Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is unusually punishing on this pairing, and the benchmark data is unambiguous: the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti combo ranks 1625th out of 1637 tested combinations. This is a bottom-1% result, and the single biggest reason is the GPU. The GTX 1050 Ti sits in the 30th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 5316, placing it statistically level with the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (deltaPct 0) and only 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 240. The CPU, by contrast, is a powerhouse—the 7700X scores in the 89th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 34313—but it cannot rescue a graphics card that is fundamentally outclassed by this game’s demands.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that the only remotely playable configuration is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which produces an average of 61.8 FPS. This is the single data point that crosses the 60 FPS threshold, and it is the clear recommendation for anyone attempting to run Lockdown Protocol on this hardware. Every other preset at 1080p falls short: Medium averages 43 FPS, High averages 37.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 28.4 FPS. The pattern is consistent across resolutions—Low settings always deliver the highest frame rate, with the margin growing as resolution increases.

At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 44.8 FPS, which is playable only if the user accepts significant compromise. The jump from Low to Medium at 1440p costs nearly 10 FPS (35.0 FPS), and High drops further to 27.5 FPS. Ultra is effectively a slideshow at 21.8 FPS. At 3840x2160, no setting is viable: Low manages 27.9 FPS, but Medium falls to 18.3 FPS, High to 19.7 FPS, and Ultra to 14.0 FPS. The data suggests that even the lowest preset at 4K is not a realistic option for sustained play.

The verdict is clear: for any playable experience, use 1920x1080 with Low settings. If the user insists on higher visual fidelity, the next step is 1440p Low, but the 1080p Low configuration is the only one that the data supports as a baseline for acceptable performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1625 out of 1637 is a stark verdict. This pairing is in the bottom 0.7% of all tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, which means nearly every other CPU-GPU pairing on record outperforms it. The data does not show a single metric where this combo excels; instead, it reveals a severe bottleneck that cannot be overcome by settings adjustments alone.

The GPU’s percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 30, and its nearest rivals are all low-end or mobile parts. The NVIDIA GeForce 940M is 0.4% slower, while the AMD Radeon R7 M445 is 0.8% faster. These are not desktop gaming cards that belong in a modern FPS; they are legacy or entry-level parts. This context explains why the combo rank is so poor—the GTX 1050 Ti is the limiting factor, and its performance ceiling is far below what Lockdown Protocol’s engine appears to require.

The CPU’s rank is excellent by contrast. The 7700X sits 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-13500 and 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i7-12800HX, while being 0.8% behind the AMD EPYC 4244P and Intel Core Ultra 7 165H. Nothing about the CPU is holding this combo back; the data shows the processor is not the constraint.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the decisive factor in this pairing. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth, and its clocks run at 1291 MHz base and 1392 MHz boost. These specifications are from the Pascal architecture, built on a 14 nm process at Samsung, with 3,300 million transistors and a die size of 132 mm². The GPU’s compute capacity is 2.138 TFLOPS FP32, and it has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs.

The benchmark results for this GPU are uniformly weak. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 305, and its Passmark G3D score is 6340. In DirectX 11, it scores 45, and in DirectX 12, it scores 26—both figures are far below what a modern FPS needs. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 5316 places it in the 30th percentile, and its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce 930A, which is exactly 0.0% different. This is not a card that can handle high polygon counts, complex shaders, or high-resolution textures without significant frame rate loss.

The measured FPS data confirms this. At 1080p, the gap between Low (61.8 FPS) and Ultra (28.4 FPS) is 33.4 FPS, a 54% drop. At 4K, the same settings gap produces only a 13.9 FPS difference (27.9 to 14.0), but the absolute numbers are so low that the GPU is clearly overwhelmed. The 4 GB VRAM is likely a hard limit at higher resolutions, forcing the engine to swap textures and causing the sharp performance cliff.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset shows a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the average FPS values are: Low 61.8, Medium 43.0, High 37.2, and Ultra 28.4. This is the only resolution where any setting reaches 60 FPS, and it is exclusively the Low preset. Medium is 30% slower than Low, High is 40% slower, and Ultra is 54% slower.

