Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D + AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

The pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX produces a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions in Lockdown Protocol, yet the data reveals a surprisingly large performance gap between settings presets that points to specific optimization opportunities. This combination ranks in the 87th percentile of all tested configurations for this game, sitting at rank 368 out of 2828 combos, which places it firmly in the upper tier of systems capable of handling the game's demands. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets show that this hardware can deliver playable performance at 4K, but the choices you make in the graphics menu have an outsized impact on the experience.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop between 1080p and 4K reveals where this system's bottleneck lies. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 216 at 1920x1080 to 158 at 2560x1440, a decrease of roughly 27%, and then further to 102 at 3840x2160, which is another 35% drop from the 1440p figure. This progressive decline indicates that the RX 7900 XTX is doing progressively heavier lifting as pixel count rises, while the Ryzen 5 7500X3D remains capable of feeding the GPU enough data even at lower resolutions.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is even more pronounced: 275 FPS at 1080p drops to 223 at 1440p (a 19% decline) and then to 144 at 4K (a 35% decline from 1440p). The 144 FPS at 4K Low is noteworthy because it suggests that when the GPU's workload is lightened, the system can still push high frame rates at the highest resolution, but the CPU becomes more relevant as a limiting factor at 1080p where the GPU has less work per frame. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 275 FPS while 4K Low achieves 144 FPS — a 47% reduction — shows that even with minimal graphical load, the pixel throughput requirement at 4K is substantial.

Ultra settings tell a different story: 141 FPS at 1080p, 103 at 1440p, and 67 at 4K. The 4K Ultra figure is the only sub-70 FPS result in the entire dataset, indicating that this preset demands the full resources of the GPU. The gap between 1080p Ultra and 4K Ultra is 74 FPS, which is a 52% reduction. This larger percentage drop at Ultra compared to Low suggests that the most demanding settings amplify the resolution penalty, likely due to increased shading and texture work that scales with pixel count.

The data indicates that at 1080p, even with the most demanding settings, the system maintains frame rates above 140 FPS, meaning the CPU and GPU combination has headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1440p, all presets except Ultra remain above 138 FPS, and at 4K, only Low and Medium exceed 100 FPS. The resolution scaling pattern is smooth and consistent, with no anomalous spikes or drops, which points to a well-balanced system where the GPU is the primary scaling factor as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset to choose based on your target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, every preset delivers playable frame rates, but the differences are meaningful for high-refresh displays. Low settings achieve 275 FPS, Medium reaches 216 FPS, High hits 188 FPS, and Ultra still manages 141 FPS. For a 144Hz monitor, Medium or High would be the sweet spot, offering a substantial visual improvement over Low while staying well above the refresh threshold. Ultra at 141 FPS is just barely below 144Hz, so if you have a 144Hz panel, the difference between Ultra and High is negligible in practice, but High provides a 47 FPS buffer that could help with frame time consistency.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. Low settings produce 223 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, but Medium at 158 FPS still clears 144Hz with room to spare. High at 138 FPS is just under 144Hz, so if you have a 144Hz monitor, you might notice occasional dips below the refresh rate. Ultra at 103 FPS is smooth for 100Hz displays or for those who prioritize visual fidelity over maximum frame rates. The data suggests that Medium is the optimal balance at 1440p: it delivers 158 FPS average with a minimum of 134 FPS, meaning even the worst-case frames stay above 120 FPS. The 134 FPS minimum at Medium 1440p is the only recorded minimum in the dataset, and it indicates that frame pacing is stable enough for consistent gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the choices become more constrained. Low settings achieve 144 FPS, which is excellent for 4K gaming and suggests that this preset is well-optimized for the RX 7900 XTX's architecture. Medium drops to 102 FPS with a minimum of 87 FPS, which is still playable on a 90Hz or 100Hz display. High falls to 89 FPS, and Ultra drops to 67 FPS. For 4K gaming, Low is the clear recommendation if you want to maintain high refresh rates, while Medium is the choice for a balance of visuals and performance. The 87 FPS minimum at Medium 4K means that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 85 FPS, which is smooth for most players. Ultra at 4K is only suitable for players who prioritize image quality over everything else and are comfortable with frame rates in the mid-60s.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX plays the dominant role in determining Lockdown Protocol's performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU's specifications include 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a modern FPS title. The 24 GB VRAM capacity is far more than any current game needs at these settings, so memory capacity is not a limiting factor in any of the measured results. The memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s, however, is more relevant — at 4K Ultra, the game is likely consuming significant texture bandwidth, and the GPU's ability to feed its 6144 shading units becomes critical.

The clock speeds of the RX 7900 XTX — a base of 1929 MHz, game clock of 2365 MHz, and boost of 2498 MHz — show that the GPU can sustain high frequencies under load. The game clock of 2365 MHz is the frequency at which the GPU is expected to run during gaming workloads, and the measured FPS results suggest that Lockdown Protocol keeps the GPU within this range. The boost clock of 2498 MHz allows for brief spikes above the game clock, which could explain why the Medium preset at 1080p achieves 216 FPS average with a maximum of 248 FPS — the boost behavior helps push frame rates higher in less demanding scenes.

