Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a robust Lockdown Protocol experience, placing in the 61st percentile of all tested combinations (rank 633 out of 1637). The data reveals a configuration where the GPU is the primary performance driver at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s six Zen 2 cores become increasingly relevant at 1080p. The measured FPS across three resolutions and four quality settings provides a clear picture of this balance.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic and predictable drop in frame rates, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 202.4 at 1080p to 114.2 at 4K, a reduction of 43.6%. This relatively moderate decline suggests that at Low settings, the system is not purely GPU-bound even at 4K, with the CPU still contributing to the performance ceiling. The gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings is 32.9 FPS (from 202.4 to 169.5), while the gap from 1440p to 4K is 55.3 FPS, indicating the GPU begins to take on more load as pixel count rises.

At Ultra settings, the scaling story changes. The average FPS drops from 106.6 at 1080p to 80.7 at 1440p, and then further to 53.3 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 50.0%, a steeper decline than at Low settings. This pattern implies that at Ultra, the GPU is the limiting component across all resolutions, as the increased graphical complexity (shadows, textures, effects) saturates the Radeon RX 7800 XT’s capabilities before the CPU becomes a bottleneck. The 4K Ultra result of 53.3 FPS is the lowest measured value in the entire dataset, yet it remains playable.

The 1440p results show the most balanced behavior. At High settings, the average FPS is 107.8, which is 37.7% lower than the 1080p High result of 142.6. This suggests that at 1440p High, the system is approaching a sweet spot where both the CPU and GPU are working near their limits. The data indicates that for players targeting higher refresh rates, 1080p is the resolution of choice, while 1440p offers a strong compromise between visual fidelity and performance. The scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU that has substantial headroom at lower resolutions, with the Ryzen 5 3600’s 6 cores and 12 threads providing sufficient frame pacing until the GPU becomes fully engaged.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows show that the Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality for this combination. At 1920x1080, Medium produces an average of 167.0 FPS, which is 56.4 FPS higher than High (142.6) and only 35.4 FPS lower than Low (202.4). The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 24.4 FPS, while the jump from Low to Medium costs 35.4 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns on the Low to Medium transition but a more significant penalty for enabling High settings.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 124.6 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and provides a 16.8% performance buffer over High (107.8 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 80.7 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 35.2% reduction from Medium. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset at 78.6 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains playability while the High preset (70.8 FPS) and Ultra preset (53.3 FPS) both fall below the 80 FPS mark.

The data suggests that High settings provide a marginal visual upgrade over Medium but at a substantial performance cost. At 1080p, High achieves 142.6 FPS, which is still excellent for competitive play, but the 24.4 FPS penalty over Medium is hard to justify when the visual difference between Medium and High is typically less pronounced than the difference between Low and Medium. The Ultra preset, which yields 106.6 FPS at 1080p, is only 35.4 FPS lower than Medium, making it a viable option for players with high-refresh-rate monitors who prioritize image quality.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600’s specifications—6 cores, 12 threads, base clock 3.60 GHz, boost clock 4.20 GHz—place it in the 76th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18129. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-11400, scores 18150, a delta of -0.1%, indicating near-identical synthetic performance. The Ryzen 5 3600’s single-thread score in 3DMark is 696, while its 16-thread score is 4605, a scaling factor of 6.6x, which reflects the efficiency of the Zen 2 architecture.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s role becomes evident when comparing the 1080p Low result (202.4 FPS) to the 1440p Low result (169.5 FPS). The 32.9 FPS drop at 1440p Low indicates that the GPU is still handling the majority of the workload, but the 1080p Low result of 202.4 FPS is notably higher than the 1440p Medium result of 124.6 FPS, suggesting that the CPU is not the primary limiter at lower resolutions. However, the gap between 1080p Low (202.4 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (106.6 FPS) is 95.8 FPS, which is a much larger range than the resolution scaling alone would explain.

This implies that at 1080p, the GPU’s workload varies significantly with settings, and the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU even at Ultra. The Ryzen 5 3600’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s provide adequate data throughput for the game’s FPS mechanics. The passmark physics score of 1152 and the cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15045 indicate solid multi-threaded performance, which is relevant for games that use multiple threads for AI and physics calculations, though the data shows that Lockdown Protocol’s frame rates are more sensitive to GPU settings than CPU core count.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT achieves an in-game rank of 633 out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the 61st percentile. This ranking is consistent with the GPU’s performance tier, as the RX 7800 XT holds the 76th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 32619. The GPU’s nearest rivals—the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32540, delta 0.2%), NVIDIA P104-100 (32747, delta -0.4%), and NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32849, delta -0.7%)—are all within 1% of the RX 7800 XT’s synthetic score, yet the in-game ranking suggests that the CPU pairing is not holding back the GPU significantly.

