Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a fast-paced FPS that stresses both the CPU and GPU depending on the resolution and settings selected. This analysis examines the measured performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT across three resolutions and four quality presets. The data reveals a component balance that shifts from GPU-limited at 4K to increasingly CPU-sensitive at lower resolutions, with specific trade-offs in frame rates that define the optimal settings for this combination.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, indicating that the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 165 FPS at 1920x1080 to 121 FPS at 2560x1440, a 26.7% reduction, and then to 78 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 35.5% drop. This scaling pattern shows that the GPU’s rendering workload grows faster than the resolution increase, which is typical for a mid-range graphics card with 8 GB of VRAM and a 128-bit memory bus.

At Medium settings, the same trend appears: 117 FPS at 1080p drops to 86 FPS at 1440p (a 26.5% decrease) and then to 56 FPS at 4K (a 34.9% decrease). The High preset follows with 103 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, starting at 77 FPS at 1080p, falling to 56 FPS at 1440p, and bottoming out at 36 FPS at 4K.

The consistent percentage drops between resolutions suggest that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 4K, as the frame rate scales almost linearly with the pixel count. However, when comparing the 1080p to 1440p transition, the frame rate losses are slightly smaller than the 1440p to 4K losses, hinting that the CPU begins to exert some influence at 1080p. The fact that Low settings at 1080p reaches 165 FPS while Medium only achieves 117 FPS indicates that the CPU can push high frame rates, but the GPU’s pixel throughput limits higher settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT, built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip, has a base clock of 2055 MHz and a boost clock of 2635 MHz. The game clock sits at 2410 MHz, which is the sustained frequency during typical gaming loads. With 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, the card delivers a pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 337.3 GTexel/s.

The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s. This memory configuration becomes a critical factor at 4K, where the Ultra preset drops to 36 FPS. The game’s asset streaming at high resolutions likely pressures the VRAM capacity, causing the card to fall behind. The measured minimum frame rate at 4K Medium is 47 FPS, with a maximum of 64 FPS, showing that even the average of 56 FPS is not consistently smooth.

The GPU’s FP32 performance of 10.79 TFLOPS and FP16 of 21.59 TFLOPS (2:1) indicates the card’s raw compute capability. In Lockdown Protocol’s rendering, the pixel rate and texture rate are more relevant than raw compute, as the game’s visual effects rely heavily on fill-rate-bound operations. The card’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support with a feature level of 12_2 ensures compatibility with modern rendering techniques, but the actual performance at 4K Ultra suggests that the card is pushed beyond its comfortable operating range.

At 1080p, the GPU’s role changes. The Low preset achieves 165 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame delivery capability. The High preset at 103 FPS and Medium at 117 FPS show that the GPU still has headroom, but the scaling from Low to Medium (a 29.1% drop) is larger than from Medium to High (a 12% drop), indicating that the card’s shading units become saturated as settings increase.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The average frame rate of 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS and maximum of 99 FPS provides a smooth experience for a competitive FPS, where frame timing consistency matters as much as the average. The 73 FPS minimum is above the 60 FPS threshold, and the 99 FPS maximum shows the card can burst higher when the scene simplifies.

At 1080p, the Low preset delivers the highest frame rate at 165 FPS, but the Medium preset at 117 FPS is a more practical choice for players who want better visuals without sacrificing responsiveness. The minimum of 100 FPS at 1080p Medium is particularly strong, as it means the frame rate rarely dips below the refresh rate of most high-Hz monitors. The High preset at 103 FPS is also viable, but the 14 FPS difference from Medium may not justify the visual upgrade for players prioritizing competitive play.

For 4K, no settings provide a fully satisfactory experience. The Low preset at 78 FPS is playable, but the visual downgrade is significant. The Medium preset at 56 FPS with a 47 FPS minimum is borderline, and the Ultra preset at 36 FPS is too slow for a fast-paced FPS. Players with 4K displays should consider lowering the resolution to 1440p and using Medium or High settings for a better balance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear hierarchy. Low settings produce an average of 165 FPS, which is the highest of any configuration. Medium settings average 117 FPS, with a minimum of 100 FPS and a maximum of 135 FPS. High settings average 103 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 77 FPS. The 88 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p demonstrates the heavy cost of the Ultra preset’s additional effects.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates compress. Low settings average 121 FPS, Medium averages 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS and maximum of 99 FPS, High averages 75 FPS, and Ultra averages 56 FPS. The 65 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor as the pixel count rises.

