Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 7 5800X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a highly capable Lockdown Protocol system, with measured performance placing it at rank 68 out of 1,637 tested combinations. The CPU, a Zen 3 (Vermeer) part with 8 cores and 16 threads, achieves a percentile rank of 84 among all CPUs, while the GPU sits at the 91st percentile among all GPUs. This pairing yields average FPS figures that range from 82.6 at 4K Ultra to 272.5 at 1080p Low, indicating a system that scales predictably across resolutions and settings, with the GPU clearly being the dominant performance driver at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear and consistent scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K across all settings presets. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 169.9 at 1920x1080 to 124.7 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 45.2 FPS, and further to 82.6 at 3840x2160, a total drop of 87.3 FPS from 1080p to 4K. This represents a 51.4% performance decrease when moving from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra, which demonstrates a strong GPU-bound scenario at the highest settings. The RTX 4090, with its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, is clearly being pushed hard at 4K Ultra, as the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K (33.8%) is larger than the drop from 1080p to 1440p (26.6%). This nonlinear scaling indicates that at 4K, the GPU's compute resources—16384 shading units and 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance—are becoming the limiting factor.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern shifts significantly. The FPS drops from 272.5 at 1080p to 241.7 at 1440p (a 30.8 FPS reduction) and then to 173.1 at 4K (a 68.6 FPS reduction from 1440p). The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 11.3%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 28.4%. This suggests that at 1080p Low, the system may be approaching a CPU limitation, given the Ryzen 7 5800X's single-thread score of 943 in 3DMark and its 3,327 Cinebench R23 single-core score. However, the CPU's multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23,571, ensures that even at lower resolutions, the system maintains substantial headroom. The 4K Low result of 173.1 FPS still represents a very playable experience, but the larger relative drop indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities, rated at 443.5 GPixel/s, are being taxed by the resolution increase regardless of settings.

The Medium and High settings show intermediate scaling behavior. At Medium, FPS goes from 237.1 at 1080p to 191.5 at 1440p (a 19.2% drop) and then to 121.7 at 4K (a 36.4% drop from 1440p). At High, the figures are 228.1 at 1080p, 170.2 at 1440p (25.4% drop), and 109.1 at 4K (35.9% drop from 1440p). The consistency of the 4K penalty across Medium, High, and Ultra settings—ranging from 33.8% to 36.4% relative to 1440p—strongly indicates that resolution, not settings complexity, is the primary factor limiting performance at 4K. This is typical of a system where the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU's 8-core, 16-thread configuration provides sufficient processing power to avoid becoming a limiting factor at any tested setting.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings selection at each resolution. At 1920x1080, even the most demanding Ultra preset delivers 169.9 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth competitive play. The data shows that the jump from Medium (237.1 FPS) to High (228.1 FPS) costs only 9.0 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra (169.9 FPS) costs 58.2 FPS. This suggests that High settings offer the best balance at 1080p, as the 228.1 FPS result retains 84.3% of the Low settings performance (272.5 FPS) while providing substantially better visual quality. The Ultra preset's 169.9 FPS is still highly playable, but the 25.5% performance penalty compared to High is significant for a competitive FPS title where higher frame rates can translate to gameplay advantages.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts toward Medium or High depending on the user's preference for visual fidelity versus frame rate. Medium delivers 191.5 FPS, which is only 20.8% lower than the Low preset's 241.7 FPS. High settings provide 170.2 FPS, a further 11.1% reduction from Medium. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 124.7 FPS, which represents a 34.9% reduction from High. For a fast-paced FPS, the Medium preset's 191.5 FPS is likely the sweet spot, as it maintains a high refresh rate experience while offering a meaningful visual upgrade over Low. The High preset at 170.2 FPS remains excellent, and the choice between Medium and High comes down to whether the user prioritizes frame rate headroom or image quality.

At 3840x2160, the data shows that Ultra settings (82.6 FPS) still provide a playable experience, but the Medium preset (121.7 FPS) delivers a notably smoother result. The difference between Low (173.1 FPS) and Medium (121.7 FPS) is 51.4 FPS, while the difference between Medium and High (109.1 FPS) is only 12.6 FPS. Given that 4K displays typically have a 60 Hz refresh rate, the Medium preset's 121.7 FPS provides substantial headroom above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming. The Ultra preset at 82.6 FPS is acceptable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes, whereas Medium ensures consistent frame delivery. The High preset at 109.1 FPS is also a viable option, but Medium's additional 12.6 FPS headroom makes it the more robust choice.

