Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a fast-paced FPS that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the data for the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER reveals a system that is heavily influenced by resolution and graphics settings. The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of how this combination scales, where its strengths lie, and what users can expect when adjusting presets.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K shows a dramatic performance shift, indicating a clear transition from a CPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions to a GPU-bound one at higher ones. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, this combo achieves an average of 290 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 on the same Low preset, the average drops to 212 FPS, a reduction of 78 FPS. The step to 3840x2160 Low sees a further drop to 137 FPS. This scaling pattern suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is largely the limiting factor, as the frame rates are exceptionally high, and the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly.

The picture changes when looking at higher settings. At the High preset, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is from 180 FPS to 132 FPS, a 48 FPS decrease. From 1440p to 4K, the average falls from 132 FPS to 85 FPS, a 47 FPS decrease. This suggests a more balanced load, but the GPU is becoming increasingly significant. The most telling data is at the Ultra preset, where the 1080p average is 135 FPS, the 1440p average is 99 FPS, and the 4K average is just 64 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra represents a 52.6% performance loss, which strongly indicates that at this preset, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary bottleneck.

The implications are clear: at 1080p and lower settings, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X's six cores and 12 threads are capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to reach very high frame rates. However, as resolution and settings increase, the workload on the GPU's rendering pipeline grows, and the frame rate becomes more dependent on its capabilities. The 4K Ultra result of 64 FPS is significantly lower than the 4K Low result of 137 FPS, showing that the cost of enabling Ultra settings at high resolution is substantial. The data suggests that for maximum frame rates at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting component, but for 4K gaming, the GPU dictates the experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a good basis for recommending a settings preset that balances visual fidelity with performance. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 180 FPS, which is more than sufficient for a competitive FPS. The Ultra preset at the same resolution provides 135 FPS, which is still very playable, but the 45 FPS difference between High and Ultra may not justify the visual gains for all players, especially in a fast-paced game where higher frame rates can offer a competitive advantage. The Low preset at 1080p offers 290 FPS, but this is likely to be overly taxing on visual quality for most users and is best reserved for high-refresh-rate esports scenarios.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the sweet spot, producing an average of 132 FPS. This is a strong result for a 1440p monitor and provides a smooth experience. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 99 FPS, which is still acceptable, but the Medium preset offers 151 FPS, which is a significant jump. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p provides a very good balance, with a 151 FPS average that is 19 FPS higher than High and 52 FPS higher than Ultra. For users with a 144Hz monitor, the Medium preset at 1440p is the most reliable way to stay near the refresh rate ceiling.

At 3840x2160, the options are more constrained. The High preset yields 85 FPS, which is playable, but the Medium preset provides 97 FPS, which is a better experience for a 4K display. The Ultra preset at 4K is the weakest result in the entire dataset, with an average of 64 FPS. The Low preset at 4K reaches 137 FPS, but the visual compromises are significant. For a 4K experience, the Medium preset appears to be the best compromise, offering a 97 FPS average that is 12 FPS higher than High and 33 FPS higher than Ultra. The recommendation is to prioritize Medium at 4K, High at 1440p, and High or Ultra at 1080p, depending on the user's preference for frame rate versus visual effects.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the central component in determining frame rates at higher resolutions and settings. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 192-bit memory bus provide a 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is a crucial factor for handling the textures and assets in a modern FPS. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 64, which is a substantial drop from the 137 FPS at 4K Low. This indicates that the GPU's compute units, shading units, and ray tracing cores are heavily loaded by the Ultra preset's demands.

The GPU's boost clock is listed at 2475 MHz, with a base clock of 1980 MHz. These clocks, combined with the 7168 shading units and 224 texture mapping units, allow for high throughput on pixel and texture work. The texture rate is 554.4 GTexel/s, and the pixel rate is 198.0 GPixel/s. These figures help explain why the card performs well at 1080p and 1440p, where the pixel workload is lower. The data shows a clear relationship between the GPU's workload and the measured FPS. At 1080p Low, the GPU is not the limiting factor, as the CPU can drive the frame rate to 290 FPS. But as the resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become more critical.

