Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT combination delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Lockdown Protocol, with 4K reserved for lower settings. This pairing places in the 65th percentile of all tested combos for this title, reflecting a balanced mid-range setup where the GPU generally dictates performance scaling.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 103 at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested system pairings in Lockdown Protocol?

A: This configuration ranks 2439 out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the 65th percentile.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate recorded for this system?

A: The lowest average is 36 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU appear to be the limiting factor at 4K?

A: At 4K, the GPU is the primary limiter, indicated by a large performance gap between Low (78 FPS) and Ultra (36 FPS) settings, while the CPU's six cores provide ample headroom.

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved in the tests?

A: The highest average is 165 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600's single-thread performance adequate for this game?

A: Yes, the CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 882 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2584 suggest strong per-core performance, which aligns with the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the dominant component in this pairing for Lockdown Protocol. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s, which is sufficient for the textures and assets at 1080p and 1440p, but becomes a constraint at 4K Ultra. The GPU's clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 2055 MHz, a game clock of 2410 MHz, and a boost clock of 2635 MHz. These high clocks directly translate to the frame rates seen in the data, as the card's compute throughput of 10.79 TFLOPS FP32 is the engine behind the rasterization performance.

The data shows the GPU's influence clearly when analyzing the scaling from Low to Ultra settings. At 1080p, the jump from Low (165 FPS) to Ultra (77 FPS) represents a 53% drop in performance, a pattern that is consistent with the GPU being fully utilized. This is typical for a card in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, where its average benchmark score of 19765 places it in a competitive mid-range tier. The card's 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs are the key units for pixel and texture processing, and their workload increases dramatically with higher settings. For instance, at 1440p, the average FPS drops from 121 on Low to 56 on Ultra, showing that the GPU's fillrate and shading power are being pushed to their limits.

The RX 6650 XT's RDNA 2.0 architecture, with 32 ray accelerators, does not appear to provide a significant advantage in this title, as the performance deltas between settings are linear and consistent with traditional rendering loads. The 4K results reinforce the GPU's role as the primary bottleneck: even at Low settings, the average FPS is 78, which is far below the 165 FPS seen at 1080p Low. This indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at that pixel count, regardless of the CPU's readiness.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 provides a stable foundation for the GPU in Lockdown Protocol, with its 6 cores and 12 threads operating at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Zen 3 architecture, built on a 7 nm process by TSMC, delivers a 32 MB shared L3 cache, which helps reduce memory latency in game scenarios. The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded capability, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18309 and a 3DMark max-threads score of 5659. However, the game's performance scaling suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in most tested configurations.

The evidence for this lies in the frame rate behavior across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system hits 165 FPS, which is a high enough number that it could stress a weaker CPU, but the Ryzen 5 5600's single-thread score of 882 in 3DMark and 3256 in Passmark single-thread tests indicate it has the per-core strength to handle this load. When moving from 1080p Low to 1080p Ultra, the FPS drops to 77, a clear sign that the GPU is now the bottleneck, not the CPU. The CPU's percentile rank of 74 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20468, puts it just ahead of rivals like the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (20454, +0.1%) and AMD Ryzen 5 8500G (20425, +0.2%), confirming it is a competent gaming processor.

The data suggests that the CPU's role is to maintain a high enough frame rate ceiling so that the GPU can operate without being held back. In this case, the 12 threads are more than adequate for Lockdown Protocol's threading model, as evidenced by the fact that 4K performance is dramatically lower than 1080p, which would not happen if the CPU were the primary constraint. The CPU's 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR4 support also ensure that data can flow to the GPU efficiently, further reducing the chance of a CPU-induced stall.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Ryzen 5 5600 and RX 6650 XT achieves a rank of 2439 out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the 65th percentile of all system pairings, indicating that it outperforms the majority of other configurations tested in this game. The ranking is a composite result of the CPU's 74th percentile standing and the GPU's 65th percentile standing, which together create a balanced system that performs slightly above the median for all combos.

