Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 7 9700X + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

Lockdown Protocol presents an unusual pairing: a current-generation 8-core Zen 5 processor paired with an end-of-life GPU from 2019. The benchmark data confirms this is a heavily GPU-bound scenario across nearly every resolution and settings combination. The measured frame rates demonstrate that the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is rarely the limiting factor, with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 128-bit bus creating a consistent bottleneck. The combination ranks 1587 out of 1637 tested combos in this game, placing it in the bottom 3% of configurations, which aligns with the GPU's 43rd percentile standing among all GPUs.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-limited curve. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 75.9 FPS, but moving to 1440p Low drops that to 58.9 FPS — a 22.4% reduction. Pushing to 4K Low yields just 34.5 FPS, a further 41.4% decline from 1440p. This steep drop-off as pixel count increases points squarely at the GTX 1650 as the primary constraint; a CPU-bound system would show far less sensitivity to resolution changes.

The High preset tells a similar story with even more dramatic scaling. At 1080p High, the average is 45.2 FPS. At 1440p High, it falls to 34.9 FPS (a 22.8% decline), and at 4K High, it collapses to 22.2 FPS (a 36.4% further decline). The gap between Low and High presets widens at higher resolutions, indicating that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are being saturated by both increased resolution and more complex rendering workloads.

Ultra settings amplify the resolution penalty further. The 1080p Ultra average of 37.7 FPS drops to 23.5 FPS at 1440p Ultra — a 37.7% reduction — and then to 18 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is essentially unplayable for a competitive FPS title. The data suggests that the Ryzen 7 9700X's 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth and 8 cores are more than sufficient to feed the GPU at any resolution; the scaling pattern is entirely consistent with a GPU-bound configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1587 out of 1637 tested combinations places it in the bottom percentile of systems tested in Lockdown Protocol. This is a remarkably low standing, driven almost entirely by the GPU's age and class. The GTX 1650 sits at the 43rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 8713. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746, 0.4% faster), AMD Radeon 550X (8749, 0.4% faster), and AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8761, 0.5% faster).

The CPU, by contrast, is a top-tier part. The Ryzen 7 9700X ranks at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36029. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14500HX (35940, 0.2% slower), Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (36165, 0.4% faster), and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35802, 0.6% slower). This massive gap between CPU and GPU performance tiers — roughly 46 percentile points — explains why the combo ranking is so low despite having a capable processor.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the measured performance aligns with what the synthetic benchmarks predict. The GTX 1650's 43rd percentile standing suggests it can handle esports titles at modest settings, which the 1080p Low result of 75.9 FPS confirms. However, the 1637-combo pool includes many configurations with mid-range or high-end GPUs that far exceed this card's capabilities, pushing this pairing to the bottom 3% of tested systems.

GPU Role

The GTX 1650 uses the TU117 chip built on TSMC's 12 nm process, containing 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die. It features 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, with a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory operates at 2001 MHz (8 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, delivering 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is the card's most significant limitation in modern titles, as 4 GB is insufficient for high-resolution textures and complex scenes.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 5.967 TFLOPS of FP16 (2:1 ratio). Its pixel rate is 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate is 93.24 GTexel/s. In synthetic benchmarks, the card scores 7880 in Passmark G3D and 3048 in Passmark GPU Compute, figures that place it in the lower midrange of the GPU hierarchy. The lack of ray tracing or tensor cores further limits its feature set, though Lockdown Protocol likely doesn't heavily utilize those technologies.

The 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors make this a low-power solution, but that doesn't compensate for the performance deficit. The card's 43rd percentile ranking means it outperforms only about 43% of GPUs in the database, and its nearest rivals are all within 0.5% of its score — indicating it sits at a performance plateau where many cards cluster together. In Lockdown Protocol, the measured frames show the GPU struggling to maintain 60 FPS at 1080p except on Low settings, and falling well below 30 FPS at 4K on any preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce 75.9 FPS average, which is the only configuration to exceed 60 FPS. Medium settings average 54.9 FPS, High settings average 45.2 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 37.7 FPS. These figures indicate that 1080p Low is the only playable preset for competitive play, while Medium might suffice for casual gaming if frame rate drops to the 50s are acceptable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance takes a significant hit across all presets. Low settings average 58.9 FPS, which is still reasonably smooth but below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium drops to 39.9 FPS, High to 34.9 FPS, and Ultra to 23.5 FPS. The 1440p results show that this combo is best suited for Low settings at this resolution, and even then, the frame rate is borderline for fast-paced FPS gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the results are largely unplayable. Low settings manage 34.5 FPS, Medium drops to 24.3 FPS, High to 22.2 FPS, and Ultra to 18 FPS. The scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Low shows a 54.5% reduction in frame rate, while the 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra drop is 52.3%. Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is narrower (34.5 FPS vs 18 FPS, a 47.8% difference) than at 1080p (75.9 FPS vs 37.7 FPS, a 50.3% difference), suggesting that at 4K the GPU is so constrained that settings have less relative impact.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution increase costs roughly 20-25% of frame rate on the same settings, and each settings tier increase costs roughly 15-20% of frame rate at the same resolution. This double penalty means the combo can only truly deliver smooth gameplay at 1080p Low, with 1440p Low being a marginal option.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured results, the optimal configuration for Lockdown Protocol with this combo is 1080p Low settings, which delivers 75.9 FPS average. This is the only preset and resolution combination that provides a frame rate comfortably above 60 FPS, which is essential for a competitive FPS title where reaction time matters. The 1440p Low setting at 58.9 FPS is a secondary option for users who prioritize visual clarity over raw frame rate, though the sub-60 FPS average may introduce noticeable input latency.

For users who insist on higher visual quality, 1080p Medium at 54.9 FPS is the best compromise, offering improved visuals while maintaining a frame rate in the playable range. However, the 1080p High preset at 45.2 FPS and Ultra at 37.7 FPS are not recommended for competitive play, as the frame rate dips below the threshold where fast camera movements remain smooth. At 1440p, only Low settings (58.9 FPS) are worth considering; Medium and above fall into the 23-40 FPS range, which is unsuitable for an FPS.

The 4K resolution is effectively unusable for this title on this hardware. Even Low settings at 4K only produce 34.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 18 FPS. The data indicates that the GTX 1650's 128.1 GB/s memory bandwidth and 4 GB VRAM are insufficient for 4K rendering in Lockdown Protocol, regardless of the Ryzen 7 9700X's capabilities. Users with 4K displays should run the game at 1080p resolution scaling or lower the display resolution entirely to achieve playable frame rates. The combination of this CPU and GPU is best treated as a 1080p gaming setup, with Low settings providing the most consistent competitive experience.