Lockdown Protocol

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate for this combo at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB delivers 89.1 FPS on average at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings. This drops to 70.2 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 45.1 FPS at 3840x2160 under the same preset.

Q: How does the Low preset compare to Ultra at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 144.5 FPS on average, which is more than double the 70.2 FPS seen at Ultra. The gap between Medium (100.8 FPS) and High (87.5 FPS) is also notable, with each step up in quality costing roughly 13 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is heavily burdened at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the difference between Low (91 FPS) and Ultra (45.1 FPS) is a 45.9 FPS drop, which is a larger absolute swing than the CPU's multi-core benchmark scores would suggest for a bottleneck. The CPU, with 8 cores and 16 threads, sits at the 85th percentile among all CPUs, but the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are more constrained at 4K.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at if targeting 60 FPS minimum?

A: Based on the measured rows, 3840x2160 at Medium (67.7 FPS) is the only 4K preset that clears 60 FPS on average. At 2560x1440, all four presets exceed 60 FPS, with Low reaching 144.5 FPS. At 1920x1080, every preset is above 89 FPS, making 1440p the practical ceiling for consistent high refresh rates.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in the database?

A: The combo ranks 884th out of 1637 tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol. This places it slightly below the median, indicating that while it can run the game playably, many other CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher average frame rates.

Q: Does the GPU's 8 GB VRAM appear to impact performance at any resolution?

A: The data suggests a VRAM-related drop at 3840x2160 Ultra, where the average FPS falls to 45.1. Compared to the 55.5 FPS at High, the 10.4 FPS penalty for the Ultra preset is larger than the 7.8 FPS drop from Medium (67.7) to High (55.5). This pattern implies that 8 GB may be insufficient for the highest texture loads at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is the recommended starting point. It produces 100.8 FPS on average, which is comfortably above 60 FPS and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. Moving to High reduces this to 87.5 FPS, a 13.3 FPS loss that may not justify the visual gains in a fast-paced FPS. At 1920x1080, High (120.1 FPS) is ideal, as it retains most visual quality while staying well above 100 FPS. For players prioritizing smoothness over appearance, Low at 1440p delivers 144.5 FPS, which aligns with high-refresh-rate displays.

At 3840x2160, only Low (91 FPS) and Medium (67.7 FPS) are viable for 60 FPS play. Ultra at 45.1 FPS is likely too choppy for competitive play, and High at 55.5 FPS barely misses the 60 FPS mark. The data shows diminishing returns: the jump from Low to Medium at 4K costs 23.3 FPS, while Medium to High costs another 12.2 FPS. Therefore, Medium at 4K is the sweet spot for visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. If 60 FPS is a hard requirement, Low at 4K is the only preset that exceeds it with 91 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo holds rank 884 out of 1637 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 54th percentile of all tested systems. This means roughly 46% of tested combos perform worse, while 54% perform better. The ranking reflects the balance between the Ryzen 7 3700X and the RX 9060 XT 8 GB; the CPU's percentile stands at 85 among all CPUs, but the GPU's percentile is 50 among all GPUs. The disparity suggests that the graphics card is the weaker link in this pairing, dragging the overall combo rank below what the processor alone would indicate.

In practical terms, this rank means the combo is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but not exceptional. At 1920x1080, the highest preset still yields 89.1 FPS, which is playable. However, the mid-pack ranking implies that many other combos offer higher frame rates at the same settings, likely due to more powerful GPUs or newer CPU architectures. The Ryzen 7 3700X's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-12600 (deltaPct -0.1) and AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (deltaPct 0.1), have nearly identical average benchmark scores, so CPU-side upgrades would not dramatically change the ranking without a GPU upgrade as well.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of presets is available with playable results. Low delivers 197.6 FPS, Medium 140.6 FPS, High 120.1 FPS, and Ultra 89.1 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 57 FPS, which is the largest single-preset drop at this resolution. Medium to High costs 20.5 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 31 FPS. This pattern shows that the Low preset is disproportionately fast, likely due to reduced draw calls and simpler shading.

At 2560x1440, the numbers scale down proportionally. Low produces 144.5 FPS, Medium 100.8 FPS, High 87.5 FPS, and Ultra 70.2 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 43.7 FPS, while Medium to High is 13.3 FPS, and High to Ultra is 17.3 FPS. Notably, the gap between Medium and High narrows at 1440p compared to 1080p, suggesting that resolution scaling affects higher presets more evenly.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to struggle. Low yields 91 FPS, Medium 67.7 FPS, High 55.5 FPS, and Ultra 45.1 FPS. The absolute differences are 23.3 FPS (Low to Medium), 12.2 FPS (Medium to High), and 10.4 FPS (High to Ultra). The smaller deltas between higher presets indicate that the GPU is becoming pixel-bound rather than shader-bound, meaning the 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory bus are limiting factors.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 44 chip. Its base clock is 1700 MHz, with a game clock of 2530 MHz and a boost clock of 3130 MHz. The memory runs at 2518 MHz with 20.1 Gbps effective speed, providing 322.3 GB/s of bandwidth over a 128-bit bus. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its FP32 throughput is 25.64 TFLOPS, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role is most evident at 3840x2160, where the average frame rates drop below 60 FPS for High and Ultra presets. The 8 GB VRAM capacity appears to be a bottleneck at 4K Ultra, as the 10.4 FPS difference between High and Ultra is smaller than the 12.2 FPS difference between Medium and High, indicating that memory pressure may be limiting the GPU's ability to fully utilize its shading units. At 1920x1080, the GPU is less stressed, with even Ultra exceeding 89 FPS. The boost clock of 3130 MHz suggests that the card can sustain high frequencies when thermals allow, but the measured data shows that pixel throughput at 4K is constrained by the 128-bit memory bus.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is a Zen 2 (Matisse) processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 32 MB of L3 cache, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a TDP of 65 W. The CPU supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. Its multi-core benchmark scores include 8016 in Cinebench R20 and 19087 in Cinebench R23, while single-core scores are 1131 and 2694, respectively. The processor holds an 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs.

In the context of Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads provide sufficient parallel throughput for modern game engines, which typically utilize multiple threads for physics, AI, and scene management. The data shows that at 1920x1080, the CPU is not the primary bottleneck, as even the highest preset maintains 89.1 FPS. However, at 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's single-thread performance, as measured by a Geekbench single-core score of 1672, is adequate for the game's main thread, but it does not stand out compared to newer processors. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12600, has a nearly identical average benchmark score (28654 vs. 28631), suggesting that swapping the CPU alone would not yield meaningful gains in this game without a GPU upgrade to match.