Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol presents an interesting scaling challenge for the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination. The data shows a clear progression where frame rates diminish as resolution increases, but the rate of that decline is not uniform across all quality presets. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 206.7 FPS, which drops to 187.5 FPS at 1440p and further to 159.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a 9.3% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 22.8% decrease from 1080p to 4K. The pattern suggests that at lower resolutions and settings, the system is not fully GPU-bound, as the performance gap between 1080p and 1440p is relatively modest.

The scaling picture changes dramatically when moving to higher quality presets. At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 152.7 FPS at 1080p to 110.9 FPS at 1440p, a 27.4% reduction, and then to 74.3 FPS at 4K, a 51.3% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steeper decline at higher settings indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count and graphical complexity increase. The 4K Ultra result of 74.3 FPS, while playable, shows the most significant performance hit in the entire dataset, suggesting that this resolution and preset combination pushes the GPU to its limits within this pairing.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance this combo can achieve in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 206.7 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This drops to 159.6 FPS at 4K with Low settings, indicating that even at the lowest quality preset, the system maintains high frame rates across all resolutions.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 3700X compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X has an average benchmark score of 28631, which places it virtually tied with the Intel Core i5-12600 (28654, with a delta of -0.1%) and the Intel Core i5-12600H (28666, -0.1%). It sits marginally ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (28591, +0.1%) and the AMD EPYC 7203P (28583, +0.2%). The differences are negligible, indicating performance parity among these processors.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER significantly faster than its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER's average benchmark score is 53610. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 53489, which is only 0.2% behind. The gap widens slightly with the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (53414, +0.4%) and more notably with the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (52505, +2.1%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (52086, +2.9%). The data shows the 4080 SUPER leads its nearest competitors by a small but consistent margin.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 187.5 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 110.9 FPS. This represents a 76.6 FPS difference, or approximately 40.8% lower performance at Ultra compared to Low. The Medium preset (165.6 FPS) and High preset (150.8 FPS) sit between these extremes.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol?

A: The combination ranks 279th out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the top 17% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the strong performance of both the CPU and GPU components in this specific game.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average frame rate in the measured data is 74.3 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. All other tested configurations exceed 94 FPS, showing that even the most demanding settings remain comfortably playable.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain much of the observed performance. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. This substantial memory capacity and bandwidth are crucial for Lockdown Protocol at 4K resolution, where the Ultra preset still manages 74.3 FPS despite the heavy graphical load. The GPU's boost clock of 2550 MHz, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 10240 shading units, delivers the raw compute power necessary for high frame rates at lower resolutions.

The data reveals that the RTX 4080 SUPER's performance scales predictably with resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (206.7 FPS) and Ultra (152.7 FPS) is 54 FPS, while at 4K, the same preset comparison shows a 85.3 FPS difference (159.6 vs 74.3). This widening gap at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel processing capabilities are being taxed more heavily as resolution increases. The GPU's pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are substantial, yet the 4K Ultra result shows that even this powerful card faces challenges at maximum settings.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 53610 place it well above typical gaming hardware. Its position relative to rivals—leading the RX 6900 XT by 0.2% and the RTX 5070 Ti by 2.9%—suggests that Lockdown Protocol's performance is largely consistent with the GPU's synthetic benchmark standing. The fact that 4K High (94.9 FPS) and 4K Medium (109.9 FPS) both remain above 90 FPS indicates that the GPU has sufficient headroom for most playable configurations, with only 4K Ultra pushing it to its limits.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 206.7 FPS, Medium reaches 184.9 FPS, High achieves 173.9 FPS, and Ultra settles at 152.7 FPS. The progression shows a 54 FPS spread between the lowest and highest quality presets, with each step up in settings costing approximately 15-20 FPS. This resolution demonstrates the least GPU bottleneck, as even the most demanding preset stays well above 150 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show more separation between presets. Low delivers 187.5 FPS, Medium reaches 165.6 FPS, High achieves 150.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 110.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 76.6 FPS, and notably, the Ultra preset experiences the largest single-step drop (from High's 150.8 to Ultra's 110.9, a 39.9 FPS decrease). This suggests that Ultra settings introduce a significant additional load at 1440p.

