Lockdown Protocol

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER lands at rank 1459 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the combination in the bottom 11% of all tested configurations, a position that reflects the substantial imbalance between the two components. The data shows a system where the CPU is dramatically overqualified for the graphical workload, while the GPU struggles to keep pace with modern FPS demands.

The rank of 1459 becomes more meaningful when examining the individual component standings. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D sits in the 87th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 31580. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12700F at a deltaPct of 0.1, the AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX at 0.3, and both the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G and AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX at 0.6. These margins are exceptionally tight, indicating the CPU is performing at the top of its class. In contrast, the GTX 1660 SUPER rests in the 55th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14286. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 at a deltaPct of -0.2, the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics at -0.2, the AMD Radeon Vega 11 at -0.5, and the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT at -0.7. The GPU's position slightly above the median explains why the overall combo rank suffers so severely—the CPU's excellence cannot compensate for the GPU's mid-pack standing when the game's rendering demands scale with resolution and settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture using a 12 nm process from TSMC, housing 6,600 million transistors on a 284 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz, translating to 14 Gbps effective. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which becomes a critical constraint in Lockdown Protocol's higher resolution presets.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. The pixel rate reaches 85.68 GPixel/s, while the texture rate hits 157.1 GTexel/s. Floating point performance is rated at 5.027 TFLOPS for FP32 and 10.05 TFLOPS for FP16 at a 2:1 ratio. The card draws up to 125 W of power and requires a 300 W suggested power supply, connected via a single 8-pin connector. The benchmark data shows the GPU's DirectX 12 performance at a passmark score of 50, while DirectX 11 reaches 104 and DirectX 9 hits 189. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1278 further illustrates the card's limited headroom for modern titles.

The 6 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for Lockdown Protocol at higher settings. The measured FPS data reveals a pattern where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, with the limited memory bandwidth and capacity struggling to feed the frame buffer efficiently at 4K resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a clear GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 121.4 FPS, but this drops to 89.7 FPS at 1440p Low, a 26.1% reduction. Moving to 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 55.3 FPS, representing a 54.4% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-limited system, where the CPU has ample headroom and the graphics card determines the performance ceiling.

The settings scaling at each resolution reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is substantial: 121.4 FPS versus 58.7 FPS, a 51.6% reduction. The same pattern holds at 1440p, where Low yields 89.7 FPS and Ultra drops to 44 FPS, a 50.9% reduction. At 4K, Low produces 55.3 FPS while Ultra falls to 27.7 FPS, a 49.9% reduction. The consistency of these percentage drops across resolutions indicates that the GPU is equally taxed by both resolution and settings increases, with no single factor dominating the performance penalty.

The data suggests that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is never the limiting factor in this configuration. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads, combined with its 96 MB of shared L3 cache, provide far more processing capacity than the GTX 1660 SUPER can utilize in this game. The GPU's 55th percentile standing among all GPUs, contrasted with the CPU's 87th percentile, creates a scenario where the graphics card is clearly the constraining element at every resolution tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the GTX 1660 SUPER delivers playable frame rates across most settings. Low settings produce 121.4 FPS, Medium reaches 86.1 FPS, High achieves 73.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 58.7 FPS. The 1080p Low result is the only configuration in the entire dataset that exceeds 100 FPS, indicating that competitive play at high refresh rates would require the lowest graphical preset.

Moving to 1440p, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings yield 89.7 FPS, Medium drops to 65.9 FPS, High reaches 58.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at High settings represents a 19.8% FPS reduction, while the Ultra preset sees a 25.0% reduction. These results suggest that 1440p gaming is viable only at Low or Medium settings for smooth frame rates.

At 4K, the GPU's limitations become pronounced. Low settings produce 55.3 FPS, Medium reaches 42.8 FPS, High drops to 34.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 27.7 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest in the entire dataset, representing less than half the frame rate of the 1080p Low configuration. Even at 4K Low, the system barely maintains 55 FPS, suggesting that 4K gaming requires significant settings compromises to remain playable.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU and GPU combination in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The combo ranks 1459 out of 1637 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 7800X3D compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 31580 is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-12700F, 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX, and 0.6% ahead of both the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G and AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX.

Q: What is the best frame rate achievable with this combination?

A: The highest measured FPS is 121.4 at 1080p Low settings. No other configuration in the dataset exceeds 100 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER's average score of 14286 is 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 and Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics, 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon Vega 11, and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT.

Q: Is this configuration suitable for 4K gaming in Lockdown Protocol?

A: At 4K Ultra, the system achieves only 27.7 FPS. Even at 4K Low, the frame rate is 55.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold typically desired for smooth gameplay.

Q: What does the FPS scaling indicate about the limiting component?

A: The consistent percentage drops across resolutions and settings indicate the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU's 87th percentile standing versus the GPU's 55th percentile confirms this interpretation.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a 7000 series processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. The CPU features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The thermal design power is 120 W, and the processor supports DDR5 memory through a dual-channel interface with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth. The L3 cache totals 96 MB shared across all cores, a significant asset for gaming workloads.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate exceptional multithreaded and single-threaded performance. The Cinebench R23 multicore score reaches 29149, while the single-core score hits 4115. The Geekbench multicore result is 15101, with a single-core score of 2725. The 3DMark 16-thread test produces 7980, while the max-thread score is 7967. The Passmark multithread score of 34293 and single-thread score of 3759 further confirm the CPU's capabilities.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's 96 MB L3 cache and high clock speeds ensure that frame generation is never constrained by processor performance. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1887 and 4-thread score of 3684 indicate strong low-thread-count performance, which is typical for FPS titles that rely on a few primary threads. The CPU's 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs, combined with its tight competitive margins against rivals, shows that it provides far more processing power than the GTX 1660 SUPER can utilize at any resolution or settings combination tested.

The benchmark results indicate that the CPU's role in this combination is to provide a stable, high-performance foundation that never becomes a bottleneck. The measured FPS deltas between resolutions are consistent with GPU-limited scaling, confirming that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is not the constraint. For users seeking to upgrade this system, the data suggests that replacing the GPU would yield the most significant FPS improvements, while the CPU has ample headroom for future graphics card upgrades.