Lockdown Protocol

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Lockdown Protocol with the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti show a clear and predictable pattern as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 121.5 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops that to 91.4 FPS, a reduction of roughly 30 FPS. At 3840x2160, Low settings yield 62.2 FPS average, which is still playable but represents a significant step down from the 1080p result.

The scaling behavior changes when you look at higher quality presets. At Ultra settings, the frame rate goes from 59 FPS at 1080p to 40.1 FPS at 1440p, then down to 28.5 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution climbs. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 62.5 FPS (121.5 vs 59). At 4K, that same gap shrinks to 33.7 FPS (62.2 vs 28.5). This pattern indicates that the GTX 1660 Ti's rendering pipeline becomes the dominant constraint at higher resolutions, while at 1080p the CPU has more room to push frame rates upward.

The data suggests a GPU-bound scenario at 4K regardless of settings. Even dropping from Ultra to Low at 3840x2160 only recovers 33.7 FPS, which is less than half the 62.5 FPS recovery seen at 1080p. This is consistent with a card that has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 192-bit memory bus, both of which become limiting factors when pixel counts rise dramatically. For practical gaming, this combo delivers smooth 1080p performance across all settings, acceptable 1440p at Medium or Low, and only marginal 4K performance at Low settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the sweet spot. At High settings, the combo delivers 79.7 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. At Low settings, it reaches 121.5 FPS. 2560x1440 is usable at Low (91.4 FPS) and Medium (65.7 FPS), but High drops to 56.9 FPS and Ultra to 40.1 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Lockdown Protocol?

A: Barely, and only at Low settings. The measured average at 3840x2160 Low is 62.2 FPS, which is playable. However, Medium drops to 40.2 FPS, High to 35.8 FPS, and Ultra to 28.5 FPS. For a consistent experience above 60 FPS, 4K is not recommended beyond Low settings.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 13925, placing it just 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 570X and 0.8% ahead of both the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile and GeForce GTX 680. It trails the NVIDIA Tesla K10 by 0.7%. The GTX 1660 Ti sits at the 55th percentile among all GPUs, indicating mid-pack performance.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 3600 compare to its nearest rival CPUs?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 18129 is just 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-11400 and 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 1600. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS and 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9274F. The Ryzen 5 3600 sits at the 76th percentile among all CPUs, which is strong for a 6-core part.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 91.4 FPS average, while Ultra produces 40.1 FPS. That is a 51.3 FPS difference. Medium lands at 65.7 FPS and High at 56.9 FPS, so the scaling between presets is not linear — the biggest drop occurs when going from Medium to Ultra.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 3600 a bottleneck for the GTX 1660 Ti?

A: The data indicates the CPU is not severely limiting at 1080p, where the GPU is clearly the primary constraint. The Ryzen 5 3600 has 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, and its benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multicore of 15045, single-core of 2124) suggest it can feed the GPU adequately. At 4K, the GPU is even more clearly the limiting factor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is the primary driver of Lockdown Protocol's performance in this configuration. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes strained at 4K. The card's base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz, combined with 1536 shading units, deliver 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. This explains why the frame rates drop so steeply when moving from 1080p to 4K.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a PassMark G3D score of 12871 and a DirectX 12 score of 51, placing it at the 55th percentile overall. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 570X, scores 13871, which is just 0.4% behind. The GTX 1660 Ti also edges out the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile (13821) and GeForce GTX 680 (13812) by 0.8% each. These margins are small, meaning the 1660 Ti is firmly in the mid-range tier for this game.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the GPU's role is most evident in the scaling between Low and Ultra settings. At 1080p, the card can push 121.5 FPS at Low and 59 FPS at Ultra. At 4K, those numbers fall to 62.2 FPS and 28.5 FPS respectively. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is likely a factor at 4K Ultra, where texture and geometry demands exceed what the memory bus can efficiently feed. The card's 12 Gbps effective memory speed helps, but the 192-bit bus width caps total bandwidth at 288.0 GB/s, which is modest by modern standards.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers strong results across all presets. Low settings average 121.5 FPS, Medium 87.6 FPS, High 79.7 FPS, and Ultra 59 FPS. This means the system can comfortably handle 1080p at any quality level, with Ultra just barely missing the 60 FPS mark. For competitive play, Low or Medium settings provide a significant frame rate advantage.

At 2560x1440, performance degrades noticeably. Low settings still deliver a smooth 91.4 FPS, but Medium drops to 65.7 FPS, High to 56.9 FPS, and Ultra to 40.1 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 25.7 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is only 8.8 FPS. The largest single step is from High to Ultra, which costs 16.8 FPS. This suggests the Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive on this GPU.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly GPU-limited. Low settings produce 62.2 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium drops to 40.2 FPS, High to 35.8 FPS, and Ultra to 28.5 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium (22 FPS loss) is the steepest single step at this resolution. The overall pattern across all resolutions shows that the GTX 1660 Ti's performance ceiling is around 121 FPS at 1080p Low, and its floor is 28.5 FPS at 4K Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti combination ranks 1423 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the bottom 13% of all tested configurations, which might seem surprising given the playable frame rates at 1080p. The ranking reflects the overall competitive field, which includes many higher-end GPUs and newer CPUs that push far above the 120 FPS range at 1080p.

The combo's ranking is primarily dragged down by the GPU. The Ryzen 5 3600 sits at the 76th percentile among CPUs, which is respectable, but the GTX 1660 Ti only reaches the 55th percentile among GPUs. In a game like Lockdown Protocol, where frame rates scale heavily with GPU capability (as shown by the 4K results), the GPU's mid-tier standing limits the combo's overall position. The 1423rd rank out of 1637 means there are roughly 214 tested combos that perform worse, but also a large majority that perform better.

For context, the CPU's nearest rivals — the Intel Core i5-11400 and AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS — have nearly identical average scores (18150 and 18101, respectively), meaning the choice of CPU is unlikely to change the ranking significantly. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 570X, are also within 1% of the 1660 Ti's performance. This suggests the combo's rank is stable and representative of its tier, rather than an outlier or misconfiguration.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 provides a solid foundation for this gaming combo, though its influence on Lockdown Protocol's frame rates is secondary to the GPU. With 6 cores and 12 threads, a base clock of 3.60 GHz, and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, this Zen 2 (Matisse) processor delivers strong multi-threaded performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15045 and single-core score of 2124 indicate it can handle modern game engines without becoming the primary bottleneck.

The CPU's benchmark results show it is well-balanced. The PassMark multithread score of 17700 and single-thread score of 2562 place it at the 76th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-11400, scores 18150, a difference of just 0.1%. This means the 3600 is effectively competitive with newer mainstream CPUs in raw compute. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth over dual-channel DDR4 are sufficient for feeding the GTX 1660 Ti in most scenarios.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most visible at 1080p Low settings, where the combo reaches 121.5 FPS. At this level, the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the CPU's ability to maintain high frame rates without stuttering is critical. At 4K, the CPU becomes nearly irrelevant, as the GPU is clearly overwhelmed. The data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking at any resolution — the frame rate drops are consistent with GPU scaling. The 3600's 12 threads also provide headroom for background tasks and game engine overhead, which is beneficial in a fast-paced FPS title.