Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Lockdown Protocol, with all tested settings at all three resolutions clearing the 60 FPS playable threshold. The data indicates a system that is heavily overqualified for this title, as even the most demanding preset at 4K produces frame rates well above the target.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which produces an average of 64 FPS. This is a tight margin above the 60 FPS threshold, but it is a legitimate and sustained average rather than a transient spike. The data shows a clear step-down pattern from Ultra to High at this resolution, with High averaging 85 FPS, Medium averaging 97 FPS, and Low averaging 137 FPS. The 64 FPS average at Ultra suggests that 4K gaming with maximum settings is viable, though the narrow headroom means any future patch or additional scene complexity could push it closer to the boundary.

At 2560x1440, the answer is again Ultra, delivering an average of 99 FPS. The margin here is far more comfortable, representing a 65% increase over the 4K Ultra result. The scaling from 4K to 1440p shows a substantial performance gain, with High jumping to 132 FPS, Medium reaching 151 FPS, and Low hitting 212 FPS. This resolution appears to be the sweet spot for this combination, offering the visual fidelity of Ultra settings while maintaining a frame rate that comfortably exceeds the requirements of high-refresh-rate displays.

At 1920x1080, the best settings are once more Ultra, with an average of 135 FPS. The progression across resolutions is perfectly linear in terms of settings hierarchy: Ultra remains playable everywhere. The 1080p Ultra result is more than double the 4K Ultra figure, indicating that the GPU has significant headroom at lower resolutions. Low settings at 1080p reach 290 FPS, which approaches the range of competitive esports frame rates. The takeaway is simple: this system never forces a compromise below Ultra, even at the highest resolution tested.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results reveal a system where the GPU is the primary performance limiter, but only at higher resolutions. Examining the scaling from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the Ultra preset drops from 135 FPS to 99 FPS, a 27% reduction. Moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, the same preset falls to 64 FPS, a further 35% reduction. This consistent degradation as resolution increases points directly at the GPU as the bottleneck—the RTX 4070 SUPER is doing progressively more work while the CPU's workload remains relatively static.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent when examining the settings scaling at a fixed resolution. At 3840x2160, moving from Low to Ultra reduces average FPS from 137 to 64, a 53% drop. At 1920x1080, the same settings change yields a reduction from 290 to 135 FPS, a 53% drop as well. The proportional impact of settings is nearly identical across resolutions, which suggests the Ryzen 9 9900X3D is providing enough headroom that it does not artificially cap performance even when the GPU is less stressed at lower resolutions.

The 12-core, 24-thread processor with its 128 MB of L3 cache appears more than sufficient for Lockdown Protocol's demands. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is least burdened, the system reaches 290 FPS without any indication of CPU saturation. The benchmark data shows no anomalies where the CPU would be expected to throttle performance; the scaling behavior is smooth and predictable. For this game, the GPU is the component to watch—the CPU is effectively a non-factor across all tested configurations.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, the data shows an average of 64 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which clears the 60 FPS playable threshold. However, the margin is slim, so players seeking guaranteed stability might prefer High settings at 85 FPS for additional headroom.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to Low settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings deliver 212 FPS compared to Ultra's 99 FPS, representing a 114% increase in average frame rate. The jump from Medium at 151 FPS to Low at 212 FPS is particularly pronounced.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER or the Ryzen 9 9900X3D more important for this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. Evidence comes from the resolution scaling: Ultra at 1080p yields 135 FPS, which drops to 64 FPS at 4K—a 53% reduction. The CPU's influence is minimal, as the Ryzen 9 9900X3D maintains consistent performance even at low resolutions where CPU load would be highest.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded in the entire benchmark set?

A: The maximum average frame rate is 290 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is followed closely by 212 FPS at 2560x1440 Low and 206 FPS at 1920x1080 Medium.

Q: Does the system ever drop below 60 FPS in any tested configuration?