The GPU's compute capabilities are impressive: 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 122.8 TFLOPS of FP16 performance (at 2:1 ratio). These figures indicate that the GPU has ample raw compute power for the shader work in Lockdown Protocol. The 96 ray tracing cores are present but the game's performance at Ultra settings suggests that ray tracing, if enabled, could be a factor in the 67 FPS result at 4K Ultra. The pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s are high enough that the GPU is likely not fill-rate limited at any of the tested resolutions, which aligns with the smooth scaling pattern observed in the data.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 19410 places it in the 64th percentile of all GPUs, which might seem low for such a powerful card, but this is an average across many different benchmark types. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the GPU scores 6841, and its Passmark G3D score is 31238. The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB with a delta of 0.4% and the NVIDIA TITAN Xp with a delta of 1.2%, but these comparisons are based on aggregate scores and do not reflect gaming performance specifically. In Lockdown Protocol, the RX 7900 XTX clearly performs at a high level, as evidenced by the FPS results.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX achieves a rank of 368 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 87th percentile of all configurations. This is a strong result, but it is not at the very top of the leaderboard, which suggests that there are faster combinations available for this game. The rank of 368 means that approximately 13% of tested combos outperform this one, which is expected given that the GPU, while powerful, is not the absolute fastest available.

The CPU's performance metrics provide context for this ranking. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D has an average benchmark score of 44573, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H with a delta of 0.2%, the Intel Core i9-13950HX with a delta of 0.5%, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 with a delta of 0.6%. These rivals are all within 1% of the 7500X3D's average score, indicating that the CPU is competitive with high-end mobile and desktop processors. The Intel Core i5-14600 is 0.7% behind, which shows that the 7500X3D is slightly ahead of that chip in aggregate benchmarks.

The CPU's 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a key feature for gaming performance, and its Passmark multithread score of 25047 and single-thread score of 3494 indicate solid all-around performance. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 4.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.50 GHz are sufficient for Lockdown Protocol, which is likely not heavily multi-threaded given the FPS results. The combination rank of 368 suggests that while the CPU is strong, the GPU is the more significant factor in this game's performance, as the FPS scaling with resolution demonstrates.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 4K with high refresh rates?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings. The 4K Low preset achieves an average of 144 FPS, which is exactly 144Hz. At Medium settings, the average drops to 102 FPS with a minimum of 87 FPS, which is still playable but not high-refresh. High and Ultra at 4K produce 89 FPS and 67 FPS respectively, which are below typical high-refresh thresholds.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 deliver 158 FPS average with a minimum of 134 FPS, making it the best choice for 144Hz monitors. High settings achieve 138 FPS, which is just below 144Hz, while Low at 223 FPS is overkill for most displays. Ultra at 103 FPS is suitable for 100Hz monitors but sacrifices frame rate for visual quality.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor at resolutions above 1080p. The FPS drops of 35-52% when moving from 1440p to 4K across all presets indicate that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. At 1080p Low, the 275 FPS result suggests the CPU can keep up with the GPU, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 368 out of 2828 tested combos, placing it in the 87th percentile. The CPU is in the 89th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 44573, and the GPU is in the 64th percentile with an average score of 19410. The combination's rank indicates that it outperforms most systems in Lockdown Protocol.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at the most demanding settings?

A: The only preset with a recorded minimum FPS is Medium. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 183 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 134 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 87 FPS. Other presets do not have recorded minimums, but the Medium minimums show that frame pacing is stable across resolutions.

Q: Is 24 GB of VRAM necessary for this game?

A: No, the 24 GB of VRAM on the RX 7900 XTX is far more than Lockdown Protocol requires at any tested settings. The game's performance is not limited by VRAM capacity, as even at 4K Ultra with 67 FPS, the GPU is likely compute-bound rather than memory-bound. The 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is more relevant than the capacity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combination across all tested configurations is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the system achieves its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 275 FPS with no recorded minimum or maximum. Medium settings deliver 216 FPS average, with a minimum of 183 FPS and a maximum of 248 FPS. High settings produce 188 FPS average. Ultra settings achieve 141 FPS average. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 134 FPS, which represents a 49% reduction in performance when moving to the most demanding preset.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected decrease from 1080p. Low settings deliver 223 FPS average. Medium settings produce 158 FPS average, with a minimum of 134 FPS and a maximum of 182 FPS. High settings achieve 138 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 103 FPS average. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 120 FPS, a 54% reduction, which is slightly larger than the 1080p gap.

At 3840x2160, the system shows its limits. Low settings achieve 144 FPS average. Medium settings deliver 102 FPS average, with a minimum of 87 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS. High settings produce 89 FPS average. Ultra settings achieve 67 FPS average. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 77 FPS, a 53% reduction. The 4K Medium minimum of 87 FPS is the lowest recorded minimum in the entire dataset, indicating that even at Medium settings, the system can dip below 90 FPS in demanding scenes.

The settings scaling at each resolution is consistent: Low is always the fastest, followed by Medium, then High, then Ultra. The performance gap between Medium and High is smaller than the gap between Low and Medium at all resolutions, suggesting that the visual quality improvements from Medium to High are less demanding than those from Low to Medium. The Ultra preset consistently shows the largest performance penalty, which is typical for games where Ultra settings include features that disproportionately impact frame rates.