Lockdown Protocol

Resolution Scaling

Lockdown Protocol shows a steep resolution curve with this AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + Radeon RX 7800 XT pairing. At Ultra settings, the frame rate falls from 108.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 80.4 FPS at 2560x1440, then drops further to 51.7 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 52.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which signals that the GPU is becoming the dominant limiting factor as pixel count rises. The gap between 1440p and 4K at Ultra is 35.7%, a larger relative drop than the 25.9% decline from 1080p to 1440p, indicating the RX 7800 XT's rendering throughput is progressively saturated at higher resolutions.

The Low preset tells a different story. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 231.6 FPS, which drops to 170.5 FPS at 2560x1440 and 111.9 FPS at 3840x2160. The percentage declines are 26.4% and 34.4% respectively, which is a shallower curve than Ultra. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU has more headroom to feed frames, but the GPU still bottlenecks at 4K. The spread between Low and Ultra at each resolution is telling: 123.1 FPS at 1080p, 90.1 FPS at 1440p, and 60.2 FPS at 4K. The shrinking spread means the GPU's workload scales more with settings than with resolution, making it the primary constraint in this title.

Medium and High presets sit predictably between these extremes. At 1080p, Medium runs at 166.7 FPS and High at 147.8 FPS, a 12.8% difference. At 4K, Medium achieves 76.9 FPS while High manages 67.3 FPS, a 14.3% gap. The consistency of these relative differences across resolutions indicates the game's settings hierarchy scales uniformly, with the GPU handling the extra load proportionally. The data shows no CPU-imposed ceiling until Ultra at 1080p, where the 108.5 FPS result is still well above the 60 FPS target, meaning the 12-core processor is not the binding constraint in any measured configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

This CPU-GPU pairing sits at rank 627 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the upper 38% of all combinations. Given that the GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 76 and the CPU's percentile is 94, the combo ranking underperforms what either component alone would suggest. The gap between the CPU's strong 94th percentile standing and the combo's mid-pack ranking points to the game being more GPU-bound than CPU-bound, which is consistent with the resolution scaling data.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its contribution. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D scores 54681 on average, a mere 0.4% higher than the 9900X's 54450. The Intel Core i7-14700F trails by 0.7% at 54097, while the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K and 245KF sit 1.5% and 1.8% ahead respectively. These small deltas mean the 9900X is delivering compute performance that is essentially interchangeable with its closest competitors for this game's workload. The GPU nearest rivals show a similar clustering, with the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 within 0.2%, the NVIDIA P104-100 0.4% behind, and the NVIDIA T600 Mobile 0.7% behind. None of these rivals represent a meaningful performance tier difference.

The result is that the combo's rank is more a function of the GPU's mid-tier standing than any CPU deficiency. In a game where the CPU is not the bottleneck, a 94th percentile processor paired with a 76th percentile GPU will land in the upper-middle of the field. The 627th rank out of 1637 is consistent with this profile. The measured FPS data reinforces this: at 1440p High, the 106.9 FPS result is strong for competitive play, while at 4K Ultra the 51.7 FPS falls below smooth gameplay thresholds. The combo is best positioned for high-refresh 1080p or 1440p gaming, where its ranking translates to excellent real-world performance.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the decisive component in this pairing for Lockdown Protocol. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the game's asset streaming at 4K. The memory clock runs at 2438 MHz with 19.5 Gbps effective speed, and the boost clock reaches 2430 MHz with a game clock of 2124 MHz. These clocks are consistent with the GPU's 37.32 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, which drives the measured frame rates.

The data shows the GPU's role intensifies with resolution. At 1080p Low, the 231.6 FPS result suggests the GPU is not fully taxed, as the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them. By 4K Ultra, the 51.7 FPS result indicates the GPU is heavily loaded, with the 60.2 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at that resolution demonstrating how much headroom the settings leverage. The GPU's 76th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the upper tier, but not the top echelon, which explains why 4K Ultra falls short of 60 FPS.

The VRAM capacity of 16 GB is a notable asset. Lockdown Protocol at 4K Ultra likely approaches the memory limits of 8 GB cards, but this GPU has headroom. The bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s supports high-resolution textures without stutter. The pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s are the raw throughput metrics that correlate with the measured FPS. The GPU's 60 RT cores are present, though the benchmark data does not isolate ray tracing performance. The 96 ROPs handle fill-rate demands, and the 3840 shading units process the game's pixel workload. In aggregate, the RX 7800 XT provides a balanced feature set that makes 1440p High (106.9 FPS) the sweet spot for this title.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 at High settings delivers 106.9 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target and close to 1440p High performance. At 4K High, the frame rate drops to 67.3 FPS, which is playable but not optimal for competitive play.

Q: How much FPS does the Low preset gain over Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low runs at 231.6 FPS while Ultra runs at 108.5 FPS, a difference of 123.1 FPS. Low is 113.4% faster than Ultra, indicating the settings have a massive impact on performance at this resolution.

