Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 5 3600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a high-refresh-rate Lockdown Protocol experience across all tested resolutions, with the combo ranking in the 82nd percentile (650th of 3714 tested combinations). The data shows a system that scales predictably with settings and resolution, although the CPU becomes a limiting factor at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 200 FPS. This combination is best suited for 1440p High or 4K Medium play, where the balance between the 6-core/12-thread processor and the 16 GB graphics card produces consistently smooth results.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 3000 series, built on the Zen 2 architecture (Matisse) using TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz boosts to 4.20 GHz, with 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 64 KB of L1 and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, and it connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 16 lanes. In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 3600 scores 15,045 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,124 in single-core, with a PassMark multithread score of 17,700 and a single-thread score of 2,562. Its 3DMark scores show scaling from 696 (single-thread) to 4,605 (16-thread) and 4,603 (max-thread), indicating that the processor's performance peaks with moderate thread utilization.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where the average frame rates across all settings range from 152 FPS (Ultra) to 201 FPS (Low). At 1080p Low, the system hits 201 FPS average, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. This suggests that the Ryzen 5 3600 can sustain very high frame rates when the GPU is not heavily burdened, but the gap between settings narrows compared to higher resolutions. At 1440p, the CPU maintains headroom, with Low settings producing 181 FPS and High producing 151 FPS, while Ultra drops to 113 FPS. The 4K results show a different pattern: Low produces 157 FPS, which is only 44 FPS higher than Ultra's 73 FPS, indicating that the GPU begins to dominate the performance equation at that resolution.

The Ryzen 5 3600's percentile rank of 71 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,035, places it near rivals like the Intel Core i7-1260P (17,007, 0.2% slower) and the Intel Core i5-11400 (17,067, 0.2% faster). This mid-pack CPU performance means that in CPU-bound scenarios—primarily 1080p with lower settings—the processor can become the bottleneck, but it still delivers playable frame rates. The boost clock of 4.20 GHz and the 3DMark 2-thread score of 1,361 suggest that single-threaded performance is adequate for FPS titles, though not exceptional.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 177 FPS average with a minimum of 150 FPS and a maximum of 204 FPS, which is only 24 FPS below Low and 25 FPS above High. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 152 FPS, which is still high but shows diminishing returns for the visual quality increase. For 1080p, Medium is the recommended preset because it offers a 25 FPS advantage over High (177 vs. 152 FPS) while maintaining a minimum above 150 FPS, which is well above typical display refresh rates.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out: 160 FPS average with a minimum of 136 FPS and a maximum of 184 FPS. This is 9 FPS faster than High (151 FPS) and 47 FPS faster than Ultra (113 FPS). The Low preset at 1440p achieves 181 FPS, but the visual compromise is significant for only a 21 FPS gain over Medium. The data shows that Medium at 1440p provides the best balance of smoothness and fidelity, with a minimum frame rate of 136 FPS ensuring consistent performance during intense action sequences. High at 1440p is also viable at 151 FPS, but the 9 FPS difference between High and Medium suggests that Medium's lower visual overhead translates to meaningful performance headroom.

At 4K, the Medium preset delivers 111 FPS average with a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 128 FPS, which is the only 4K setting with a reported minimum frame rate. High at 4K produces 97 FPS, while Ultra drops to 73 FPS and Low rises to 157 FPS. The 4K Medium recommendation is clear: 111 FPS average with a 95 FPS minimum is the best combination of playability and visual quality, as High's 97 FPS average is 14 FPS lower and Ultra's 73 FPS is below the 75 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay on many displays. Low at 4K offers 157 FPS, but the visual quality degradation is substantial. Across all resolutions, Medium provides the most consistent experience, with the 1080p Medium minimum of 150 FPS being the highest reported minimum in any resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the balance between CPU and GPU load in this combination. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 169 at 1080p to 151 at 1440p (a 10.6% decrease) and then to 97 at 4K (a 35.8% decrease from 1440p). This pattern indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises, while the CPU's contribution diminishes. At Low settings, the drop is steeper: 201 FPS at 1080p, 181 at 1440p (10% decrease), and 157 at 4K (13.3% decrease from 1440p). The smaller relative drop at Low settings from 1440p to 4K (24 FPS) compared to High settings (54 FPS) suggests that at Low, the CPU is still a factor even at 4K, whereas at High, the GPU is clearly the limiting component.

The Medium settings show the most telling pattern: 177 FPS at 1080p, 160 at 1440p (9.6% decrease), and 111 at 4K (30.6% decrease from 1440p). The 49 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K at Medium is larger than the 17 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p, confirming that the GPU workload scales super-linearly with pixel count. At Ultra settings, the progression is 152 FPS at 1080p, 113 at 1440p (25.7% decrease), and 73 at 4K (35.4% decrease from 1440p). The Ultra preset at 4K is the only measured configuration below 75 FPS, indicating that the RTX 4080 SUPER is pushed to its limits with this combination at maximum settings.

