Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, released in March 2024, presents a demanding workload for the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT combination. The measured data shows a system that is capable of high refresh rates at 1080p, but which becomes increasingly constrained as resolution and graphical fidelity rise. The RX 6700 XT, with its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, provides the primary rendering muscle, while the 6-core/12-thread Ryzen 5 4600G (Zen 2, Renoir) supports the frame delivery. This analysis walks through the benchmark results to detail how this pairing behaves across resolutions and settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The maximum average FPS is 188.4, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This indicates the system is not heavily limited by the CPU at this resolution and preset.

Q: How much faster is the 1080p Low preset compared to the 4K Ultra preset?

A: The 1080p Low result (188.4 FPS) is approximately 4.5 times faster than the 4K Ultra result (42.3 FPS). This demonstrates the massive performance cost of rendering at 4K with maximum quality settings.

Q: Which component is likely the bottleneck at 1080p Ultra?

A: The data shows a significant drop from 120.4 FPS at 1080p High to 86.9 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This sensitivity to settings, combined with the CPU's single-thread score of 726 in 3DMark, suggests the CPU is a limiting factor at this resolution.

Q: Is the 4K High preset playable on this hardware?

A: With an average of 58.9 FPS, the 4K High preset is borderline playable. It is just below the 60 FPS threshold, but the 4K Medium preset at 65.9 FPS offers a more consistent experience.

Q: How does the RX 6700 XT compare to its nearest rival, the RX 6800?

A: The RX 6700 XT has an average benchmark score of 33721, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6800's average score of 33493. The data indicates the 6700 XT is effectively on par with the 6800 in synthetic benchmarks.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 139.6 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 66.1 FPS. This represents a drop of 73.5 FPS when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is the primary driver of frame generation in Lockdown Protocol. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth are substantial, allowing the card to handle large texture datasets and high-resolution buffers. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2321 MHz, a game clock of 2424 MHz, and a boost clock of 2581 MHz, providing the computational throughput needed for the game's FPS rendering.

The measured FPS data shows how the GPU's workload scales with settings. At 1080p, the GPU is not fully saturated, as evidenced by the jump from 86.9 FPS at Ultra to 188.4 FPS at Low. This indicates that the CPU is holding the GPU back at lower resolutions. However, at 4K, the situation reverses. The average FPS at 4K Ultra is 42.3, while 4K Low produces 89.1 FPS. The relatively small performance delta between High (58.9 FPS) and Medium (65.9 FPS) at 4K suggests the GPU is becoming the primary constraint, as the rendering resolution demands more from the 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs.

The GPU's percentile rank of 77 versus all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 33721 place it in a solid mid-to-high tier. Its performance against the NVIDIA RTX A5000 (which it leads by 1.3%) further contextualizes its capability for this title. The data confirms the 6700 XT is a capable 1440p card, but it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K with maximum settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. For smooth competitive play at 1920x1080, the High preset is the best choice. It delivers an average of 120.4 FPS, which is more than sufficient for a fast-paced FPS, while the Ultra preset's drop to 86.9 FPS suggests diminishing returns for the extra visual fidelity. The Low preset at 188.4 FPS is for maximum responsiveness, but the High preset offers a better balance of visual quality and performance.

At 2560x1440, the High preset again provides the best balance, with an average of 89.6 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and offers a significant visual upgrade over the Low preset's 139.6 FPS. The Medium preset (99.5 FPS) is also viable, but High offers a better quality-to-performance ratio. The Ultra preset at 66.1 FPS is playable but is the edge of the system's capability at this resolution.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point. It delivers an average of 65.9 FPS, which is the only setting above 60 FPS besides Low. The High preset at 58.9 FPS is close, but the Medium preset provides a more reliable frame rate. The Ultra preset at 42.3 FPS is too demanding for consistent play. For a 4K experience, users should stick to Medium settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset shows a clear progression of performance across the three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080, the system performs best. The Low preset achieves the highest average of 188.4 FPS. The Medium preset follows with 137.7 FPS, and the High preset produces 120.4 FPS. The Ultra preset drops significantly to 86.9 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra (33.5 FPS) is larger than the gap between Medium and High (17.3 FPS), indicating a steep performance cliff at the highest settings.

At 2560x1440, frame rates decrease across the board. The Low preset averages 139.6 FPS, dropping by 48.8 FPS from 1080p. The Medium preset at 99.5 FPS is down 38.2 FPS from 1080p Medium. The High preset at 89.6 FPS represents a 30.8 FPS drop from 1080p High. The Ultra preset falls to 66.1 FPS, a 20.8 FPS reduction from 1080p Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is heavily taxed. The Low preset averages 89.1 FPS, which is a 50.5 FPS drop from 1440p Low. The Medium preset at 65.9 FPS is 33.6 FPS lower than 1440p Medium. The High preset at 58.9 FPS is 30.7 FPS below its 1440p counterpart. The Ultra preset at 42.3 FPS is 23.8 FPS slower than 1440p Ultra. The data shows that while the Low preset remains playable at 4K, the quality presets become increasingly difficult to sustain.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the system's limiting component. At 1080p Low, the system produces 188.4 FPS. At 4K Low, it produces 89.1 FPS. This is a 52.7% reduction in frame rate, which is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, as the resolution increase demands more from the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth.

However, the scaling is not linear. The difference between 1080p High (120.4 FPS) and 4K High (58.9 FPS) is a 51.1% drop, while the difference between 1080p Ultra (86.9 FPS) and 4K Ultra (42.3 FPS) is a 51.3% drop. This consistency suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, regardless of the preset.

The scaling pattern changes at lower settings. The transition from 1080p Low to 1440p Low shows a drop of 48.8 FPS (from 188.4 to 139.6), but the transition from 1440p Low to 4K Low shows a drop of 50.5 FPS (from 139.6 to 89.1). This relatively stable drop across resolution steps indicates that the CPU is keeping up with the GPU at lower settings, allowing the GPU to become the sole limiting factor.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture (Renoir). It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its benchmark scores, such as a 3DMark single-thread score of 726 and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 13593, define its capability in this game.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is evident at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the average FPS increases from 86.9 at Ultra to 188.4 at Low, a difference of 101.5 FPS. This massive swing is not solely due to the GPU's workload; it also reflects the CPU's ability to feed the GPU. The CPU's single-thread performance, ranked in the 75th percentile, is sufficient for high frame rates, but it is not class-leading. This is why the 1080p High preset (120.4 FPS) is significantly lower than the 1080p Low preset (188.4 FPS); the CPU is struggling to process the game's logic at the highest frame rates.

At 4K, the CPU's influence wanes. The difference between 4K Ultra (42.3 FPS) and 4K High (58.9 FPS) is only 16.6 FPS, while the difference between 4K Low (89.1 FPS) and 4K Medium (65.9 FPS) is 23.2 FPS. The CPU is no longer the bottleneck; the GPU is. The CPU's 12 threads provide enough parallelism for the game's engine, but its 8 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory controller (51.2 GB/s) are adequate, not exceptional, for this workload.

The data for the Ryzen 5 4600G shows it performs on par with the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.1% delta) and is 1% ahead of the Intel Core i3-13100F. This places it in a competitive position for a 1080p-focused gaming system, but its limitations become apparent when pushing for very high frame rates or when paired with a more powerful GPU.