Lockdown Protocol

Best Settings per Resolution

The recorded data for this combination shows a very narrow playable window. At 1920x1080, the only preset that maintains an average at or above the 60 FPS playable threshold is Low, which delivers 76.2 FPS on average. Medium at this resolution falls to 56.2 FPS, just short of the playable mark, while High and Ultra drop further to 46.1 FPS and 38.3 FPS respectively.

Moving to 2560x1440, no settings preset reaches the 60 FPS threshold. The closest is Low at 59.1 FPS, which is technically below the playable line despite being within one frame of it. Medium produces 39.7 FPS, High produces 32.7 FPS, and Ultra produces 27.2 FPS. For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. Low is the best performer at 39.1 FPS, followed by Medium at 27.4 FPS, High at 22.8 FPS, and Ultra at 14.8 FPS.

The database lists no playable settings for either 2560x1440 or 3840x2160. This makes the recommendation straightforward: the only configuration that clears the playable threshold is 1920x1080 with Low settings. Players targeting 1440p or 4K would need to accept sub-60 FPS performance or reduce resolution further, as the measured data shows no preset at those resolutions reaches the target.

CPU and GPU Roles

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a high-end desktop processor with 8 cores, 16 threads, and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz. It sits in the 87th percentile of all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 39768. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, by contrast, is an older entry-level GPU with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and a 128-bit bus. It sits in the 40th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 7472.

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals where the bottleneck lies. From 1920x1080 Low to 2560x1440 Low, average FPS drops from 76.2 to 59.1, a reduction of about 22%. From 2560x1440 Low to 3840x2160 Low, average FPS drops from 59.1 to 39.1, a further reduction of about 34%. The same pattern holds across all presets. At High settings, the progression is 46.1 FPS at 1080p, 32.7 FPS at 1440p, and 22.8 FPS at 4K. At Ultra, it is 38.3 FPS, 27.2 FPS, and 14.8 FPS.

This steep decline as resolution increases points to the GPU as the limiting factor. The GTX 1650's 128.1 GB/s memory bandwidth and 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are modest figures, and the data shows that pixel throughput scales poorly when resolution demands grow. The CPU, by contrast, has ample headroom. Its multi-threaded scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 23230 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 18696, indicate that it can feed frames far faster than this GPU can render them.

The delta between presets at a fixed resolution reinforces this. At 1920x1080, moving from Low to Medium costs 20 FPS (76.2 to 56.2), while moving from Medium to High costs about 10 FPS (56.2 to 46.1). At 3840x2160, the same Low to Medium step costs about 12 FPS (39.1 to 27.4). These are large proportional swings, consistent with a GPU that is saturated even at the lowest settings. The processor is not the constraint here; the recorded frame rates are dictated almost entirely by the graphics card's rendering capacity.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU side, the nearest rivals in the database are all within a narrow band of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's average benchmark score. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS scores 39603, a delta of 0.4% from the 9800X3D's 39768. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 scores 40048, a delta of -0.7%. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 scores 39485, a delta of 0.7%. The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 scores 40081, a delta of -0.8%. Any of these processors would deliver effectively identical CPU-bound performance in Lockdown Protocol, meaning the frame rate differences between them would be negligible. The 9800X3D does hold a slight edge in raw multi-threaded tests like PassMark multi-thread (40009), but the rival chips are close enough that game performance would not meaningfully differ.

For the GPU side, the GTX 1650's nearest rivals are similarly clustered. The AMD Radeon HD 8850M scores 7447, a delta of 0.3% from the GTX 1650's 7472. The Intel UHD Graphics 750 scores 7441, a delta of 0.4%. The AMD Radeon R7 350 scores 7425, a delta of 0.6%. The Intel Arc A310 scores 7550, a delta of -1%. These GPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Lockdown Protocol. A system built with any of these alternatives would land in the same performance class as the 9800X3D plus GTX 1650 pairing, with the same inability to hit 60 FPS at 1440p or 4K and the same playable result only at 1080p Low.

