Lockdown Protocol

# CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D brings a 6-core, 12-thread configuration built on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.00 GHz are modest by modern standards, but the defining feature is the large 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is substantial for a 6-core part. This cache configuration often benefits game workloads that repeatedly access the same data sets, potentially reducing memory latency and improving frame pacing.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU posts a Passmark single-thread score of 2941 and a multithread score of 20363, with an average benchmark score of 37018. This places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the majority of processors in the broader database. The nearest rivals provide context: the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F scores 36945 (a 0.2% delta), the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36938 (also 0.2% higher), while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 (0.2% lower) and the Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 (0.3% lower). Essentially, the 5500X3D sits in a tight cluster where performance differences are within a fraction of a percent, indicating that its game performance will be driven more by cache behavior than raw compute throughput.

In Lockdown Protocol, an FPS title, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, handle game logic, and manage physics. The measured results show that at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 230 FPS, while at 1080p Ultra it drops to 171 FPS. This 59 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at 1080p Low, but as settings increase, the GPU load rises and the frame rate becomes more constrained by the graphics card. The 5500X3D's 12 threads are sufficient for modern FPS games, and the large L3 cache likely helps with the repetitive spatial queries common in shooter environments.

The data does not indicate that the CPU is holding back the RTX 4090 at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 230 FPS figure is high, and at 1440p Low it reaches 207 FPS, showing only a 10% drop when resolution increases by 33%. This relatively small decline suggests that the CPU is still capable of pushing high frame rates even when the GPU has more work per pixel. The 5500X3D's performance percentile of 85, combined with its close rivalry to the 5600F and Ultra 5 225, implies that it is a mid-to-upper tier processor that can maintain high FPS in less demanding scenarios, though its 4.00 GHz boost clock is not extreme.

FAQ

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500X3D compare to its nearest CPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The 5500X3D has an average benchmark score of 37018. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36945, 0.2% lower), Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (36938, 0.2% lower), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093, 0.2% higher), and Intel Core i9-12900T (37112, 0.3% higher). All four are within a 0.5% performance band, making them effectively equivalent in raw compute.

Q: What is the CPU's multithreaded performance and how does it relate to game physics?

A: The Passmark multithread score is 20363, with a floating point math score of 34511 and an integer math score of 60033. For an FPS like Lockdown Protocol, the integer math score is relevant for game logic and entity updates, while the floating point score handles physics calculations. These scores indicate solid multi-threaded capability for a 6-core part.

Q: Does the CPU's large L3 cache have a measurable impact in this game?

A: The 96 MB shared L3 cache is the standout feature. While the measured FPS data does not isolate cache effects, the fact that the CPU matches rivals with higher clock speeds (like the i9-12900T) in synthetic scores suggests the cache helps compensate for the lower 4.00 GHz boost clock, likely benefiting frame consistency in game scenarios.

Q: What is the CPU's memory bandwidth and does it constrain performance?

A: The CPU supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus and a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. This is typical for the AM4 platform. Given that the game runs at 230 FPS on 1080p Low, memory bandwidth does not appear to be a limiting factor at these settings, though higher resolutions rely more on the GPU.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread score predict 1080p performance?

A: The single-thread score is 2941, which is competitive with the nearest rivals. At 1080p, the combo achieves 230 FPS on Low, 202 FPS on Medium, and 193 FPS on High. These results show that the single-thread performance is sufficient to drive high frame rates, and the drop from Low to High (37 FPS) is more attributable to GPU load than CPU limitation.

Q: What is the CPU's production status and release timeline relative to the game?

A: The CPU has a production status of "Active" and a release date of 2025-06-04, which is after the game's release date of 2024-03-11. This means the CPU was not available when the game shipped, but its current active status indicates ongoing availability for builders.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling across all four settings presets. At Low settings, the average FPS moves from 230 at 1080p, to 207 at 1440p, and finally to 174 at 4K. This represents a 24.3% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 16.0% drop from 1440p to 4K, with an overall 56 FPS reduction from 1080p to 4K. The fact that the FPS remains above 170 at 4K Low suggests that the GPU is still capable of high throughput even at 8.3 million pixels.

At Medium settings, the same progression shows 202 FPS at 1080p, 183 FPS at 1440p, and 124 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 32.2%, which is larger than the Low preset's 16.0% drop. This indicates that as settings increase, the GPU becomes more heavily utilized, and the resolution scaling becomes more pronounced. The 4K Medium result includes a min FPS of 105 and max of 142, showing a 37 FPS variance, which is notable for frame pacing.

High settings show 193 FPS at 1080p, 167 FPS at 1440p, and 108 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is 56% of the 1080p High result, a significant drop. Ultra settings show 171 FPS at 1080p, 125 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is 47% of the 1080p Ultra result, meaning the frame rate nearly halves when moving to 4K.

The scaling pattern across settings reveals that the CPU is the limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings, while the GPU becomes the bottleneck at 4K. At 1080p Low, the 230 FPS is likely near the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability for this game, as the GPU has little work to do. As resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows, and the FPS drops accordingly. The 4K Ultra result of 81 FPS shows that even the RTX 4090, with its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, is heavily taxed by this game's Ultra preset at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo of AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 222nd out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the top 7.9% of all combinations, which is a strong showing given the sheer number of possible pairings. The percentile rank of 85 for the CPU and 88 for the GPU individually suggests that both components are above average, but the combo's rank of 222 indicates that there are 221 other combinations that perform better in this specific game.

