Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, an FPS title, across all tested resolutions. The benchmark data, measured directly from the hardware, shows that this combination is not merely capable of running the game smoothly, but it is overpowered for most settings, consistently exceeding the 60 FPS playability threshold by a significant margin. The analysis below outlines the optimal settings, the balance between CPU and GPU load, a detailed FPS breakdown, and how this combo compares to other hardware.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160 (4K), the data indicates that the most demanding preset tested, Ultra, is the best setting to use. At this setting, the game runs at an average of 73 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold with headroom to spare. While High and Medium presets offer higher average frame rates of 98 FPS and 112 FPS respectively, the Ultra preset's performance is still well above the playable threshold, making it the optimal choice for maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness. The Low preset at this resolution pushes the average to 157 FPS, but it is unnecessary given the Ultra preset's solid performance.

Moving down to 2560x1440 (1440p), the Ultra preset remains the best choice. The average frame rate jumps to 113 FPS at this resolution, providing a very comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. This indicates that the hardware has ample performance to handle the highest visual quality settings at this popular gaming resolution. The High preset offers 151 FPS, Medium delivers 173 FPS, and Low reaches 244 FPS, but again, the Ultra preset provides an excellent balance of visual quality and high frame rate.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the performance is staggering. The best setting remains the Ultra preset, which achieves an average of 155 FPS. This is more than double the 60 FPS threshold, ensuring an extremely fluid experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. Lowering the settings yields even higher frame rates, with High at 206 FPS, Medium at 236 FPS, and Low at a massive 333 FPS, but these are only relevant for competitive players seeking the absolute maximum frame rate, as the Ultra preset is already exceptionally fast.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a clear shift in performance scaling that helps delineate the roles of the CPU and GPU at different resolutions and presets. The frame rate deltas between resolutions, while holding the same preset, show how the workload scales with pixel count.

For instance, when comparing the Ultra preset across resolutions, the average FPS scales from 155 at 1920x1080, to 113 at 2560x1440, and finally to 73 at 3840x2160. This represents a performance drop of roughly 27% from 1080p to 1440p, and another 35% from 1440p to 4K. This significant scaling indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, as it is tasked with rendering more pixels.

Conversely, the performance difference between presets at a single resolution, particularly at 1080p, suggests where the CPU's influence is felt. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low (333 FPS) to Ultra (155 FPS) is a massive 53% decrease. The fact that the Low preset can achieve over 300 FPS suggests that at lower settings, the game is heavily reliant on the CPU to process the game logic and draw calls, and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D is more than capable of feeding the RTX 4080. However, at 3840x2160, the drop from Low (157 FPS) to Ultra (73 FPS) is also around 53%, but the absolute frame rates are much lower, showing that the GPU's rendering load is the dominant factor at 4K. The data implies that at 1080p, the system is well-balanced, but the GPU's capacity is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, with the CPU providing enough headroom to avoid being a bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the system's performance across all tested configurations.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are as follows:

• Low: 157 FPS
• Medium: 112 FPS (with a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 129 FPS)
• High: 98 FPS
• Ultra: 73 FPS

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded min/max data, showing a 95 FPS minimum, which is still well above the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the average frame rates are:

• Low: 244 FPS
• Medium: 173 FPS (with a minimum of 147 FPS and a maximum of 199 FPS)
• High: 151 FPS
• Ultra: 113 FPS

The minimum FPS of 147 at Medium settings indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate does not dip near the 60 FPS threshold.

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are:

• Low: 333 FPS
• Medium: 236 FPS (with a minimum of 201 FPS and a maximum of 272 FPS)
• High: 206 FPS
• Ultra: 155 FPS

The recorded minimums at Medium settings across all resolutions (95, 147, and 201 FPS) suggest excellent frame pacing and stability, with no severe dips that would impact gameplay.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D's nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, are a set of Intel processors. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF is essentially neck-and-neck, with a performance delta of just -0.6%. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K is slightly slower, with a delta of 1.3%. Further down the list, the Intel Xeon 6505P and Intel Core i7-14700F trail by 2% and 2.1% respectively. In practical terms for Lockdown Protocol, a system with any of these CPUs would likely deliver a very similar gaming experience, as the game does not appear to be exclusively CPU-bound at the tested settings.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080's closest competitor is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, which has a negligible performance delta of just 0.1%. This means that in this game, the RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 SUPER would perform nearly identically. Interestingly, the next closest rivals are AMD products: the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X has a delta of -1.1%, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and AMD Radeon 8060S are slightly faster by -2.6% and -2.7% respectively. These deltas are all small, indicating that the RTX 4080's performance tier in this game is matched by several other cards, but none offer a substantial advantage.

The Verdict

This PC configuration can definitively run Lockdown Protocol, and it does so with exceptional performance. The verdict is clear based on the measured data: every single resolution and preset combination tested achieves an average frame rate well above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

At 3840x2160, the system can run the game at Ultra settings with an average of 73 FPS. This is the most demanding scenario, and it still provides a smooth, high-fidelity experience.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset runs at an average of 113 FPS, offering a fantastic balance of speed and visual quality.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset achieves an astonishing 155 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate display.

The data shows that this hardware combination is not just capable, but overqualified for this game. It provides a top-tier gaming experience at 4K and is powerful enough to drive high refresh rates at 1440p and 1080p with all settings maxed out.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 pair ranks at position 205 out of 3714 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the top 5.5% of all tested systems, which is a very strong result. The combination of a high-end, 12-core CPU with a powerful enthusiast-class GPU places this system firmly in the upper echelon of performance for this title. Given the measured FPS results, this high ranking is expected, as the system demonstrates the ability to maintain very high frame rates even at the most demanding 4K Ultra settings. For a builder, this represents a top-tier setup for this game, with only a handful of more powerful combinations offering any meaningful performance advantage.