX 5090's 79,842, and the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396, a 0.6% deficit. These are compute-oriented cards, but the benchmark data indicates they would produce nearly identical average FPS in this game. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940, a 1.1% deficit, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959, a 1.4% advantage. None of these differences would be perceptible in gameplay — they all fall within a narrow 2.5% band of the RTX 5090's score.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Lockdown Protocol at 4K Ultra settings above 60 FPS?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 86.5, which is 26.5 FPS above the 60 FPS playable threshold. All four presets at 4K are playable, with Low at 178.9 FPS, Medium at 128.4 FPS, and High at 111.7 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The CPU is the limiting factor at 1920x1080. The frame rate at Ultra (176.2 FPS) is only 57 FPS higher than at 4K Ultra (86.5 FPS), despite the pixel count dropping to a quarter. The scaling from 1440p to 1080p is smaller than from 4K to 1440p, indicating the Ryzen 7 5700X3D is nearing its ceiling around 176 FPS.

Q: What is the best setting to use for a 144 Hz monitor at 1440p?

A: High settings at 2560x1440 deliver 175.1 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz. Medium settings run at 187.3 FPS, and Ultra runs at 130.4 FPS — slightly below the 144 Hz target. For a 144 Hz display, High is the recommended preset.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 269th out of 3,714 tested combos, placing it in the top 7.2% of all configurations. The RTX 5090 individually ranks in the 92nd percentile of GPUs, while the Ryzen 7 5700X3D ranks in the 77th percentile of CPUs.

Q: Would a different CPU or GPU make a noticeable difference in this game?

A: The nearest CPU rivals — the Ryzen 5 7600X3D, Ryzen 9 5900HX, Intel Core i5-12450HX, and Intel Core i5-11600 — all score within 0.6% of the 5700X3D, so the difference would be imperceptible. On the GPU side, the Tesla P100 variants and Radeon RX 6850M XT score within 1.1% of the RTX 5090, also producing no noticeable frame rate change.

Q: Is the Ultra preset the best choice at 4K for this game?

A: Yes, for visual quality. The Ultra preset averages 86.5 FPS at 3840x2160, which is well above the 60 FPS playable threshold. If you prefer higher frame rates, dropping to High gives 111.7 FPS, a 29.1% improvement, but Ultra remains the most demanding playable setting.