Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

Lockdown Protocol, the FPS title released on March 11, 2024, demonstrates distinct scaling behavior when paired with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The measured data covers four resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive view of how this flagship combination behaves across the performance spectrum. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 347.4 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 87.1 FPS — a span of 260.3 FPS that reveals the relative balance between CPU and GPU workload at different points.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling pattern shows a clear transition from CPU-bound to GPU-bound behavior as pixel count increases. At 1080p Low settings, the combo produces 347.4 FPS, which represents the absolute ceiling of what this system can deliver in Lockdown Protocol. Moving to 1440p Low reduces average FPS to 278.1, a drop of 69.3 FPS (approximately 20%). At 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 181.4 FPS, representing another 96.7 FPS reduction. This progressive decline indicates that even at Low settings, resolution scaling has substantial impact, though the 1080p result suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at that lower resolution.

The High settings preset tells a similar story with slightly different magnitudes. At 1080p High, the combo hits 235.7 FPS. Stepping up to 1440p High reduces this to 176.5 FPS, a 59.2 FPS decrease. At 4K High, the average drops further to 115.1 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p (59.2 FPS) is nearly identical to the Low settings gap (69.3 FPS), while the 1440p-to-4K gap narrows to 61.4 FPS in High versus 96.7 FPS in Low. This pattern suggests that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more dominant, but the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's 8 cores and 16 threads with 96 MB of shared L3 cache keep the CPU from becoming a bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling curve. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 179.4 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, this drops to 133.1 FPS (46.3 FPS reduction), and at 4K Ultra, the average falls to 87.1 FPS (another 46.0 FPS reduction). The near-identical absolute drops between 1080p-to-1440p and 1440p-to-4K at Ultra settings suggest a balanced scaling pattern where each resolution step adds a consistent GPU workload. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth appear sufficient to handle the increased pixel throughput without additional memory-related penalties.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 1,637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, this pairing of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves rank 5. This places it in the top 0.3% of all tested configurations, indicating that this combo sits at the very high end of performance for this game. The rank reflects the combined contribution of both components — the CPU's strong single-threaded and multi-threaded capabilities, and the GPU's massive compute resources.

The RTX 5090's percentile ranking of 94 among all GPUs, combined with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's percentile of 90 among all CPUs, suggests that both components are well above average in their respective categories. However, the combo rank of 5 out of 1,637 is notably higher than either component's individual percentile would suggest. This indicates that the pairing works particularly well together in Lockdown Protocol, likely because the game benefits from both the CPU's high single-thread performance and the GPU's raw throughput.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores, the Intel Xeon 6353P (avg score 37,811, delta -0.1%), Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (avg 37,831, delta -0.1%), Intel Core i9-13900HK (avg 38,020, delta -0.6%), and Intel Core i5-13600KF (avg 38,028, delta -0.7%) are all within 0.7% of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's average benchmark score of 37,780. This tight grouping indicates that the CPU's synthetic benchmark performance is competitive with these alternatives, though the real-world Lockdown Protocol results may differ based on how the game utilizes the 3D V-Cache architecture.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 serves as the primary rendering engine in this combo, with specifications that explain its performance characteristics. The GPU features 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output processors. The boost clock of 2,407 MHz (with a base clock of 2,017 MHz) allows the GPU to maintain high throughput during sustained gaming workloads. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s provide theoretical upper bounds for rasterization and texturing work.

The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is particularly relevant for Lockdown Protocol at 4K Ultra settings where the GPU must move large amounts of texture and geometry data. The measured 87.1 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates that the GPU has sufficient bandwidth to maintain playable frame rates even at maximum settings. The RTX 5090's 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores are present but their specific impact on Lockdown Protocol's frame rates cannot be isolated from the measured data.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 84,306 places it in the 94th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 5090 D (avg 84,241, delta 0.1%), RTX 5050 Mobile (avg 84,171, delta 0.2%), and AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (avg 83,209, delta 1.3%). The very small deltas between the RTX 5090 and these rivals in synthetic benchmarks suggest that raw compute performance is similar, but the Lockdown Protocol results show the RTX 5090's advantage in real gaming workloads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 347.4 FPS average, Medium settings yield 269.9 FPS, High settings achieve 235.7 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 179.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 168.0 FPS, indicating that settings have a substantial impact even at lower resolution. The 1080p results are likely CPU-limited, given that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's 5.20 GHz boost clock and strong single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1,212) can keep up with the GPU's output at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates shift downward across all settings. Low settings produce 278.1 FPS, Medium settings yield 198.4 FPS, High settings achieve 176.5 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 133.1 FPS. The 1440p Low result of 278.1 FPS is still exceptionally high, suggesting that the GPU has substantial headroom at this resolution. The reduction from 1080p Low (347.4 FPS) to 1440p Low (278.1 FPS) represents a 69.3 FPS drop, which is proportionally smaller than the drop from 1440p Low to 4K Low (96.7 FPS reduction to 181.4 FPS).

At 3840x2160, the combo shows its most GPU-intensive results. Low settings produce 181.4 FPS, Medium settings yield 128.2 FPS, High settings achieve 115.1 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 87.1 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 87.1 FPS is the lowest measured value in the entire dataset, yet it remains above 60 FPS, indicating that this combo can handle maximum settings at 4K with reasonable smoothness. The scaling from 1080p Ultra (179.4 FPS) to 4K Ultra (87.1 FPS) shows a 92.3 FPS reduction, demonstrating the significant GPU workload increase at 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D provides the processing foundation for this combo, with 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge). The CPU's 4.70 GHz base clock and 5.20 GHz boost clock deliver strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1,212 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,800. The 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a distinctive feature of the X3D lineup, and while the measured FPS data cannot directly attribute performance gains to this cache, the high frame rates at 1080p suggest the CPU is well-suited to handle the game's processing demands.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is substantial, with 3DMark scores of 10,081 for 16 threads and 10,067 for max threads. Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 34,004 and Geekbench multi-core score of 18,413 indicate strong all-core throughput. In Lockdown Protocol, the 1080p Low result of 347.4 FPS represents the practical ceiling where the CPU's per-core performance becomes the limiting factor. The fact that frame rates increase dramatically when resolution drops suggests that the CPU can maintain high instruction throughput without becoming a bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D's 120 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (89.6 GB/s bandwidth) provide adequate memory bandwidth for gaming workloads. The CPU's PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes ensures sufficient bandwidth for the RTX 5090's PCIe 5.0 x16 connection. The CPU's average benchmark score of 37,780 places it in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with its nearest rivals being the Intel Xeon 6353P (37,811, -0.1%), Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (37,831, -0.1%), Intel Core i9-13900HK (38,020, -0.6%), and Intel Core i5-13600KF (38,028, -0.7%). These tight margins in synthetic benchmarks suggest that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's real-world advantage in Lockdown Protocol comes from its cache architecture and per-core efficiency rather than raw compute throughput.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 347.4, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this combo maintain 4K Ultra settings at playable frame rates?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 87.1 FPS, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 84,306 is 0.1% higher than the RTX 5090 D (84,241), 0.2% higher than the RTX 5050 Mobile (84,171), and 1.3% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (83,209).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the combo produces 235.7 FPS at 1080p and 115.1 FPS at 4K, representing a 120.6 FPS reduction when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: What is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's multi-threaded performance score?

A: The CPU achieves a 3DMark 16-thread score of 10,081 and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 34,004.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The combo ranks 5th out of 1,637 tested combinations, placing it in the top 0.3% of all configurations.