Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pairing in Lockdown Protocol is a study in GPU-limited scaling, with the CPU’s substantial headroom left untapped as resolution increases. The data shows a clear trend: this combo is decisively bound by the graphics card at higher resolutions, while the processor’s strength becomes apparent only at 1080p. At 4K Ultra, the system delivers 39 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth competitive play, but dropping to 4K Low yields 83 FPS, indicating that visual settings, rather than resolution alone, dictate performance here.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, but the pattern reveals where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 109 FPS at 1920x1080 to 80 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 29 FPS, and then further to 51 FPS at 3840x2160, another 29 FPS drop. This linear decline with pixel count is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario: the RTX 2070 SUPER is working at its limit, and each additional pixel costs a proportional amount of performance.

The Low settings row tells a similar story, though with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 175 FPS, which drops to 129 FPS at 1440p and then to 83 FPS at 4K. The percentage decline from 1080p to 4K is roughly 53%, which is substantial, but the fact that 4K Low still exceeds 60 FPS suggests that the GPU has enough raw throughput to handle the game if the graphical load is reduced. The CPU is not the limiting factor here, as evidenced by the fact that the 9800X3D’s high single-thread score of 2964 in Geekbench would easily support higher frame rates if the GPU could deliver them.

The Medium settings row provides the only min/max FPS data in the pack, and it reinforces the scaling trend. At 1080p Medium, the average is 125 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS, while at 1440p Medium the average drops to 91 FPS with a minimum of 78 FPS, and at 4K Medium the average falls to 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS. The fact that the minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 50, which is below the average of the 4K High result, indicates that the GPU is struggling to maintain consistent frame times under load.

Ultra settings are the most demanding, and the scaling is harsh. The combo produces 82 FPS at 1080p Ultra, 60 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and only 39 FPS at 4K Ultra. The drop from 60 FPS at 1440p to 39 FPS at 4K is a 35% reduction, which is the largest percentage fall among all settings. This suggests that the Ultra preset pushes the RTX 2070 SUPER’s memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s and its 8 GB of VRAM to the breaking point, causing a disproportionate performance penalty at 4K.

Overall, the resolution scaling data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, where the RTX 2070 SUPER can maintain playable frame rates. At 4K, even the Low preset only manages 83 FPS, which is acceptable but not ideal for a fast-paced FPS, and the Ultra preset at 39 FPS is virtually unplayable for competitive purposes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary performance limiter in this configuration. With a boost clock of 1770 MHz and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but becomes strained at 4K. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 20282 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc B570 with a deltaPct of -1.3% and the Intel Arc A750 with a deltaPct of -1.5%, indicating that the RTX 2070 SUPER is competitive with those cards but not a high-end part.

The data shows that the GPU’s memory capacity is a critical factor in Lockdown Protocol. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 39 FPS, which is likely due to the 8 GB VRAM being insufficient for the texture and geometry loads at that resolution and quality setting. The fact that 4K Medium produces 59 FPS, which is only 20 FPS higher than Ultra, suggests that the VRAM limitation is not solely about capacity but also about bandwidth, as the 448.0 GB/s is taxed by the higher resolution.

The GPU’s DirectX 12 performance, as measured by the Passmark DirectX 12 score of 67, is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 151, which could indicate that the Turing architecture is not optimally optimized for the API that Lockdown Protocol likely uses. However, the game’s performance at 1080p High (109 FPS) and 1080p Low (175 FPS) shows that the GPU can deliver high frame rates when the resolution is not excessive, meaning the card is not inherently weak but rather limited by the combination of resolution and settings.

The RTX 2070 SUPER’s FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS is a theoretical peak, but the measured frame rates suggest that the card is utilized efficiently at lower resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 125 FPS, which is a solid result for a card that was released in 2019. The GPU’s 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but not heavily leveraged in this game, as the frame rate differences between settings are more attributable to memory bandwidth and shading units (2560) than to ray tracing or DLSS features.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is an exceptionally powerful processor that is clearly not the bottleneck in this pairing. With 8 cores and 16 threads, a base clock of 4.70 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz, the CPU delivers top-tier performance in both synthetic and gaming workloads. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23230 and single-core score of 2080 are strong indicators of its capability, and its Passmark multithread score of 40009 places it in the 87th percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS with a deltaPct of 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 with a deltaPct of -0.7%, meaning the 9800X3D is essentially on par with those parts in average benchmark scores. However, the 9800X3D’s 96 MB of shared L3 cache, a hallmark of the X3D series, gives it a distinct advantage in gaming scenarios where cache-sensitive workloads are common. This is reflected in the fact that the combo achieves 175 FPS at 1080p Low, which is the highest measured frame rate in the pack, suggesting that the CPU can feed the GPU with data faster than the GPU can render frames.