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

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile, while the GPU ranks in the 76th percentile. The resolution scaling data confirms this, as frame rates drop consistently with higher resolutions and settings, which is characteristic of GPU-bound workloads.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: At 4K Low, the combo achieves 111.9 FPS, and at 4K Medium it hits 76.9 FPS. However, at 4K High it drops to 67.3 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 51.7 FPS. The data indicates 4K is viable only at Low or Medium settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X scores 54450 on average, which is 0.4% lower than the 9900X3D's 54681. This negligible difference means the 9900X offers essentially identical CPU performance for Lockdown Protocol.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Medium runs at 121.7 FPS and High runs at 106.9 FPS, a difference of 14.8 FPS. High is 12.2% slower than Medium, which is a modest penalty for the visual upgrade.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium as the optimal preset for most users, with 1440p Medium delivering 121.7 FPS and 4K Medium hitting 76.9 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the 166.7 FPS result exceeds high-refresh display capabilities. The gap between Medium and High is consistent across resolutions, averaging around 13%, which is a reasonable trade for the visual fidelity gain. However, for competitive play where frame rate matters most, Low at 1440p provides 170.5 FPS, a 40.1% improvement over High at 106.9 FPS.

Ultra is the least recommended preset, as it drops below 60 FPS at 4K (51.7 FPS) and only reaches 108.5 FPS at 1080p. The 28.6% penalty from High to Ultra at 1080p is not justified by the marginal visual improvements, especially given that High already runs at 147.8 FPS. For 4K users, the choice is between Low (111.9 FPS) and Medium (76.9 FPS). Medium offers a 45.4% higher frame rate than Ultra while still staying above 60 FPS. The sweet spot is 1440p Medium at 121.7 FPS, which balances visual quality and performance.

For users with 240 Hz displays, 1080p Low at 231.6 FPS is the only preset that approaches that refresh rate. 1080p Medium at 166.7 FPS is the next best option. The data shows diminishing returns from High to Ultra at every resolution, making High the ceiling for reasonable settings. The recommendation is to start at Medium and adjust based on resolution; at 1080p, Medium or High both work well, at 1440p Medium is ideal, and at 4K Low or Medium are the only viable choices.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads from the Zen 5 architecture, running on the Granite Ridge codename with a 4 nm process. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz boosts to 5.60 GHz, and the 64 MB shared L3 cache provides ample headroom for game logic. The CPU's benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 46438 and a single-core score of 6555. The Geekbench multicore result of 19827 and single-core of 3341 further confirm its capability. The Passmark multithread score of 54643 and single-thread of 4672 place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is supportive rather than dominant. The measured FPS data shows no CPU-imposed ceiling, as the frame rates scale smoothly with GPU settings and resolution. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 12552 and max-thread score of 13929 indicate strong multi-core performance, but the game does not appear to leverage more than a few threads heavily. The single-thread 3DMark score of 1286 and Cinebench R15 single-core of 660 suggest that single-thread performance is sufficient for the game's primary thread.

The CPU's nearest rivals all score within 1.8% of the 9900X, meaning the choice of processor in this class has minimal impact on Lockdown Protocol's frame rates. The 0.4% delta to the 9900X3D is negligible, and the 1.5% to the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K is within noise. The CPU's 120 W TDP and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth support the GPU without bottlenecking. The Passmark physics score of 3381 and integer math score of 181056 indicate robust compute, but the game's FPS is ultimately GPU-bound. The CPU contributes by ensuring minimum frame times stay consistent, but the data shows no scenario where the 9900X is the limiting component.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low runs at 231.6 FPS, Medium at 166.7 FPS, High at 147.8 FPS, and Ultra at 108.5 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 53.2% decrease, with the largest single-step drop being 18.9 FPS from Medium to High. The 1080p results show the GPU has significant headroom, as even Ultra clears 100 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down proportionally. Low achieves 170.5 FPS, Medium hits 121.7 FPS, High runs at 106.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 80.4 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 26.4% for Low, 27.0% for Medium, 27.7% for High, and 25.9% for Ultra. This consistent ~26% reduction indicates the GPU is scaling predictably with pixel count. The 1440p results remain strong, with all presets except Ultra staying above 100 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the bottleneck. Low runs at 111.9 FPS, Medium at 76.9 FPS, High at 67.3 FPS, and Ultra at 51.7 FPS. The reduction from 1440p to 4K is 34.4% for Low, 36.8% for Medium, 37.0% for High, and 35.7% for Ultra. The steeper decline at 4K compared to 1440p reflects the GPU's diminishing capability at higher resolutions. The 4K results show that only Low settings maintain a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while Medium and High are playable but tighter, and Ultra falls below the 60 FPS threshold. Across all resolutions, the data demonstrates a clear hierarchy: Low > Medium > High > Ultra, with the performance gaps widening at higher resolutions.