The 633rd rank out of 1637 means that 38.7% of tested combos outperform this configuration. The data reveals that the combo’s performance is strongest at 1080p, where the average FPS across all settings is 154.65, and weakest at 4K, where the average is 79.23. This spread of 75.42 FPS between resolutions indicates that the combo is better suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gaming than for 4K. The rank of 633 is likely influenced by the CPU’s 76th percentile standing, as combos with higher-end CPUs (like the Ryzen 5 7600 or Intel Core i5-13600K) would push the GPU harder at 1080p, but the data shows that the RX 7800 XT is the dominant factor in determining frame rates at 1440p and 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 100+ FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all settings presets except Ultra (106.6 FPS) exceed 100 FPS, with Medium achieving 167.0 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (169.5 FPS) and Medium (124.6 FPS) break the 100 FPS barrier, while High (107.8 FPS) is close but Ultra (80.7 FPS) falls short.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 18129, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i5-11400 (18150) and 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (18101). The differences are negligible in synthetic tests.

Q: Does the GPU have enough VRAM for 4K Ultra?

A: The Radeon RX 7800 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 256-bit bus and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth. The 4K Ultra result of 53.3 FPS indicates the GPU is compute-limited rather than memory-limited, as the VRAM capacity is ample for this game.

Q: What is the FPS penalty for enabling Ultra over Medium at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium averages 124.6 FPS while Ultra averages 80.7 FPS, a reduction of 43.9 FPS or 35.2%. This is a significant drop that may not justify the visual gains.

Q: Is this combo more CPU-bound or GPU-bound?

A: The data shows GPU-bound behavior at 1440p and 4K, where settings changes have a larger impact on FPS than resolution scaling. At 1080p Low (202.4 FPS), the CPU still delivers high frame rates, indicating it is not the primary limiter.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 633rd out of 1637 combos, placing it in the 61st percentile. The GPU’s 76th percentile standing suggests the CPU is slightly below the GPU’s tier, but the gap is minor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 202.4, Medium 167.0, High 142.6, and Ultra 106.6. The spread from Low to Ultra is 95.8 FPS, with the largest single-step drop occurring from Medium to High (24.4 FPS) and the smallest from High to Ultra (36.0 FPS). At this resolution, even the Ultra preset maintains a playable frame rate above 100 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 169.5, Medium 124.6, High 107.8, and Ultra 80.7. The drop from Low to Medium is 44.9 FPS, from Medium to High is 16.8 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 27.1 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the first instance where the frame rate falls below 90 FPS, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 114.2, Medium 78.6, High 70.8, and Ultra 53.3. The transition from Low to Medium costs 35.6 FPS, while the transition from Medium to High costs only 7.8 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 17.5 FPS. The 4K Low result of 114.2 FPS is notable because it exceeds the 1440p Ultra result (80.7 FPS), demonstrating that settings have a more significant impact on performance than resolution alone.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the dominant component in this configuration for Lockdown Protocol. With a boost clock of 2430 MHz, a game clock of 2124 MHz, and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, the GPU provides the raw throughput needed for high-resolution rendering. The 3840 shading units and 96 ROPs contribute to a pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s, which are reflected in the measured frame rates.

The GPU’s 76th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32619, places it ahead of 75% of tested graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the AMD FirePro S9300 X2, scores 32540 (delta 0.2%), while the NVIDIA P104-100 scores 32747 (delta -0.4%). These tiny deltas indicate that the RX 7800 XT is in a tightly contested performance band, yet its in-game results at 4K Ultra (53.3 FPS) show that it is not a top-tier 4K card.

The GPU’s role becomes clearer when comparing the 1080p and 4K results at the same settings. At High settings, the FPS drops from 142.6 at 1080p to 70.8 at 4K, a 50.4% reduction. This halving of performance at 4K is typical for a GPU of this class, as the pixel count quadruples from 2.07 million to 8.29 million. The GPU’s 60 ray tracing cores are present but not directly measured in this data; the performance at Ultra settings, which often include ray tracing effects, shows a 25.0% drop from High (70.8 FPS) to Ultra (53.3 FPS) at 4K, suggesting that ray tracing or other Ultra-specific features are demanding. The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 37.32 TFLOPS and RDNA 3.0 architecture are well-suited for the game’s FPS rendering, but the data confirms that 1440p is the realistic ceiling for high-refresh-rate play with this card.