Lockdown Protocol

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Lockdown Protocol at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p with Low settings. The measured average frame rate at 1920x1080 Low is 77 FPS. At 1440p or 4K, no preset reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold.

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

A: No setting at 2560x1440 is playable. The highest average FPS recorded at this resolution is 56 FPS on Low, which falls short of the 60 FPS threshold. Medium produces 40 FPS, High produces 35 FPS, and Ultra produces 26 FPS.

Q: How does the game perform at 4K?

A: Poorly. The best case at 3840x2160 is Low settings with 36 FPS average. Medium averages 26 FPS, High averages 22 FPS, and Ultra averages 17 FPS. None of these approach playability.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Medium at 1080p?

A: The jump from Low to Medium costs 23 FPS. Low averages 77 FPS, while Medium averages 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. High averages 47 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS.

Q: Is the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM a limiting factor?

A: The data suggests so. At higher resolutions and presets, the frame rates drop dramatically. The 4 GB GDDR5 memory with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth appears insufficient for demanding configurations, as even High at 1080p only reaches 47 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU in this game?

A: The CPU is not the bottleneck. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D sits in the 95th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 75,779. The GPU, which ranks in the 74th percentile with an average score of 28,766, is clearly the limiting component.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755, which scores 75,738 and is only 0.1% behind. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D scores 75,716, also 0.1% behind. The AMD EPYC 8224P scores 75,582, a 0.3% delta, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 scores 75,488, a 0.4% delta. In practical terms, any of these processors would deliver nearly identical frame pacing in Lockdown Protocol, meaning the game's performance would remain GPU-bound regardless of which of these CPUs is installed.

For the GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 570's nearest rivals show how close the field is. The AMD Radeon RX 6800M scores 28,874, which is 0.4% higher. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X scores 28,580, 0.7% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 470 scores 28,996, 0.8% higher. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 scores 28,421, 1.2% lower. These delta values are small enough that swapping between these GPUs would produce nearly identical results in Lockdown Protocol. The RX 470, being the same Polaris architecture, would be the closest drop-in equivalent for desktop users.

If a builder were to pair the Ryzen 9 9950X3D with any of these rival GPUs, the expected FPS at each resolution would shift by only a frame or two. The fundamental outcome, playable only at 1080p Low, would not change.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded data shows a clear pattern: the GPU dominates performance in Lockdown Protocol, and the CPU's role is minimal. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core, 32-thread processor with a boost clock of 5.70 GHz, and it ranks in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. Despite this, frame rates collapse as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 77 FPS. Dropping to 2560x1440 Low reduces that to 56 FPS, a 27% loss. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 36 FPS, another 36% loss. This scaling is far steeper than what a CPU bottleneck would produce. The CPU's performance is essentially constant across resolutions, so the frame rate drops must come from the GPU's rendering load.

Preset scaling reinforces this. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium drops FPS from 77 to 54, a 30% reduction. From Medium to High, it drops to 47, another 13%. From High to Ultra, it drops to 36, a further 23%. These are all GPU-side effects, as the CPU handles the same game logic regardless of visual quality.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds. Low averages 56 FPS, Medium 40 FPS, High 35 FPS, and Ultra 26 FPS. At 4K, Low averages 36 FPS, Medium 26 FPS, High 22 FPS, and Ultra 17 FPS. The consistent halving of frame rates from 1080p Low to 4K Low indicates that the RX 570's 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are simply insufficient for higher pixel counts.

In short, for this combo, the CPU is a non-factor. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D could sit idle while the RX 570 works at full capacity, and the FPS would remain the same. Builders should focus entirely on the GPU when evaluating this pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 3,544 out of 3,714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the bottom 5% of all systems tested. The rank reflects the severe mismatch between the top-tier CPU and the end-of-life GPU.

For context, the CPU alone scores in the 95th percentile of all processors, while the GPU scores in the 74th percentile of all graphics cards. The combo rank is far lower than either component's individual percentile, which indicates that the GPU is dragging the system down. A more balanced pairing, such as the Ryzen 9 9950X3D with a GPU closer to the RX 6800M's performance level, would rank substantially higher.

The low rank is not surprising given the measured FPS. Only one configuration out of twelve tested, 1080p Low, clears the 60 FPS threshold. Every other resolution and preset combination fails to reach playable frame rates. In a database of 3,714 combos, this system sits near the bottom because it cannot deliver a smooth experience at any resolution above 1080p or with any preset above Low.

The Verdict

This PC can run Lockdown Protocol, but only in a narrow configuration. The verdict by resolution is clear: at 3840x2160, there are no playable settings. At 2560x1440, there are also no playable settings. The only playable option is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, which averages 77 FPS.

The 60 FPS threshold is met only at 1080p Low. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 54 FPS, which is below the threshold. At 1440p Low, the average is 56 FPS, also below the threshold. This means the system has zero headroom for higher quality settings or resolutions.

For a competitive FPS like Lockdown Protocol, 77 FPS at 1080p Low is technically playable, but the minimum frame rate was not recorded for this configuration, so stability is uncertain. The Medium preset at 1080p has a recorded minimum of 46 FPS, which suggests frame drops are common under load. The Low preset may exhibit similar dips.

The GPU is end-of-life, released in 2017, and its 4 GB VRAM is below what modern FPS titles typically require. The CPU, by contrast, is a current-generation flagship with 128 MB of L3 cache and a 95th percentile ranking. This is a severely unbalanced system, and the data confirms that the GPU is the sole limiting factor.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS. The best measured result is Low at 36 FPS. Medium averages 26 FPS, High averages 22 FPS, and Ultra averages 17 FPS. There is no recommended setting for this resolution.

At 2560x1440, no preset achieves 60 FPS either. The best measured result is Low at 56 FPS, which misses the threshold by 4 FPS. Medium averages 40 FPS, High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. Even the lowest preset fails to deliver playable performance.

At 1920x1080, the only playable preset is Low, which averages 77 FPS. This is the most demanding setting that stays at or above 60 FPS at this resolution. Medium averages 54 FPS, High averages 47 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS, all below the threshold. The recommendation is straightforward: run Lockdown Protocol at 1080p Low to stay above 60 FPS. There is no other viable configuration for this system.