Lockdown Protocol

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Lockdown Protocol with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and Intel Arc B390 spans three resolutions and four quality presets. Across the full matrix, average frame rates range from 19 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra to 88 FPS at 1920x1080 Low.

At 3840x2160, the highest preset tested, Ultra, delivers an average of 19 FPS. High settings improve that to 26 FPS. Medium reaches 30 FPS on average, with a minimum of 25 FPS and a maximum of 34 FPS. Low settings produce 42 FPS. None of these figures approach the 60 FPS playability threshold, and the minimum recorded value at Medium, 25 FPS, suggests notable frame time variance under load.

Moving to 2560x1440, the situation improves but remains constrained. Low settings average 65 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS line. High settings average 40 FPS. Medium averages 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS. Ultra averages 30 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium, 19 FPS, indicates that the quality preset has a substantial impact at this resolution.

At 1920x1080, the combo becomes more viable. Low settings average 88 FPS. Medium averages 63 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS. High averages 55 FPS, just below the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra averages 41 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one at 1080p that stays above 60 FPS on average while also having a recorded minimum above 50 FPS.

The data shows a clear pattern: resolution scaling heavily penalizes this configuration. Dropping from 3840x2160 Low to 2560x1440 Low raises the average from 42 to 65 FPS, a 23 FPS gain. Dropping further to 1920x1080 Low raises it from 65 to 88 FPS. The same trend appears across all presets, confirming that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 60 FPS in 4K?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS recorded is 42 FPS on Low settings. Ultra averages 19 FPS, High averages 26 FPS, and Medium averages 30 FPS. No preset at this resolution reaches the 60 FPS playability threshold.

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

A: Low is the only playable preset at 2560x1440, averaging 65 FPS. Medium averages 46 FPS, High averages 40 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS, all below 60 FPS.

Q: Which presets at 1920x1080 stay above 60 FPS?

A: Low and Medium. Low averages 88 FPS, and Medium averages 63 FPS. High averages 55 FPS and Ultra averages 41 FPS, both below the threshold.

Q: How does the Medium preset's frame pacing look at 1920x1080?

A: The recorded minimum is 53 FPS and the maximum is 72 FPS. The spread of 19 FPS between minimum and maximum indicates some frame time variation, but the average remains above 60 FPS.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded across all tested settings?

A: 19 FPS, at 3840x2160 Ultra. The next lowest is 26 FPS at 3840x2160 High, then 30 FPS at both 3840x2160 Medium and 2560x1440 Ultra.

Q: Does the Intel Arc B390 show a larger performance drop from 1080p to 1440p or from 1440p to 4K?

A: The drop from 1440p to 4K is larger. At Low settings, 2560x1440 averages 65 FPS while 3840x2160 averages 42 FPS, a 23 FPS loss. From 1920x1080 Low at 88 FPS to 2560x1440 Low at 65 FPS, the loss is also 23 FPS. At Medium, 1080p averages 63 FPS, 1440p averages 46 FPS, and 4K averages 30 FPS, with losses of 17 and 16 FPS respectively. The High preset shows a 15 FPS loss from 1080p to 1440p and a 14 FPS loss from 1440p to 4K.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset maintains an average of 60 FPS or higher. The most demanding preset that comes closest is Low at 42 FPS, but it still falls well short. The verdict data lists no playable settings and no best settings for this resolution.

At 2560x1440, Low is the only preset that stays at or above 60 FPS, averaging 65 FPS. It is therefore the best settings choice at this resolution. Medium, High, and Ultra all remain below the threshold.

At 1920x1080, Medium is the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS, averaging 63 FPS. Low also clears the threshold at 88 FPS, but Medium offers the highest quality among playable options. High at 55 FPS and Ultra at 41 FPS are not viable for a consistent 60 FPS experience.

The Verdict

The data indicates that this combination can run Lockdown Protocol, but only under specific conditions. At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS, so 4K is not playable. At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 65 FPS, making 1440p playable only on the lowest quality setting. At 1920x1080, both Low and Medium clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Medium averaging 63 FPS and Low averaging 88 FPS.

