Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, an FPS released on 2024-03-11, shows a clear performance hierarchy when paired with the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT. The measured data reveals a system that scales predictably with resolution and settings, offering a wide range of experiences from high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming to challenging 4K Ultra scenarios. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across all combinations, examines the role of each component, and contextualizes the combo's standing against other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic shift in frame rates, indicating a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 235 at 1080p to 172 at 1440p, and finally to 111 at 4K. This represents a 47% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, a steep curve that underscores the massive pixel throughput demands of 4K resolution. The scaling is nearly linear in terms of pixel count, suggesting the RX 7800 XT is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

At Medium settings, the drop is similarly pronounced: 167 FPS at 1080p falls to 122 FPS at 1440p, and then to 79 FPS at 4K. The step from 1440p to 4K is particularly stark, with a 35% performance loss, highlighting how the GPU's 16 GB memory and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth are taxed by the 3840x2160 pixel count. High settings follow the same trend, with 146 FPS at 1080p dropping to 107 FPS at 1440p and 69 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that for 4K gaming, even Medium settings struggle to maintain a solid 60 FPS baseline, with Low settings providing the only comfortable margin above 100 FPS.

The scaling behavior reveals that at 1080p, the CPU begins to play a more significant role. The difference between Low and High settings at 1080p is 89 FPS (235 vs. 146), while at 4K the same settings gap is only 42 FPS (111 vs. 69). This compression of performance difference at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K, while at 1080p, the Ryzen 5 7400F's six cores and 12 threads are sufficient to keep the GPU well-fed but not overwhelmed. The 235 FPS at 1080p Low is a strong indicator that the CPU can push well beyond 200 FPS in this title, making the combo highly capable for competitive play at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Across all three resolutions, the Medium preset emerges as the most balanced choice based on the measured data. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 167 FPS average with a minimum of 142 FPS, providing a smooth experience that is only 68 FPS lower than Low but 58 FPS higher than High. The 142 FPS minimum at 1080p Medium ensures frame pacing stays well above typical 144 Hz refresh rates, making it ideal for fast-paced FPS action without the visual degradation of Low settings.

At 2560x1440, Medium produces 122 FPS average with a 104 FPS minimum, which remains comfortably playable for high-refresh-rate monitors. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 15 FPS (122 vs. 107), a relatively modest penalty that still keeps the average above 100 FPS. However, for users with 144 Hz or 165 Hz panels, Medium is the safer recommendation, as the 104 FPS minimum provides a larger buffer against drops during intense combat scenes. Ultra at 1440p drops to 80 FPS, which is playable but sacrifices the fluidity that Medium offers.

For 3840x2160, the recommendation shifts decisively to Low, which delivers 111 FPS average. Medium at 4K falls to 79 FPS, which is below the 80 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth 4K gaming, and its 67 FPS minimum risks noticeable stutter. High at 4K (69 FPS) and Ultra at 4K (52 FPS) are best avoided for competitive play, as they fall below 70 FPS and 60 FPS respectively. The data suggests that for a consistent experience across all resolutions, Medium is the optimal preset, offering a balance of visual fidelity and performance that scales well from 1080p to 1440p, while 4K users should prioritize Low settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, is the dominant factor in this game's performance envelope. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for handling the texture and geometry loads in Lockdown Protocol at higher resolutions. The GPU's 3840 shading units and 96 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s, which directly influences the 4K performance observed in the data.

