Lockdown Protocol

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows for Lockdown Protocol reveal a clear hierarchy across the four presets, with the sweet spot depending heavily on target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 161.3 FPS average, which is more than double the Ultra preset’s 74 FPS. However, the jump from Low to Medium costs 46.2 FPS (down to 115.1), while the Medium to High step only drops another 13.3 FPS (to 101.8). This suggests diminishing returns in visual fidelity between Medium and High relative to the performance hit, making High the best experience at 1080p for players wanting both responsiveness and image quality.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low produces 116.3 FPS, which remains highly playable, but High drops to 73 FPS — exactly the same average as Ultra at 1080p. The Medium preset at 1440p (85.2 FPS) offers a better balance than High, since the gap from Medium to High at this resolution is 12.2 FPS, a more significant loss than at 1080p. For 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset: it keeps the frame rate comfortably above 60 FPS while preserving more detail than Low.

At 3840x2160, every preset struggles relative to lower resolutions. Ultra averages 38.6 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth competitive play. Low at 4K reaches 73.4 FPS, but Medium drops to 55.4 FPS — a 24.5% decrease from Low. Given that High only manages 47.5 FPS, the data indicates that Low is the only viable preset at 4K for this combo, and even then, the margin above 60 FPS is thin. Players prioritizing frame rate over fidelity should stick with Low at 4K, while those on 1080p monitors can comfortably use High.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Lockdown Protocol, this memory configuration appears to be a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 38.6 FPS versus the 1080p Ultra result of 74 FPS shows a 48% performance drop, which correlates with the GPU’s memory bandwidth being stretched across nearly four times the pixel count. The 8 GB capacity may also constrain texture loading at Ultra settings, though the data does not explicitly confirm VRAM exhaustion.

The GPU’s boost clock of 2655 MHz and game clock of 2250 MHz are relevant for understanding frame pacing. The RX 7600’s 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s, which explains why lower resolutions scale well — at 1080p, the pixel throughput is sufficient to push past 160 FPS on Low. However, the 128-bit memory interface becomes a bottleneck at 4K, where the 288.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot feed the shader array fast enough to maintain high frame rates.

The RX 7600 sits at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs in the database, and its nearest rival, the RX 7600 XT, is only 0.6% ahead in average benchmark score. This near-parity suggests that the RX 7600’s performance in Lockdown Protocol is representative of its class — capable at 1080p, adequate at 1440p with reduced settings, and marginal at 4K. The GPU’s 32 ray accelerators and DirectX 12 Ultimate support do not appear to provide any special advantage in this game, as the measured results follow a predictable rasterization-based scaling pattern.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 1118 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the combo in the lower third of the database, which is surprising given the CPU’s strength. The Ryzen 9 9900X sits at the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54450 — just 0.4% behind the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F. The GPU, however, is only at the 63rd percentile, dragging the overall combo ranking down.

This rank disparity implies that the RX 7600 is the primary constraint in this pairing. The CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads are vastly over-provisioned for a game that, based on the FPS scaling, appears more GPU-bound. The combo rank of 1118 suggests that many other tested configurations — likely those with slower CPUs but faster GPUs — outperform this pairing in Lockdown Protocol. The data indicates that swapping the RX 7600 for a higher-tier GPU would yield far greater gains than upgrading the already-powerful CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full preset range was tested. Low produces 161.3 FPS average, Medium drops to 115.1, High to 101.8, and Ultra to 74. The gap between Low and Ultra is 87.3 FPS, representing a 54% reduction. The step from Low to Medium is the largest single drop at 46.2 FPS, while the Medium-to-High step loses 13.3 FPS and High-to-Ultra loses 27.8 FPS. This non-linear scaling suggests that Ultra introduces disproportionately expensive effects.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 116.3 (Low), 85.2 (Medium), 73 (High), and 58 (Ultra). The Low-to-Medium drop is 31.1 FPS, Medium-to-High loses 12.2 FPS, and High-to-Ultra loses 15 FPS. Notably, the 1440p High result (73 FPS) exactly matches the 1080p Ultra result, indicating that the resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p at High settings costs the same as the preset increase from High to Ultra at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the results are 73.4 (Low), 55.4 (Medium), 47.5 (High), and 38.6 (Ultra). Low is the only preset above 60 FPS, and it barely clears that threshold. The Medium-to-High drop is 7.9 FPS, while High-to-Ultra loses 8.9 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 34.8 FPS, which is proportionally smaller than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is so heavily loaded at 4K that preset changes have less relative impact.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a clear resolution scaling pattern. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings reduces the average FPS from 161.3 to 116.3, a 27.9% drop. From 1440p to 4K at Low, the frame rate falls to 73.4, another 36.9% drop. The cumulative effect from 1080p Low to 4K Low is a 54.5% reduction in FPS. This scaling is steeper than the pixel count increase would suggest (1080p to 4K is a 4x pixel increase), indicating that the RX 7600’s memory bandwidth and fill rate are overwhelmed before the pixel count reaches 4K.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is even more severe: 74 FPS at 1080p, 58 at 1440p (21.6% drop), and 38.6 at 4K (33.4% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result is only 52% of the 1080p Ultra figure. This pattern strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting component — a CPU-bound scenario would show much flatter scaling across resolutions, especially given the Ryzen 9 9900X’s capabilities. The 12-core, 24-thread CPU with a 5.60 GHz boost clock is unlikely to bottleneck at any of these settings, so the FPS drops are attributable to the GPU’s 288.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM being insufficient for 4K workloads.

FAQ

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

A: High is recommended. It delivers 101.8 FPS average, which is 27.8 FPS above Ultra’s 74 FPS, while the visual difference between High and Ultra typically does not justify a 27.8 FPS loss.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Only at Low settings, which averages 73.4 FPS. Medium drops to 55.4 FPS, High to 47.5, and Ultra to 38.6, all below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 54450, which is 0.4% behind the Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54681) and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F (54097).

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The combo ranks 1118 out of 1637, and the RX 7600 sits at the 63rd GPU percentile, while the CPU is at the 94th percentile. Resolution scaling also shows steep FPS drops consistent with GPU limitations.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at Medium settings?

A: The average drops from 115.1 FPS at 1080p to 85.2 at 1440p and then to 55.4 at 4K, representing a 51.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: How does the RX 7600 compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RX 7600 has an average benchmark score of 20258, which is 0.6% behind the RX 7600 XT (20146) and 0.8% ahead of the RX 460 (20088).

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It features 64 MB of shared L3 cache and a dual-channel DDR5 memory interface with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth. In Lockdown Protocol, this CPU is far more powerful than the workload requires. The game’s FPS scaling across presets and resolutions tracks the GPU’s capabilities, not the CPU’s, indicating that the processor is never the limiting factor.

The CPU’s benchmark results reinforce this assessment. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 46438 and single-core score of 6555 place it at the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 and 16-thread score of 12552 show strong performance across both lightly and heavily threaded workloads. Lockdown Protocol, as an FPS, likely relies on fewer threads, and the Ryzen 9 9900X’s single-core performance is more than adequate to feed the RX 7600 at any resolution.

The CPU’s nearest rivals — the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, Core i7-14700F, Core Ultra 5 245K, and Core Ultra 5 245KF — all sit within 1.8% of its average score. This tight grouping suggests that CPU choice among these models would have minimal impact on Lockdown Protocol’s frame rates, since the GPU is the binding constraint. The data implies that players with this CPU pairing should focus on GPU upgrades or settings adjustments to improve performance, rather than considering a CPU swap.