Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol on the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination shows a predictable GPU-bound scaling curve across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p, the system delivers a very playable 145.7 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 87.6 FPS on High and 70.4 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, the averages fall to 105.6 FPS (Low), 64.8 FPS (High), and 51.9 FPS (Ultra). At 4K, the frame rates compress significantly: Low produces 71.6 FPS, High yields 45.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 35.1 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at the same preset shows a 51% reduction on Low (145.7 to 71.6), a 48% reduction on High (87.6 to 45.7), and a 50% reduction on Ultra (70.4 to 35.1). This consistent halving of performance from 1080p to 4K indicates that the RTX 2060 is the limiting component; the Ryzen 9 5900X has ample headroom, as evidenced by its 90th percentile CPU ranking and 33150 Cinebench R23 multi-core score, to feed the GPU without becoming a bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a classic resolution-scaling pattern where the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint as resolution increases. At 1080p, the RTX 2060 can push 145.7 FPS on Low, a figure that suggests the frame rate is still partially influenced by the CPU's single-thread performance, which sits at 4680 in Cinebench R23. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is substantial: 145.7 versus 70.4 FPS, a 2.07x difference. This spread narrows at 1440p (105.6 versus 51.9, a 2.03x difference) and remains roughly consistent at 4K (71.6 versus 35.1, a 2.04x difference). The near-constant ratio between Low and Ultra across all resolutions indicates that the game's graphics settings scale uniformly with GPU load, with no sudden CPU-related cliff. The RTX 2060's 6 GB GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient to handle the texture and geometry load at 4K High, but the 45.7 FPS average at that setting points to raw compute limitations rather than memory capacity issues. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are the metrics that matter here, and they align with the observed 4K performance degradation. For a 60 FPS target, the data shows that only 1080p High (87.6 FPS) and 1440p Low (105.6 FPS) comfortably exceed that threshold, while 1440p High falls just short at 64.8 FPS, and 4K Low is the only 4K preset that achieves a playable 71.6 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance of visual fidelity and frame rate for this combination is the High preset at 1440p, delivering 64.8 FPS. This is the highest quality setting that maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS at a resolution that offers a meaningful upgrade over 1080p. For users prioritizing smoothness over visuals, 1080p High at 87.6 FPS is the best choice, as it provides a 24% frame rate increase over 1440p High while retaining the same preset tier. The Medium preset at 1440p (75.2 FPS) is a viable alternative if the user wants a slight FPS buffer, but it only gains 16% over High while sacrificing visual quality. At 4K, the Low preset (71.6 FPS) is the only playable option, and even then, it is marginal; the jump from Low to Medium at 4K (71.6 to 48.9 FPS) represents a 32% performance drop that pushes the experience below a smooth threshold. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution above 1080p: at 1440p it yields 51.9 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 35.1 FPS, which is below the playable range for a fast-paced FPS. The data suggests that Ultra is a visual showcase mode, not a competitive setting, with the 70.4 FPS at 1080p being the only Ultra row that clears 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip, is the decisive factor in this game's performance envelope. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, while modest by modern standards, does not appear to be a limiting factor in the measured rows; the consistent scaling from Low to Ultra indicates that the bottleneck is in the shader and rasterization units. The GPU's boost clock of 1680 MHz and 1920 shading units produce 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is the primary driver of the 4K performance collapse. The RTX 2060's 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present in the hardware, but Lockdown Protocol's measured frames do not show any ray tracing-specific workload differentiation, suggesting the game relies on traditional rasterization. The 12 nm process node and 160 W TDP place this card in a specific performance tier, and its 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its mid-range positioning. In practical terms, the GPU's 14111 Passmark G3D score and 53 Passmark DirectX 12 score are reflected in the game's frame rates: at 4K Ultra, the card is producing 35.1 FPS, which is roughly half of what it achieves at 1080p Ultra (70.4 FPS), a scaling that aligns with the fourfold pixel count increase from 1080p to 4K. The GPU's 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is adequate for 4K, as evidenced by the fact that 4K Low (71.6 FPS) is not dramatically lower than 1080p Low (145.7 FPS) when accounting for pixel count; the real constraint is the shading throughput.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for a consistent 60 FPS experience with this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1440p High (64.8 FPS) is the only resolution above 1080p that maintains a 60+ FPS average at a High preset. 1080p High (87.6 FPS) also clears this threshold with more headroom.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable with the RTX 2060?

A: No. The measured 4K Ultra average is 35.1 FPS, which is below playable standards for a fast-paced FPS. Even 4K Medium (48.9 FPS) is marginal, and only 4K Low (71.6 FPS) reaches a playable level.

Q: How does the CPU performance influence the frame rates in this game?

A: The Ryzen 9 5900X, with its 90th percentile ranking and 33150 Cinebench R23 multi-core score, provides sufficient processing power. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K follows a pattern consistent with GPU limitation, indicating the CPU is not the bottleneck in any measured row.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and Ultra at 1440p?

A: The difference is 23.3 FPS: 75.2 FPS on Medium versus 51.9 FPS on Ultra. That represents a 45% performance drop when moving from Medium to Ultra at 1440p.

Q: Does the 6 GB VRAM capacity cause any issues at 4K?

A: The data does not show any VRAM-related stutter or anomalies. The 4K Low (71.6 FPS) and 4K High (45.7 FPS) results scale logically with preset changes, suggesting the 6 GB buffer is sufficient for this game's 4K textures.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060's average benchmark score is 16074, which is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15786). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Radeon Pro 5700 by 1.7% (both at 16351).

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1312 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 20th percentile of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU's mid-range status; the processor is a high-end part from 2020, sitting in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, but the RTX 2060 only reaches the 58th percentile of all GPUs. The imbalance is clear: the CPU's 3dmark max threads score of 10075 and Passmark multithread score of 39002 are far above what this game demands, while the GPU's Passmark G3D score of 14111 is the limiting factor. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-13700F (0.9% lower average score) and the AMD EPYC 4245P (0.2% higher), but these comparisons are irrelevant to game performance since the GPU holds the frame rates back. In this specific title, the 1312th rank out of 1637 indicates that most other tested combinations deliver higher average frame rates, which is expected given the RTX 2060's age and class. The combo's ranking would likely improve at lower resolutions where CPU influence is stronger, but at the tested resolutions of 1080p and above, the GPU dominates the outcome. For a user with this CPU, upgrading the GPU would yield substantial gains; the current combo's performance is largely what the RTX 2060 alone can produce, with the Ryzen 9 5900X providing no meaningful uplift or drag on the frame rates.