Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Lockdown Protocol. The measured data shows a clear pattern: performance scales dramatically with resolution, but the scaling factor is not linear, revealing where the bottleneck lies in this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a severe performance drop across all settings presets. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls from 57.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 44.3 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 13.3 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average drops to 28.2 FPS, which represents a 29.4 FPS loss from the 1080p baseline. This indicates that at 4K Ultra, the system is heavily constrained, delivering less than half the performance seen at 1080p.

The pattern is similar at High settings, where the average frame rate falls from 76.7 FPS at 1080p to 55.7 FPS at 1440p, and then to 35.4 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 20.3 FPS, which is a larger absolute decline than the 21.0 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p. This accelerative decline suggests that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

At Medium settings, the averages are 86.9 FPS at 1080p, 63.5 FPS at 1440p, and 42.8 FPS at 4K. The scaling factor from 1080p to 4K is roughly 0.49, meaning the system retains just under half of its 1080p performance at 4K. Low settings show the highest overall numbers, with 125.9 FPS at 1080p, 88.9 FPS at 1440p, and 56.8 FPS at 4K.

The data indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The Ryzen 9 5900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, possesses substantial computational headroom that is not fully utilized until lower resolutions and settings are used. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 125.9 FPS, which is more than double the 4K Ultra figure of 28.2 FPS. This spread of 97.7 FPS between the best and worst measured scenarios highlights that resolution choice is the single most impactful decision for this combo.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 1785 MHz, and it offers 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. These specifications place the GPU in a mid-range position, with a percentile rank of 55 among all GPUs.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role is central to determining frame rates at higher resolutions. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the measured settings, but the raw throughput of the card becomes a constraint. At 4K Ultra, the system produces only 28.2 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The 4K High result of 35.4 FPS is also marginal, suggesting that the GPU's pixel throughput is insufficient for 4K with higher quality settings.

The GPU's predecessor is the GeForce 10 series, and its successor is the GeForce 20 series. This places it in a transitional generation that lacks dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores. The absence of these features does not directly impact the measured results, but it does affect the feature set available in modern titles. The card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, which covers the API requirements for Lockdown Protocol.

The measured benchmark results show that the GPU's average benchmark score is 14286, with a Passmark G3D score of 12699. These synthetic metrics correlate with the observed gaming performance. The GPU's nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT with a deltaPct of -0.7, indicating the 1660 SUPER is slightly ahead of that card. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics is a deltaPct of -0.2 behind, meaning the 1660 SUPER also outperforms that integrated solution by a narrow margin.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves an average of 125.9 FPS, which is the highest measured value across all configurations. However, the Medium preset at 86.9 FPS provides a substantial improvement in visual fidelity while still maintaining a high frame rate. The High preset at 76.7 FPS is also viable, offering a further quality increase with a 10.2 FPS penalty compared to Medium.

For players targeting 1440p, the Low preset at 88.9 FPS is the only configuration that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 63.5 FPS is playable, but it is close to the threshold where frame drops may become noticeable. The High preset at 55.7 FPS and Ultra at 44.3 FPS are less suitable for competitive play.

At 4K, the data shows that no preset achieves a 60 FPS average. The Low preset at 56.8 FPS is the closest, followed by Medium at 42.8 FPS, High at 35.4 FPS, and Ultra at 28.2 FPS. The recommendation for 4K is to use the Low preset if playability is the primary concern, as the step from Low to Medium costs 14.0 FPS, which is a significant loss for a modest quality gain.

The best overall experience, considering the measured rows, is the Medium preset at 1080p. It delivers an 86.9 FPS average, which is 10.2 FPS higher than the High preset and only 39.0 FPS lower than Low. The jump from Medium to High is a 10.2 FPS loss, while the jump from High to Ultra is a 19.1 FPS loss, making Ultra the least efficient choice at 1080p. At 1440p, the Low preset is the strongest recommendation, while at 4K, the Low preset is the only option that approaches playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best setting preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers an average of 86.9 FPS, which offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance. The Low preset reaches 125.9 FPS, but Medium provides a significant quality improvement for a 39.0 FPS reduction.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Lockdown Protocol?*

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, even the Low preset only achieves 56.8 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 28.2 FPS. These results indicate that 4K is not a practical resolution for this game with this hardware, particularly at higher settings.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 14286. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 has a deltaPct of -0.2, meaning the 1660 SUPER is essentially on par with it. The Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics is also a deltaPct of -0.2 behind, while the AMD Radeon Vega 11 is -0.5 behind. The AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT is the closest competitor at -0.7.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 125.9 FPS, which is a high frame rate. The Ryzen 9 5900X is capable of high throughput, but the GTX 1660 SUPER's 5.027 TFLOPS of compute is still the primary constraint. At lower resolutions, the CPU has more headroom, but the GPU remains the bottleneck for achieving very high frame rates.

Q: What is the performance drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: The average frame rate at 1080p Ultra is 57.6 FPS. At 4K Ultra, it falls to 28.2 FPS, a reduction of 29.4 FPS. This represents a 51% loss of performance when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Does the 6 GB VRAM capacity cause any issues in this game?

A: The measured results do not indicate VRAM-related stuttering or failures. The card's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory appears sufficient for the tested settings, as the frame rates scale consistently with resolution rather than showing sudden drops that would indicate memory exhaustion.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination ranks 1441 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the combo in the lower percentile of tested configurations, with 196 combos performing worse. The rank of 1441 indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the primary limiting factor, as the CPU's percentile rank of 90 demonstrates substantial headroom.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 39453, with a percentile rank of 90 against all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 4245P with a deltaPct of 0.2, meaning the 5900X is essentially tied with that server processor. The Intel Core i7-13700 has a deltaPct of -1, indicating the 5900X is slightly ahead of that chip. The Intel Core i7-13700F is a deltaPct of 0.9 behind, and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS is -0.7 ahead. These small deltas show that the 5900X is positioned competitively among high-end processors.

The GPU's rank is less favorable, with a percentile of 55 against all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 14286, and its nearest rivals show very small deltas, with the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT being the closest at -0.7. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU creates a significant imbalance, which is reflected in the combo's rank of 1441.

The measured frame rates support this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 125.9 FPS, which is a respectable number, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 28.2 FPS. The combo's rank of 1441 suggests that most other tested configurations are better balanced or have more powerful GPUs. The data indicates that for Lockdown Protocol, the GTX 1660 SUPER holds the system back, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth and 5.027 TFLOPS of compute are insufficient to maintain high frame rates.