Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol on the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX pairing shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet surprisingly capable at 1080p where the CPU’s single-thread strength still keeps frame rates high. The measured data indicates a 236th place finish out of 1637 tested combos, placing this configuration in the top 15% of all tested hardware pairings for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across every settings preset, revealing a classic GPU-limited curve. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 277.3 at 1920x1080 to 222.2 at 2560x1440, a decline of 55.1 FPS, and then drops further to 143.2 at 3840x2160. That represents a 48.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, which is a heavy but expected toll for rendering four times the pixels.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically when moving to higher presets. At Ultra settings, the 1080p average of 138.4 FPS drops to 100.7 at 1440p and then to 65.5 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra is 35.0%, while the same resolution step at Low settings is only 35.6% — nearly identical. This uniformity across presets suggests that the RX 7900 XTX’s 24 GB frame buffer and 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are not the limiting factor; rather, the raw shading throughput of 61.39 TFLOPS is what governs the scaling.

What the data makes clear is that the 5800XT is never the primary bottleneck in this game. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would typically be stressed, the system still achieves 277.3 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings is 55.1 FPS, but the gap between 1440p and 4K at Low is 79.0 FPS — a larger absolute drop, reinforcing that the GPU’s pixel-pushing workload dominates. If the CPU were the constraint, the 1080p to 1440p delta would be smaller than the 1440p to 4K delta. The opposite is true, so the RX 7900 XTX is the clear performance ceiling.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows show that Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and frame rate headroom across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 213.3 FPS, which is 75.0 FPS higher than Ultra and only 64.0 FPS lower than Low. The jump from Medium to High costs 24.0 FPS at 1080p, but the visual uplift from Medium to High is typically less transformative than from Low to Medium in most FPS titles. At 1440p, Medium’s 159.4 FPS is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate that most competitive monitors target, while High drops to 134.8 FPS — still playable but with less headroom for 1% lows.

For 4K, the recommendation shifts. Medium at 3840x2160 produces 104.3 FPS, which is just above the 100 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay on high-refresh 4K panels. High at 4K drops to 89.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 65.5 FPS, which is borderline for a fast-paced FPS where reaction time matters. Low at 4K gives 143.2 FPS, but the visual sacrifice is substantial. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for 4K, offering 104.3 FPS while keeping the game looking acceptable. For competitive play at 1080p or 1440p, Low or Medium is preferable to maximize frame rate, but for single-player or casual play, High at 1440p (134.8 FPS) is a strong choice.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 3 part running on the AM4 socket. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 4.80 GHz are respectable, but the benchmark scores reveal where it excels. The 3DMark single-thread score of 959 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3359 indicate strong per-core performance, which is what matters most for Lockdown Protocol’s frame pacing at high FPS. The multi-threaded scores — Cinebench R23 multi-core at 23794 and PassMark multithread at 27988 — show that the CPU is not starved for parallel throughput, but this game does not appear to scale heavily with core count.

The 5800XT sits at the 86th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29774. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE (deltaPct 0.1), AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (deltaPct -0.3), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (deltaPct 0.3), and AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (deltaPct -0.3). These deltas are all within 0.3%, meaning the 5800XT is essentially tied with these mobile and low-power parts in average CPU benchmarks. However, in this game, the 5800XT’s boost clock of 4.80 GHz gives it a slight edge in single-threaded workloads, which is why it can push 277.3 FPS at 1080p Low without the GPU being fully maxed out.

The L3 cache of 32 MB is generous for a 5000-series part and helps with game data locality. The 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth from DDR4 is a potential limitation compared to newer DDR5 platforms, but the measured FPS shows that it is not a bottleneck here. The 5800XT’s TDP of 105 W is modest, and its unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking, but the data indicates that even at stock clocks, the CPU is sufficient to feed the RX 7900 XTX at 1440p and below.

FAQ

Q: Can this CPU and GPU combo hit 144 FPS at 1440p in Lockdown Protocol?

A: Yes, at Medium settings the average FPS is 159.4, and at High settings it is 134.8. Low settings push it to 222.2 FPS, so a 144 Hz monitor is easily achievable with Medium or Low presets.

Q: Is the RX 7900 XTX overkill for 1080p gaming in this title?

A: The data shows 277.3 FPS at Low and 189.3 FPS at High at 1920x1080. This is far beyond what most 1080p monitors (typically 144 Hz or 240 Hz) can display, so the GPU is not fully utilized at this resolution. The CPU is the more active participant, but it still delivers well above playable frame rates.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gameplay?

