Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol presents a demanding workload for the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is consistently capable at 1080p, but requires careful settings management to remain playable at higher resolutions. The data indicates that the GTX 1660 Ti is the primary performance limiter in most scenarios, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data clearly shows that the Ultra preset is not a viable option for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset yields an average of 60.1 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves no margin for demanding scenes. The picture worsens dramatically at higher resolutions, with the Ultra preset dropping to 39.9 FPS at 2560x1440 and a barely interactive 28.3 FPS at 3840x2160.

The High preset offers a much more balanced experience. At 1920x1080, it achieves 76.1 FPS, which is a 26.6% improvement over Ultra while still maintaining substantial visual quality. This preset remains the best choice for 1080p gaming, as it clears the 60 FPS threshold with room to spare. However, at 2560x1440, the High preset drops to 53.9 FPS, which is below the ideal 60 FPS target but still smooth enough for slower-paced gameplay.

For users prioritizing frame rate above all else, the Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers an exceptional 125.7 FPS. This represents a 65.2% improvement over the High preset and a 109.2% improvement over Ultra. The Low preset also remains fluid at 2560x1440 with 89.6 FPS, making it the only preset that stays above 60 FPS at that resolution. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset (61 FPS) manages to hit the 60 FPS baseline.

The Medium preset sits between these extremes. It provides 87.5 FPS at 1080p and 65.1 FPS at 1440p, both of which are solid. However, the 37.3 FPS result at 4K for High settings suggests that Medium at 4K, while not measured, would likely fall short of playable standards. The data suggests that for this configuration, the best experience is achieved by selecting High settings at 1080p, or Low settings if targeting 1440p or 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a 60 FPS target at 1920x1080?

A: The High preset achieves 76.1 FPS at 1080p, comfortably exceeding the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset also hits 60.1 FPS, but with less headroom for performance drops during intense action sequences.

Q: Can this combination handle 4K gaming?

A: Only with significant settings compromises. At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 61 FPS, while Medium drops to 43.4 FPS and High falls to 37.3 FPS. Ultra at 4K is not playable at 28.3 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 76.1 FPS at 1080p to 53.9 FPS at 1440p, a 29.2% reduction. The same resolution change at Low settings sees a smaller relative drop, from 125.7 FPS to 89.6 FPS, which is a 28.7% reduction.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The CPU has a strong multi-threaded benchmark score of 16,429 in Cinebench R23, and the frame rate scales nearly linearly with resolution, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios.

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

A: The Low preset delivers 89.6 FPS, while Ultra drops to 39.9 FPS. This represents a 124.6% performance advantage for Low settings, indicating that Ultra demands far more from the GPU than the visual uplift justifies.

Q: Does this combo rank well among tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 1425th out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the lower portion of the database. This is consistent with the GTX 1660 Ti's 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the CPU sits higher at the 79th percentile.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 provides a solid foundation for Lockdown Protocol. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it offers ample parallel processing capability. The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16,429 and a PassMark multi-thread score of 19,330. Single-thread performance is also respectable, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,319.

The CPU's 3.60 GHz base clock and 4.20 GHz boost clock provide sufficient frequency for gaming workloads. The 16 MB of L3 cache helps reduce memory latency in scene-heavy situations. However, in Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The measured frame rates decline consistently as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario.

At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system reaches 125.7 FPS, which is a demanding level for the GTX 1660 Ti but well within the CPU's capabilities. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it is more powerful than most processors in the database, while the GPU's 55th percentile ranking shows it is closer to average. This disparity confirms that the GPU is the limiting component in this pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti combination ranks 1425th out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the system in the 13th percentile of all configurations tested, meaning 87% of combos deliver higher average frame rates. The ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU, which sits at the 55th percentile among all GPUs but handles the game's demanding rendering load only modestly well.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks provide context for its performance tier. The Intel Core i5-12500 scores 20,897, which is just 0.1% higher than the Ryzen 5 5500's 20,875 average benchmark score. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE scores 20,900, also 0.1% ahead. The AMD EPYC 7J13 scores 20,845, which is 0.1% behind. These tiny deltas show that the Ryzen 5 5500 is tightly clustered with mid-range competitors.

For the GPU, the nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 570X, which scores 13,871, just 0.4% behind the GTX 1660 Ti's 13,925 average. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile scores 13,821, which is 0.8% behind. This positioning suggests that the combination's rank is not due to any single component being exceptionally weak, but rather both being competent mid-range parts that struggle with a demanding game title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. At High settings, the system delivers 76.1 FPS at 1080p, 53.9 FPS at 1440p, and 37.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 29.2% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 30.8% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 51.0%, which is substantial but not catastrophic.

The Low preset shows similar scaling behavior. From 125.7 FPS at 1080p, the frame rate drops to 89.6 FPS at 1440p (a 28.7% reduction) and then to 61 FPS at 4K (a 31.9% reduction from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 51.5%. This consistent scaling pattern across different settings confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck, as a CPU-limited system would show much smaller frame rate differences when pixel count increases.

The Medium preset follows the same trend: 87.5 FPS at 1080p, 65.1 FPS at 1440p, and 43.4 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 60.1 FPS at 1080p falling to 39.9 FPS at 1440p and 28.3 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that for 4K gaming, only the Low preset is viable, and even that barely clears the 60 FPS threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration shows a wide performance spread across settings. The Low preset delivers 125.7 FPS, making it the only setting that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. Medium achieves 87.5 FPS, which is smooth for most gameplay. High produces 76.1 FPS, still comfortably above the 60 FPS standard. Ultra drops to 60.1 FPS, right at the edge of playability.

At 2560x1440, the performance gap narrows in absolute terms but widens in relative impact. Low settings deliver 89.6 FPS, which remains fluid. Medium drops to 65.1 FPS, still acceptable. High falls to 53.9 FPS, below the ideal threshold. Ultra plummets to 39.9 FPS, which is noticeably stuttery for an FPS title.

At 3840x2160, the limitations of the GTX 1660 Ti become stark. The Low preset achieves 61 FPS, barely playable. Medium drops to 43.4 FPS, High to 37.3 FPS, and Ultra to 28.3 FPS. None of these latter three settings provide a satisfactory experience. The data suggests that this hardware combination is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p possible at reduced settings, and 4K only viable at the absolute lowest quality preset.