Lockdown Protocol

Resolution Scaling

Lockdown Protocol’s frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with a pronounced performance cliff emerging as pixel count increases. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 189 FPS at 1920x1080 to 139 FPS at 2560x1440, a 26% reduction, before sliding further to 90 FPS at 3840x2160, which represents a 52% total decline from the 1080p baseline. This steep, non-linear degradation suggests that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti’s compute and memory bandwidth are being saturated as resolution scales, while the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D has ample headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions.

The pattern becomes even more telling when examining the Low preset. Here, the system delivers 275 FPS at 1080p, 224 FPS at 1440p, and 144 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 36%, which is nearly identical to the 35% drop seen from 1080p to 1440p. This consistency indicates that at Low settings, the limiting factor is primarily the GPU’s raw pixel throughput, not any CPU-side bottleneck. The fact that the 4K Low result (144 FPS) is still higher than the 1080p Ultra result (142 FPS) is a striking data point—it implies that lowering graphical fidelity at 4K can yield frame rates comparable to maxing out the game at a much lower resolution.

At Medium settings, the scaling is more moderate between 1080p and 1440p (217 FPS to 159 FPS, a 27% drop), but the 4K result (103 FPS) shows a 35% further decline from 1440p. This mirrors the Low preset’s behavior, reinforcing the idea that Lockdown Protocol’s rendering workload scales almost linearly with pixel count when shader complexity is reduced. The Ultra preset, however, tells a different story: 142 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p (27% drop), and 67 FPS at 4K (36% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result is the only sub-100 FPS figure in the entire dataset, and it suggests that the combination of high pixel count and maximum settings pushes the RTX 4070 Ti’s 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth to their limits.

What does this imply about the limiting component? The data strongly indicates a GPU bottleneck at all resolutions above 1080p, particularly at 4K. The CPU’s Passmark single-thread score of 3494 and multithread score of 25047 are robust, but they only matter if the GPU can keep up. At 1080p Low, the system hits 275 FPS, which is likely near the practical ceiling for this game’s engine. The fact that increasing resolution at Low settings still yields playable frame rates (144 FPS at 4K) suggests that the CPU is not the primary constraint. Instead, the RTX 4070 Ti, with its 7680 shading units and 80 ROPs, is doing the heavy lifting, and its performance degrades predictably as fill rate demands increase.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the undisputed driver of Lockdown Protocol’s performance, and its specifications explain the measured results. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, the card offers 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 67 FPS, compared to 90 FPS at High, suggests that the extra texture detail and shadow quality in Ultra settings push memory usage and bandwidth consumption beyond comfortable levels. The GPU’s 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present but do not appear to be heavily utilized in this title, as the frame rates are consistent with a traditional rasterization workload.

The clock speeds—2310 MHz base and 2610 MHz boost—are relatively high for a 5 nm Ada Lovelace chip, and they allow the card to sustain high throughput across all settings. However, the data shows that the boost clock is not enough to overcome the memory bandwidth wall at 4K Ultra. The passmark_g3d score of 31624 places this GPU in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the RTX 5090 Mobile (deltaPct -0.8) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (deltaPct -1.3). These comparisons are interesting because they show that the RTX 4070 Ti is competitive with mobile flagship parts, but the desktop card’s 285 W TDP and dual-slot design are clearly geared toward sustained performance, not efficiency.

