Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 5 8400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

This pairing of AMD's 6-core Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA's RTX 3060 Ti delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Lockdown Protocol, with the data showing a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and settings. The combo sits at rank 1137 out of 1637 tested configurations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database, which reflects its balanced but not top-end nature. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 158 FPS, which drops to 48.3 FPS at 4K High — a spread that tells you exactly where the bottleneck shifts as pixel count rises.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but steep drop as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the system produces 158 FPS, which falls to 116.7 FPS at 1440p Low (a 26% reduction) and then to 74.7 FPS at 4K Low (a 53% reduction from 1080p). This pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU and GPU are both engaged, but the GPU starts to dominate the workload as pixel count climbs.

Looking at High settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 97.8 FPS at 1080p, 71.5 FPS at 1440p, and 48.3 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that 4K gaming with this combo requires dialing back settings. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 74.9 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 37.8 FPS at 4K — the latter being nearly unplayable for a fast-paced FPS.

The data reveals that the RTX 3060 Ti is the limiting factor at 4K, as the FPS drops are roughly proportional to the pixel count increase. From 1080p to 4K at Medium settings, the frame rate falls from 114.1 to 56.1 FPS — a 51% decrease, which aligns closely with the 4x pixel difference. This suggests the CPU (Ryzen 5 8400F) has enough headroom to feed the GPU at all tested resolutions, and the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become the constraining resources at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The RTX 3060 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It packs 4864 shading units, 152 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with 38 RT cores and 152 tensor cores for ray tracing and DLSS workloads. The boost clock sits at 1665 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This 8 GB GDDR6 configuration is the key constraint at 4K, where the High and Ultra presets likely exceed the VRAM buffer, causing the frame rates to dip below 50 FPS.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 20349 in Passmark G3D and 10006 in Passmark GPU Compute, placing it at the 69th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (avg score 25180, deltaPct -0.2), RX 6600 (25235, -0.5), and Radeon 890M (25246, -0.5) — all within a fraction of a percent of the RTX 3060 Ti's average benchmark score of 25120. This means the GPU is competitively positioned against these cards, and the measured FPS in Lockdown Protocol reflects that mid-range standing.

The 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 253.1 GTexel/s texture rate are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results (37.8-74.7 FPS across settings) show that the card is stretched at that resolution. The pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s is the limiting factor when pushing 8.3 million pixels per frame at 4K.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture (codename Phoenix), built on TSMC's 4 nm process. It has a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with 64 KB L1 and 1 MB L2 cache per core, plus 16 MB shared L3 cache. The 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) make it a power-efficient choice for gaming builds.

In CPU benchmarks, the 8400F scores 20851 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2943 in single-core, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 24530 and single-thread score of 3684. Its average benchmark score of 25064 places it at the 82nd percentile of all CPUs — notably higher than the GPU's 69th percentile. This disparity is meaningful: the CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU in this pairing, which explains why the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The nearest CPU rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (avg score 25057, deltaPct 0), Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (25099, -0.1), and EPYC 9474F (25103, -0.2). The 8400F essentially trades blows with these processors, with the Ryzen 5 7500F (24993, 0.3) being its closest sibling. This indicates the 8400F is well-matched to the RTX 3060 Ti's performance tier — neither component is drastically over- or under-powered relative to the other.

The CPU's 12 threads are sufficient for Lockdown Protocol's FPS gameplay, as the 1080p Low result of 158 FPS shows no sign of a CPU bottleneck at lower settings. Even at 1080p Ultra (74.9 FPS), the frame rate is likely GPU-limited, leaving CPU headroom for background tasks or streaming.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 1137 out of 1637 tested combos, this pairing sits in the 69th percentile of all configurations in the database — a position that aligns closely with the GPU's individual percentile (69th) rather than the CPU's (82nd). This suggests that the GPU is the determining factor for overall gaming performance in Lockdown Protocol, which is typical for a 1080p/1440p-oriented build.

The rank indicates that while this combo outperforms roughly 30% of tested systems, it falls short of the top-tier configurations that pair higher-end GPUs with flagship CPUs. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p High, the system achieves 97.8 FPS, which is smooth for most monitors but not competitive with high-refresh-rate (240 Hz+) setups. At 1440p High, 71.5 FPS is playable but requires adjusting settings for competitive play.

The gap between the CPU's 82nd percentile and the combo's 69th percentile rank means that upgrading the GPU would yield a larger performance boost than upgrading the CPU. This is a useful insight for builders considering future upgrades — the Ryzen 5 8400F has headroom to support a faster graphics card without becoming a bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on your target resolution and refresh rate. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 114.1 FPS, which is a strong balance of visual quality and performance. The High preset at 97.8 FPS is also viable for 60 Hz monitors, but Ultra dips to 74.9 FPS — still playable but with diminishing returns on visual fidelity.

For 1440p, the Medium preset (86.2 FPS) is the best choice for maintaining a smooth experience, as High drops to 71.5 FPS and Ultra falls to 57 FPS. The Low preset at 116.7 FPS is only recommended for competitive players who prioritize frame rate over visuals.

At 4K, the data shows that this combo is not well-suited for high settings. The Low preset (74.7 FPS) is the only option that approaches playable frame rates, while Medium (56.1 FPS), High (48.3 FPS), and Ultra (37.8 FPS) all fall below the 60 FPS threshold. For 4K gaming, reducing resolution to 1440p or lowering settings to Low is the practical approach.

The best overall experience is 1080p Medium (114.1 FPS) or 1440p Medium (86.2 FPS), depending on your monitor's native resolution. These settings provide a good balance of visual quality and smoothness without the steep performance penalties seen at Ultra.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Lockdown Protocol at 4K smoothly?

A: Not at high settings. The data shows 4K Low achieves 74.7 FPS, but Medium drops to 56.1 FPS, High to 48.3 FPS, and Ultra to 37.8 FPS. For 4K, stick to Low settings or lower the resolution.

Q: Which is the bottleneck in this pairing, CPU or GPU?

A: The GPU. The RTX 3060 Ti sits at the 69th percentile of all GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 8400F is at the 82nd percentile of CPUs. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K (e.g., 97.8 to 48.3 FPS at High) shows the GPU is the limiting factor.

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

A: Medium preset at 86.2 FPS is the sweet spot. High (71.5 FPS) is playable but not ideal for fast-paced FPS action, while Ultra (57 FPS) dips below 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo compare to similar systems in the database?

A: It ranks 1137 out of 1637 combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier. The GPU's nearest rivals (RX 6700M, RX 6600, Radeon 890M) all have average scores within 0.7% of the RTX 3060 Ti, indicating tight competition.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 8400F strong enough for this game?

A: Yes. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20851 and single-core score of 2943 place it at the 82nd percentile of CPUs. The 1080p Low result of 158 FPS shows no CPU bottleneck at lower settings.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 74.9 FPS. This is smooth for 60 Hz displays but below the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors (144 Hz+). Dropping to Medium raises this to 114.1 FPS.