FAQ

Q: How does the RTX 4090 perform at 4K Ultra in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 82.6 FPS. This is a playable frame rate, but it represents a 51.4% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result of 169.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed at this resolution and settings combination.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5800X a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data shows 272.5 FPS at 1080p Low, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. The 11.3% drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (from 272.5 to 241.7 FPS) is smaller than the drops seen at higher settings, suggesting the CPU may be approaching its limit at 1080p Low, though the frame rates remain extremely high.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 191.5 FPS, which is the strongest balance of visual quality and performance. The High preset at 170.2 FPS is also excellent, but Medium provides 21.3 additional FPS while still offering a substantial visual upgrade over Low settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 68th out of 1,637 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the top 4.2% of all tested systems, reflecting the strong performance of both components.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 272.5 FPS while Ultra produces 169.9 FPS, a difference of 102.6 FPS. The Ultra preset retains 62.3% of the Low settings performance, indicating that the visual quality improvements come at a significant frame rate cost.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 3840x2160. The consistent performance drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings—ranging from 28.4% at Low to 36.4% at Medium—shows that resolution increases stress the GPU more than settings changes, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset achieves 272.5 FPS, followed by Medium at 237.1 FPS, High at 228.1 FPS, and Ultra at 169.9 FPS. The progression from Low to Medium to High shows incremental decreases of 35.4 FPS and 9.0 FPS respectively, while the jump from High to Ultra is much larger at 58.2 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces substantially more demanding effects that significantly impact performance.

At 2560x1440, the measured results show a similar pattern but with reduced absolute values. Low settings produce 241.7 FPS, Medium delivers 191.5 FPS, High reaches 170.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 124.7 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 50.2 FPS, between Medium and High is 21.3 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 45.5 FPS. The larger gap between Medium and High compared to 1080p suggests that the increased pixel count amplifies the performance cost of higher settings.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates compress into a tighter range. Low settings yield 173.1 FPS, Medium produces 121.7 FPS, High reaches 109.1 FPS, and Ultra drops to 82.6 FPS. The differences are 51.4 FPS between Low and Medium, 12.6 FPS between Medium and High, and 26.5 FPS between High and Ultra. Notably, the gap between Medium and High narrows considerably at 4K compared to lower resolutions, indicating that the GPU's rendering workload becomes more uniform across these settings when pixel count is maximized.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 68 out of 1,637 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places the system in the top 4.2% of all tested configurations, a strong result that reflects the high individual performance of both components. The RTX 4090, with its 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 66,473, is clearly a top-tier graphics solution. The Ryzen 7 5800X, while not the newest CPU, remains competitive with its 84th percentile ranking and an average benchmark score of 27,606.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (average score 27,535, 0.3% lower), AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE (average score 27,708, 0.4% higher), Intel Core i7-13700H (average score 27,716, 0.4% higher), and Intel Core i5-12600KF (average score 27,827, 0.8% higher). These very small delta percentages indicate that the Ryzen 7 5800X is positioned in an extremely competitive performance band, where differences of less than 1% separate it from closely matched alternatives. The 0.3% advantage over the Ryzen 7 5800 is negligible in real-world terms, while the 0.8% gap to the Core i5-12600KF is also within measurement variance.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals show similarly tight competition. The NVIDIA Tesla T4 has an average score of 66,733 (0.4% higher), the NVIDIA Tesla P40 scores 66,127 (0.5% lower), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 reaches 67,097 (0.9% higher), and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 achieves 67,320 (1.3% higher). These professional-grade cards are not typical gaming comparisons, but the data shows that the RTX 4090's raw compute performance is within 1.3% of these specialized accelerators, underscoring its exceptional compute capabilities. In the context of Lockdown Protocol specifically, the rank of 68th out of 1,637 combos demonstrates that this pairing of a mid-generation Zen 3 CPU with a flagship Ada Lovelace GPU delivers top-tier gaming performance, with the measured FPS data confirming that the system is capable of high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p and smooth 4K experiences across all settings presets.