Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a formidable combination for Lockdown Protocol, with measured frame rates ranging from 73 FPS at 4K Ultra to 331 FPS at 1080p Low. This pairing sits at rank 241 out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 7% of all configs evaluated by the benchmark database. The data reveals a system that is consistently capable of high-refresh gameplay across all tested resolutions, though the scaling patterns between settings and resolutions tell a nuanced story about where the performance ceiling truly lies.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable pattern as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p to 1440p sees frame rates fall from 331 FPS to 243 FPS, a 26.6% reduction. Pushing further to 4K Low drops the average to 157 FPS, representing another 35.4% decline from the 1440p figure. This steep scaling at Low settings indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises, since the CPU has ample headroom at these lower graphics loads.

The Medium preset tells a similar story with slightly different numbers: 235 FPS at 1080p, 172 FPS at 1440p, and 111 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 26.8% and 35.5% respectively, almost identical to the Low preset scaling. This consistency suggests that the rendering pipeline is handling the additional settings overhead without fundamentally changing the bottleneck characteristics. At High settings, the pattern continues with 205 FPS at 1080p, 151 FPS at 1440p, and 97 FPS at 4K — drops of 26.3% and 35.8%.

Ultra settings exhibit the most dramatic scaling behavior. The 1080p Ultra average of 154 FPS falls to 113 FPS at 1440p (a 26.6% drop) and then to 73 FPS at 4K Ultra (a 35.4% drop). The uniformity of these percentage drops across all four settings presets is striking — approximately 26-27% from 1080p to 1440p and 35-36% from 1440p to 4K. This consistency strongly implies that resolution scaling is governed by the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities rather than any settings-specific optimization or CPU limitation.

The data suggests that at 1080p, particularly with Low or Medium settings, the CPU may be contributing more significantly to overall performance. The 331 FPS at 1080p Low is exceptionally high, and the fact that it doesn't scale linearly with the GPU's capabilities at higher resolutions hints that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D's 16 cores and 32 threads are providing substantial headroom. However, as resolution increases, the RTX 4080 SUPER's workload grows, and the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The 4K Ultra result of 73 FPS confirms that even this high-end GPU is challenged by the most demanding configuration at maximum pixel count.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured rows, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the most balanced experience. With an average of 172 FPS and a minimum of 147 FPS, this configuration provides smooth gameplay with room to spare for competitive play. The 147 FPS minimum is particularly notable because it stays above the 144 Hz refresh rate threshold that many high-end monitors use. The maximum of 198 FPS shows that the system can burst well above the average when scenes are less demanding.

For players prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, the High preset at 1440p delivers 151 FPS on average, which remains highly playable. The step from Medium to High costs 21 FPS (12.2% reduction) but likely provides meaningful visual improvements in a game like Lockdown Protocol where situational awareness matters. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 113 FPS, which is still smooth but begins to approach the territory where fast-paced FPS gameplay might feel slightly less responsive.

At 4K, the Medium preset emerges as the sweet spot with 111 FPS average and a 95 FPS minimum. This configuration keeps the experience above 90 FPS consistently, which is generally considered the threshold for comfortable FPS play. The High preset at 4K averages 97 FPS but lacks the minimum FPS data, making it harder to assess consistency. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 73 FPS, which may be acceptable for cinematic single-player moments but is less ideal for competitive multiplayer scenarios.

The 1080p options are all extremely fast, with even Ultra averaging 154 FPS. For esports-oriented play, the Low preset at 331 FPS offers maximum responsiveness, though the visual quality trade-off may be significant. The Medium preset at 235 FPS provides an excellent middle ground for players with high-refresh monitors who still want acceptable visuals. The data suggests that most players would benefit most from Medium or High settings at 1440p, or Medium at 4K, depending on their display capabilities.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 331 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The Medium preset at 1080p achieves 235 FPS, while Ultra at 1080p drops to 154 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system averages 73 FPS. This is the lowest measured result across all tested configurations, but it remains playable for many users.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is not the primary bottleneck at 1080p. The extremely high frame rates (331 FPS at Low) indicate the CPU is keeping pace well, and the GPU still has headroom to render more frames.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 241 out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 6.5% of all systems evaluated.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1440p to 4K?

A: The percentage drop is remarkably consistent across settings. At Low, Medium, and High settings, the reduction from 1440p to 4K is approximately 35-36%. At Ultra, the drop is 35.4% (from 113 to 73 FPS).

Q: Does the Medium preset offer a good balance at 1440p?

