Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a demanding FPS title, and this particular pairing—an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X with an AMD Radeon RX 570—sits near the bottom of the performance hierarchy for it. The data places this combo at rank 3544 out of 3714 tested configurations, meaning roughly 95% of other hardware combinations deliver higher frame rates. The measured results show a system that is strictly limited by its graphics card at every resolution, with the CPU rarely becoming the primary constraint. This analysis breaks down exactly what that means for playability across the three standard resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, which is the clearest indicator that the RX 570 is the bottleneck. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 77 FPS at 1920x1080 to 56 FPS at 2560x1440, a 27% reduction, and then further down to 36 FPS at 3840x2160, which is a 53% drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern—where performance roughly halves when pixel count quadruples—is the signature of a GPU that is saturated with fill-rate work.

The scaling is even more punishing at higher presets. With High settings, the averages go from 47 FPS at 1080p to 35 FPS at 1440p (a 26% loss) and then to 22 FPS at 4K (a 53% loss from 1080p). Ultra preset shows the same relative behavior: 36 FPS at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p, and 17 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across different presets tells us that the limiting component does not change—it is always the GPU struggling to push pixels.

Notably, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller in absolute terms than the gap between 1440p and 4K, but the relative percentage is similar. This suggests that the RX 570's 4 GB of VRAM and 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth are being overwhelmed at the higher resolutions, not just the compute units. At 4K, even the Low preset only manages 36 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The data indicates that 1080p is the only resolution where this combo can approach acceptable frame rates, and even then, only at the cost of turning settings down significantly.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 4K?

A: Technically yes, but not at playable speeds. The best 4K result is 36 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 22 FPS on High and 17 FPS on Ultra. All 4K averages are below 40 FPS, indicating a poor experience.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combo?

A: The data clearly favors 1920x1080. The lowest average at 1080p is 36 FPS on Ultra, while the highest is 77 FPS on Low. At 1440p, the best average is 56 FPS (Low), and at 4K, the best is 36 FPS (Low). 1080p is the only resolution where the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS.

Q: How much faster is Low preset compared to Ultra preset at the same resolution?

A: At 1080p, Low (77 FPS) is more than double the Ultra preset (36 FPS), a 114% improvement. At 1440p, Low (56 FPS) is 115% faster than Ultra (26 FPS). At 4K, Low (36 FPS) is 112% faster than Ultra (17 FPS). The relative gain from lowering settings is consistent across resolutions.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 3700X holding back the RX 570 in this game?

A: Based on the FPS scaling, no. The frame rates drop proportionally with resolution increases, which indicates a GPU bottleneck. The CPU's average benchmark score of 34260 places it at the 84th percentile of all CPUs, and it is within 0.2% of the Intel Core i5-13450HX and 0.5% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H. This suggests the processor has ample headroom.

Q: What is the minimum FPS on Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum FPS values are only provided for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the minimum is 46 FPS with an average of 54. At 1440p, the minimum is 34 FPS with an average of 40. At 4K, the minimum is 22 FPS with an average of 26.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 28766, ranking in the 74th percentile of all GPUs. It is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, which is only 0.4% faster, and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X, which is 0.7% slower. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 is 1.2% faster.

Settings Recommendations

For a playable experience, the settings must be chosen based on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset is the only option that delivers a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, averaging 77 FPS. The Medium preset is still viable at 54 FPS, and the data shows a minimum of 46 FPS, which is acceptable for a slower-paced FPS, but High (47 FPS) and Ultra (36 FPS) start to dip into choppy territory. Given that the jump from Low to Medium costs 23 FPS (from 77 to 54), but the jump from Medium to High costs only 7 FPS (from 54 to 47), the visual gain from Medium to High is inefficient.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset averages 56 FPS, which is borderline playable, but any higher preset pushes the average below 40 FPS. Medium averages 40 FPS, High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. For a competitive FPS, these are all too low. The recommendation for 1440p is to stick with Low settings if the user insists on this resolution, but the data suggests that dropping to 1080p is the better course of action for smoothness.

At 3840x2160, all presets are effectively unplayable for fast-paced action. The Low preset averages 36 FPS, Medium averages 26 FPS, High averages 22 FPS, and Ultra averages 17 FPS. There is no setting combination that brings 4K into an acceptable range. The best experience per the measured rows is achieved by using the Low preset at 1080p, which provides the highest average FPS and the most headroom above the minimum threshold for fluid motion. If visual fidelity is a priority, the Medium preset at 1080p is the highest quality option that remains above 50 FPS average.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 77 FPS average
• Medium: 54 FPS average, 46 FPS minimum, 63 FPS maximum
• High: 47 FPS average
• Ultra: 36 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 56 FPS average
• Medium: 40 FPS average, 34 FPS minimum, 46 FPS maximum
• High: 35 FPS average
• Ultra: 26 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 36 FPS average
• Medium: 26 FPS average, 22 FPS minimum, 30 FPS maximum
• High: 22 FPS average
• Ultra: 17 FPS average

The data shows a clear linear progression. For each resolution, the order of performance is Low > Medium > High > Ultra. The Medium preset provides the only complete data set with minimum and maximum values, showing that the variance is roughly 17-18 FPS across all resolutions. This variance is consistent, suggesting stable frame pacing rather than sporadic spikes. The drop from Medium to High is consistently smaller than the drop from Low to Medium, indicating that the Low preset is significantly less demanding than the others.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the primary limiting factor in this configuration. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is simply insufficient for Lockdown Protocol at higher resolutions. The 4K results, where even Low settings yield only 36 FPS, demonstrate that the memory subsystem is overwhelmed.

The GPU's clock speeds are modest, with a base of 1168 MHz and a boost of 1244 MHz. The 2048 shading units and 128 texture mapping units are capable of producing acceptable frame rates at 1080p, but the 32 ROPs limit pixel output at higher resolutions. The pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are reflected in the benchmark scores. The GPU's average benchmark score of 28766 places it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, and it is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (0.4% faster) and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X (0.7% slower).

The 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the theoretical compute ceiling, but the practical results show that memory bandwidth is the binding constraint. The GPU supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, which are modern APIs, but the underlying GCN 4.0 architecture from 2017 lacks the efficiency of newer designs. The data indicates that the RX 570 can handle the game at 1080p with reduced settings, but its age and 4 GB VRAM capacity make it unsuitable for higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is not the bottleneck in this pairing. Its 8 cores and 16 threads based on Zen 2 architecture provide more than enough processing power for Lockdown Protocol at the frame rates the RX 570 can deliver. The CPU's base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are solid for gaming, and the 32 MB of L3 cache helps with game logic and draw calls.

The CPU's benchmark results confirm its capability. A Cinebench R15 multicore score of 2092 and a Geekbench multicore score of 8899 show strong multi-threaded performance. The PassMark multithread score of 22458 and integer math score of 66399 indicate that the processor can handle complex simulations without breaking a sweat. The CPU's average benchmark score of 34260 puts it at the 84th percentile of all CPUs, and it is within 0.2% of the Intel Core i5-13450HX and 0.5% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H.

The evidence that the CPU is not limiting comes from the resolution scaling. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would stay similar across resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops dramatically as resolution increases, which is the classic sign of a GPU limit. The single-thread score of 1593 on Geekbench is adequate for FPS games, and the 16 threads ensure that background tasks do not interfere with the game. In this configuration, the Ryzen 7 3700X is waiting on the RX 570, not the other way around. The CPU has substantial headroom, meaning that a future GPU upgrade would unlock significantly higher frame rates without needing to replace the processor.