Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D paired with the Intel Arc B390 presents a highly unusual performance profile in Lockdown Protocol. The data shows a system heavily constrained by its graphics processor, with the CPU’s substantial compute capabilities largely left unused at most settings. This combination yields playable frame rates only at lower resolutions and settings, with performance degrading sharply as graphical demands increase.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for this combination reveal a clear pattern: the Intel Arc B390 is the decisive factor in Lockdown Protocol. At 3840x2160, the system fails to deliver playable performance under any settings. The High preset produces an average of 26 FPS, while Medium improves slightly to 30 FPS with a recorded minimum of 25 FPS and maximum of 34 FPS. Dropping to Low raises the average to 42 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 19 FPS. None of these figures approach the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the situation improves but remains limited. The Low preset is the only playable option, achieving an average of 65 FPS. The Medium preset averages 46 FPS with a range of 39 to 53 FPS, while High drops to 40 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution averages 30 FPS, matching the 4K Medium result. The jump from Low to Medium represents a 19 FPS loss, indicating that even modest increases in graphical fidelity strain the GPU significantly.

The 1920x1080 results show the best-case scenario for this pairing. The Low preset delivers an average of 88 FPS, a strong margin above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium also clears the bar with an average of 63 FPS, though the minimum of 53 FPS indicates occasional dips below playable levels. High averages 55 FPS, narrowly missing the threshold, while Ultra falls to 41 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 25 FPS, and from Medium to High another 8 FPS, illustrating how quickly performance degrades as settings rise.

Across all resolutions, the delta between Low and Ultra is substantial. At 4K, the spread from 42 FPS to 19 FPS represents a 55% drop. At 1440p, the range is 65 FPS down to 30 FPS, a 54% reduction. At 1080p, the span from 88 FPS to 41 FPS is a 53% decline. This consistency suggests the GPU’s fixed hardware limits, not CPU overhead, dictate performance scaling.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Lockdown Protocol at 60 FPS on a 4K monitor?

A: No. At 3840x2160, no settings preset reaches 60 FPS. The best result is the Low preset at 42 FPS, followed by Medium at 30 FPS, High at 26 FPS, and Ultra at 19 FPS.

Q: What is the best playable configuration at 2560x1440?

A: Only the Low preset is playable, with an average of 65 FPS. The Medium preset falls short at 46 FPS, and High and Ultra average 40 FPS and 30 FPS respectively.

Q: Which settings at 1920x1080 exceed the 60 FPS threshold?

A: Low and Medium both average above 60 FPS. Low achieves 88 FPS, while Medium averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS, meaning some frames will dip below 60.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Low across resolutions?

A: Ultra is consistently the weakest performer. At 4K it averages 19 FPS, at 1440p it averages 30 FPS, and at 1080p it averages 41 FPS. In all cases, Ultra delivers roughly half the frame rate of Low at the same resolution.

Q: What is the performance gap between 1080p and 4K on the Low preset?

A: The Low preset drops from 88 FPS at 1920x1080 to 42 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 46 FPS. This indicates the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are major limiting factors at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 7800X3D help maintain minimum frame rates?

A: The recorded minimums are only available for Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 53 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 39 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 25 FPS. These values suggest the CPU does not prevent frame drops; the GPU limits sustained performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The database ranks this combination at 3302 out of 3714 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the bottom 11% of all tested systems, indicating that while it can run the game, its overall capability is far below the median. The rank reflects the GPU’s low benchmark percentile of 9, meaning the Arc B390 outperforms only 9% of all recorded GPUs. The CPU, by contrast, sits in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, a stark mismatch.

The measured FPS data corroborates the low ranking. At 4K, none of the four presets reach even half the 60 FPS target. At 1440p, only one of four presets clears the threshold. At 1080p, two of four presets are playable. The combination’s rank suggests that most other tested systems, even those with significantly weaker CPUs, outperform this pairing due to the GPU bottleneck.

