Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, a 2024 FPS, is a demanding title for the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 pairing. The measured data shows that this combination, while reliable in terms of CPU grunt, is severely GPU‑bound across every resolution setting. The combo ranks 3580th out of 3714 tested configurations in this game, placing it in the bottom 4% of all submissions. The only path to a smooth 60 FPS experience is to drop to 1080p with the Low preset, where the average frame rate hits 76. Everything else – Medium at 1080p (54 FPS), High (47 FPS), or any 1440p or 4K setting – falls below the 60 FPS threshold for consistent motion. For this reason, the recommended experience is 1080p Low or, if visual detail is acceptable, 1080p Medium with the understanding that frame times will occasionally dip to 46 FPS (min) but remain playable.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rate rows indicate that the sweet spot for this combination is the 1920×1080 resolution. At that resolution, the Low preset delivers 76 averaged FPS – the only configuration that clears the 60 FPS mark. The Medium preset provides 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 and maximum of 62 – a playable, but not consistently smooth, experience. High and Ultra drop further to 47 and 35 FPS respectively, making them less desirable for a shooter where reaction times matter.

Stepping to 2560×1440 punishes the performance even more: Low yields 56 FPS, Medium 40 (min 34, max 46), High 35, and Ultra 26. All are below the 60 FPS line, and the minimums become marginal for competitive play. At 3840×2160, Low is 36 FPS, Medium 26 (min 22, max 29), High 22, and Ultra 17 – these are not viable for fluid action.

Thus, the only setting that ensures a fluid, response‑oriented experience is 1080p Low. For users who want better visual quality at the cost of some fluidity, 1080p Medium offers a respectable 54 FPS average with dips to 46 – a tough trade‑off. Given the game’s requirement for smooth motion, the data clearly points to Low as the best experience for this hardware.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X is an 8‑core, 16‑thread processor based on Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer). It runs a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boosts to 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. This CPU sits in the 79th percentile of all processors according to aggregate benchmarks, and its average benchmark score of 21,578 is essentially on par with a selection of competitors: it is exactly equal to the Intel Core i5‑12600K (0% delta), slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (0.2%), and within 0.3% of the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H. In multi‑threaded synthetic tests, the 5700X scores 13,184 in Cinebench R23 multi‑core and 1,499 in single‑core, showing strong processor capability.

For this game, however, the CPU’s contribution is not the limiting factor. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all quality presets – drops of roughly 20–30% between adjacent resolutions – which is a classic sign of a GPU‑bound workload. When a game is CPU‑limited, resolution changes typically have a far smaller effect on frame rates. The near‑linear degradation with resolution indicates that the CPU is delivering the necessary frame data and that the GPU is the bottleneck. The 8 cores and 16 threads are more than enough to manage the game’s physics and AI calculations, and the 32 MB L3 cache (shared) further helps. However, the processor’s 3dmark 16‑thread score of chips (6,858) is not indicative of a CPU that would starve the GPU. The data shows that dropping the resolution from 1440p to 1080p at Medium yields a 35% FPS increase (40→54), which would not happen if the CPU were the bottleneck – the GPU would still be the blocker. So the CPU is performing its role well; the limitation is elsewhere.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a modest, end‑of‑life GPU built on the Turing architecture (TU117 chip). It has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128‑bit bus, giving a memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1,485 MHz, boosting to 1,665 MHz, and the memory runs effectively at 8 Gbps. It has 896 shading units, 48 texture units, and 32 ROPs, delivering a pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s, with a peak FP32 throughput of 2.984 TFLOPS. Such numbers place the card in the 40th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 7,472. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (+0.3%), Intel UHD Graphics 750 (+0.4%), AMD Radeon R7 350 (+0.6%), and Intel Arc A310 (–1%). This is a middling‑tier performer, especially for a game released in 2023.

The GTX 1650’s 4 GB VRAM is a constraint at higher resolutions and quality settings. At 1080p, the Low preset fits within the memory, but as the render resolution increases, the GPU is spending cycles fetching data from the bus. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra, just 17 FPS, is a clear indication that the card’s bandwidth (128.1 GB/s) is woefully insufficient for pushing that many pixels. The frame time consistency also degrades: the 4K Medium preset has a 29 FPS maximum, which is barely above the 22 FPS minimum, illustrating that the GPU is running at near‑full utilization. This card cannot handle Lockdown Protocol at higher resolutions regardless of CPU capability.