The data shows that the Ryzen 5 3600 is not the primary bottleneck at 4K, as the FPS differences between settings (157 Low, 111 Medium, 97 High, 73 Ultra) are substantial and follow the GPU's expected performance curve. However, at 1080p, the differences narrow (201 Low, 177 Medium, 169 High, 152 Ultra), suggesting that the CPU is beginning to limit the maximum achievable frame rate. The 1080p Low result of 201 FPS is the only measurement above 200 FPS, and it is likely near the CPU's practical ceiling for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination ranks 650th out of 3,714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 17.5% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the strength of the GPU, which sits in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU's 71st percentile rank is the weaker link. The combo's position suggests that many higher-ranked configurations likely pair more recent CPUs with similar or faster GPUs, and the Ryzen 5 3600's age (released in 2019) is a limiting factor in maximizing the RTX 4080 SUPER's potential.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (54,247, 0.1% faster), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828, 1.1% faster), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55,698, 2.7% faster). However, the RTX 4080 SUPER's average benchmark score of 54,209 is within 2.8% of these competitors, indicating that the GPU itself is competitive. The CPU's nearest rivals—Intel Core i7-1260P (0.2% slower), Intel Core i5-11400 (0.2% faster), AMD EPYC 7573X (0.2% faster), and AMD EPYC 7742 (0.2% slower)—show that the Ryzen 5 3600 is in a tightly packed performance band, with deltaPct values of ±0.2% across all four.

The combo rank of 650 out of 3,714 means that roughly 3,064 other combinations outperform it, which is a significant number given the GPU's high percentile. This discrepancy suggests that the CPU is the primary reason for the combo's mid-tier ranking. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Low, the system produces 201 FPS, but a more modern CPU could likely push that higher. The 4K results, where the GPU is the clear bottleneck, show that the combo can still deliver 73-157 FPS depending on settings, which is competitive for the GPU class.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a GeForce 40-series graphics card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with a chip size of 379 mm² and 45,900 million transistors. It features 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2550 MHz, and its memory runs at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, providing 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth from its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory. The card's compute capabilities are substantial: 52.22 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16, a pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s, and a texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, and connects via PCIe 4.0 x16.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role is most apparent at 4K, where its 16 GB memory capacity and high bandwidth allow for smooth performance even at Ultra settings, albeit at 73 FPS average. The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its capability: a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,600, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 219,065, and a Vulkan score of 260,075. The PassMark G3D score of 34,245 and GPU compute score of 19,822 place it in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,209. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080, is only 0.1% faster, confirming that the SUPER variant offers nearly identical performance in this metric.

The GPU's memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s is critical for 4K performance, where the 16 GB frame buffer prevents texture thrashing. The measured 4K Medium result of 111 FPS average with a 95 FPS minimum demonstrates that the GPU can maintain playable frame rates even with moderate visual demands. The boost clock of 2550 MHz, combined with the 10240 shading units, delivers the raw throughput needed for the 4K High preset's 97 FPS average. The GPU's transistor density of 121.1M per mm² and its 320 W TDP are indicators of its high performance ceiling, though the card is now end-of-life with a successor in the GeForce 50 series.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p Medium as the sweet spot, delivering 160 FPS average with a 136 FPS minimum. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 111 FPS with a 95 FPS minimum, which is still playable, but the 1440p result offers a higher frame rate floor with less visual compromise than 1080p Ultra.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 a bottleneck for the RTX 4080 SUPER in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate the CPU is a limiting factor at 1080p, where Low settings produce 201 FPS and Ultra produces 152 FPS, a narrower range than at 4K (157 to 73 FPS). The CPU's 71st percentile rank versus the GPU's 86th percentile confirms the processor is the weaker component in this pairing.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its closest rivals in this context?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 54,209 is within 0.1% of the RTX 4080 (54,247), 1.1% of the Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828), and 2.8% of both the RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55,698) and Radeon 8060S (55,757). This indicates the SUPER variant performs nearly identically to its predecessor.

Q: What is the highest FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 201 at 1080p Low settings. The next highest is 181 FPS at 1440p Low, followed by 177 FPS at 1080p Medium. All other settings and resolutions produce averages below 170 FPS.

Q: Should I use Ultra settings at 1440p or Medium at 4K?

A: The data shows 1440p Ultra produces 113 FPS average, while 4K Medium produces 111 FPS average with a 95 FPS minimum. The 4K Medium offers a comparable average with a reported minimum frame rate, making it a viable choice if resolution is prioritized, but 1440p Ultra has the higher average.

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

A: This combo ranks 650th out of 3,714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 17.5%. The ranking reflects the GPU's strong 86th percentile performance, while the CPU's 71st percentile limits the combo from reaching higher positions, especially in CPU-bound 1080p scenarios.