Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination delivers a compelling 1080p experience in Lockdown Protocol, but the data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution climbs. At 1080p High settings, the combo averages 180 FPS, which drops to 132 FPS at 1440p and further to 85 FPS at 4K. The scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K shows a 53% performance reduction at High settings, suggesting the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The combo ranks 407th out of 2828 tested combinations, placing it in the top 15% of all systems tested for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol shows a clear and consistent resolution scaling pattern across all four quality presets. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p to 1440p results in a drop from 290 FPS to 212 FPS, a 27% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Low settings further reduces performance to 137 FPS, representing an additional 35% drop. This progressive degradation indicates that pixel throughput becomes increasingly dominant as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario at lower quality settings.

At Medium settings, the scaling story becomes more nuanced. The 1080p Medium result of 206 FPS drops to 151 FPS at 1440p (a 27% reduction), then to 97 FPS at 4K (a 36% reduction from 1440p). The min FPS data at Medium settings tells an interesting story: at 1080p the minimum is 175 FPS, at 1440p it falls to 128 FPS, and at 4K it reaches 83 FPS. These minimums represent 85%, 85%, and 86% of their respective averages, showing that frame pacing remains relatively consistent across resolutions despite the substantial average FPS differences.

High settings exhibit the steepest relative decline. The 180 FPS at 1080p drops to 132 FPS at 1440p (a 27% reduction), then to 85 FPS at 4K (a 36% reduction from 1440p). Ultra settings follow a similar pattern: 135 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p (27% lower), and 64 FPS at 4K (35% lower than 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets—roughly 27% from 1080p to 1440p and 35-36% from 1440p to 4K—strongly suggests that the limiting factor scales predictably with pixel count.

The 4K Ultra result of 64 FPS is notably the only sub-60 average in the entire dataset, though the 4K Medium min FPS of 83 FPS indicates the system stays comfortably above 60 FPS for that preset. The data implies that at 4K, the RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily, particularly at Ultra settings where texture and shading demands peak. The resolution scaling behavior points to the GPU as the dominant limiting component across all resolutions, with the CPU's role diminishing as pixel count rises.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D brings 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This processor's 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a defining feature for gaming workloads, and the benchmark data suggests it handles Lockdown Protocol's CPU demands without becoming a bottleneck. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22807 and single-core score of 2228 indicate strong computational headroom, though the game's performance scaling pattern suggests the CPU is not the primary constraint.

The processor's Passmark multi-thread score of 41318 and single-thread score of 4704 place it in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs tested. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-14900 with an average benchmark score of 58115 (0.5% lower than the 9850X3D's 58386), and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 at 58826 (0.7% higher). These tight margins indicate the 9850X3D sits in a highly competitive performance tier, though the differences are negligible for gaming workloads.

At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 290 FPS, which is exceptionally high and suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with frames well beyond typical display refresh rates. The fact that 1080p Low (290 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (135 FPS) shows a 115% performance gap demonstrates that the CPU can sustain very high frame rates when the GPU is not heavily loaded. However, the 1080p to 1440p scaling at Low settings (290 to 212 FPS) indicates that even at lower quality presets, the GPU begins to limit performance as resolution increases.

The 9850X3D's 120 W TDP and 4 nm process node from TSMC contribute to its efficiency, but the benchmark data cannot isolate CPU power draw from overall system behavior. The processor's Passmark data compression score of 474501 and floating point math score of 81998 suggest robust computational throughput that would benefit physics calculations and game logic, but Lockdown Protocol's frame rate patterns point to GPU predominance. The CPU's 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth and DDR5 support provide ample data throughput for the 8-core configuration, and the 5.60 GHz boost clock ensures rapid single-threaded response for game engine tasks.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD104 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 21 Gbps effective through a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs deliver a peak FP32 performance of 35.48 TFLOPS. The boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1980 MHz provide the computational foundation for the measured frame rates.

The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 29995 places it in the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 at 43301 (0.2% higher) and the RTX 4090 Mobile at 43667 (1% higher). The RTX 4070 SUPER's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4627 demonstrates modern API performance, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores of 172795 and 205624 respectively indicate strong compute capabilities. These synthetic benchmarks align with the measured gaming performance, showing the GPU can handle demanding titles like Lockdown Protocol.

The resolution scaling data reveals the GPU's role clearly. At 1080p, the GPU has sufficient headroom to deliver 290 FPS at Low settings, but the Ultra preset drops to 135 FPS—a 53% reduction that reflects the increased shader and texture loads. The 12 GB VRAM capacity becomes a consideration at 4K Ultra, where the 64 FPS average suggests the GPU is working near its limits. The 4K Medium result of 97 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS shows that reducing settings from Ultra to Medium provides a 52% performance increase, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes significant GPU stress.

The GPU's memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s appears sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results suggest bandwidth constraints may contribute to the performance drop. The 192-bit memory bus, while narrower than some competitors, is paired with high-speed GDDR6X to achieve competitive throughput. The GPU's 80 ROPs and 554.4 GTexel/s texture rate provide adequate pixel and texture processing for the game's visual demands, though the 4K Ultra result of 64 FPS indicates the limits of this configuration.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p High settings deliver 132 FPS average, which balances visual quality with high frame rates. At 4K High, the average drops to 85 FPS, while 1080p High reaches 180 FPS, so the optimal choice depends on whether display refresh rate or visual fidelity takes priority.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 180 to 85, a 53% reduction. At Low settings, the drop is from 290 to 137 FPS, a 53% reduction as well. The consistent percentage loss across presets indicates resolution scaling is uniform regardless of quality level.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB VRAM cause issues at 4K Ultra?

