Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, a 2024 FPS title, presents an interesting case study in system scaling when paired with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a component balance that shifts dramatically depending on the workload, with the data showing a configuration that is capable of high refresh rates at standard resolutions but not without clear bottlenecks at higher pixel counts.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a substantial performance penalty, but the pattern is not uniform across all settings presets. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 246.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 189.4 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 23%. Moving further to 3840x2160, the frame rate falls to 122.9 FPS, which is roughly 50% of the 1080p performance. This scaling pattern indicates that even at Low settings, where the GPU load is minimized, the rendering pipeline is still heavily taxed by the increase in pixel count.

The scaling behavior becomes more pronounced at higher quality presets. With Ultra settings, the average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 118.5 FPS, which drops to 90.3 FPS at 2560x1440 and then to 56.9 FPS at 3840x2160. The drop from 1080p to 4K here is a 52% reduction, similar to the Low setting percentage, but the absolute numbers are much lower, suggesting a different limiting factor. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is likely the primary constraint, as the RX 9070 XT is capable of producing very high frame rates, but as resolution increases, the GPU's workload becomes more dominant, and the 4K results appear to be firmly GPU-limited.

The scaling between Medium and High settings is also telling. At 2560x1440, the difference between Medium (133.5 FPS) and High (121.1 FPS) is about 9%, while at 3840x2160, the difference is over 15% (88.7 FPS vs 74.5 FPS). This widening gap with resolution increases suggests that the higher-fidelity settings introduce more complex shading and texture work that scales non-linearly with pixel count, making the GPU the clear bottleneck at 4K. The fact that the 4K Low setting (122.9 FPS) is close to the 1440p High setting (121.1 FPS) further illustrates that resolution has a more significant impact on this configuration than quality presets do, at least within this range.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is a high-end part with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This memory configuration is well-suited for high-resolution textures, and the data confirms that the GPU has enough memory and bandwidth to avoid capacity-related stutters in the tested scenarios. The GPU's boost clock of 2970 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz, based on the RDNA 4.0 architecture, provide the raw compute power to drive high frame rates, as evidenced by the 246.5 FPS result at 1080p Low.

However, the GPU's role is clearly defined by the resolution. At 1920x1080, the RX 9070 XT is not fully utilized; the frame rates are so high that the Ryzen 5 5600G's single-thread performance becomes the limiting factor. This is a classic case of a powerful GPU being held back by a mid-range CPU in a CPU-bound scenario. The benchmark results for the CPU, such as a 3DMark single-thread score of 872 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1933, suggest it has decent, but not exceptional, single-core performance for a 5000-series part.

As resolution increases to 2560x1440 and 3840x2160, the GPU's role becomes dominant. The 4K Ultra result of 56.9 FPS shows that the GPU is working near its limits with the most demanding settings. The 4K Low result of 122.9 FPS is particularly interesting, as it demonstrates the GPU's raw throughput when not bogged down by complex pixel shading. This suggests that the 16 GB VRAM is sufficient and that the GPU's compute units and texture units are the main drivers of performance at 4K. The pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s are the theoretical limits that the measured frame rates approach when the CPU is not a factor.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 5600G and RX 9070 XT ranks 456th out of 1637 tested combinations. This places it in the top 28% of all configurations, which is a solid result given the component choices. The ranking is a holistic measure that weighs all tested resolutions and settings, and it reflects the system's overall capability rather than its peak performance in any single scenario.

The CPU's benchmark percentile against all CPUs is 78, and its average benchmark score is 19983. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-11600H (0.2% faster), the Intel Core i7-11800H (0.2% slower), and the AMD EPYC 7713P (0.2% slower). This indicates that the 5600G's compute performance is very much in line with those parts, and it is not a major outlier in either direction. The GPU's percentile is 82, with an average score of 39647, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 575 (0.1% faster) and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (0.2% faster). The combo's rank of 456 is a result of the interaction between these two components, where the CPU's relative weakness compared to the GPU's strength creates a system that excels at high frame rates in less demanding settings but struggles to maintain high performance when both components are heavily loaded.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a complete picture of the system's behavior across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the system is clearly CPU-limited. The Low preset produces an average of 246.5 FPS, which is an excellent result for competitive play. Medium and High settings yield 186.6 FPS and 163.5 FPS, respectively, while Ultra drops to 118.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is more than 128 FPS, which is a significant difference that shows how much headroom the CPU has when the GPU load is light.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but the scaling changes. Low settings produce 189.4 FPS, which is still very smooth. Medium and High are 133.5 FPS and 121.1 FPS, respectively, and Ultra is 90.3 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 99 FPS, which is less than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to become more of a factor. The 1440p results are a good balance for this system, as the frame rates are high enough to take advantage of high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings yield 122.9 FPS, which is still playable. Medium drops to 88.7 FPS, and High to 74.5 FPS. Ultra settings produce 56.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for a good experience. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 66 FPS drop, showing that the quality presets have a more pronounced effect at this resolution. The data shows a consistent pattern where the frame rate scales predictably with both resolution and settings, with the CPU limiting at 1080p and the GPU limiting at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting high refresh rates at 1920x1080, the Low preset is the best choice, as it delivers 246.5 FPS and will maximize the potential of a 240Hz monitor. The High preset at 163.5 FPS is also a viable option for those who prefer better visual fidelity, as it remains well above the 144 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 118.5 FPS is still smooth but sacrifices a significant amount of performance for visual gains that may be hard to notice in a fast-paced FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 133.5 FPS offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance, making it the recommended choice for most users. The High preset at 121.1 FPS is also excellent, and the Low preset at 189.4 FPS is ideal for competitive play where frame rate is paramount. The Ultra preset at 90.3 FPS is playable but may not provide the consistent high frame rates that competitive players desire.

For 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only one that provides a consistently high frame rate at 122.9 FPS. The Medium preset at 88.7 FPS is acceptable for a less demanding experience, but the High preset at 74.5 FPS and Ultra at 56.9 FPS are likely to feel less responsive. Given that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, users should prioritize lower settings to maintain a smooth frame rate. Based on the measured data, the optimal experience for this combo is at 2560x1440 with the High preset, which provides a 121.1 FPS average that is both visually pleasing and fast enough for most gaming scenarios.