The rank is influenced by the fact that this is an older mid-range pairing, as the CPU was released in April 2022 and the GPU in May 2022. Despite this, the combo's performance in this game is respectable, as it is able to achieve playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p across most settings. The gap between this combo's rank and the top performers is substantial, but the data shows it is positioned well within the upper third of all tested systems. For context, the GPU's nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA Tesla K40m (19885, -0.6%) and AMD FirePro W7000 (19905, -0.7%), have similar average scores, suggesting that the RX 6650 XT is a predictable performer that does not deviate significantly from its expected tier.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is the hallmark of a GPU-limited system. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS at High settings drops from 103 to 75, a reduction of 27%. Moving from 1440p to 4K High, the average FPS falls from 75 to 49, a further reduction of 35%. This scaling indicates that the GPU's rendering pipeline is being saturated at higher pixel counts, while the CPU maintains consistent performance.

The limiting component is definitively the GPU when looking at the Low settings data. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 165 FPS, but at 1440p Low, it drops to 121 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls to 78 FPS. The continuous decline across all resolutions, even at the lowest settings, proves that the RX 6650 XT's compute and memory resources are the bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiter, we would expect to see a plateau in FPS at lower resolutions, where the CPU's maximum frame rate is reached. Instead, the FPS scales inversely with resolution, which is a direct consequence of the GPU having to process more pixels.

The data also shows that the frame rate drops are not linear with the pixel count increase. From 1080p to 4K, the pixel count increases by a factor of four, but the FPS at High settings only drops from 103 to 49, a factor of about 2.1. This non-linear scaling suggests that the GPU is not purely pixel-bound, and that other factors such as memory bandwidth and cache efficiency play a role. The 4K Medium setting, with an average of 56 FPS, shows the GPU struggling to maintain a smooth experience, while the 4K Ultra setting at 36 FPS is below the threshold for comfortable play.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's capabilities across three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance. With Low settings, the average FPS is 165, which is an excellent result for competitive play. Medium settings yield an average of 117 FPS, with a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 135 FPS, showing good consistency. High settings produce an average of 103 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to an average of 77 FPS. This spread of 88 FPS between Low and Ultra demonstrates the GPU's sensitivity to graphical fidelity at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down appropriately. Low settings maintain a high average of 121 FPS, which is still suitable for fast-paced gameplay. Medium settings average 86 FPS, with a minimum of 73 and a maximum of 99 FPS. High settings drop to 75 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 56 FPS. The 65 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is slightly smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is beginning to hit its limits.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 78 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a competitive FPS. Medium settings average 56 FPS, with a minimum of 47 and a maximum of 64 FPS. High settings drop to 49 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 36 FPS. The 42 FPS difference between Low and Ultra is the smallest of the three resolutions, showing that the GPU is uniformly constrained by the 4K pixel count.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this system depend heavily on the display resolution and the user's performance priorities.

For 1920x1080, the High preset is the best balance of visual quality and performance, delivering an average of 103 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience. For users who prioritize maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 165 FPS is ideal, but it sacrifices significant visual detail. The Medium preset at 117 FPS is a strong middle ground, but High offers a better visual improvement for only a 14 FPS cost compared to Medium.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is recommended, as it delivers an average of 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS, ensuring that frame times remain consistent. The High preset at 75 FPS is also viable, but the drop to 75 FPS leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset at 121 FPS is excellent for competitive play, but the visual downgrade is more noticeable at this resolution. Ultra settings at 56 FPS are not recommended, as they fall below the 60 FPS threshold and may result in a less fluid experience.

For 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only recommended option, with an average of 78 FPS. This is the only 4K setting that remains above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 56 FPS is borderline, but the minimum of 47 FPS could lead to noticeable stutters. High and Ultra settings at 49 FPS and 36 FPS, respectively, are not recommended for a smooth experience. Users with a 4K display should either use Low settings or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for better performance.