Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a demanding FPS, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X with the Intel Arc B390 graphics processor produces a very specific performance profile. The data indicates that this system's capability is primarily limited by the graphics solution, which sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs. The CPU, however, is a high-end part at the 85th percentile, creating a significant imbalance that dictates how the game should be configured for the best playable experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data clearly indicates that the Low setting preset is the only practical choice for achieving smooth, playable frame rates in Lockdown Protocol. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 88 FPS, which is the only setting at any resolution that approaches the 90+ FPS territory many players consider ideal for a fast-paced FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to an average of 63 FPS, which is still playable but begins to introduce noticeable compromises in fluidity. High and Ultra at 1080p fall to 55 and 41 FPS respectively, which are firmly in the territory where aiming and tracking targets becomes noticeably more difficult.

The gap between Low and Medium is substantial, not only in average FPS but also in consistency. The data shows that at 1080p, the Medium preset produces a minimum FPS of 53, whereas the Low preset's minimum is not provided, but the average is 25 FPS higher. This suggests that the Low preset provides a larger performance headroom, which is critical for maintaining stable frame pacing during intense combat scenarios. The cost of higher visual fidelity is simply too high for this GPU.

At higher resolutions, the choice becomes even more clear-cut. At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only one that manages to stay above the 60 FPS threshold, averaging 65 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 46 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target that most competitive players will want to hit. The High and Ultra presets at 1440p produce averages of 40 and 30 FPS respectively, which are not suitable for a responsive FPS experience. For 3840x2160, the data shows that even the Low preset averages only 42 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for this genre. The conclusion is straightforward: to get the best experience from this hardware combination, players should use the Low preset and prioritize resolution over visual effects.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary bottleneck in this system. Its benchmark score in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 is 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, the GeForce 800M, the GeForce GT 625 OEM, and the GeForce GT 710. This places it in the same performance category as legacy entry-level graphics solutions, which are not designed for modern gaming at high settings or resolutions.

The GPU's specifications reinforce this assessment. It has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output pipelines. It features 12 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, but its raw compute power is limited. The clock speeds are listed as a base of 300 MHz and a boost of 2500 MHz, which is a wide range, but the actual performance in Lockdown Protocol shows that it struggles to maintain high frame rates. The memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it uses the system's main RAM instead of dedicated video memory. The bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which can lead to performance variability depending on the rest of the system. The pixel rate is listed as 60.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, which are figures that align with its low-end classification. The GPU's TDP is 80 W, but its performance is not sufficient to leverage that power budget effectively in this game.

The performance data in Lockdown Protocol directly reflects these limitations. The GPU manages an average of 88 FPS at 1080p Low, but this quickly falls to 65 FPS at 1440p Low and 42 FPS at 4K Low. This steep drop-off is a clear indicator that the GPU is overwhelmed by the increasing pixel count, as it lacks the raw fill rate and memory bandwidth to handle higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a classic pattern of a GPU-bound system. When moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 88 to 65, a reduction of 23 FPS. When moving from 1440p to 3840x2160 at the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 65 to 42, a reduction of another 23 FPS. This consistent drop of approximately 26% with each resolution step-up indicates that the GPU is the limiting component; the demand on the graphics processor is scaling directly with the number of pixels.

This behavior is typical of a system where the CPU has far more headroom than the GPU. The Ryzen 7 7700X, with its high multi-threaded performance, is capable of feeding the GPU with data far faster than the GPU can process it. Therefore, the frame rate is determined almost entirely by the GPU's ability to render the scene at a given resolution. The data shows that the 1080p Low preset offers a playable experience, 1440p Low is borderline, and 4K is not a viable option for this game on this hardware. The scaling suggests that players who want to play at 1440p or higher would need a significantly more powerful GPU, as the CPU would not be the limiting factor.

The difference between the Low and Medium presets also grows with resolution, which is another sign of GPU limitation. At 1080p, the difference is 25 FPS (88 vs 63). At 1440p, the difference is 19 FPS (65 vs 46). At 4K, the difference is 12 FPS (42 vs 30). As resolution increases, the GPU's limited capabilities mean that the relative cost of turning up settings becomes smaller in absolute terms, but the overall performance is already too low to be useful.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and the Intel Arc B390 ranks at 2512 out of 2828 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the bottom 11% of all systems tested, which is a direct reflection of the GPU's performance. The CPU is a top-tier part, but the GPU drags the entire combo down to a rank that is more consistent with entry-level or legacy hardware.

This ranking is a clear indication that this is not a balanced pairing for gaming. The CPU is capable of supporting a much more powerful graphics card, and the GPU is the sole reason for the low ranking. The data shows that the system's performance is almost entirely dictated by the GPU's limitations, as evidenced by the resolution scaling analysis. The high rank of the CPU in its own benchmarks (85th percentile) does not translate to a high rank in this game because the GPU cannot keep up.

For a player considering this system, the ranking serves as a warning. While the CPU provides a solid foundation for future upgrades, the current configuration will not deliver a satisfactory experience in a modern FPS like Lockdown Protocol beyond the lowest settings and resolutions. The performance is comparable to systems with much older and less capable CPUs, because the GPU is the common bottleneck.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a high-performance desktop processor that is clearly not the limiting factor in this configuration. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 4 architecture on a 5 nm process. Its base clock is 4.50 GHz and it boosts up to 5.40 GHz. It has a 32 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19088 and a single-core score of 1987. Its average benchmark score is 35909, which places it at the 85th percentile of all CPUs.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is to process game logic and prepare frames for the GPU. Given the GPU's low performance, the CPU is never under significant load. The data shows that the CPU is capable of far more than the GPU can render, which is why the frame rates are so low. The CPU's performance is effectively wasted in this pairing, as it spends most of its time waiting for the GPU to finish its work. The nearest rivals to the CPU in terms of average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and the Intel Core 7 250H, which all have similar scores, but their performance in this game would be equally constrained by the same GPU.

The CPU's high multi-threaded and single-threaded performance would be a benefit in a system with a more powerful GPU. In this configuration, however, the CPU's power is not fully utilized. The data suggests that the CPU is not the cause of any frame rate drops or stutters; it is simply waiting on the GPU. This is a classic case of a CPU that is too powerful for its GPU counterpart, leading to a situation where the player is not getting the full value out of the processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact measured average FPS for each resolution and settings preset. The data shows a clear and consistent trend of decreasing performance with higher resolutions and higher settings.

• 1920x1080 (1080p):
• Low: 88 FPS average
• Medium: 63 FPS average (minimum 53, maximum 72)
• High: 55 FPS average
• Ultra: 41 FPS average

• 2560x1440 (1440p):
• Low: 65 FPS average
• Medium: 46 FPS average (minimum 39, maximum 53)
• High: 40 FPS average
• Ultra: 30 FPS average

• 3840x2160 (4K):
• Low: 42 FPS average
• Medium: 30 FPS average (minimum 25, maximum 34)
• High: 26 FPS average
• Ultra: 19 FPS average

The data shows that the only configurations that achieve an average of 60 FPS or higher are the 1080p Low and 1440p Low presets. The 1080p Medium preset comes close at 63 FPS, but its minimum FPS of 53 indicates it may dip below 60 FPS during demanding scenes. All other configurations fall below the 60 FPS threshold, with the 4K presets all averaging below 45 FPS, making them unplayable for a competitive FPS. The performance drop from Low to Ultra is substantial at every resolution; at 1080p, the Ultra preset is 47 FPS slower than Low. The data unequivocally shows that this system is only suitable for playing Lockdown Protocol at Low settings, and even then, only at 1080p or 1440p resolutions.