At 1080p, the GPU’s role is more about raw frame generation than memory capacity. The 275 FPS Low result and 217 FPS Medium result indicate that the card can easily feed high-refresh-rate displays at this resolution, but the 142 FPS Ultra result shows a 34% drop from Medium. This is likely due to increased shader complexity and texture sampling, not VRAM capacity, as 12 GB is sufficient for 1080p. At 4K, however, the VRAM becomes a potential concern. While no VRAM usage metrics are provided in the data, the 67 FPS Ultra result versus 90 FPS High implies that the Ultra preset’s additional memory footprint may be causing cache thrashing or bandwidth pressure. The 21 Gbps effective memory speed is fast, but it cannot compensate for the 192-bit bus width when pushing 8.3 million pixels per frame.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ranks 359th out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 13% of all systems. This is a strong showing, but it is not elite—the rank suggests that while this pairing is well-balanced for this game, there are faster configurations available. The CPU’s percentile rank of 89 (vs. all CPUs) and the GPU’s percentile rank of 84 (vs. all GPUs) are both high, but the combo rank is lower than either component’s individual percentile, implying that Lockdown Protocol is not particularly sensitive to CPU performance. In other words, the CPU is overqualified for this workload, and the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 7500X3D’s average benchmark score of 44573 is nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (44466, deltaPct 0.2) and the Intel Core i9-13950HX (44342, deltaPct 0.5). This means that swapping the 7500X3D for these CPUs would likely yield negligible differences in Lockdown Protocol, as the game is not CPU-bound. Similarly, the GPU’s nearest rivals—the RTX 5090 Mobile (45152, deltaPct -0.8) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45384, deltaPct -1.3)—are within 2% of the RTX 4070 Ti’s average score, suggesting that the combo’s rank is more dependent on other factors, such as memory configuration or driver optimization.

The rank of 359 out of 2828 combos is impressive because it places this system in the upper echelon, but it also highlights that Lockdown Protocol is not a title where this combo excels. For context, the combo’s 4K Ultra result of 67 FPS is playable but not buttery smooth, while the 1440p High result of 139 FPS is excellent. The data implies that users with higher-refresh-rate monitors should stick to 1440p or lower to fully utilize the GPU’s potential, as the 4K results, while respectable, do not reach the 144+ FPS territory that competitive FPS players often desire.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides exact measured FPS values across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 275 FPS, with Medium at 217 FPS (min 184, max 249), High at 189 FPS, and Ultra at 142 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 133 FPS, a 48% reduction, which is significant for a game where high frame rates are critical. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 184 is still above the Ultra preset’s average of 142, indicating that even the minimum frame times at Medium are smoother than the average at Ultra. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce occasional frame hitches that are not present at lower presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 224 FPS, Medium 159 FPS (min 135, max 183), High 139 FPS, and Ultra 104 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is 13%, while the drop from High to Ultra is 25%, showing that the Ultra preset’s additional rendering costs are disproportionately high at this resolution. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 135 is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, but the Ultra average of 104 FPS is approaching the point where frame pacing becomes noticeable. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 144 FPS, Medium 103 FPS (min 87, max 118), High 90 FPS, and Ultra 67 FPS. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 87 is the lowest recorded in the entire dataset, indicating that 4K gaming with this combo requires careful settings tuning to avoid dips below 90 FPS.

The data also shows that the scaling from 1080p to 1440p is nearly identical across all presets (around 27% drop), while the scaling from 1440p to 4K is more variable. At Low, the 4K drop is 36%; at Medium, it is 35%; at High, it is 35%; and at Ultra, it is 36%. This consistency is remarkable and suggests that Lockdown Protocol’s rendering pipeline is highly predictable, with no unexpected bottlenecks at any resolution. The only outlier is the 4K Ultra result, which falls to 67 FPS, a 52% drop from 1080p Ultra. This is the worst-case scenario for this combo, and it is the only measurement where the system fails to maintain a 60 FPS average.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and the user’s preference for frame rate versus visual fidelity. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 189 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play on 165 Hz or 240 Hz monitors. The Ultra preset’s 142 FPS is still playable but offers diminishing returns over High, as the visual difference is often subtle in fast-paced FPS games. For users who prioritize maximum frame rates, Low at 275 FPS is the best choice, but Medium at 217 FPS offers a better balance of visual quality and speed.