At 2560x1440, the same settings order produces: Low 44.8, Medium 35.0, High 27.5, and Ultra 21.8. The drop from Low to Ultra is 23.0 FPS, or 51%. Notably, 1440p Low (44.8 FPS) is faster than 1080p High (37.2 FPS), which suggests that resolution scaling is less punishing than settings scaling—but only up to a point.

At 3840x2160, the results collapse: Low 27.9, High 19.7, Medium 18.3, and Ultra 14.0. The ordering is unusual because High (19.7) beats Medium (18.3), which indicates that the Medium preset may be applying a specific effect that disproportionately hurts this GPU. Regardless, all 4K numbers are below 30 FPS, making the resolution unplayable. The data shows that Low settings at 4K (27.9 FPS) are barely half the frame rate of Low settings at 1080p (61.8 FPS).

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and reveals the GPU as the bottleneck. At Low settings, 1080p averages 61.8 FPS, 1440p averages 44.8 FPS (a 27.5% drop), and 4K averages 27.9 FPS (a 54.9% drop from 1080p). The trend is nearly linear in terms of pixel count, which is typical for a GPU-limited scenario.

At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 1080p High is 37.2 FPS, 1440p High is 27.5 FPS (26.1% drop), and 4K High is 19.7 FPS (47.0% drop from 1080p). The relative consistency of these percentage drops—around 25-30% for each resolution step—indicates that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, not the CPU. The 112.1 GB/s bandwidth and 44.54 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for 4K workloads, and the data shows no sign of CPU involvement in these bottlenecks.

The fact that 1440p Low (44.8) outperforms 1080p High (37.2) by 20.4% further confirms that the GPU is the constraint. If the CPU were the limit, higher resolutions would show smaller differences relative to settings changes. Instead, the data shows that lowering settings has a larger impact than lowering resolution, which is the signature of a GPU-bound system.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a 7000-series desktop processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It is built on Zen 4 architecture (Raphael) using a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die. The CPU has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s and offers PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes.

The CPU’s benchmark scores are strong across the board. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 30325, and single-core is 4281. Geekbench multi-core is 15538, and single-core is 2985. Passmark multi-thread is 35686, and single-thread is 4190. These are top-tier numbers, and the 7700X’s average benchmark score of 34313 places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, just 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-13500.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU is not the constraint. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is saturated at all settings—if the CPU were the limit, we would expect frame rates to plateau or show irregular scaling across resolutions. Instead, the smooth, linear drops from 1080p to 4K indicate that the GPU is the sole bottleneck. The 7700X has 8 cores and 16 threads, which is more than sufficient for a modern FPS; the data shows no evidence of thread starvation or clock limitations.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo?

A: The only configuration that reaches 60 FPS is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which averages 61.8 FPS. All other presets at 1080p fall below 43 FPS, and no 1440p or 4K setting exceeds 44.8 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems?

A: It ranks 1625th out of 1637 combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 0.7% of all tested pairings. The GPU’s low percentile (30th) is the primary cause.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck?

A: The data shows the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU scores in the 89th percentile, while the GPU is in the 30th. Resolution scaling produces consistent FPS drops, which is typical of GPU-limited performance.

Q: Can this combo run Lockdown Protocol at 4K?

A: No. The highest 4K result is Low settings at 27.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 14.0 FPS. No 4K configuration is playable.

Q: How much faster is Low versus Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: Low averages 61.8 FPS, while Ultra averages 28.4 FPS. That is a 33.4 FPS difference, meaning Low is 117% faster than Ultra.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to its nearest rivals?

A: Its average benchmark score is 5316, which is 0% different from the NVIDIA GeForce 930A and 0.4% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce 940M. It is 0.7% faster than the AMD Radeon R7 240 and 0.8% slower than the AMD Radeon R7 M445.