Lockdown Protocol

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol with the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination produces 214.9 FPS, which drops to 158.8 FPS at 1440p and further to 100.4 FPS at 4K. This represents a 26.1% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 36.8% reduction from 1440p to 4K, indicating that the render load is scaling predictably with pixel count.

The High preset tells a similar story: 135.4 FPS at 1080p, 100 FPS at 1440p, and 62.9 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K is substantial—a 37.1% drop—which suggests the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are becoming limiting factors at higher resolutions. The Ultra preset amplifies this effect: 101 FPS at 1080p falls to 74.8 FPS at 1440p and then to 48.1 FPS at 4K, the latter being below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider playable.

The scaling pattern indicates that at 1080p, the system is partially CPU-bound, particularly at Low settings where 214.9 FPS approaches what a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a 5.00 GHz boost clock can sustain. As resolution climbs to 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint, with the gap between Low and Ultra settings widening from 53% at 1080p to 52.3% at 1440p and finally to 52.3% at 4K. The consistency of this percentage gap across resolutions suggests the RTX 3070's shading units, TMUs, and ROPs are being fully utilized, while the CPU has headroom to spare at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results provide clear guidance on which preset offers the optimal balance of visual quality and frame rate. At 4K, the Medium preset delivers 69.4 FPS, which is only 10.3% below the High preset's 62.9 FPS—wait, the data shows Medium at 69.4 FPS and High at 62.9 FPS, meaning Medium actually outperforms High by 10.3%. This counterintuitive result suggests that High may enable effects that disproportionately tax the GPU without proportional visual gains, while Medium provides a smoother experience.

The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 48.1 FPS, which is 30.7% below Medium and likely below the refresh rate of most displays. At 1440p, the situation improves: Medium achieves 114.4 FPS, High reaches 100 FPS, and Ultra manages 74.8 FPS. For players targeting 60 FPS or higher, Medium at 1440p offers a comfortable margin, while Ultra still clears the threshold but with less headroom.

At 1080p, all presets are playable, with even Ultra hitting 101 FPS. However, the data shows a diminishing return pattern: Low produces 214.9 FPS, Medium 151.8 FPS (29.4% lower), High 135.4 FPS (10.8% lower than Medium), and Ultra 101 FPS (25.4% lower than High). For high-refresh-rate monitors, the Medium preset at 1080p is the sweet spot, delivering 151.8 FPS while retaining more visual fidelity than Low. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the best choice for players who prioritize image quality while maintaining 74.8 FPS, provided their display supports adaptive sync.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz, combined with 32 MB of shared L3 cache, position it as a mid-range desktop chip. Benchmark data shows a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22799 and a single-core score of 3218, placing the CPU in the 82nd percentile against all CPUs.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role varies by resolution. At 1080p Low, the 214.9 FPS result suggests the processor's single-thread performance is sufficient to feed the GPU, but the scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p (a 53% drop) indicates the GPU becomes the bottleneck as settings increase. The 3DMark single-thread score of 974 and multi-thread score of 6379 help explain this: the CPU can sustain high frame rates but does not appear to be the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The nearest rival data shows the Ryzen 5 7500F's average benchmark score of 24993 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-11850H (24974, deltaPct 0.1) and the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (25057, deltaPct -0.3). This parity in synthetic benchmarks translates to consistent gaming performance across resolutions. At 4K, where the CPU's influence diminishes, the measured FPS differences between presets are entirely attributable to GPU load, confirming that the 7500F provides ample headroom for the RTX 3070.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining 60+ FPS with this combination?

A: All measured resolutions achieve 60+ FPS at Medium settings or lower. At 4K, Medium delivers 69.4 FPS, while High drops to 62.9 FPS and Ultra falls below 60 FPS at 48.1 FPS. At 1440p, even Ultra maintains 74.8 FPS, making it the highest resolution where all presets are playable.

Q: Why does Medium outperform High at 4K?

A: The data shows Medium at 69.4 FPS versus High at 62.9 FPS at 3840x2160. This 10.3% difference suggests that High enables rendering features that significantly increase GPU load without proportional visual benefits, allowing Medium to provide a smoother experience at the same resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the 214.9 FPS result indicates the GPU is still the primary constraint, since the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads can sustain high frame rates. The drop to 101 FPS at Ultra at the same resolution shows the GPU's workload increases substantially with settings, while the CPU maintains consistent performance.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score is 28238, which is 0.9% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985) and 1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956). It trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% (28409), indicating that the RTX 3070 is competitive within its performance tier.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured data shows exactly 100 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings. This provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and is suitable for most displays, though players with 144 Hz monitors may prefer Medium at 114.4 FPS for additional headroom.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7500F a good match for the RTX 3070?

A: The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22799 and the GPU's performance indicate a balanced pairing. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck across all presets, while at 1080p the system still achieves over 100 FPS even at Ultra, suggesting the 7500F does not hold back the RTX 3070 in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

In Lockdown Protocol, the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory appears sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, where even Ultra settings stay above 74 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the 48.1 FPS result suggests memory capacity or bandwidth constraints begin to emerge, as the frame rate drops 35.7% from 1440p Ultra's 74.8 FPS. The GPU's FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s provide the raw compute needed for this FPS title, but the 9.5-inch dual-slot card's 220 W TDP indicates it operates near its thermal and power limits at 4K.

The RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 28238 places it in the 72nd percentile against all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, scores 27985 (deltaPct 0.9), while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti scores 27956 (deltaPct 1). These narrow margins in synthetic benchmarks translate to the measured FPS data, where the RTX 3070 delivers consistent performance across all four presets at 1440p, with the gap between Low (158.8 FPS) and Ultra (74.8 FPS) reflecting the GPU's scaling under increasing load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a clear progression across settings: Low delivers 214.9 FPS, Medium drops to 151.8 FPS (29.4% lower), High reaches 135.4 FPS (10.8% lower than Medium), and Ultra falls to 101 FPS (25.4% lower than High). The 1080p results demonstrate the RTX 3070's ability to drive high refresh rates at lower resolutions, with even the most demanding preset clearing the 100 FPS mark.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds with reduced absolute values: Low produces 158.8 FPS, Medium 114.4 FPS, High 100 FPS, and Ultra 74.8 FPS. The percentage drop from Low to Ultra is 52.9%, slightly less than at 1080p (53.0%), indicating that the GPU's scaling is roughly proportional to pixel count. The 1440p results are notable for maintaining 60+ FPS across all presets, making this the highest resolution where Ultra remains playable.

At 3840x2160, the data reveals the GPU's limits: Low achieves 100.4 FPS, Medium 69.4 FPS, High 62.9 FPS, and Ultra 48.1 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K at each setting is substantial—37.5% for Low, 39.3% for Medium, 37.1% for High, and 35.7% for Ultra. The 4K results show that only Low and Medium consistently exceed 60 FPS, while High barely clears the threshold and Ultra falls short. This breakdown confirms that the RTX 3070 is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Lockdown Protocol, with 4K reserved for players willing to accept lower settings or frame rates.