A: No. The lowest average recorded is 64 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold. The only min/max data available shows the 4K Medium preset with a minimum of 83 FPS, indicating even worst-case frames stay well clear of the playability limit.

Q: How does the 4K Medium result compare to the 1080p Ultra result?

A: 4K Medium averages 97 FPS, while 1080p Ultra averages 135 FPS. The 1080p Ultra preset is 39% faster despite using higher-quality settings, which underscores the significant cost of rendering at 4K resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination ranks 582nd out of 3714 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 15.7% of all configurations. This is a strong showing, though not a top-tier result—the ranking indicates there are 581 combinations that deliver higher frame rates. Given that this system already achieves 135 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 64 FPS at 4K Ultra, the combos ranked above it are likely pushing into refresh-rate territory that exceeds what most displays can show. The percentile ranking of the GPU at 83 and the CPU at 91 suggest that the CPU is comparatively stronger than the GPU, yet the overall combo still performs admirably because the game's engine is not particularly demanding. The data implies that this pairing is well-balanced for Lockdown Protocol, with the CPU's high percentile ensuring no bottlenecks and the GPU's respectable percentile handling the rendering workload effectively.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF delivers an average benchmark score of 55093, which is just -0.6% different from the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's average. This means a system built around the 245KF would behave nearly identically in Lockdown Protocol, assuming the same GPU. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K scores 54053, a 1.3% difference, while the Intel Xeon 6505P at 53701 and the Intel Core i7-14700F at 53620 are within 2.1% of the Ryzen's performance. Any of these CPUs paired with the RTX 4070 SUPER would produce frame rates within a few percentage points of what the 9900X3D achieves, making them viable alternatives if platform preferences differ.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB has an average score of 43262, just -0.1% from the RTX 4070 SUPER's 43223. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile scores 43268 (-0.1%), the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 scores 43301 (-0.2%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile reaches 43667 (-1%). The near-identical scores among these GPUs suggest that swapping the RTX 4070 SUPER for any of these would yield essentially the same frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, though the mobile variants would require a laptop platform. The Quadro cards are workstation-oriented but would still process game rendering effectively given their similar compute capabilities.

The Verdict

This PC can absolutely run Lockdown Protocol, and it does so with exceptional headroom. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: at 3840x2160, all four settings presets are playable, with Ultra averaging 64 FPS and High reaching 85 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra is comfortably playable at 99 FPS, representing the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, Ultra hits 135 FPS, and Low reaches 290 FPS for those seeking maximum responsiveness. The system never falls below 60 FPS in any tested configuration, and the lowest minimum frame rate recorded is 83 FPS at 4K Medium. The data suggests that players can choose their preferred settings based on monitor refresh rate rather than being constrained by performance limitations. For 60 Hz displays, 4K Ultra is viable; for 144 Hz displays, 1440p Ultra is the recommended target; for competitive play at 240 Hz, 1080p Low provides 290 FPS. There is no configuration in the tested set that would disappoint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the full settings ladder shows: Low averages 137 FPS with no min/max data, Medium averages 97 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 112 FPS, High averages 85 FPS, and Ultra averages 64 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one at this resolution with complete min/max data, and the 83 FPS minimum confirms that even the lowest frames remain well above the playability threshold.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 212 FPS, Medium averages 151 FPS with a range of 128 FPS minimum to 173 FPS maximum, High averages 132 FPS, and Ultra averages 99 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 61 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 33 FPS, indicating that the settings scaling is not perfectly linear.

At 1920x1080, Low averages 290 FPS, Medium averages 206 FPS with a minimum of 175 FPS and maximum of 237 FPS, High averages 180 FPS, and Ultra averages 135 FPS. This resolution shows the largest absolute differences between presets, with a 155 FPS spread between Low and Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 175 FPS is higher than the Ultra average at 1440p (99 FPS), which highlights how much resolution impacts performance relative to settings adjustments.