How This Combo Ranks

According to the game’s internal database, the pairing of the Ryzen 7 5700X with the GTX 1650 holds a combo rank of 3580 out of 3714 tested combinations – the bottom, the 1,660th percentile. This means more than 96% of combinations tested in this game perform better. The reason is clear: the CPU is a strong mid‑range processor (79th percentile) and by no means a liability, but the GPU is only in the 40th percentile of all video cards, and that being the FPS bottleneck drags the entire system down. Notably, the GPU’s nearest rival, the Intel UHD Graphics 750 (integrated), achieves a similar score (±0.4%) – but in actual game play the GTX 1650 at least can deliver at low settings its discrete memory helps. The combo’s overall best observed score is 76 FPS at 1080p Low, which is a far cry from the high‑end experience that superior combinations would offer. Scaling to 1440p or 4K takes it out of reach for smooth play. In a competitive, fast‑paced shooter, this rank means the system is unlikely to satisfy gamers who require 60+ FPS at any resolution above 1080p Low.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a clear pattern: moving up one resolution level costs roughly one‑quarter to one‑third of the performance. At Low settings, 1080p gives 76 FPS, 1440p 56 FPS (a drop of 26%), and 4K 36 FPS (a further 56% drop). Medium follows the same: 54 → 40 (−26%) → 26 (−65%). High: 47 → 35 (−25%) → 22 (−53%). Ultra: 35 → 26 (−35%?) Actually 35→26 is 26% drop, then 26→17 is 35% drop. The significant drop from 1440p to 4K (about 35–70% depending on settings) suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and fillrate are hard limits. The GPU’s 128.1 GB/s bandwidth is the same at all resolutions, but the amount of texture and data processed scales with resolution, causing a massive workload increase. The data shows a nearly linear relation below the pixel rate (53.28 GPixel/s) – the card can output at most a certain number of pixels per second, and 4K has ~8.3 million pixels per frame versus ~2 million at 1080p. The FPGA numbers confirm that the GPU is the throttle; the CPU’s multithreaded performance would not degrade so much with resolution.

Thus, if you want to play this title with acceptable frame times, you must stick to 1080p. Even at 1440p, the best you can get is 56 FPS on Low – borderline playable but not smooth. Specifying 4K is impractical, as the highest average FPS at 4K is 36 (Low), which is below a playable threshold.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings and resolution for Lockdown Protocol with this combo?

A: The measured data shows that 1080p Low is the only configuration exceeding 60 FPS (76 avg). 1080p Medium gives 54 FPS (min 46), which is playable but not consistently smooth. Higher resolutions are not recommended for a competitive FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates a classic GPU limit. The FPS drops are the same when moving from 1080p to 1440p and from 1440p to 4K (~25–35%), which would not occur if the CPU were the limit. The Ryzen 7 5700X is in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, and its 8 cores/16 threads are plenty for the game's threads.

Q: Does the 4 GB VRAM of the GTX 1650 restrict in‑game settings?

A: Yes. The 4 GB frame buffer is insufficient for high resolution textures and effects. The frame rate at 4K Ultra is 17 FPS, and even 1440p Ultra only reaches 26 FPS, while at 1080p Ultra it achieves 35 FPS. The bandwidth and VRAM lead to very low performance at higher resolutions.

Q: Can this CPU handle the game independently if I upgrade the GPU?

A: The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi‑core score is 13,184, and its single‑core is 1,499, which places it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs. In title’s current performance analysis, the CPU is never the limit – its biggest issues would be a future obstacle if a much faster GPU were installed, but with the current GTX 1650 the CPU headroom is ample.

Q: What are the average benchmark scores for these components?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X has an average benchmark score of 27,578 (referring to the 3DMark, Cinebench, PassMark aggregator across many tests), falling in the 79th percentile for all CPUs. The GTX 1650 has an average benchmark score of 7,472, which is the 40th percentile among GPUs.

Q: What is the baseline performance of the GPU compared to its immediate competitors?

A: The GTX 1650’s average benchmark score (7,472) is within 1% of the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (7,447, delta 0.3%), Intel UHD Graphics 750 (7,441, 0.4%), and AMD Radeon R7 350 (7,425, 0.6%). The nearest Intel Arc A310 is 1% faster. This is a middle‑of‑the-pack showing for a Discrete Graphics card from 2019.