The RTX 4070 SUPER's 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores are also part of its architecture, though their direct impact is not measured in the provided FPS data. The card's transistor count of 35,800 million on a 5 nm process from TSMC gives it a high compute density. The data indicates that for this game, the GPU's role becomes dominant at 4K, especially on the Ultra preset, where the 64 FPS average is the lowest measured. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is likely sufficient for the game's textures at these settings, as the performance scaling from Medium to High to Ultra is consistent, with no anomalies that would suggest a VRAM capacity limitation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings. Starting at 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 290 FPS. The Medium preset produces an average of 206 FPS, with a minimum of 175 FPS and a maximum of 237 FPS. The High preset averages 180 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 135 FPS. These numbers show a clear progression, with the Low preset being 84 FPS faster than Medium, and Ultra being 45 FPS slower than High.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset average is 212 FPS. The Medium preset averages 151 FPS, with a minimum of 128 FPS and a maximum of 173 FPS. The High preset averages 132 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 99 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is 61 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is 33 FPS. This shows that the Medium preset offers a significant performance advantage over High, while the Ultra preset is the most demanding.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 137 FPS. The Medium preset averages 97 FPS, with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 112 FPS. The High preset averages 85 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 64 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 73 FPS drop, which is the largest absolute difference across all resolutions. The data for the Medium preset at all three resolutions shows the only min/max values recorded, with the 1080p Medium having a 62 FPS range, the 1440p Medium having a 45 FPS range, and the 4K Medium having a 29 FPS range. This suggests that frame pacing is more consistent at 4K, likely due to the GPU being the limiting factor, whereas at 1080p, CPU-bound scenarios can lead to larger fluctuations.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination holds a rank of 582 out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the combo in the top 15.7% of all tested systems, indicating that it is a high-performing setup for this game. The percentile data for the individual components supports this ranking. The CPU, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X, has a percentile of 81, meaning it performs better than 81% of all CPUs in the database. The GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, has a percentile of 83, meaning it performs better than 83% of all GPUs.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE has an average score of 29656, which is just 0.2% lower than the Ryzen 5 9600X's average score of 29713. The AMD Ryzen 7 7840H has an average score of 29868, which is 0.5% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is 0.6% higher with an average of 29879. The AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS is 0.8% higher with an average of 29955. These are very small differences, indicating that the CPU's performance is closely matched with these other processors.

For the GPU, its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB with an average score of 43262 (0.1% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile with an average score of 43268 (0.1% lower), and the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 with an average score of 43301 (0.2% lower). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile has an average score of 43667, which is 1% higher. This suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER is positioned just below the RTX 4090 Mobile in overall GPU compute performance, but the in-game ranking shows that the combo is still very effective for Lockdown Protocol. The rank of 582 out of 3714 confirms that this system is well above average, and users should expect a strong experience at most settings and resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with the High preset is 180 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER or the Ryzen 5 9600X the main bottleneck at 4K Ultra?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra. The average FPS is 64 at this setting, which is 126 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result of 290 FPS, indicating that the GPU's rendering workload is the limiting factor.

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

A: Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers a strong average of 151 FPS, with a minimum of 128 FPS and a maximum of 173 FPS. This is 19 FPS higher than the High preset's 132 FPS and 52 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 99 FPS.

Q: How many cores does the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X have?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X has 6 cores and 12 threads.

Q: What is the VRAM capacity of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combos in Lockdown Protocol?

A: This combo ranks 582nd out of 3714 total combos, which places it in the top 15.7% of all tested systems.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X plays a critical role in this system's performance, particularly at lower resolutions where the frame rate is less constrained by the GPU. The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. These clocks, combined with the Zen 5 architecture on a 4 nm process, give it strong single-threaded performance, which is important for FPS games. The CPU's benchmark scores support this, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2183.5 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2923.

The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 290 FPS, which is a very high frame rate. This is only possible if the CPU can process game logic and draw calls quickly enough to keep the GPU fed. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for gaming. The memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s for DDR5 memory also contributes to the CPU's ability to feed data to the GPU. The Ryzen 5 9600X's performance in the 3DMark tests, such as a single-thread score of 1253 and a 2-thread score of 2456, indicates that its per-core performance is high.

The CPU's role diminishes as the resolution increases and the GPU becomes the bottleneck. At 4K Ultra, the CPU is likely not the limiting factor, as the GPU is struggling to render the frame. The CPU's percentile of 81 and its average benchmark score of 29713 show that it is a capable processor. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT, have nearly identical average scores, with a delta of -0.6%, meaning the Ryzen 5 9600X is just 0.6% slower. This indicates that for this game, the CPU's performance is well within the expected range for a modern six-core processor, and it is only at very high frame rates, like those seen at 1080p Low, that its performance becomes a defining factor.