Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, a 2024 FPS title, presents a demanding workload for the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 pairing. This combination sits at rank 974 out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. The data reveals a system where the GPU is the dominant force, but the aging CPU architecture begins to show its limitations at lower resolutions, creating a complex performance profile that depends heavily on the chosen settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, but the rate of that drop-off is revealing. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 173.4 FPS, which drops to 138.6 FPS at 1440p (-20.1%) and then to 87 FPS at 4K (-49.8% from 1080p). This scaling pattern indicates that the system is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, as the RTX 4060's workload increases with pixel count.

However, the scaling behavior changes dramatically when examining Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 90.7 FPS, which falls to 67.4 FPS at 1440p (-25.7%) and then to 41.8 FPS at 4K (-53.9% from 1080p). The steeper percentage drops at Ultra settings suggest that the additional graphical effects are disproportionately taxing the GPU. The RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely being saturated by the combined demands of higher resolution and more complex rendering.

The most interesting observation is the relatively small gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings (173.4 vs 138.6 FPS), which narrows to a larger gap when moving to 4K. This suggests that at lower settings and resolutions, the CPU can still keep pace, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck once pixel counts rise. The data implies that for competitive play at high refresh rates, 1080p or 1440p with lower settings offers the headroom needed, while 4K is only viable at Low settings for playable frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 serves as the primary performance driver in this configuration. With a boost clock of 2460 MHz and 3072 shading units, the GPU demonstrates strong raw compute capability, as evidenced by its Passmark G3D score of 19545. This places it at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (-0.6% delta), indicating near-identical overall performance.

The 8 GB memory capacity appears to be a limiting factor at higher settings. The transition from High to Ultra at 4K shows a drop from 57 FPS to 41.8 FPS, a 26.7% reduction. This substantial penalty suggests that Ultra settings are exceeding the comfortable memory capacity, forcing the GPU to manage resources less efficiently. The GDDR6 memory operates at 2125 MHz with a 128-bit bus, yielding 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth—adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but strained at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's performance characteristics align with its benchmark results. Its Passmark DirectX 12 score of 76 is notably lower than the DirectX 11 score of 175, which may indicate that Lockdown Protocol's engine, if using DX12, is not fully leveraging the RTX 4060's Ada Lovelace architecture. The FP32 throughput of 15.11 TFLOPS provides a theoretical ceiling that the measured FPS results suggest is being approached at lower resolutions but not at 4K Ultra, where the 41.8 FPS result indicates the GPU is working near its practical limits.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 974 out of 1637 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the 40.5th percentile of all combos. This ranking reflects the balanced but not exceptional nature of this hardware pairing. The CPU, AMD Ryzen 5 2600, holds a 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs, which is respectable for a 2018 release, but its age is apparent when compared to modern processors.

The GPU's 66th percentile ranking is slightly lower than the CPU's, suggesting that the RTX 4060 is the more limiting component in most scenarios. This is counterintuitive given that the GPU is from a newer generation, but the data indicates that Lockdown Protocol's demands at higher settings exceed what the RTX 4060 can comfortably deliver at 4K.

The combo rank of 974 implies that roughly 40% of tested configurations perform worse, while 60% perform better. This places the system in a position where it's suitable for 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles at 4K, particularly at higher quality presets. The ranking also suggests that the Ryzen 5 2600's 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 6 cores/12 threads are sufficient to avoid being a major bottleneck, but they don't provide the headroom that newer CPUs offer for sustained high frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain above 60 FPS?

A: The data shows that 1440p with High settings achieves 84.3 FPS, while 4K High drops to 57 FPS. For a consistent 60+ FPS experience, 1440p is the highest resolution that can maintain this threshold across all settings except Ultra (67.4 FPS at 1440p Ultra).

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the system drops from 115 FPS at 1080p to 84.3 FPS at 1440p (-26.7%) and then to 57 FPS at 4K (-50.4% from 1080p). This indicates a halving of performance from the lowest to highest resolution tested.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 2600 holding back the RTX 4060 in this game?

A: The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11186 and single-core score of 1579 suggest adequate processing power. However, at 1080p Low settings (173.4 FPS), the frame rate is high enough that CPU limitations could emerge if the GPU were faster. The data shows the combo rank of 974, which is mid-pack, indicating no severe bottleneck.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Low settings produce 138.6 FPS, while Ultra produces 67.4 FPS. This represents a 51.4% reduction in frame rate, highlighting the significant cost of enabling all graphical features on the RTX 4060.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 23181, with its closest rival being the AMD Radeon RX 6600M at 23321, a -0.6% delta. This indicates near-identical synthetic performance, suggesting the real-world differences in Lockdown Protocol would be minimal.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset at 1440p emerges as the optimal choice from the measured data. This configuration delivers 84.3 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while providing a significant visual upgrade over Low settings. The jump from Low to High at 1440p costs 54.3 FPS (from 138.6 to 84.3), but the visual fidelity improvement is considerable.

At 1080p, the High preset offers the best experience at 115 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 132.5 FPS provides a slight performance boost with minimal visual compromise, but High's 115 FPS is still well within smooth territory. For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low at 1080p achieves 173.4 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual quality for most users.

At 4K, only Low settings (87 FPS) provide a playable experience above 60 FPS. Medium drops to 65.5 FPS, which is borderline, while High (57 FPS) and Ultra (41.8 FPS) fall below the threshold. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo requires significant compromises, and 1440p High is the sweet spot for balancing frame rate and visual fidelity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides the computational foundation for this system. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 3.90 GHz are modest by modern standards, but the CPU still manages to hold a 77th percentile ranking among all processors. The Cinebench R23 results—11186 multi-core and 1579 single-core—indicate that the CPU can handle multi-threaded workloads effectively, though its single-thread performance is where it shows its age.

The CPU's 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 46.9 GB/s memory bandwidth are adequate for most gaming scenarios. In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role becomes more critical at lower resolutions where the GPU can produce higher frame rates. The 173.4 FPS result at 1080p Low suggests the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output, but the gap between 1080p Low (173.4) and 1440p Low (138.6) indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's workload increases while the CPU's remains relatively constant.

The nearest rival comparisons show the Ryzen 5 2600 performing within 0.7% of the Intel Core i7-10700F and 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, despite being several years older. This suggests that for a 2018 CPU, it remains competitive in overall processing power, though its Zen architecture lacks the efficiency of newer designs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings achieve 173.4 FPS, Medium 132.5 FPS, High 115 FPS, and Ultra 90.7 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 47.7% performance reduction, indicating that even at 1080p, Ultra settings impose a significant load on the RTX 4060.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop predictably: Low 138.6 FPS, Medium 99.1 FPS, High 84.3 FPS, and Ultra 67.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 51.4% at this resolution, suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor as pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes marginal for smooth gameplay: Low 87 FPS, Medium 65.5 FPS, High 57 FPS, and Ultra 41.8 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K produces less than half the frame rate of 1080p Ultra, illustrating the exponential cost of resolution scaling. The data clearly shows that 4K is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the 87 FPS result is significantly lower than 1440p's Low performance.