The CPU’s role becomes more apparent when comparing the 1080p results to the 1440p results. At 1080p High, the combo produces 109 FPS, while at 1440p High it produces 80 FPS. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would be similar across resolutions, but the 29 FPS drop indicates that the GPU is the constraint. Conversely, the fact that the 1080p Low result (175 FPS) is nearly double the 4K Low result (83 FPS) shows that the CPU has ample headroom to support even higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s and support for DDR5 memory are additional advantages, but they are not fully utilized in this game because the GPU is the bottleneck. The 9800X3D’s 3DMark scores, such as 10081 for 16 threads and 1212 for single-thread, are consistent with its high-end positioning, but these numbers do not translate to higher FPS in Lockdown Protocol beyond what the GPU can deliver. The data suggests that the CPU is overqualified for this GPU pairing, and a less powerful processor would likely yield similar frame rates at 1440p and 4K, though the 1080p results might be slightly lower.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the best resolution, with all settings except Ultra producing average FPS above 100. At 2560x1440, the High and Medium presets are also playable at 80 and 91 FPS respectively, but 3840x2160 is only viable on Low settings, which yields 83 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting factor at 4K. The frame rates drop significantly from 1440p to 4K across all settings, and the CPU’s high benchmark scores (e.g., Cinebench R23 multicore of 23230) indicate it is not the constraint. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are taxed at this resolution.

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

A: This combo ranks 2165 out of 3714 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the lower half of all systems. This ranking is consistent with the RTX 2070 SUPER being a mid-range GPU, despite the CPU being in the 87th percentile of all CPUs.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset produces 175 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 82 FPS, a difference of 93 FPS. The Medium preset is in between at 125 FPS, and the High preset delivers 109 FPS, showing a clear trade-off between visual quality and performance.

Q: Does the CPU’s 3D V-Cache help in this game?

A: The data does not directly measure the impact of the 96 MB L3 cache, but the CPU’s strong single-thread performance (Geekbench single-core score of 2964) and the fact that the combo achieves high frame rates at 1080p Low (175 FPS) suggest that the CPU is not a bottleneck, which is consistent with the cache providing adequate data for the GPU.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER’s performance consistent with its benchmark scores?

A: Yes, the GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 18169 and its 65th percentile ranking align with its performance in Lockdown Protocol. The card delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p but struggles at 4K, which is typical for a GPU in this performance class.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2165 out of 3714 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, which places it in the 42nd percentile of all systems. This is a modest ranking that reflects the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s capabilities. The CPU is in the 87th percentile of all CPUs, but the GPU is in the 65th percentile, and the combo’s overall ranking is dragged down by the graphics card’s performance at higher resolutions.

Compared to other tested combos, this system is not among the top performers, but it is also not at the bottom. The ranking suggests that a majority of tested systems (about 58%) outperform this pairing in Lockdown Protocol, which is expected given the RTX 2070 SUPER’s age and mid-range positioning. However, the data shows that the combo is still capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p, with the 175 FPS result at Low settings being a standout figure.

The ranking is influenced by the fact that Lockdown Protocol is a fast-paced FPS where high frame rates are prioritized. At 4K Ultra, the 39 FPS result is below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider necessary for smooth gameplay, which contributes to the lower ranking. If the game were more CPU-bound, this combo would likely rank higher, but the measured data shows that the GPU is the deciding factor in this title.

The combo’s rank of 2165 is a useful reference point for users considering this pairing. It indicates that while the CPU is a top-tier part, the GPU is the weak link, and upgrading to a more powerful graphics card would significantly improve the system’s standing in this game. The deltaPct values of the GPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Arc B570 at -1.3%, suggest that the RTX 2070 SUPER is closely matched with other mid-range options, so the ranking is not an outlier but rather a reflection of the GPU’s class.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and the player’s preference for visual fidelity versus frame rate. At 1920x1080, the High preset is the best balance, delivering 109 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset offers 125 FPS for a slight performance boost, but the visual difference between Medium and High is likely minimal, making High the recommended choice for most players.

At 2560x1440, the High preset produces 80 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive FPS play. The Medium preset at 91 FPS is a better option, offering a higher frame rate with a modest reduction in visual quality. The Ultra preset at 60 FPS is exactly at the threshold, but the minimum FPS is not reported, so there is a risk of dips below 60. The Low preset at 129 FPS is the best for performance, but the visual downgrade may be too severe for some players.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only viable option, producing 83 FPS, which is above 60 but not high enough for esports-level play. The Medium preset at 59 FPS is borderline, and the High preset at 51 FPS is below the threshold. The Ultra preset at 39 FPS is not recommended for any gameplay scenario, as it would result in a poor experience.

For the best overall experience, the data suggests using the High preset at 1080p, which delivers 109 FPS, or the Medium preset at 1440p, which delivers 91 FPS. These settings provide a good balance between visual quality and performance, ensuring that the RTX 2070 SUPER is not overtaxed while still taking advantage of the CPU’s capabilities. Players who prioritize frame rate above all else should consider the Low preset at 1080p, which yields 175 FPS, but this comes at a significant visual cost. The Medium preset at 1080p is a middle ground, offering 125 FPS with better visuals than Low, and it is the most versatile recommendation for this combo.