Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a demanding FPS title, and the combination of an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with an Intel Arc B370 produces results that clearly define its boundaries. The data shows a system that is playable at lower resolutions but struggles significantly as the workload increases, with the GPU emerging as the primary constraint in most scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS reveals a steep performance curve as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo averages 80 FPS, which is a solid baseline for competitive play. Moving to 1440p Low drops that figure to 58 FPS, a 27.5% reduction, and at 4K Low the average falls further to 38 FPS, representing a 52.5% decline from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is typical of a system where the graphics processor is the primary bottleneck; the pixel throughput demand at higher resolutions overwhelms the GPU's capabilities.

The trend persists across all settings presets. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 49 at 1080p to 36 at 1440p and then to 23 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 26.5%, and from 1080p to 4K it is 53.1%. The Ultra preset tells a similar story, with averages of 37, 27, and 18 FPS across the three resolutions. The consistency of these percentage drops—roughly halving performance from 1080p to 4K regardless of preset—indicates that the limiting factor is resolution-dependent, not settings-dependent. In other words, the Arc B370's rendering throughput is saturated by the increased pixel count, and lowering graphical details cannot compensate for the raw resolution penalty.

The data also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra narrows at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (80 FPS) and Ultra (37 FPS) is 43 FPS. At 4K, that difference shrinks to 20 FPS (38 vs 18). This compression suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so overburdened that even the reduced workload of Low settings cannot push the frame rate to a smooth level, whereas at 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to respond to settings changes. For a practical takeaway, this combo is only viable for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being a stretch on Low settings, and 4K being effectively unplayable across all presets.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. Its benchmark scores place it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21,484. This is a respectable mid-range showing, but its nearest rivals indicate it sits in a crowded field. The Intel Core Ultra 5 228V scores 21,440 (0.2% lower), the Intel Core i9-11900H scores 21,367 (0.5% lower), and the AMD EPYC 9454 scores 21,223 (1.2% lower), while the Intel Xeon D-1746TER edges it out with 21,635 (0.7% higher). These deltas are tiny, meaning the Ryzen 5 2600 is effectively on par with these other processors in general compute tasks.

In the context of Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS shows that at 1080p Low, the system hits 80 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's practical limit for this game, as the GPU is relatively weak and cannot generate enough frames to fully stress the processor. However, the CPU's 12 threads and 16 MB of shared L3 cache provide enough parallelism to avoid being a hard bottleneck in most scenarios. The data does not show min FPS for most settings, but the Medium preset at 1080p shows a min of 48 FPS and a max of 65 FPS, suggesting frame pacing is acceptable but not flawless. Given that the CPU scores a PassMark single-thread score of 2,239, it is not a high-frequency part, and games that rely heavily on single-core performance could expose its limitations. In this specific test, the CPU appears to keep up, as the bottleneck is clearly the GPU, given the stark resolution scaling.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the most balanced experience is at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, yielding an average of 57 FPS with a min of 48 and max of 65. This preset provides a playable frame rate with a reasonable visual uplift over Low, and the min FPS of 48 is high enough to avoid stutter in most firefights. For players prioritizing smoothness over visuals, Low at 1080p is the best choice, as it delivers 80 FPS average, which is 40% higher than Medium. The jump from Low to Medium costs 23 FPS, which is significant, but the jump from Medium to High costs only 8 FPS (from 57 to 49), and the jump to Ultra costs another 12 FPS (from 49 to 37), making Ultra a poor trade-off for its visual gains.

At 1440p, the situation is less favorable. Low settings produce 58 FPS, which is just on the edge of playable, but Medium drops to 42 FPS, and High to 36 FPS. The data suggests that 1440p is only worth attempting on Low, and even then, the frame rate is not ideal for a fast-paced FPS. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with the highest average being 38 FPS on Low, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. Therefore, the recommendation is to run the game at 1080p with either Low or Medium settings, depending on whether the user prefers maximum responsiveness or better image quality. The Medium preset at 1080p offers the best compromise, as its min FPS of 48 ensures a mostly smooth experience, and its average of 57 is within the acceptable range for a game like this.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 2600 and Intel Arc B370 ranks 3,427 out of 3,714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the bottom 7.7% of all combos, which is a stark indicator of its performance ceiling. The low rank is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, which sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 1,184. The Arc B370's nearest rivals are all older or lower-end parts: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (score 1,186, 0.2% higher), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (score 1,190, 0.5% higher), the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (score 1,192, 0.7% higher), and the AMD FirePro M2000 (score 1,168, 1.4% lower). This places the Arc B370 in the company of decade-old discrete GPUs and mobile parts, which explains why it cannot handle modern game loads at high resolutions.

The CPU's rank is much better—75th percentile—but it is wasted in this pairing. The data shows that even a stronger CPU would not improve the FPS in this game, as the GPU is the limiting factor. The combo rank of 3,427 is a clear warning that this is not a gaming-oriented setup. For comparison, the CPU alone is competitive with modern chips like the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V, but the GPU drags the entire system down. This rank suggests that users should not expect to play Lockdown Protocol at high settings or high resolutions, and the system is better suited for esports titles or older games that are less demanding on the graphics processor.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) based on the Panther Lake chip and Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process. It has 1,280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs, with base and boost clocks of 300 MHz and 2400 MHz respectively. Its memory is system-shared, meaning it uses the main system RAM, and its bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent." This is a critical weakness, as the GPU has no dedicated VRAM, and its performance is tied to the system's memory configuration. The GPU's theoretical capabilities are modest: a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s, a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s, and an FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS. These numbers are low for a modern GPU, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,184 confirms its position at the bottom of the performance chart.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's limitations are evident. At 1080p Low, it manages 80 FPS, which is the only playable result in the entire dataset. The 3DMark score of 1,184 is roughly equivalent to the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (score 1,190), which was a mid-range card from 2009. This explains why the game's performance collapses at higher resolutions. The GPU's 25 W TDP and lack of dedicated memory mean it is designed for basic tasks, not gaming. The data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck at all tested settings, as evidenced by the consistent FPS drops when resolution increases. The system-shared memory is particularly problematic for a game like Lockdown Protocol, which likely requires high memory bandwidth; the GPU's dependence on system RAM creates a performance ceiling that cannot be overcome by adjusting in-game settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Lockdown Protocol with this combo?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only viable resolution. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 80, and at Medium it is 57. At 1440p, the best average is 58 FPS on Low, but this is marginal, and 4K results are all below 40 FPS.

Q: Is this CPU or GPU the bigger bottleneck in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The resolution scaling shows FPS dropping by roughly half from 1080p to 4K, which is a GPU-bound pattern. The CPU ranks in the 75th percentile, but the GPU ranks in the 5th percentile, indicating the graphics processor is the limiting component.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest rivals in 3DMark?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1,184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. This is 0.2% lower than the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1,186), 0.5% lower than the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1,190), and 0.7% lower than the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1,192). It is 1.4% higher than the AMD FirePro M2000 (1,168).

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 80, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 57 FPS at 1080p Medium, and 49 FPS at 1080p High.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 2600 a competitive CPU in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 has an average benchmark score of 21,484, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. It is 0.2% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (21,440) and 0.5% faster than the Intel Core i9-11900H (21,367), but 0.7% slower than the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (21,635).

Q: Should I use Ultra settings at 1080p with this setup?

A: No. Ultra settings at 1080p produce an average of 37 FPS, which is below the smooth threshold. Medium settings give 57 FPS, and the visual difference between Medium and Ultra does not justify a 20 FPS loss in performance.