At 3840x2160, the performance hierarchy compresses. Low yields 159.6 FPS, Medium produces 109.9 FPS, High reaches 94.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 74.3 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is now 85.3 FPS, with Medium, High, and Ultra all falling below 110 FPS. The 4K Low result of 159.6 FPS is notably lower than 1440p Medium (165.6 FPS), indicating that resolution has a more substantial impact than preset selection at this level. All 4K results remain above 74 FPS, ensuring playability, but only the Low preset approaches the frame rates seen at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 279 out of 1637 tested combinations places it in the upper tier of all configurations evaluated for Lockdown Protocol. This positioning reflects the synergistic performance of the Ryzen 7 3700X and RTX 4080 SUPER, where the GPU's high-end capabilities are not excessively constrained by the CPU's mid-range standing. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's 88th percentile ranking suggest a balanced pairing, though the GPU's slightly higher percentile may explain why the combo performs better at higher resolutions where GPU load dominates.

In the context of the measured FPS data, this ranking translates to consistently high frame rates across all tested scenarios. The weakest result—4K Ultra at 74.3 FPS—would still be considered smooth for most players, while the strongest result—1080p Low at 206.7 FPS—exceeds the refresh rate of most gaming monitors. The rank of 279 indicates that while this combo is not the absolute fastest available, it outperforms the vast majority of the 1637 tested configurations, many of which likely feature less powerful GPUs or CPUs.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X provides the processing foundation for this combo, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 2 architecture. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz, combined with 32 MB of L3 cache, offer solid single-threaded and multi-threaded performance for gaming workloads. The CPU's average benchmark score of 28631 and its 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicate that it performs well above the median processor, despite being from the 3000 series that launched in 2019.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 206.7 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's practical frame delivery limit. The fact that 1080p Ultra (152.7 FPS) is only 54 FPS lower than 1080p Low, while 4K Ultra (74.3 FPS) is 132.4 FPS lower, suggests that the CPU can keep up with the GPU at 1080p but becomes less of a factor as resolution increases and GPU load rises. The Ryzen 7 3700X's nearest rivals—the Core i5-12600 and Core i5-12600H—show virtually identical benchmark scores (within 0.1%), indicating that any of these CPUs would likely yield similar results in this game.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and 7 nm process node from TSMC make it an efficient choice, though the data cannot directly attribute power consumption to specific frame rates. Its memory support for DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provides adequate data throughput for the GPU, though the RTX 4080 SUPER's 736.3 GB/s memory bandwidth vastly exceeds this, underscoring the GPU's dominance in this pairing.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, any preset delivers excellent performance, with even Ultra achieving 152.7 FPS. Players seeking maximum smoothness can use Low for 206.7 FPS, but the High preset at 173.9 FPS offers a strong balance between visual quality and speed. The Medium preset (184.9 FPS) is a reasonable middle ground, though High's additional visual fidelity costs only 11 FPS compared to Medium.

At 1440p, the data suggests High settings provide the best experience for most users. The High preset delivers 150.8 FPS, which is only 36.7 FPS below Low but offers substantially better visual quality. Ultra at 110.9 FPS remains playable but introduces a notable performance penalty compared to High's 150.8 FPS. For those prioritizing frame rate above all, Low at 187.5 FPS remains an option, but the diminishing returns from High to Ultra (a 39.9 FPS drop) make Ultra less appealing at this resolution.

For 4K gaming, the recommendations shift toward lower presets to maintain high frame rates. Low settings at 159.6 FPS provide the smoothest experience, while Medium at 109.9 FPS and High at 94.9 FPS both offer playable performance with improved visuals. Ultra at 74.3 FPS is the only configuration that dips below 90 FPS, and while it remains technically playable, the significant drop from High suggests that players should weigh the visual gains against the 20.6 FPS loss. The data indicates that 4K Medium (109.9 FPS) offers the best compromise between image quality and performance, as it nearly matches 1440p Ultra's frame rate while providing higher resolution output.