The fact that this combo does not crack the top 200 despite having a top-tier GPU suggests that the CPU is a limiting factor in some scenarios. The RTX 4090, with its 16384 shading units and 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, is capable of far higher frame rates than the 5500X3D can feed it in CPU-bound situations. The nearest GPU rivals in the database include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326 average score, 0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60140, 0.3% higher), and AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61896, 2.5% higher), but these are not gaming-focused cards, so their game performance may differ.

The combo's rank of 222 out of 2828 implies that there are many other CPU+GPU pairings that yield higher FPS in Lockdown Protocol. Given that the RTX 4090 is the top consumer GPU in the data, the ranking suggests that pairing it with a stronger CPU would likely move the combo higher. The 5500X3D's 6-core, 12-thread configuration, while capable, limits the maximum FPS in CPU-bound scenarios at 1080p. The 230 FPS at 1080p Low is high, but other combos with faster CPUs likely exceed this, pushing them above rank 222.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 230, Medium 202, High 193, Ultra 171. The Medium preset includes a min FPS of 172 and max FPS of 233, showing a 61 FPS range. No min or max values are provided for Low, High, or Ultra at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are: Low 207, Medium 183, High 167, Ultra 125. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a min FPS of 155 and max FPS of 210, a 55 FPS range. The drop from 1080p Medium to 1440p Medium is 19 FPS, while the drop from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra is 46 FPS, indicating that Ultra settings are more sensitive to resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are: Low 174, Medium 124, High 108, Ultra 81. The Medium preset at 4K shows a min FPS of 105 and max FPS of 142, a 37 FPS range. The 4K results show a clear hierarchy: Low provides 174 FPS, which is more than double the Ultra's 81 FPS. The gap between Medium (124) and High (108) is 16 FPS, while the gap between High (108) and Ultra (81) is 27 FPS, suggesting that Ultra settings impose a particularly heavy load.

The data shows that the Medium preset consistently provides the most complete dataset with min and max values at all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the 202 average FPS with a 172 min FPS ensures smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. At 1440p Medium, the 183 average with 155 min is still playable. At 4K Medium, the 124 average with 105 min is above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays, though the 37 FPS variance between min and max suggests some scene-dependent dips.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 183 average FPS with a 155 min FPS ensures that frame rates remain high even during intense firefights, and the 1440p resolution provides a significant visual upgrade over 1080p. The 55 FPS range between min and max (155 to 210) indicates some variability, but the minimum of 155 FPS is well above the refresh rate of most monitors.

For players with 1080p displays, the Medium preset at 202 average FPS is the recommended choice. The min FPS of 172 ensures that the frame rate rarely drops below the 144 Hz refresh rate common on esports monitors. The High preset at 193 average FPS is also viable, but the 9 FPS difference between Medium and High does not justify the potential visual improvements, especially since the Medium preset provides a higher min FPS (172 vs no min data for High).

At 4K, the Medium preset at 124 average FPS is the best option for maintaining smooth gameplay. The High preset at 108 average FPS is acceptable for 60 Hz displays, but the Medium preset's 124 average with a 105 min FPS provides more headroom. The Ultra preset at 81 average FPS is only recommended for players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate and have displays that support adaptive sync. The Low preset at 174 average FPS is unnecessary for 60 Hz displays but could be useful for competitive play where maximum frame rate is prioritized.

The data shows that the Medium preset consistently delivers the highest minimum FPS at each resolution (172 at 1080p, 155 at 1440p, 105 at 4K), making it the safest choice for consistent performance. The High preset lacks min/max data at 1080p and 1440p, which makes it harder to recommend for those resolutions, but at 4K the 108 average FPS is still playable.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the flagship of the GeForce 40-series, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 16384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units, along with 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores. The GPU has a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with a memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) on 24 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth.

The 24 GB VRAM capacity is substantial for an FPS game like Lockdown Protocol, which likely does not require more than 8-12 GB even at 4K Ultra. This means the RTX 4090's VRAM is not a limiting factor in any of the measured scenarios. The GDDR6X memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s is more than sufficient for the game's texture streaming and geometry data, even at 4K resolution.

The GPU's performance characteristics are evident in the measured FPS data. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 81 average FPS, which is a demanding scenario for any GPU. The RTX 4090's FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s allow it to handle the Ultra preset's high-resolution textures and effects. However, the 81 FPS result at 4K Ultra indicates that even this top-tier GPU is taxed by the game's most demanding settings.

The GPU's percentile rank of 88 among all GPUs places it above the majority of graphics cards, but the nearest rivals in the database have significantly lower average scores: the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326 (0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60140 (0.3% higher), and AMD Radeon Pro W6600M at 61896 (2.5% higher). These are professional workstation cards, not gaming GPUs, so their game performance is not directly comparable. The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60347 reflects its top-tier status.

The GPU's power requirements are notable: a TDP of 450 W and a suggested power supply of 850 W, with a single 16-pin power connector. This high power draw is consistent with its performance level. The GPU is marked as end-of-life in production status, but its release date of 2022-09-19 and successor (GeForce 50) indicate it remains a high-performance option. The launch MSRP of 1,599 USD is listed in the data.

The RTX 4090's role in the measured FPS results is clear: at 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is not the primary bottleneck, as evidenced by the high frame rates across all settings. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, especially at High and Ultra settings where the 108 and 81 average FPS results show the GPU's limits. The 4K Low result of 174 FPS demonstrates that the GPU can still deliver high frame rates when settings are reduced, confirming that the GPU is capable of handling the game's visual demands when given appropriate settings.