Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol scales predictably with resolution, but the shape of that scaling curve reveals a system that is clearly GPU-limited at higher settings and CPU-bound only at the lowest preset. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 231.5 FPS, which drops to 170 FPS at 1440p Low and 112.2 FPS at 4K Low. That is a 51% reduction from 1080p to 4K at the lowest settings, indicating that even a flagship-class processor like the Ryzen 7 9800X3D cannot fully feed the Radeon RX 7800 XT when the graphical load is minimal.

The picture changes dramatically when settings are raised. At High settings, the frame rate falls from 143.9 FPS at 1080p to 104.6 FPS at 1440p and 69.3 FPS at 4K — a 52% total drop. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 111.4 FPS at 1080p, 83.1 FPS at 1440p, and 53.5 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that the GPU's shading throughput, rather than memory bandwidth or CPU overhead, is the primary limiter once the scene complexity increases. The 4K Ultra result of 53.5 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS figure in the entire dataset, which is notable for a game that is not particularly demanding by 2024 standards.

The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is instructive. At 1080p, the difference is 120.1 FPS (231.5 vs 111.4), while at 4K it shrinks to 58.7 FPS (112.2 vs 53.5). This compression at higher resolutions is classic GPU-bound behavior: when pixel count quadruples, the absolute cost of additional shading effects becomes a smaller fraction of total render time. The data suggests that users targeting 144Hz displays should stick to 1080p or 1440p with Medium settings, as the 1440p Medium result of 123.3 FPS clears that threshold comfortably.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7800 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is generous for a card in this segment. The boost clock of 2430 MHz and game clock of 2124 MHz are standard for the RX 7000 series, but the real story is how these specifications translate into Lockdown Protocol performance.

The GPU's 3840 shading units and 96 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s. In practice, this means the card can push 143.9 FPS at 1080p High without breaking a sweat, but the 4K Ultra result of 53.5 FPS shows its limits. The FP32 throughput of 37.32 TFLOPS is competitive, yet the game's reliance on traditional rasterization rather than ray tracing means the 60 RT cores are largely idle in these tests.

The RX 7800 XT's 76th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it firmly in the upper midrange. Its average benchmark score of 32619 is within 0.7% of the AMD FirePro S10000 and 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA P104-100, though these are older workstation parts that are not directly comparable in gaming workloads. The 16 GB frame buffer is more than sufficient for Lockdown Protocol at any resolution in this test, and the 19.5 Gbps effective memory speed ensures that texture streaming is never a bottleneck. The card's 263 W TDP and Dual-slot design are typical for this performance class.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D represents the latest iteration of AMD's 3D V-Cache technology, though this particular chip does not list a vCache3d figure in its specifications. What it does have is 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. The base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.20 GHz are the highest in the 9000 series, and the 96 MB of shared L3 cache is substantial.

The CPU's benchmark results are exceptional. A Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 34004 and a single-core score of 4800 place it in the 90th percentile among all CPUs. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10081 versus the max-thread score of 10067 shows excellent scaling, while the 2-thread score of 2394 demonstrates strong single-thread performance. In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, and the data indicates it does this effortlessly.

At 1080p Low, the 231.5 FPS result is likely close to the engine's internal frame rate cap or the CPU's absolute limit. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the Intel Xeon 6353P (0.1% faster), Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (0.1% faster), and Intel Core i9-13900HK (0.6% faster) — all have similar average scores, but the 9800X3D's large L3 cache gives it an edge in gaming workloads that these synthetic tests do not fully capture. The CPU's 120 W TDP and DDR5 dual-channel memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the GPU's demands.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Radeon RX 7800 XT ranks 620th out of 1637 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. That places it in the 62nd percentile of all combos, which is respectable but not elite. The ranking reflects that the RX 7800 XT is the limiting factor in most scenarios; a higher-tier GPU would push this CPU to even greater heights, particularly at 1080p where the processor's headroom is evident.

The combo's performance profile is characterized by strong 1080p results that taper off at 4K Ultra. The 143.9 FPS at 1080p High is well above the 100 FPS threshold that most competitive FPS players target, and the 104.6 FPS at 1440p High is still smooth. The 4K Ultra result of 53.5 FPS is the only figure that would require settings adjustments for a locked 60 FPS experience. This suggests that the combo is best suited for 1440p gaming with High settings, where it delivers 104.6 FPS, or 1080p with Ultra settings at 111.4 FPS.

Relative to its component peers, the CPU's 90th percentile ranking is far higher than the GPU's 76th percentile. This imbalance is typical of a pairing where the processor outclasses the graphics card, and it means that future GPU upgrades would yield immediate frame rate improvements without requiring a CPU change. The combo's rank of 620 out of 1637 is consistent with this interpretation — it is a solid mid-pack result that leans on CPU strength rather than GPU dominance.

FAQ

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 143.9 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most standard 1080p monitors and suitable for high-refresh displays.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High, it averages 69.3 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 53.5 FPS. For a locked 60 FPS experience, you would need to use High settings or lower.

Q: How does the RX 7800 XT compare to its nearest rivals?

A: Its average benchmark score of 32619 is 0.2% higher than the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 and 0.4% higher than the NVIDIA P104-100. It trails the NVIDIA T600 Mobile by 0.7%.

Q: What is the CPU's strongest benchmark result?

A: The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 34004 is the standout, but the PassMark multi-thread score of 40009 and Geekbench multi-core score of 18413 are also strong. The single-thread score of 4800 in Cinebench R23 is particularly relevant for gaming.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM make a difference in this game?

A: At the tested resolutions and settings, the 16 GB frame buffer is never exhausted. The memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s is sufficient for the game's texture streaming requirements, and there is no evidence of VRAM-related stuttering in the data.

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

A: The data suggests 1440p High at 104.6 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p, Ultra at 111.4 FPS is viable, while 4K requires dropping to High settings to stay above 60 FPS.