Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, a 2024 FPS title, presents an interesting case study in system scaling when paired with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080. The data shows a combination that is clearly capable of high frame rates, yet the performance curve across resolutions reveals a nuanced story about where the bottleneck shifts between the CPU and GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p, the combo delivers exceptionally high frame rates, with the Low preset hitting 259 FPS and even the demanding Ultra preset achieving 155 FPS. This suggests that at 1080p, the system is not heavily constrained by the graphics card, as the frame rates are so high that they approach the limits of what the CPU can feed.

Moving to 1440p, we see a substantial drop in performance across all settings, but the system remains highly playable. The High preset falls from 206 FPS at 1080p to 151 FPS at 1440p, a 27% reduction. The Low preset sees a similar proportional decline, dropping from 259 FPS to 233 FPS. This scaling indicates that the GPU is beginning to become a more significant factor, but the frame rates are still high enough to suggest the CPU is keeping pace.

The jump to 4K (3840x2160) is where the GPU's workload becomes the dominant constraint. The High preset drops from 151 FPS at 1440p to 98 FPS at 4K, a 35% reduction. The Ultra preset is particularly telling, falling from 113 FPS at 1440p to 73 FPS at 4K. This 4K Ultra figure is the lowest average in the entire dataset, confirming that the RTX 4080 is being pushed to its limits. The scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K shows a clear trend: the higher the resolution, the more the GPU becomes the limiting component, with the CPU's role diminishing as pixel count increases.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of all tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks at position 330 out of 3714 combos. This places it in the top 8.9% of all tested systems, which is a strong result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU.

The ranking suggests that while the RTX 4080 is a powerful card, the Ryzen 7 5700 is holding the combo back from reaching the absolute top tier of performance. The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 78, indicating it performs better than 78% of all processors. However, the GPU's percentile is higher at 86, suggesting the graphics card is capable of more than the CPU can deliver in this game. The gap between these percentiles hints at a potential CPU bottleneck in certain scenarios, particularly at lower resolutions where frame rates are extremely high.

When compared to the nearest rival CPUs in terms of average benchmark score, the Ryzen 7 5700 is virtually tied with the Intel Xeon D-2752TER, which has a delta of -0.1%, and the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H, also at -0.1%. It is slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7640U by 0.1% and behind the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U by 0.3%. These negligible differences mean that the CPU choice is unlikely to be the deciding factor in gameplay performance, and the GPU is doing the heavy lifting.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the star of this show, and its specifications paint a picture of a card built for high-resolution gaming. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This large memory pool is particularly relevant for a 2024 FPS title like Lockdown Protocol, which may have high-resolution textures that can quickly fill smaller VRAM buffers.

The card's clock speeds are also noteworthy, with a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz. The memory runs at an effective speed of 22.4 Gbps. These clocks contribute to the card's substantial compute capabilities, including 9728 shading units and 76 RT cores. The FP32 performance is rated at 48.74 TFLOPS, which explains why the card can handle 4K gaming at playable frame rates.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its position in the market. It scores 34457 in Passmark's G3D test and 214739 in Geekbench OpenCL. Its average benchmark score of 54247 places it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, is essentially identical in performance with a delta of 0.1%. Interestingly, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores slightly higher in the average benchmark with a delta of -2.6%, showing that raw compute benchmarks don't always translate directly to game-specific performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1080p, the combo delivers exceptional performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 259 FPS, which is the highest figure in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 228 FPS with a minimum of 194 FPS and a maximum of 262 FPS. The High preset averages 206 FPS, and even the Ultra preset manages a solid 155 FPS. At this resolution, the system is clearly capable of driving high-refresh-rate monitors, provided the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output.

At 1440p, performance remains strong but shows the expected drop. The Low preset averages 233 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 173 FPS with a minimum of 147 FPS and a maximum of 199 FPS. The High preset averages 151 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 113 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1440p gaming is very comfortable for this combo, with even the Ultra preset staying well above 100 FPS.

At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The Low preset averages 157 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K and suggests the game is not extremely demanding at lower settings. The Medium preset averages 112 FPS with a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 129 FPS. The High preset drops to 98 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 73 FPS. The minimum FPS figures for Medium at 4K show that the system can occasionally dip below 100 FPS, which could be noticeable on a high-refresh-rate 4K display.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset at 155 FPS is the best choice for those who prioritize visual fidelity while still maintaining a frame rate that is smooth on most monitors. If a player has a 240Hz display, the Medium preset at 228 FPS would be a better option, sacrificing some visual quality for a significant boost in frame rate.

At 1440p, the High preset at 151 FPS offers an excellent balance between visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 113 FPS is also viable for those who want maximum detail, but the 38 FPS difference between High and Ultra may not justify the visual improvement for all players. The Medium preset at 173 FPS is a good choice for competitive play where higher frame rates are prioritized.

At 4K, the High preset at 98 FPS is the recommended starting point, as it provides a good balance of visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 73 FPS may be too demanding for smooth gameplay on standard 60Hz displays, but it is playable. For players who want to maximize frame rates at 4K, the Medium preset at 112 FPS is a solid choice, but note that the minimum FPS of 95 indicates some dips below 100 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 259, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo averages 73 FPS, which is the lowest average in the measured data.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU may be the limiting factor at 1080p, as frame rates are extremely high (exceeding 200 FPS on most presets) and the GPU's percentile (86) is higher than the CPU's (78).

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems for Lockdown Protocol?

A: The combo ranks 330th out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 9% of all systems.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 151 FPS while the Ultra preset averages 113 FPS, a difference of 38 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 have enough VRAM for this game?

A: The RTX 4080 has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, which is more than sufficient for Lockdown Protocol's needs, given that the game runs well even at 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is a Zen 3 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This 7nm processor from TSMC has a 65W TDP, making it a power-efficient choice. Its cache configuration includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a total of 16 MB of L3 cache.

In terms of raw performance, the CPU's benchmark scores are solid for a mid-range part. It scores 20655 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2916 in single-core. The Geekbench scores are 9959 for multicore and 1907 for single-core. These scores place it in the 78th percentile of all CPUs, which is respectable but not top-tier.

The CPU's role in Lockdown Protocol becomes apparent when examining the frame rate scaling. At 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed, the frame rates are very high but do not scale perfectly with the GPU's capabilities. The 3DMark single-thread score of 901 is modest, and this could be a limiting factor in a game that may have a significant single-threaded component. The 3DMark max-thread score of 6617 shows that the CPU has decent multi-threaded performance, but the game may not be able to fully utilize all 16 threads.

The nearest rival CPUs in terms of benchmark scores are all within 0.3% of the Ryzen 7 5700, meaning that in a CPU-bound scenario, swapping to a different processor would yield negligible performance changes. The data suggests that for this specific game, the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, but at 1080p with low settings, the CPU's limitations may prevent the system from reaching even higher frame rates. This is a classic phenomenon where a high-end GPU is paired with a mid-range CPU, resulting in a system that is well-balanced for 4K but potentially CPU-limited at lower resolutions.