A: The 4K Ultra result of 64 FPS average is the lowest in the dataset, and while the data doesn't directly measure VRAM usage, the significant performance drop from 4K Medium (97 FPS) to 4K Ultra (64 FPS) suggests the Ultra preset's increased memory demands impact performance substantially.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9850X3D bottlenecking the GPU at any resolution?

A: The scaling pattern shows consistent 27% drops from 1080p to 1440p and 35-36% drops from 1440p to 4K across all presets, which indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The 1080p Low result of 290 FPS demonstrates the CPU can support very high frame rates when the GPU is not constrained.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 407th out of 2828 tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 14.4% of all systems. The CPU's 92nd percentile and GPU's 83rd percentile benchmark positions support this strong overall ranking.

Q: What is the minimum FPS guarantee for smooth gameplay?

A: The only available min FPS data comes from Medium settings: 175 FPS at 1080p, 128 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K. These minimums are all above 60 FPS, suggesting the Medium preset provides consistent frame delivery across all resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER achieves a rank of 407 out of 2828 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 85.6th percentile of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the balanced nature of the pairing—the CPU sits at the 92nd percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 58386, while the GPU reaches the 83rd percentile with an average score of 43223. The combination's strong rank suggests that neither component dramatically outperforms the other, creating a well-matched system for this game.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (0.1% lower score), Intel Xeon w5-2545 (0.2% higher), and Intel Core i9-14900 (0.5% lower). These tight margins indicate the 9850X3D is firmly in the high-end desktop CPU tier, though its advantage over the i9-14900 is minimal. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (0.1% lower), RTX 5050 Mobile (0.1% lower), and RTX 4090 Mobile (1% lower), showing the RTX 4070 SUPER competes closely with both workstation and mobile flagship parts.

The rank of 407 out of 2828 combos means there are 406 systems that achieve better performance in Lockdown Protocol, but the vast majority of tested configurations (2421 combos) rank below this pairing. This position suggests the combo delivers strong 1440p performance and capable 4K gaming, though enthusiasts seeking maximum frame rates at 4K Ultra would need to look among the higher-ranked combinations. The data indicates that for 1080p and 1440p gaming, this combo provides excellent headroom with average FPS well above 120 at High settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 290 FPS average, Medium settings achieve 206 FPS (with min 175 and max 237), High settings reach 180 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 135 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 53% performance reduction, demonstrating the significant impact of quality presets on frame rates. The 1080p Medium min FPS of 175 indicates that even during demanding scenes, the system maintains very high frame delivery.

Moving to 2560x1440 resolution, performance scales down proportionally. Low settings produce 212 FPS, Medium settings achieve 151 FPS (with min 128 and max 173), High settings reach 132 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 99 FPS. The 1440p results show the same relative pattern as 1080p, with Ultra being 53% slower than Low. The 1440p Medium min FPS of 128 suggests the system can sustain high refresh rate gaming at this resolution, though 240 Hz displays would see occasional dips below their maximum refresh.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings produce 137 FPS, Medium settings achieve 97 FPS (with min 83 and max 112), High settings reach 85 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 64 FPS. The 4K results show a dramatic 53% reduction from Low to Ultra, consistent with lower resolutions, but the absolute frame rates drop significantly. The 4K Medium min FPS of 83 is the lowest minimum recorded in the entire dataset, though it remains above 60 FPS for smooth gameplay.

The complete FPS breakdown reveals that the Medium preset offers the most balanced performance across all resolutions, with the only available min/max data points showing consistent frame delivery. At 1080p Medium, the 206 FPS average with 175-237 range provides excellent smoothness. At 1440p Medium, the 151 FPS average with 128-173 range supports high refresh rate monitors. At 4K Medium, the 97 FPS average with 83-112 range delivers a comfortable 60+ FPS experience.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset emerges as the optimal choice for most users across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 206 FPS average with a minimum of 175 FPS, providing a 22% performance improvement over High settings (180 FPS) while maintaining frame rates far above typical display refresh rates. The Medium preset's min FPS of 175 is particularly notable, as it ensures virtually no frame drops below the standard 144 Hz refresh rate.

At 1440p, the Medium preset's 151 FPS average and 128 FPS minimum make it the clear recommendation for gamers with high refresh rate displays. The High preset at 1440p drops to 132 FPS average, which while still playable, offers less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields 99 FPS average, which is acceptable for 100 Hz displays but falls short of the Medium preset's consistency. The data suggests that Medium provides the best balance of visual quality and performance at 1440p.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset's 97 FPS average and 83 FPS minimum provide the most consistent experience above 60 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 85 FPS average, which is still playable but leaves less margin for frame drops. The Ultra preset at 4K yields only 64 FPS average, which may result in noticeable stuttering during intense gameplay sequences. The Low preset at 4K achieves 137 FPS but sacrifices visual quality that many users would find unacceptable at this resolution.

The data indicates that for users prioritizing maximum frame rates with visual quality as a secondary concern, the Low preset at 1440p (212 FPS) or 1080p (290 FPS) offers the highest performance. However, for most users seeking a balanced experience, the Medium preset provides the best combination of visual fidelity and performance consistency across all resolutions. The Ultra preset is only recommended for users with 60 Hz displays at 4K or those who prioritize visual quality over frame rate headroom.