Lockdown Protocol

# FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 compare to its nearest rivals in overall CPU benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600 has an average benchmark score of 20468, placing it in the 74th percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rival is the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V with a score of 20454, a negligible 0.1% difference. The AMD Ryzen 5 8500G trails by 0.2% at 20425, while the AMD EPYC 9454P and EPYC 7713 sit at 20422 and 20363, respectively, with deltas of 0.2% and 0.5%.

Q: What is the measured performance of the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB in the Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark?

A: The GPU scores 2913 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. This places it in the 19th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF, scores 2910 (0.1% lower), while the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB variant scores 2907 (0.2% lower). Interestingly, the NVIDIA Quadro P600 scores slightly higher at 2923, a -0.3% delta from the 4060 Ti 8 GB.

Q: At which resolution and settings does Lockdown Protocol achieve the highest average FPS?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 219 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is significantly ahead of the next best combination, which is 160 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings. At 4K with Low settings, the average drops to 104 FPS, showing a clear scaling pattern across resolutions.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested hardware combinations for Lockdown Protocol?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB ranks 1436 out of 3714 tested combinations. This places it in the top 38.7% of all combos tested for this game, indicating a solid mid-to-upper tier performance position.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB's memory configuration affect its performance in this game?

A: The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). This configuration appears sufficient for the game's demands, as evidenced by playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra (48 FPS average), though the 16 GB variant scores nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks (2907 vs 2913), suggesting memory capacity is not the primary bottleneck here.

Q: What are the key specifications of the Ryzen 5 5600 that influence its gaming performance?

A: The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It features 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 64 KB L1 plus 512 KB L2 per core. Its single-thread performance is notable, scoring 882 in 3DMark single-thread and 3256 in Passmark single-thread tests, which are critical for gaming workloads.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC, containing 22,900 million transistors on a 188 mm² die. Its base clock runs at 2310 MHz with a boost clock of 2535 MHz, providing the computational foundation for Lockdown Protocol's rendering tasks. The GPU's 4352 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 48 ROPs work together to process the game's geometry and pixel data, while 34 RT cores and 136 tensor cores handle any ray-traced or AI-accelerated features.

The memory subsystem plays a crucial role in this game's performance. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the GPU achieves a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. This bandwidth is delivered through a memory clock of 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). The pixel rate of 121.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 344.8 GTexel/s indicate how quickly the GPU can fill frames and apply textures, which directly impacts the measured FPS across different settings presets.

The FP32 compute throughput of 22.06 TFLOPS (with FP16 at 1:1 ratio) provides the raw shader processing power needed for modern FPS titles. The GPU maintains a TDP of 160 W and connects via PCIe 4.0 x8 interface. Its support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 ensures compatibility with Lockdown Protocol's rendering requirements.

Interestingly, the GPU's benchmark performance shows it scoring 2913 in Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in just the 19th percentile of all GPUs. This relatively low percentile ranking suggests that while the card is capable, it sits below many higher-tier options. Yet in Lockdown Protocol specifically, the measured FPS shows strong results, indicating the game is well-optimized for this GPU's architecture. The near-identical scores from the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB (2907, 0.2% lower) confirm that the 8 GB memory capacity does not bottleneck this particular workload.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB achieves a rank of 1436 out of 3714 tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol. This places the combo in the upper-middle tier, roughly in the 61st percentile of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the balanced nature of this pairing — neither component dramatically outperforms the other, but together they deliver consistent, playable performance across all tested configurations.

Breaking down the components individually provides context for this ranking. The CPU sits in the 74th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 20468, while the GPU occupies just the 19th percentile with a score of 2913. This disparity suggests the CPU has more headroom relative to its peers than the GPU does, meaning the graphics card is likely the limiting factor in most scenarios. The combo rank of 1436/3714 reflects this GPU-bound reality — the system performs well but doesn't climb higher because the GPU holds it back from the top tiers.

When examining the nearest rival CPUs, the Ryzen 5 5600's position becomes clearer. It essentially ties with the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (20454, 0.1% delta) and AMD Ryzen 5 8500G (20425, 0.2% delta). These tiny margins indicate that CPU performance is not distinguishing this combo from others in its class. The GPU side tells a similar story, with the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB nearly matching the RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF (2910, 0.1% delta) and RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB (2907, 0.2% delta).

The measured FPS data supports the ranking position. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 136 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Even at 4K Ultra, it maintains 48 FPS average, showing the system can handle demanding configurations. The rank of 1436 suggests that while many combos outperform this one, a substantial number (2278 combos) fall below it, making this a dependable mid-range pairing for Lockdown Protocol.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 Results: The data shows a clear progression across settings presets. At Low settings, the combo achieves an impressive 219 FPS average, demonstrating the CPU's and GPU's ability to push high frame rates when graphical demands are minimal. Medium settings reduce this to 155 FPS average, with a minimum of 132 FPS and maximum of 179 FPS recorded. High settings further reduce performance to 136 FPS average. Ultra settings deliver 102 FPS average, which remains highly playable for competitive FPS gameplay.