A: Medium at 104.3 FPS is the highest preset that stays above 100 FPS. High drops to 89.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 65.5 FPS, so Medium is recommended for smooth 4K play.

Q: How does the 5800XT compare to its nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks?

A: The 5800XT’s average benchmark score of 29774 is within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE, AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS, AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360, and AMD Ryzen 7 7840H. It is effectively a statistical tie in synthetic tests, but its higher boost clock may help in gaming workloads.

Q: Does the game benefit from the 24 GB of VRAM on the RX 7900 XTX?

A: At 4K Ultra, the game runs at 65.5 FPS, which suggests the GPU’s compute is the limit, not memory capacity. The 960.0 GB/s bandwidth is ample for this title, and the 24 GB frame buffer is unlikely to be a constraint given the measured frame rates.

Q: Is the combo rank of 236 out of 1637 good?

A: Yes, it places in the top 14.4% of all tested combinations, indicating that this pairing is well-matched for Lockdown Protocol compared to the broader hardware landscape.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a RDNA 3.0 part built on TSMC’s 5 nm process, with 57,700 million transistors across a 529 mm² die. Its 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is far more than Lockdown Protocol requires at any resolution. The boost clock of 2498 MHz and game clock of 2365 MHz are high for a GPU of this class, and the 6144 shading units deliver 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s are the raw stats that dictate how quickly it can fill a 4K frame.

The GPU’s average benchmark score is 44019, placing it at the 85th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (deltaPct -0.4), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile (deltaPct 0.8), NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (deltaPct 1.6), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (deltaPct -2). The delta to the RTX 4070 Ti is -2%, meaning the 7900 XTX is about 2% slower in average benchmarks, yet in this game it still achieves 277.3 FPS at 1080p Low. The comparison to the RTX 4090 Mobile (deltaPct 0.8) is interesting, as the 7900 XTX is slightly faster in synthetic tests, but the desktop card’s 355 W TDP and dual-slot cooler allow it to sustain higher clocks under load.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor in this pairing. At 4K Ultra, the 65.5 FPS result is consistent with a GPU that is compute-bound. The drop from 1080p High (189.3 FPS) to 1440p High (134.8 FPS) is a 54.5 FPS reduction, which is a 28.8% loss — this aligns with the increase in pixel count from 2.07 million to 3.69 million. The 7900 XTX’s 24 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor here, as even at 4K Ultra with High textures, the frame buffer usage would be well below capacity. The GPU’s 192 ROPs are sufficient for this game’s rasterization needs, and the 96 RT cores are not heavily exercised in a competitive FPS title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are uniformly high. Low settings produce 277.3 FPS, Medium produces 213.3 FPS, High produces 189.3 FPS, and Ultra produces 138.4 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 138.9 FPS, meaning that the settings preset has a massive impact on performance at this resolution. The jump from Low to Medium costs 64.0 FPS, from Medium to High costs 24.0 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 50.9 FPS. This non-linear scaling suggests that Ultra uses significantly more GPU resources, likely from higher shadow quality and post-processing effects.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 222.2 FPS (Low), 159.4 FPS (Medium), 134.8 FPS (High), and 100.7 FPS (Ultra). The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 55.1 FPS at Low, 53.9 FPS at Medium, 54.5 FPS at High, and 37.7 FPS at Ultra. Interestingly, the Ultra preset loses the least absolute FPS when moving to 1440p, which indicates that at 1080p Ultra, the CPU may already be partially limiting the frame rate. This is a subtle but important detail: the 5800XT can push 138.4 FPS at 1080p Ultra, but at 1440p Ultra, the GPU takes over completely and the CPU has more headroom.

At 3840x2160, the results are 143.2 FPS (Low), 104.3 FPS (Medium), 89.7 FPS (High), and 65.5 FPS (Ultra). The scaling from 1440p to 4K is consistent: a 79.0 FPS drop at Low, 55.1 FPS at Medium, 45.1 FPS at High, and 35.2 FPS at Ultra. The percentage drops are 35.6%, 34.6%, 33.5%, and 35.0%, respectively. This uniformity across presets strongly suggests that the RX 7900 XTX’s compute throughput is the sole limiter at 4K. The Low preset at 4K (143.2 FPS) is notably higher than the High preset at 1440p (134.8 FPS), which is a useful reference point: if a player prioritizes frame rate over visuals, dropping to Low at 4K can yield better FPS than High at 1440p. The data is clear that this combo is viable for 4K gaming, but only at Medium or lower presets for competitive play.