The practical takeaway is that this combination's game performance is defined by the GPU's tier. Swapping the 9800X3D for a nearby CPU would change almost nothing in measured FPS. Swapping the GTX 1650 for a nearby GPU would also change almost nothing. The pairing sits in a distinct performance envelope, and only a GPU several tiers higher would shift the playable resolution ceiling.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination run Lockdown Protocol at 1080p?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings. The recorded average FPS at 1920x1080 Low is 76.2, which clears the 60 FPS threshold. Medium drops to 56.2, which is below the playable line.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p?

A: There is no playable setting at 2560x1440. The closest result is Low at 59.1 FPS average, just under the 60 FPS threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra produce 39.7, 32.7, and 27.2 FPS respectively.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D the reason frame rates are low?

A: No. The GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks in the 87th percentile of all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 40th percentile. The steep FPS drops as resolution increases, for example from 76.2 FPS at 1080p Low to 39.1 FPS at 4K Low, indicate the graphics card cannot keep up with the CPU's output.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in this game?

A: The GTX 1650's average benchmark score is 7472. Its nearest rivals, including the AMD Radeon HD 8850M at 7447 and the Intel Arc A310 at 7550, are within 1% of that score. Game performance would be nearly identical across these GPUs.

Q: What settings should I use for 4K?

A: No preset reaches 60 FPS at 3840x2160. Low is the fastest at 39.1 FPS, followed by Medium at 27.4 FPS, High at 22.8 FPS, and Ultra at 14.8 FPS. Even the lowest settings fall well short of the playable threshold.

Q: How much FPS is lost moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low?

A: The average drops from 76.2 FPS to 59.1 FPS, a loss of about 17 FPS. Moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low drops the average from 59.1 FPS to 39.1 FPS, a further loss of 20 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The database includes measured average FPS for twelve configurations, covering three resolutions and four settings presets. Minimum and maximum FPS values were not recorded for any configuration, so the analysis relies on averages.

At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 76.2 FPS, Medium produces 56.2 FPS, High produces 46.1 FPS, and Ultra produces 38.3 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 37.9 FPS, with each step down in settings recovering a meaningful amount of performance.

At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 59.1 FPS, Medium produces 39.7 FPS, High produces 32.7 FPS, and Ultra produces 27.2 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 31.9 FPS. Notably, 1440p Low is only 3.1 FPS slower than 1080p High (59.1 versus 56.2), showing that resolution scaling and settings scaling are closely balanced at this performance tier.

At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 39.1 FPS, Medium produces 27.4 FPS, High produces 22.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 14.8 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 24.3 FPS. Every preset at 4K falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold, and even Low at 4K is slower than Ultra at 1080p by 0.8 FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the GTX 1650 loses roughly 30 to 40 percent of its frame rate when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 30 to 40 percent when moving from 1440p to 4K. The settings preset also has a large impact, with Ultra typically delivering about half the frame rate of Low at the same resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 3520 out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. That places it in the bottom 5 percent of all tested pairings. The ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU, which sits in the 40th percentile of all GPUs in the database and has an average benchmark score of 7472.

The CPU, by contrast, is far stronger. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D ranks in the 87th percentile of all CPUs and has an average benchmark score of 39768. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 with a score of 40081, are all within 1% of its performance. The mismatch between a top-tier processor and an entry-tier graphics card creates a system that is severely GPU-limited in this game.

The rank of 3520 out of 3714 means the vast majority of tested combinations deliver better performance in Lockdown Protocol. Only 194 tested combos rank below this pairing. The data indicates that the GTX 1650 holds the system back far more than the CPU helps it, and any meaningful improvement in game performance would require a GPU upgrade rather than a CPU change.

For context, the combination is playable at only one configuration: 1080p Low, where it averages 76.2 FPS. Every other tested configuration falls below the 60 FPS threshold. This places the pairing firmly in the low end of the database's tested combos for this title, despite the strong processor at the heart of the system. Players with this combination should expect to play at reduced resolutions and settings, and the recorded data suggests that the GTX 1650 is the component that defines the experience.