2560x1440 Results: At 1440p, the scaling pattern continues. Low settings produce 160 FPS average, a 27% drop from 1080p Low. Medium settings yield 114 FPS average (97 min, 131 max), while High settings achieve 99 FPS average. Ultra settings drop to 75 FPS average. These numbers indicate that 1440p gaming remains smooth across all presets, with even Ultra settings staying above 60 FPS.

3840x2160 Results: The 4K resolution presents the greatest challenge. Low settings deliver 104 FPS average, which is still very playable. Medium settings produce 74 FPS average (62 min, 85 max), maintaining playability. High settings drop to 64 FPS average, right at the edge of the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra settings fall to 48 FPS average, which may be acceptable for slower-paced gameplay but is below ideal for competitive FPS action.

The pattern across resolutions reveals that settings choice matters more at higher resolutions. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 117 FPS (219 vs 102), while at 4K the difference narrows to 56 FPS (104 vs 48). This suggests the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions, compressing the performance range across settings.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the user's resolution and performance priorities. For players seeking maximum frame rates at 1080p, Low settings at 219 FPS average provides the highest competitive advantage, though Medium settings at 155 FPS (132 min, 179 max) offers a better balance of visual quality and performance for most users. High settings at 136 FPS remain excellent for smooth gameplay with enhanced visuals.

At 1440p, Medium settings at 114 FPS average (97 min, 131 max) delivers the best overall experience — the minimum FPS stays above 90, ensuring consistent smoothness while providing better visual fidelity than Low settings at 160 FPS. High settings at 99 FPS average are also viable, but the drop below 100 FPS may be noticeable to sensitive players. Ultra settings at 75 FPS average sacrifice too much frame rate for the visual gains.

For 4K gaming, the recommendation becomes more nuanced. Low settings at 104 FPS average provides the smoothest experience and is clearly the best choice for competitive play. Medium settings at 74 FPS average (62 min, 85 max) offers a good compromise, though the minimum FPS of 62 is close to the 60 FPS threshold. High settings at 64 FPS average hovers right at playability limits — this is the maximum quality preset that maintains acceptable performance. Ultra settings at 48 FPS average is not recommended for FPS gameplay, as the frame rate falls below smooth-play thresholds.

The data indicates that Medium settings at 1080p and 1440p provide the best balance of visual quality and performance, while Low settings are preferred at 4K for maintaining high frame rates. Players with 144Hz or higher refresh rate monitors at 1080p should consider Low settings to fully utilize their display's capabilities.

# CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 brings 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer codename), manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.50 GHz can boost to 4.40 GHz, providing responsive single-thread performance that FPS games like Lockdown Protocol benefit from. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, while the 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth (dual-channel DDR4) supports data-intensive workloads.

Benchmark results show the CPU's strengths. In Cinebench R23, it scores 18309 multi-core and 2584 single-core. The single-core performance is particularly relevant for gaming, as many game engines rely heavily on primary thread execution. The CPU also scores 882 in 3DMark single-thread and 1737 in 3DMark 2-thread tests, indicating strong performance when only a few threads are active — a common scenario in FPS titles.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 74th places it above most processors, and its average benchmark score of 20468 nearly matches its nearest rivals. The tiny deltas (0.1-0.5%) to the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, AMD Ryzen 5 8500G, and EPYC processors suggest that CPU performance is not a distinguishing factor at this level — these processors all perform within a narrow band.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining FPS scaling. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 219 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls and game logic updates. However, the GPU percentile of 19th (compared to CPU's 74th) indicates that the graphics card is the limiting component in most scenarios. This is confirmed by the resolution scaling pattern — as resolution increases, FPS drops consistently, indicating GPU-bound performance rather than CPU limitations.

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern across resolutions. At Low settings, performance drops from 219 FPS at 1080p to 160 FPS at 1440p (a 27% reduction) and then to 104 FPS at 4K (a 35% further reduction from 1440p). This steep decline indicates the GPU becomes increasingly stressed as pixel count grows, confirming that the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Medium settings show a similar trend: 155 FPS at 1080p, 114 FPS at 1440p (26% drop), and 74 FPS at 4K (35% drop from 1440p). High settings follow with 136 FPS, 99 FPS (27% drop), and 64 FPS (35% drop). Ultra settings demonstrate the same pattern: 102 FPS, 75 FPS (26% drop), and 48 FPS (36% drop).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings presets (roughly 26-27% from 1080p to 1440p, then 35-36% from 1440p to 4K) reveals a uniform scaling behavior independent of graphics quality. This uniformity strongly suggests the GPU's pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, as these constraints scale directly with resolution.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal. If the CPU were bottlenecking, we would expect to see smaller FPS drops at higher resolutions (since the CPU workload remains constant while GPU workload increases). Instead, the consistent and substantial drops indicate the GPU is fully saturated at all resolutions, with the CPU having sufficient headroom to keep up with the GPU's output demands.

The 4K Ultra result of 48 FPS average represents the system's worst-case scenario, while 1080p Low at 219 FPS shows its best. This range of 171 FPS across all tested configurations highlights the system's flexibility — it can adapt to both competitive (high FPS, low quality) and immersive (lower FPS, high quality) gaming preferences. For players wanting the smoothest experience, sticking to 1080p or 1440p with Medium-High settings provides the best balance, while 4K gaming is viable only at Low settings for acceptable frame rates.