At 3840x2160, the results are the most constrained. Low settings average 78 FPS, Medium averages 56 FPS with a minimum of 47 FPS and maximum of 64 FPS, High averages 49 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS. The 42 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is the smallest of all resolutions, confirming that the GPU’s raw throughput is the dominant constraint.

Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset’s frame rate is roughly half of the Low preset’s frame rate. This relationship holds even as the absolute numbers change, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds a consistent workload that scales with resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides the best balance, with an average of 86 FPS and a minimum of 73 FPS. This resolution keeps the frame rate above 60 FPS while offering better visual fidelity than 1080p.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Lockdown Protocol?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average is 78 FPS. Medium settings drop to 56 FPS, and Ultra falls to 36 FPS, making 4K playable only with significant visual compromises.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT’s 8 GB VRAM and 280.3 GB/s bandwidth become stressed at higher resolutions. The pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s also becomes a limiting factor as the number of pixels increases by 78% from 1080p to 1440p.

Q: Is the CPU holding back performance at any settings?

A: At 1080p Low, the 165 FPS average is likely near the CPU’s limit. The Ryzen 7 5800XT’s boost clock of 4.80 GHz and 8 cores help sustain high frame rates, but the GPU is the main bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of frame rate cost?

A: At 1080p, Ultra is 26 FPS slower than High (77 vs 103 FPS). At 1440p, the difference is 19 FPS (56 vs 75 FPS). At 4K, the difference is 13 FPS (36 vs 49 FPS). The relative cost of Ultra decreases as resolution increases.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured minimum is 73 FPS, with a maximum of 99 FPS. This narrow range indicates consistent frame pacing, which is important for FPS gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is a 5000 series processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core provide low-latency access to game data, which is beneficial for Lockdown Protocol’s physics and AI computations.

In the benchmark data, the CPU scores 7683 in 3dmark_16_threads and 7680 in 3dmark_max_threads, showing strong multithreaded performance. The single-thread score of 959 in 3dmark_single_thread is modest, but the 2-thread score of 1879 indicates that the CPU can handle dual-threaded workloads effectively. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23794 and single-core score of 3359 place this CPU in the 81st percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms most processors in general compute tasks.

The CPU’s role in Lockdown Protocol becomes evident when comparing 1080p Low and 1080p Medium. The 48 FPS difference (165 vs 117) is larger than the difference between Medium and High (14 FPS), suggesting that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames at Low settings, but the GPU’s rendering load at Medium and above creates a bottleneck. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU’s impact diminishes further, as the frame rates are low enough that the CPU has ample headroom.

The 105 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are typical for this class of processor. The CPU’s PCIe Gen 4 support with 20 lanes allows the GPU to communicate over a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, which is sufficient for the RX 6650 XT’s bandwidth requirements.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks 2439 out of 3714 combos. This places it in the 34.3rd percentile, meaning roughly two-thirds of tested combinations deliver higher frame rates. The rank reflects the GPU’s mid-range positioning, as the CPU is comparatively stronger in synthetic benchmarks.

The GPU’s percentile vs all GPUs is 65, indicating it outperforms 65% of tested graphics cards. However, its nearest rivals are workstation-oriented cards like the NVIDIA Tesla K40m and AMD FirePro D300, which are not typical gaming GPUs. This suggests that the RX 6650 XT’s gaming performance is competitive with older professional cards but lacks the headroom of newer gaming-focused GPUs.

The CPU’s percentile vs all CPUs is 81, which is significantly higher than the GPU’s 65. This imbalance means the CPU is capable of driving higher frame rates than the GPU can deliver, especially at lower resolutions. The combo’s rank of 2439 is therefore dragged down by the GPU’s limitations at higher settings, even though the CPU is a strong performer in synthetic tests.

When comparing the combo’s measured FPS to the CPU’s synthetic scores, the 1080p Low result of 165 FPS aligns with the CPU’s strong multithreaded scores. The 4K Ultra result of 36 FPS, however, is far below what the CPU could theoretically support, confirming that the GPU is the binding constraint in this configuration. Players seeking higher frame rates at 4K would need a more powerful GPU, while those staying at 1080p or 1440p will find this combo adequate for competitive play.