Lockdown Protocol

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X3D has an average benchmark score of 24709, which places it at the 77th percentile of all CPUs. It is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D, which scores 24728 (a negligible -0.1% difference), and it is 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i5-12450HX and 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600.

Q: What is the performance gap between the RX 7700 and its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 7700’s average benchmark score is 15852, putting it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. It sits within a tight band of rivals: it is 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862), 1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014), 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679), and 1.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129).

Q: What frame rates does this combo achieve at 1920x1080?

A: At 1080p, the measured results show a wide spread depending on settings: Low yields 200 FPS average, Medium delivers 142 FPS, High produces 124 FPS, and Ultra drops to 93 FPS. The Medium preset also reports a minimum of 121 FPS and a maximum of 163 FPS.

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

A: The combination of the Ryzen 7 5700X3D and RX 7700 ranks 1709 out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it roughly in the 46th percentile of all tested configurations.

Q: What is the measured performance at 4K with the High preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 59 FPS. This is close to the 60 FPS threshold often considered smooth, but it is below the 67 FPS average seen at Medium settings at the same resolution.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU appear to be the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data suggests the GPU becomes the primary constraint at 4K. The frame rate drops significantly from 124 FPS at 1080p High to 59 FPS at 4K High, a 52% reduction, while the CPU’s 16 threads and 96 MB of L3 cache remain constant. The GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM is sufficient, but the rendering load at 4K overwhelms the RX 7700’s compute throughput.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It packs 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines, alongside 40 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. Memory is a key asset: 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth with an effective memory clock of 19.5 Gbps. This memory configuration is generous for a mid-range card, and the 16 GB capacity is notable in a game like Lockdown Protocol, where high-resolution textures and large scenes can strain VRAM.

In this game’s measured results, the GPU’s role becomes evident when examining the scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p High, the combo produces 124 FPS, which suggests the CPU is still feeding the GPU adequately. But at 4K High, the average falls to 59 FPS. This is not a VRAM limitation—16 GB is ample even for 4K textures—but rather a compute bottleneck. The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 25.18 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s are being fully taxed at 4K. The RX 7700’s performance percentile of 58% among all GPUs indicates it is a capable but not top-tier part, and Lockdown Protocol’s rendering demands at 4K push it to its limits.

The ray tracing cores (40) are present, but the benchmark data does not isolate ray tracing workloads, so their impact here is indirect. The GPU’s 96 ROPs are likely the limiting factor at 4K, as the pixel fill rate of 236.1 GPixel/s is challenged by the resolution’s 8.3 million pixels per frame. At 1080p, the same ROP count handles 2.1 million pixels more easily, which explains why the frame rate more than doubles from 4K High to 1080p High. The data indicates that the RX 7700 is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but 4K requires compromises in settings to maintain playable frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. Starting at 1080p with the High preset, the combo averages 124 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the average drops to 91 FPS, a 26.6% reduction. At 3840x2160, the average falls further to 59 FPS, a 52.4% reduction from 1080p. This scaling is steeper than what would be expected if the CPU were the bottleneck, because the CPU’s workload does not change with resolution—the same number of draw calls and game logic are processed regardless of pixel count.

The Low preset shows an even more dramatic scaling curve. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 200 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 147 FPS (26.5% reduction), and at 4K Low, it settles at 95 FPS (52.5% reduction from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different presets is telling: whether Low or High, the frame rate scales almost linearly with pixel count, which is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the frame rate to plateau at higher resolutions, but instead it continues to fall.

Ultra settings exacerbate the issue. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 93 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it is 68 FPS; and at 4K Ultra, it plummets to 44 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS target, making it marginal for competitive play. The Medium preset, which is likely the sweet spot for this game, shows 142 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 67 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result, with a minimum of 57 FPS and maximum of 77 FPS, is the only 4K configuration that stays near playable territory while maintaining some visual fidelity.

The data implies that the RX 7700 is the dominant factor in these results. The CPU’s role is consistent across resolutions, but the GPU’s rendering load scales with pixel count. At 1080p, the GPU has headroom, allowing high frame rates. At 4K, the GPU is saturated, and the frame rate drops accordingly. For players targeting 4K, the measured data suggests that Medium settings are the highest viable option, while 1440p can support High settings at 91 FPS, and 1080p can even handle Ultra at 93 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p, the High preset at 124 FPS is a strong choice, offering a balance between visual quality and performance. However, the Ultra preset at 93 FPS still exceeds 60 FPS and provides the highest visual fidelity among the measured rows. If a player prioritizes smoothness over visuals, the Medium preset at 142 FPS is the best option, with a minimum of 121 FPS ensuring no significant dips.

At 1440p, the High preset at 91 FPS is the standout recommendation. It stays above 90 FPS, which is smooth for most players, and the Medium preset at 104 FPS is even smoother if the slight visual downgrade is acceptable. The Ultra preset at 68 FPS is playable but approaching the threshold where frame pacing issues may become noticeable. The Low preset at 147 FPS offers the highest frame rate, but the visual quality loss is substantial for a game that likely benefits from higher detail settings.

