Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + AMD Radeon RX 570

This combination of AMD's flagship 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D processor paired with the end-of-life AMD Radeon RX 570 graphics card ranks 3544th out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 5% of all configurations. The pairing is severely imbalanced: the CPU ranks in the 91st percentile among all processors, while the GPU sits in the 74th percentile among all graphics cards, but in this FPS title, the GPU's age and 4 GB VRAM capacity become the dominant constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 3544 out of 3714 tested combinations places this system in the bottom 4.6% of all configurations evaluated for Lockdown Protocol. This is a remarkably low position given the strength of the processor, and it directly reflects the GPU's inability to keep pace with the demands of the title. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D alone achieves an average benchmark score of 54,762, which puts it within 0.6% of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55,093) and 1.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54,053). Meanwhile, the RX 570's average benchmark score of 28,766 sits within 0.4% of the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (28,874) and 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 470 (28,996).

The measured frame rates confirm that this is a GPU-bound configuration across all tested settings and resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 77 FPS, which is the only point where the system approaches playable competitive frame rates. However, the moment settings rise to Medium or the resolution increases, frame rates collapse. The data indicates that the processor is essentially idle-waiting for the GPU at every measured point, as even the most demanding CPU scenarios in Lockdown Protocol would be unlikely to stress a 12-core, 24-thread Zen 5 processor with 128 MB of L3 cache.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the Polaris 20 chip using GCN 4.0 architecture on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries. It features 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and the card delivers 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In Lockdown Protocol, the 4 GB VRAM capacity is the critical limitation. The measured data shows a consistent pattern where the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth cannot sustain high settings even at 1080p. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages only 36 FPS, which is less than half the 77 FPS achievable at Low settings. The GPU's texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s are simply insufficient for the game's visual complexity at higher presets.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 74 among all graphics cards is somewhat misleading in this context, as the nearest rivals include the Radeon RX 6800M (within 0.4%) and the Radeon RX 470 (within 0.8%). These scores reflect synthetic benchmarks rather than gaming performance, and in Lockdown Protocol specifically, the RX 570's age shows clearly. The card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, so API compatibility is not the issue—raw throughput is.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for Lockdown Protocol settings. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 77 FPS, which is the only configuration that approaches the smoothness expected for an FPS title. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS, which remains playable but introduces noticeable frame-time inconsistency. The High preset at 1080p falls to 47 FPS, and Ultra drops to 36 FPS.

For 1440p, the Low preset yields 56 FPS, which is still reasonable, but Medium drops to 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS. At 4K, even Low settings produce only 36 FPS, and Medium falls to 26 FPS with a minimum of 22 FPS. The data suggests that the optimal experience is 1080p Low, as it is the only setting combination that maintains frame rates above 60 FPS. For users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, 1080p Medium at 54 FPS is the highest preset that remains consistently above 45 FPS.

The recommendation is clear: Lockdown Protocol should be run at 1080p with the Low preset for competitive play. The jump from Low to Medium costs 23 FPS (from 77 to 54), which is a 30% performance penalty for what is likely a modest visual improvement on this aging GPU.

FAQ

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X3D bottlenecking the RX 570 in Lockdown Protocol?

A: No. The data shows the opposite—the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's average benchmark score of 54,762 places it in the 91st percentile, while the GPU's average score of 28,766 places it in the 74th percentile. The frame rates scale almost entirely with resolution and settings changes, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

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

A: 1080p is the only resolution where the combo achieves playable frame rates across all settings. At 1440p Low, the system manages 56 FPS, but at 1440p Medium it drops to 40 FPS. At 4K, even Low settings only produce 36 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 570 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 570's average benchmark score of 28,766 is within 0.4% of the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (28,874) and 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 470 (28,996). It is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 M295X (28,580) and 1.2% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (28,421).

Q: Does the combo's rank improve at lower settings?

A: The combo rank of 3544 out of 3714 is a single aggregate ranking, but the measured data shows that settings dramatically affect frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 77 FPS, which would likely place it higher than the aggregate rank suggests for that specific configuration.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X3D overkill for this GPU?

A: Yes. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads, with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz and 128 MB of L3 cache, far exceed what the RX 570 can utilize in Lockdown Protocol. The CPU's nearest rivals are all within 2.1% of its average score, indicating it is a top-tier processor being held back by a GPU from 2017.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 34 FPS, with an average of 40 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance drop as resolution increases, confirming the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 77 FPS at 1080p to 56 FPS at 1440p (a 27% reduction) and then to 36 FPS at 4K (a 53% reduction from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 54 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K.

The scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU that is limited by memory bandwidth and fill rate rather than CPU throughput. The RX 570's 224.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth and 159.2 GTexel/s texture rate are insufficient for the increasing pixel counts. The 4 GB VRAM capacity also becomes a factor at higher resolutions, as the game likely exceeds this capacity at 1440p and 4K, causing additional performance penalties.

The delta between 1080p and 4K at Low settings is 41 FPS (from 77 to 36), which represents a 53% drop. This is a severe scaling curve that would not be observed if the CPU were the limiting factor, as the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's raw compute power would easily handle the increased resolution without such dramatic frame rate losses.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor from the 9000 series, built on Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It operates on AMD Socket AM5 with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The processor features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 128 MB of L3 cache, with a TDP of 120 W. It supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and 89.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates exceptional performance: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 47,737 and single-core score of 6,739, Geekbench multi-core of 22,884 and single-core of 3,041, and a PassMark multithread score of 56,154. Its average benchmark score of 54,762 places it 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55,093 is actually 0.6% higher, so the 9900X3D is effectively tied) and 1.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54,053).

Despite this compute power, the CPU's role in Lockdown Protocol is minimal due to the GPU bottleneck. The measured frame rates at 1080p Low (77 FPS) are far below what the CPU could support, and the performance scaling with resolution shows no evidence of CPU limitation. The 24 threads and 128 MB of L3 cache are wasted on this title with this GPU, as the game likely only utilizes a fraction of the available processing resources.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its best results across all settings. The Low preset delivers an average of 77 FPS, which is the only configuration above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS and a maximum of 63 FPS. The High preset averages 47 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 36 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 41 FPS, representing a 53% performance drop from the lowest to highest quality settings.

At 2560x1440, performance degrades noticeably. The Low preset averages 56 FPS, which remains playable for casual play. The Medium preset averages 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS. The High preset averages 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 26 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 21 FPS (from 77 to 56), a 27% reduction.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates. The Low preset averages 36 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset averages 26 FPS with a minimum of 22 FPS and a maximum of 30 FPS. The High preset averages 22 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 17 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Low settings is 20 FPS (from 56 to 36), a 36% further reduction.

The complete data set shows that only three of the twelve measured configurations exceed 50 FPS: 1080p Low (77 FPS), 1080p Medium (54 FPS), and 1440p Low (56 FPS). All other configurations fall below 50 FPS, with the 4K Ultra configuration being effectively unplayable at 17 FPS. This pattern reinforces the conclusion that the RX 570 is the primary limitation, and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's capabilities are largely untapped in this pairing.