Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Radeon RX 6700 XT pairing delivers its most compelling results at 1440p, where it balances the CPU’s capabilities against the GPU’s 12 GB frame buffer. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions, with the combo ranking in the 56th percentile of all tested configurations in Lockdown Protocol.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, revealing a GPU-bound workload at higher resolutions. At Low settings, average FPS falls from 190.3 at 1920x1080 to 92.6 at 3840x2160—a 51% reduction. The Medium preset follows a similar pattern, dropping from 135.7 to 63.1 (53% lower). High settings see a 52% decline (118.8 to 57.1), while Ultra is the most punishing, falling from 86.9 to 41.7, a 52% loss.

These percentages tell a clear story: the RX 6700 XT is the limiting factor as pixel count rises. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly aggressive. At High settings, 1440p delivers 88.4 FPS, but 4K manages only 57.1—a gap of 31.3 FPS. The gap widens at Ultra, where 1440p’s 65.5 FPS drops to 41.7 at 4K. This indicates that the GPU’s 384.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 192-bit bus are sufficient for 1440p but strained at 4K, especially with heavier graphical loads.

Conversely, the 1080p to 1440p transition is far less punishing. At Low settings, the drop is from 190.3 to 140.2 (26% lower), while High goes from 118.8 to 88.4 (26% lower). This moderate scaling suggests the CPU still has headroom at 1080p, but the GPU begins to assert dominance as resolution increases. The combo is clearly optimized for 1440p gaming, where it maintains playable frame rates even at Ultra.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 6700 XT’s 12 GB of GDDR6 memory is a defining feature in this game’s results. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 41.7 suggests the frame buffer is being taxed, but the card still delivers a playable experience. The GPU’s boost clock of 2581 MHz and game clock of 2424 MHz contribute to its strong 1080p performance, where it exceeds 190 FPS at Low settings.

The GPU’s 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs handle Lockdown Protocol’s rendering demands effectively at 1440p. The data shows a 102.4 FPS average at Medium settings in 2560x1440, which is a strong result for a mid-range card. However, the 4K Ultra score of 41.7 FPS indicates the card’s 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is insufficient for maximum settings at that resolution.

The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 77 places it above most tested cards, and its nearest rival comparison shows it trading blows with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (0.7% slower) and NVIDIA RTX A5000 (1.3% faster). This positioning explains why the combo achieves respectable frame rates at 1440p High (88.4 FPS) but struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 192-bit memory bus, while narrower than some competitors, still provides adequate bandwidth for this game’s texture streaming at 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

In Lockdown Protocol, this CPU-GPU pairing ranks 923rd out of 1637 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations. This rank reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically bottlenecks the other at typical gaming resolutions. The combo’s 1080p results (190.3 FPS at Low) demonstrate that the Ryzen 5 5500 can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions, while the 4K results show the GPU’s limitations.

The CPU’s nearest rivals help contextualize this ranking. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 scores nearly identically to the Intel Core i5-12500 (0.1% difference) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE (0.1% difference). This means the CPU is not a differentiator; the GPU largely determines the combo’s position. The GPU’s rivals—RX 6800, HD 7950, RX 480, and RTX A5000—all fall within a 2.3% performance band, indicating that the RX 6700 XT is competitively positioned for this game.

The 923rd rank out of 1637 suggests that while this combo is not a top-tier performer, it sits comfortably ahead of the median. The data supports this: at 1440p High, it achieves 88.4 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The combo’s strengths are most evident at 1440p Medium, where 102.4 FPS provides a significant margin over playability standards.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to 1440p Medium as the sweet spot for this combo. At this setting, the average FPS of 102.4 provides a substantial buffer above 60 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even during intense firefights. The 1440p High preset (88.4 FPS) is also viable, offering improved visual fidelity with only a 14 FPS penalty. For players prioritizing frame rate over visuals, 1080p Low delivers 190.3 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play.

At 4K, the choices are more constrained. The Low preset at 92.6 FPS is the only 4K option that maintains high refresh rates. Medium at 4K (63.1 FPS) is playable but leaves little headroom, while High (57.1 FPS) and Ultra (41.7 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold. The data suggests that 4K gaming is possible with this combo, but only at lower settings.

For a balanced experience, 1440p High is recommended for most users. It delivers 88.4 FPS, which is smooth on 144Hz monitors, and the visual quality improvement over Medium is noticeable. The 1080p Ultra preset (86.9 FPS) underperforms 1440p High, indicating that resolution scaling is more beneficial than maxing out settings at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset shows consistent scaling across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 190.3 FPS at Low, 135.7 FPS at Medium, 118.8 FPS at High, and 86.9 FPS at Ultra. These figures demonstrate that the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution, as even the most demanding preset exceeds 85 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong: Low hits 140.2 FPS, Medium achieves 102.4 FPS, High reaches 88.4 FPS, and Ultra manages 65.5 FPS. The 1440p results show a more pronounced gap between presets, with Ultra falling 53% below Low. This indicates that the GPU’s compute resources are increasingly taxed as settings rise.

The 3840x2160 results reveal the GPU’s limits: Low produces 92.6 FPS, Medium drops to 63.1 FPS, High yields 57.1 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 41.7 FPS. The 4K scaling is nearly linear with settings, showing that the RX 6700 XT’s 12 GB buffer and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for high-fidelity 4K rendering. The jump from Medium to High at 4K costs only 6 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 15.4 FPS, indicating diminishing returns at the highest settings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 4K Low, it achieves 92.6 FPS, and at Medium it reaches 63.1 FPS. However, High (57.1 FPS) and Ultra (41.7 FPS) fall below 60 FPS, so lower settings are required for smooth 4K play.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: The data shows 1440p is optimal. At High settings, it delivers 88.4 FPS, and at Medium it reaches 102.4 FPS. These frame rates provide a good balance between visual quality and performance.

Q: How does the RX 6700 XT compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU is 0.7% slower than the RX 6800 in average benchmark score, 1% faster than the HD 7950, and 1.3% slower than the RTX A5000. This places it in a competitive mid-range tier.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 5500 bottleneck the GPU?

A: At 1080p, the CPU keeps up with the GPU, as evidenced by 190.3 FPS at Low settings. The bottleneck shifts to the GPU at 1440p and 4K, where frame rates drop more significantly across presets.

Q: What settings should I use for competitive play?

A: For maximum frame rates, 1080p Low delivers 190.3 FPS. If you prefer 1440p, Low still provides 140.2 FPS, which is sufficient for high-refresh-rate competitive gaming.

Q: Is the combo future-proof for this game?

A: The 12 GB VRAM and 6-core CPU provide a solid foundation. However, 4K Ultra at 41.7 FPS indicates that future updates with heavier settings could strain the system further.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Lockdown Protocol’s demands, as evidenced by the 1080p performance. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.20 GHz and base clock of 3.60 GHz provide adequate single-thread performance, which is crucial for FPS games. The 16 MB L3 cache helps maintain consistent frame times, particularly at lower resolutions where CPU-bound scenarios are more common.

The CPU’s benchmark scores support this analysis. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16429 and single-core score of 2319 indicate balanced performance. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5386 shows that the CPU handles multi-threaded workloads effectively, while the single-thread score of 836 confirms its gaming capability. The PassMark single-thread score of 3058 further validates its suitability for FPS titles.

The CPU’s nearest rivals perform within 0.2% of its average score, meaning the Ryzen 5 5500 is not a performance outlier. Its 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggests it is a competent mid-range processor. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU can drive frame rates above 190 FPS at Low settings, indicating it is not the primary constraint in this combo. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as demonstrated by the consistent scaling patterns across presets.