For 4K, the Medium preset is the only row that provides an average above 60 FPS (67 FPS), with a reported minimum of 57 FPS and maximum of 77 FPS. The High preset at 59 FPS is just below the 60 FPS target, and the Ultra preset at 44 FPS is likely too choppy for a fast-paced FPS. The Low preset at 95 FPS is technically the smoothest 4K option, but the graphical compromise is severe. Given the data, a player with a 4K display should choose Medium settings to balance frame rate and image quality, while those with 1440p or 1080p displays can comfortably use High or Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1709 out of 3714 tested combinations places this CPU-GPU pairing in the 46th percentile of all tested systems in Lockdown Protocol. This is a mid-pack ranking, not a top-tier result, but it is also not a poor showing. The ranking reflects the balance between the Ryzen 7 5700X3D’s strong CPU performance (77th percentile) and the RX 7700’s more modest GPU performance (58th percentile). The CPU is clearly the stronger component of the pair, which means the GPU is likely the limiting factor in most scenarios.

The rank of 1709 implies that a significant number of tested combos outperform this one, likely those with higher-end GPUs. However, the combo’s 1080p results (200 FPS at Low, 124 FPS at High) are respectable and should satisfy most players at that resolution. The 4K results are less competitive, with the Ultra preset at 44 FPS being a clear weak point. The rank is consistent with the GPU’s 58th percentile standing—it is a competent mid-range card, but not one that will top leaderboards in demanding titles at high resolutions.

Comparatively, the CPU’s nearest rivals (Ryzen 5 7600X3D, Ryzen 9 5900HX, Intel Core i5-12450HX, Intel Core i5-11600) all have average scores within 0.6% of the 5700X3D, so swapping in any of those CPUs would likely produce similar in-game results. The GPU’s rivals (R9 370X, RX 9060, Pro W5500, RTX 3060 Ti) are also within 1.7%, meaning the overall combo rank is robust to minor component variations. The data suggests that this pairing is a well-matched mid-range system, and its rank of 1709 reflects that positioning.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers four resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive view of performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 200 FPS average, which is the highest recorded frame rate across all configurations. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 142 FPS with a minimum of 121 FPS and maximum of 163 FPS. High settings at 1080p produce 124 FPS, while Ultra drops to 93 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1080p is well within the capability of this combo, even at the highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 147 FPS, Medium averages 104 FPS (with a minimum of 88 FPS and maximum of 120 FPS), High averages 91 FPS, and Ultra averages 68 FPS. The 1440p results show a clear hierarchy: Low is the fastest, but Medium and High both stay above 90 FPS, making them viable for competitive play. Ultra at 68 FPS is the only preset that dips below 90 FPS at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 95 FPS, Medium averages 67 FPS (with a minimum of 57 FPS and maximum of 77 FPS), High averages 59 FPS, and Ultra averages 44 FPS. The 4K results highlight the GPU’s limitations. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 51 FPS, which is a massive range that underscores how much impact settings have at this resolution. The Medium preset’s minimum of 57 FPS is close to the average of the High preset (59 FPS), indicating that frame pacing may be inconsistent even within a single preset.

Across all resolutions, the scaling from Low to Ultra is consistent: Ultra is roughly 50-60% of the Low preset’s frame rate. This consistency suggests that the game’s settings scale predictably with GPU load, and the RX 7700’s 16 GB VRAM is never a limiting factor, as even the highest settings do not cause an abrupt drop beyond what the compute load would predict.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer), manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The standout feature is the cache hierarchy: 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a massive 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This large L3 cache is a hallmark of the X3D series, designed to improve gaming performance by reducing memory latency.

In the context of Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 6764 and the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22366 indicate strong multi-threaded capability, which is useful for modern FPS titles that can leverage multiple cores. The Geekbench multi-core score of 11086 and Passmark multi-thread score of 26318 reinforce this picture. The CPU’s single-thread performance is also solid, with a Geekbench single-core score of 1849 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3157, ensuring that the game’s main thread is not a bottleneck.

The 96 MB of L3 cache is particularly relevant. Lockdown Protocol, being a recent FPS (released March 2024), likely has complex game logic and physics that benefit from cache locality. The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggests it is in the upper tier of processors, and its nearest rivals all score within 0.6%, meaning the 5700X3D is competitively positioned. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1575 and 4-thread score of 3097 show that even with fewer threads, the CPU performs well, which is important for games that are not fully multi-threaded.

However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 200 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame rate for this game. At 4K, the frame rate drops to 44-95 FPS depending on settings, but this is due to GPU load, not CPU limitations. The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s (DDR4 dual-channel) is modest compared to newer platforms, but the large L3 cache compensates. The data indicates that the Ryzen 7 5700X3D provides ample headroom for the RX 7700 at all resolutions, and the GPU is the component that determines the final frame rate.