At 2560x1440, the High preset’s 139 FPS is the sweet spot, providing a smooth experience on most 144 Hz monitors. The Medium preset at 159 FPS is even better for those who want extra headroom, but the Ultra preset at 104 FPS is borderline—it will be smooth on 100 Hz monitors but may show tearing on 144 Hz displays without VRR. The Low preset at 224 FPS is excessive for most displays and sacrifices too much visual quality for a marginal gain over Medium. For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 144 FPS is the only option that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. The Medium preset at 103 FPS is acceptable for 100 Hz displays, but the High preset at 90 FPS and Ultra at 67 FPS are better suited for 60 Hz monitors. Given that 4K Ultra drops below 70 FPS, it is recommended to use Medium settings at 4K to maintain a stable frame rate above 100 FPS.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the most versatile choice across all resolutions, as it never falls below 103 FPS and offers a good compromise between visual fidelity and performance. For competitive players, the High preset at 1080p or 1440p is the best balance, as it provides high frame rates without the steep performance penalty of Ultra. Ultimately, the Ultra preset is only recommended for users who prioritize graphics over frame rate and are willing to accept 67 FPS at 4K or 104 FPS at 1440p.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, with a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. Its 96 MB of shared L3 cache is the defining feature, and it provides a significant advantage in games that are sensitive to cache latency. However, Lockdown Protocol does not appear to be one of those games, as the measured FPS at 1080p Low (275 FPS) is likely limited by the GPU’s ability to render frames, not the CPU’s ability to feed them. The CPU’s Passmark multithread score of 25047 and single-thread score of 3494 are both solid, but the game’s frame rates do not vary meaningfully with CPU load, as evidenced by the consistent GPU bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The 7500X3D’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (deltaPct 0.2) and the Intel Core i9-13950HX (deltaPct 0.5), have nearly identical average benchmark scores, which means that any of these CPUs would likely produce similar results in Lockdown Protocol. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 5 nm process node make it efficient, but the game’s performance is not constrained by power or thermal limits. The 12 threads are more than sufficient for this title, and the 6 cores are unlikely to be fully utilized, as FPS games typically rely on a few heavily threaded tasks. The data implies that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution or settings preset, and its role is limited to maintaining a stable frame delivery pipeline.

The 7500X3D’s memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s is also not a limiting factor, as the GPU’s memory bandwidth is much lower. In fact, the CPU’s memory bandwidth is more than twice the GPU’s, which means that data transfer between the two components is not a constraint. The CPU’s PCIe Gen 5 support with 24 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the RTX 4070 Ti’s PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, ensuring that there is no bottleneck in the data path. Overall, the CPU role in this combo is supportive rather than primary, and users should focus on GPU settings to optimize performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if I want to stay above 144 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all settings presets except Ultra (142 FPS) exceed 144 FPS. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset (224 FPS) and Medium preset (159 FPS) exceed 144 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset averages above 144 FPS, with Low being the closest at 144 FPS.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever provide a smoother experience than Medium?

A: No. Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset’s average FPS is significantly lower than Medium: 142 vs 217 at 1080p, 104 vs 159 at 1440p, and 67 vs 103 at 4K. The Ultra preset also has no recorded min FPS data, whereas Medium has documented min FPS values, suggesting Medium is more stable.

Q: How does this combo compare to the RTX 5090 Mobile in GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 44795, while the RTX 5090 Mobile scores 45152, a deltaPct of -0.8. This means the RTX 4070 Ti is essentially on par with the mobile flagship, with a negligible 0.8% difference.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data shows 275 FPS at 1080p Low, which is a very high frame rate. Given the CPU’s Passmark single-thread score of 3494 and the fact that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at all resolutions, the CPU is unlikely to be a limiting factor even at this high frame rate.

Q: What is the lowest recorded min FPS in the entire dataset?

A: The 4K Medium preset has a min FPS of 87, which is the lowest of all recorded min FPS values. The 1440p Medium preset has a min FPS of 135, and the 1080p Medium preset has a min FPS of 184.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-thread performance compare to its multithread performance?

A: The CPU’s Passmark single-thread score is 3494, while its multithread score is 25047. This indicates that the CPU is roughly 7 times faster in multithreaded workloads, but in Lockdown Protocol, the single-thread performance is more relevant, and it is sufficient to avoid bottlenecks.