The clock speeds show a notable spread: base clock at 1295 MHz, game clock at 2124 MHz, and boost clock at 2430 MHz. This dynamic range allows the GPU to scale its performance based on thermal and power headroom, which is reflected in the FPS variance between settings. The 37.32 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability provides ample raw processing power for the game's rendering workloads, but the measured FPS drops at 4K Ultra (52 FPS) suggest that the GPU's 263 W TDP is a limiting factor when pushed to maximum settings.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its position. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4157, while PassMark G3D shows 24176. However, its percentile vs. all GPUs is only 51, and its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (with a delta of -0.5%) and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT (with a delta of -1.8%). This indicates that while the RX 7800 XT is a capable card, its raw benchmark scores place it in a crowded mid-range tier, and the measured game performance is heavily influenced by the specific optimization of Lockdown Protocol.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range is available with high frame rates. Low settings produce 235 FPS average, Medium yields 167 FPS with a 142 FPS minimum and 192 FPS maximum, High achieves 146 FPS, and Ultra drops to 109 FPS. The 126 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p demonstrates the significant performance cost of higher visual fidelity, but even Ultra remains well above 100 FPS, making 1080p the most versatile resolution for this combo.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance envelope tightens. Low settings deliver 172 FPS, Medium averages 122 FPS with a 104 FPS minimum and 141 FPS maximum, High reaches 107 FPS, and Ultra falls to 80 FPS. The 92 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is smaller than at 1080p, reflecting the increased GPU load. Notably, the Medium preset at 1440p (122 FPS) is only slightly slower than High at 1080p (146 FPS), showing that resolution has a greater impact than settings in this range.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become more constrained. Low settings average 111 FPS, Medium falls to 79 FPS with a 67 FPS minimum and 91 FPS maximum, High drops to 69 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 52 FPS. The 59 FPS difference between Low and Ultra is the smallest across all resolutions, confirming that 4K is firmly GPU-bound. The Medium preset's 67 FPS minimum is the only sub-70 FPS data point outside of Ultra settings, indicating that 4K gaming requires careful settings management to maintain fluid gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT combination ranks 897 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 68th percentile of all configurations. This is a solid mid-to-upper tier ranking, suggesting that this combo outperforms roughly two-thirds of the tested systems in this specific game. The rank reflects the balanced nature of the pairing, where neither component is clearly bottlenecking the other at typical gaming resolutions.

The combo's ranking is consistent with the GPU's overall standing, which sits at the 51st percentile vs. all GPUs. This suggests that Lockdown Protocol's performance is more dependent on the GPU than the CPU, as the combo ranks higher than the GPU's average percentile would imply. The Ryzen 5 7400F, with its 83rd percentile vs. all CPUs, provides enough processing headroom to avoid being a limiting factor, allowing the RX 7800 XT to operate near its potential.

In the context of the database, this combo sits in the upper-middle tier, meaning it is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming with high settings, and can handle 4K at lower presets. The 897th rank out of 2828 combos indicates that while there are many faster configurations, this pairing offers a compelling balance for Lockdown Protocol without requiring top-tier components.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F, based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture on a 5 nm process, provides the computational foundation for this combo. With 6 cores and 12 threads, it offers a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core are well-suited for gaming workloads, and the 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU efficiently.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 7400F shows strong single-threaded performance, scoring 3072 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 3689 in PassMark single-thread. Multi-threaded results are also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21765 and a PassMark multi-thread score of 25645. These numbers place the CPU in the 83rd percentile vs. all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i5-14600T (delta of 0.1%) and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (delta of -0.2%). The 7400F's performance is nearly identical to these rivals, indicating it is a well-balanced processor for gaming.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where the 235 FPS at Low settings demonstrates its ability to drive high frame rates. The 12 threads allow for smooth handling of game logic and physics, even in busy multiplayer scenarios. However, the data does not show a CPU bottleneck, as the FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings, suggesting the 7400F is never the limiting factor. Its 65 W TDP and unlocked multiplier make it an efficient and flexible choice, though these characteristics do not directly translate to measured FPS values.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 provides the highest frame rates, with 235 FPS at Low settings and 146 FPS at High. 2560x1440 is also viable, with 172 FPS at Low and 107 FPS at High. 3840x2160 is playable but requires Low settings (111 FPS) to maintain high frame rates.

Q: How does the RX 7800 XT's memory configuration impact 4K performance?

A: The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 4K textures. The 4K results show 111 FPS at Low and 79 FPS at Medium, indicating that memory bandwidth is not a bottleneck, but the GPU's compute capabilities limit higher settings.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7400F a bottleneck in this game?

A: Based on the measured FPS, the CPU does not appear to be a bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 235 FPS, and the performance scales consistently with resolution and settings, suggesting the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: What settings should I use for competitive play at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 122 FPS average with a 104 FPS minimum, which is the best balance for competitive play. It offers a 15 FPS advantage over High (107 FPS) while maintaining visual quality above Low (172 FPS).

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 897th out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the upper third of all configurations. This is a strong result, given the GPU's 51st percentile ranking vs. all GPUs.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings average 235 FPS, while Ultra averages 109 FPS. This 126 FPS difference represents a 54% performance drop when moving from Low to Ultra, making Low the clear choice for maximum frame rates.