The disparity between the CPU’s high percentile and the GPU’s low percentile creates a system that is balanced only in the sense that both components limit different aspects. The CPU handles scene complexity and physics, but the GPU cannot render frames fast enough to utilize that capability. The result is a system that ranks poorly despite having a top-tier processor.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the Intel Arc B390, the data shows it performs at a level comparable to several legacy NVIDIA mobile and OEM parts. The GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463, a 1.3% delta from the Arc B390’s 1482 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. The GeForce 800M is 1.5% behind, and the GT 625 OEM is 2.5% behind. The closest rival, the GT 710, is 2.7% slower. These comparisons indicate that the Arc B390’s raw graphics performance aligns with decade-old entry-level parts, which explains the low frame rates in Lockdown Protocol.

For the CPU side, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D’s nearest rivals are all within a narrow margin. The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G and Intel Core i7-13650HX both match the 7800X3D’s average benchmark score exactly at 33089, a 0% delta. The AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX is also at 33091, effectively identical. The AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H trails by 0.4% at 33201. These rivals show that the 7800X3D’s processing power is typical of high-end desktop and mobile chips from the same era.

In practical terms, swapping the Arc B390 for any of its nearest rivals would produce similar or worse frame rates in Lockdown Protocol. Conversely, pairing the 7800X3D with a stronger GPU would likely yield dramatically better results, as the CPU has ample headroom. The database suggests that the GPU is the sole performance bottleneck in this configuration.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data makes clear that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component in every scenario. The evidence is the consistent frame rate collapse as resolution and settings increase. At 1080p Low, the system produces 88 FPS. Raising settings to Ultra at the same resolution cuts this to 41 FPS, a 53% reduction. At 4K, the Low preset already drops to 42 FPS, and Ultra falls to 19 FPS. These reductions are far larger than what would be expected if the CPU were contributing to the bottleneck, since the 7800X3D has ample single-thread and multi-thread performance.

The CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. With a max-thread benchmark score of 7967 and a single-thread score of 959 in 3DMark, the 7800X3D is clearly capable of handling Lockdown Protocol’s demands. The fact that frame rates scale almost entirely with resolution and settings points to the GPU’s pixel and texture throughput limits. The Arc B390’s 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 120.0 GTexel/s texture rate are modest figures, and the 24 ROPs limit fill-rate-bound scenarios.

At 1080p, the CPU may still matter for minimum frame rates. The Medium preset shows a 53 FPS minimum, which is 10 FPS below the average. This dip could be caused by CPU-related hitches in complex scenes, but the data does not isolate this factor. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU is unquestionably the dominant constraint, as even Low settings cannot maintain high frame rates.

The scaling pattern across resolutions is telling. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the average drops from 88 to 65 FPS, a 23 FPS loss. From 1440p Low to 4K Low, it drops another 23 FPS to 42. This linear degradation aligns with the increase in pixel count, reinforcing that the GPU’s rendering capacity is the sole limiter.

The Verdict

This system can run Lockdown Protocol, but only under specific conditions. The verdict by resolution is clear: at 3840x2160, there are no playable settings. The best average is 42 FPS on Low, which is well below the 60 FPS threshold. Users with 4K displays will need to lower resolution or upgrade the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only playable option, averaging 65 FPS. This provides a playable experience, though visual quality will be minimal. The Medium preset misses the threshold at 46 FPS, and High and Ultra are far behind at 40 and 30 FPS respectively.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results. The Low preset averages 88 FPS, offering a smooth experience with room to spare. The Medium preset also clears 60 FPS at 63 FPS, though the 53 FPS minimum means occasional stutter. High averages 55 FPS, just below the target, and Ultra falls to 41 FPS.

Ultimately that this combination is only suitable for 1080p gaming with reduced settings, or 1440p with the lowest settings. The CPU is not the issue; the Arc B390’s performance ceiling is. Users seeking higher frame rates at higher resolutions should consider a different GPU, as the 7800X3D has substantial unused potential in this pairing.