The playability picture is therefore resolution dependent. Users targeting 1080p have two viable presets, with Medium as the recommended balance of quality and performance. Users targeting 1440p must accept Low settings. Users targeting 4K have no viable options based on the recorded data.

The minimum frame rate data, where available, reinforces this verdict. At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum is 53 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS average but not drastically so. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 39 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 25 FPS. For users sensitive to frame drops, even the playable presets carry some risk of dipping below 60 FPS during demanding scenes.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded data shows that the Intel Arc B390 is the dominant constraint in this pairing. The Ryzen 9 5950X, with its 16 cores and 32 threads, has ample compute headroom for a game of this type. The benchmark results for the CPU, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26017 and a single-core score of 1614, indicate strong processing capability that is unlikely to bottleneck at the frame rates observed.

The GPU's benchmark profile is far more limited. The Intel Arc B390 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, and its percentile rank against all GPUs is 9. This places it in the lower tier of graphics hardware. The FPS scaling across resolutions confirms this: at every preset, reducing resolution produces significant gains, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

The scaling percentages illustrate this clearly. At Low settings, 1080p averages 88 FPS, 1440p averages 65 FPS, and 4K averages 42 FPS. That is a 26% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 35% drop from 1440p to 4K. At Medium, the averages are 63, 46, and 30 FPS, representing a 27% drop and a 35% drop respectively. At High, 55, 40, and 26 FPS represent a 27% drop and a 35% drop. At Ultra, 41, 30, and 19 FPS represent a 27% drop and a 37% drop.

The consistency of these relative drops across presets suggests that the GPU's pixel throughput, not the CPU's geometry or draw call handling, is the limiting factor. The CPU's role becomes more relevant only at the lowest resolution and lowest preset, where 88 FPS approaches a range that could begin to stress single-thread performance, but the recorded data does not show any anomaly that would indicate a CPU bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database's tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, this pairing ranks 3302 out of 3714. That places it in the lower portion of the distribution, around the 11th percentile of tested combos. The ranking reflects the GPU's limited performance profile rather than the CPU, which ranks in the 91st percentile against all CPUs in the database.

The rank is consistent with the measured FPS data. A combo that cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K on any preset, and can only manage Low at 1440p, will naturally sit low in a ranking that includes more capable graphics cards. The CPU's high average benchmark score, 51947, does not compensate for the GPU's 1482 average benchmark score in gaming workloads where the GPU is the primary driver.

The gap between the CPU's strong standing and the combo's weak standing highlights how lopsided this pairing is for gaming. The Ryzen 9 5950X is a high-end desktop processor by database metrics, but the Intel Arc B390 is an integrated-class GPU with a 9th percentile rank. For Lockdown Protocol specifically, the combo's rank reflects the GPU's inability to push high frame rates at demanding resolutions.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals recorded in the database, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X has close neighbors that would behave similarly in this game. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX has an average score 0.2% lower. The AMD EPYC 8124P is 0.3% lower. The Intel Core i9-13900F is 0.4% higher. The Intel Core i7-14700 is 0.7% lower. These deltas are all within a single percentage point, meaning any of these CPUs paired with the same Intel Arc B390 would produce nearly identical frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, since the GPU remains the bottleneck.

For the Intel Arc B390, the nearest rivals are all NVIDIA parts with similar benchmark scores. The GeForce GT 520MX is 1.3% higher. The GeForce 800M is 1.5% higher. The GeForce GT 625 OEM is 2.5% higher. The GeForce GT 710 is 2.7% higher. These GPUs would produce marginally different FPS in Lockdown Protocol, but the differences are small enough that the playability verdict would remain unchanged: 1080p Low and Medium playable, 1440p Low playable, 4K not playable.

The practical implication is that users considering a CPU swap within this rival set would see no meaningful change in performance, because the GPU holds the system back. Conversely, swapping the GPU to a part with a meaningfully higher benchmark score would be the only path to better frame rates at higher resolutions or presets. The data does not include any such GPU alternative, so no specific recommendation can be made from the recorded measurements.