A: Yes, the 1440p Medium result of 172 FPS average with a 147 FPS minimum provides excellent smoothness. The minimum FPS staying above 144 suggests strong frame pacing for high-refresh displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings yield 331 FPS average, Medium delivers 235 FPS with a minimum of 200 and maximum of 270, High achieves 205 FPS, and Ultra drops to 154 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is substantial — 177 FPS — indicating that the Ultra preset imposes significant rendering costs even at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance hierarchy remains consistent but shifts downward. Low averages 243 FPS, Medium averages 172 FPS with a range of 147 to 198, High averages 151 FPS, and Ultra averages 113 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 130 FPS, slightly less than at 1080p in absolute terms but proportionally similar.

At 3840x2160, the system shows its most limited performance. Low averages 157 FPS, Medium averages 111 FPS with a range of 95 to 128, High averages 97 FPS, and Ultra averages 73 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 84 FPS, and even the Low preset at 4K is slower than the Ultra preset at 1080p (157 vs 154 FPS), highlighting the significant GPU workload increase from resolution scaling.

The Medium preset is the only configuration with complete min/max data across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 200-270 FPS; at 1440p, it's 147-198 FPS; and at 4K, it's 95-128 FPS. These ranges show that the frame time variance scales with resolution, with the 4K configuration exhibiting the tightest relative spread (27% above minimum) compared to 1080p (35% above minimum).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for Lockdown Protocol at all tested settings. The game's demands at 4K Ultra — the most memory-intensive configuration — don't appear to exceed this capacity, as the system maintains a playable 73 FPS average. The GPU's 10240 shading units and 80 RT cores, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, deliver the raw compute needed for this title's rendering workloads.

Clock speeds of 2295 MHz base and 2550 MHz boost help maintain consistent performance across varying scene complexity. The 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance provides substantial headroom for the game's effects, and the pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s explains the uniform resolution scaling observed in the data. The GPU's percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54209, places it slightly below the RTX 4080 (deltaPct of -0.1%) and above the Radeon Pro W5700X (deltaPct of -1.1%).

The 320 W TDP and triple-slot cooler indicate this is a power-hungry card, but the performance data shows it's well-utilized in Lockdown Protocol. The fact that frame rates scale so predictably with resolution suggests the GPU is operating within its designed envelope without thermal or power throttling. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for 4K gaming, where texture memory requirements are highest, and the measured results confirm no memory-related stutters or frame drops that would indicate capacity limitations.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D's 16 cores and 32 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture, provide substantial processing power for Lockdown Protocol. With a boost clock of 5.70 GHz and 128 MB of L3 cache, this CPU demonstrates why it ranks in the 95th percentile among all CPUs. The single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1292 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2259, ensures that the game's main thread can run efficiently without bottlenecking the GPU.

Multi-threaded performance is equally impressive, with Cinebench R23 multicore scoring 42018 and Passmark multithread at 70255. This headroom is crucial for maintaining high frame rates at 1080p Low, where the CPU must feed the GPU with enough draw calls to sustain 331 FPS. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 16374 and max-thread score of 17184 show consistent scaling across thread counts, indicating the 3D V-Cache technology benefits workloads that can utilize multiple cores.

The CPU's benchmark results place it nearly even with its nearest rivals. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 shows a deltaPct of just 0.1% higher (75738 vs 75779 average score), while the Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D and EPYC 8224P show 0.1% and 0.3% deltas respectively. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 trails by 0.4%. This tight grouping suggests that within this performance tier, the CPU is unlikely to be the differentiating factor in Lockdown Protocol frame rates, reinforcing that the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a rank of 241 out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 6.5% of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects the strong synergy between the CPU's exceptional single and multi-threaded performance and the GPU's high-end rasterization capabilities.

The ranking position suggests that while this is a very high-performing system, there are 240 combinations that outperform it in this specific game. Given that the CPU ranks in the 95th percentile and the GPU in the 86th percentile, the combination's relatively lower game-specific ranking compared to component-level percentiles implies that Lockdown Protocol may be more dependent on GPU performance than raw CPU power. The 4K Ultra result of 73 FPS, while certainly playable, indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is not the absolute fastest GPU available, and systems pairing this CPU with higher-tier GPUs would likely achieve better frame rates.

The data shows that this combo's performance is well-balanced, with no obvious bottleneck at any resolution. The consistency of resolution scaling percentages (approximately 26-27% from 1080p to 1440p and 35-36% from 1440p to 4K) across all settings presets suggests that the system is GPU-bound in a predictable manner. This predictability is valuable for users who want to understand how the system will perform across different display configurations. The rank of 241 out of 3714 places this combo firmly in the enthusiast tier, capable of driving high-refresh 1440p displays and smooth 4K experiences, with the understanding that absolute maximum settings at 4K will require some compromises.