Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 delivers a solid 1080p experience in Lockdown Protocol, but the data indicates a clear ceiling as resolution scales upward. This combination sits at rank 1344 out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the lower-mid tier of the database, yet its performance profile reveals a well-balanced pairing for its class.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS deltas between settings tell a clear story about where this combo's bottleneck lives. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 145.8 FPS, which drops to 93.1 FPS at High and 66.2 FPS at Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is substantial — a 79.6 FPS difference — but the more telling metric is the scaling efficiency. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings costs 28.3 FPS (from 93.1 to 64.8), while the same resolution jump at Low costs 36 FPS (from 145.8 to 109.8). This disproportionate loss at lower settings indicates the GPU is becoming the limiting factor early.

At 4K, the picture changes dramatically. The RX 6600 manages only 44.7 FPS at High and 30.4 FPS at Ultra, which are borderline playable numbers for a fast-paced FPS. The 4K Low preset yields 68 FPS, still below the 1080p High result. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings shows a 31% reduction in frame rate, which is steeper than the 30% reduction seen from 1080p to 1440p. This compounding loss suggests the 8 GB VRAM buffer and 128-bit memory bus are struggling with the higher pixel counts. The data does not list individual frame times or 1% lows, but the average FPS trend indicates that 4K is not a viable target for this pairing beyond Low settings, while 1440p remains usable if you stick to Medium or lower.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 2600 brings 6 cores and 12 threads on the Zen architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost up to 3.90 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11186 and single-core score of 1579 place it at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, which is respectable for a 2018 release. The CPU's nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core i5-1345U (deltaPct -0.4), AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (deltaPct 0.6), Intel Core i5-11600KF (deltaPct -0.6), and Intel Core i7-10700F (deltaPct 0.7). These margins are all within 1%, meaning the 2600's compute performance is essentially on par with those newer parts despite its older architecture.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role becomes evident when comparing the 1080p Low result of 145.8 FPS to the 1440p Low result of 109.8 FPS. The 36 FPS drop at Low settings — where the GPU is least stressed — suggests the CPU can still feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions. However, the single-thread score of 1579 in R23 indicates this processor is not a high-frequency part, and the 3.90 GHz boost clock is modest by modern standards. The 16 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 support at 46.9 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the game's demands, but the data shows the CPU is not the primary constraint. When the GPU is pushed to 4K Ultra (30.4 FPS), the CPU has plenty of headroom, which confirms the bottleneck shifts entirely to the graphics card at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 6600 uses the Navi 23 chip on RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC. Its boost clock of 2491 MHz and game clock of 2044 MHz are respectable, and the 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 15096 places it at the 69th percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon 890M (deltaPct 0), AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Radeon RX 6700M (deltaPct 0.2), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (deltaPct 0.5). All rivals are within 0.5% of the RX 6600's average benchmark score, which is remarkable given the mix of integrated and mobile parts in that list.

The GPU's 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs drive a pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s. These specifications translate into the measured FPS numbers, which show a steep drop-off when moving from 1440p to 4K. At 1440p Medium, the card produces 75.5 FPS, but at 4K Medium it falls to 48.2 FPS — a 27.3 FPS loss. The 8 GB VRAM is likely hitting capacity limits at 4K Ultra, where the 30.4 FPS result is barely above slideshow territory. The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is not a limiting factor in this game, as the data shows consistent scaling. The GPU's TDP of 132 W and suggested PSU of 300 W indicate this is a power-efficient part, but thermal throttling can't be assessed from the frame data alone.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1344 out of 1637 puts this pairing in the bottom 18% of tested configurations. This sounds worse than it actually is, because the database includes many higher-end GPUs and newer CPUs that naturally outperform this mid-range 2021 GPU and 2018 CPU pairing. The rank reflects the absolute performance tier, not the balance of the pairing. The data shows the CPU and GPU are well-matched for 1080p gaming, as neither component is dramatically underpowered relative to the other at that resolution.

The percentile data for the individual components is more telling. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking is higher than the GPU's 69th percentile, suggesting the processor is slightly stronger relative to its peers than the graphics card is. This is unusual for a gaming system, where the GPU typically holds the higher percentile. In practice, this means the RX 6600 is the primary limiter in Lockdown Protocol, especially at higher resolutions. The GPU's nearest rival list includes the RX 6700M, which is a mobile part, and the RTX 3060 Ti, which is a more powerful desktop card — the fact that the RX 6600's average benchmark score is within 0.5% of the RTX 3060 Ti suggests the database's scoring methodology may weigh certain workloads differently than real gaming performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 105.7 FPS, which is 39.5 FPS higher than High and 12.6 FPS higher than Ultra. The jump from Medium to High costs 12.6 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 26.9 FPS — the Ultra preset is disproportionately expensive. For competitive play, the Low preset at 145.8 FPS is the best choice, but for visual quality with acceptable frame rates, Medium is the sweet spot.

At 1440p, Medium produces 75.5 FPS, which is playable for most users, while High drops to 64.8 FPS. The Low preset at 109.8 FPS is viable for esports-style play. At 4K, only the Low preset at 68 FPS approaches playability, and even that is borderline for a fast-paced FPS. The data suggests that 4K Ultra (30.4 FPS) is not a realistic option, and 4K High (44.7 FPS) is only suitable for slower-paced gameplay or screenshot purposes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full set of measured results shows consistent scaling across all settings and resolutions:

At 3840x2160 (4K): Low delivers 68.0 FPS, Medium drops to 48.2 FPS, High falls to 44.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 30.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 19.8 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is only 3.5 FPS — the Medium to High transition is nearly free, but Low to Medium is a large step down.

At 2560x1440 (1440p): Low produces 109.8 FPS, Medium hits 75.5 FPS, High achieves 64.8 FPS, and Ultra reaches 49.9 FPS. The progression from Low to Medium costs 34.3 FPS, Medium to High costs 10.7 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 14.9 FPS. This is a more linear scaling pattern than at 4K, where the Low to Medium penalty was disproportionately large.

At 1920x1080 (1080p): Low runs at 145.8 FPS, Medium at 105.7 FPS, High at 93.1 FPS, and Ultra at 66.2 FPS. The Low to Medium drop is 40.1 FPS, Medium to High is 12.6 FPS, and High to Ultra is 26.9 FPS. The 1080p results show the widest spread between settings, which is typical for a GPU that has more headroom at lower resolutions.

The consistency of the data — every resolution shows the same ordering of Low > Medium > High > Ultra — confirms the benchmark methodology is sound. The 4K results show the largest relative drop from Low to Ultra (55.3% reduction), while 1080p shows a 54.6% reduction. This similarity suggests the GPU's memory bandwidth is the limiting factor across all resolutions, but the 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes more critical at 4K Ultra where the 30.4 FPS result indicates the card is running out of resources.