Lockdown Protocol

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 paired with the Intel Core i5-9400 presents a distinct performance profile in Lockdown Protocol, a 2024-released FPS. The measured data shows a system that is heavily influenced by resolution and graphics settings, with the GPU’s capabilities becoming the primary constraint at higher resolutions while the CPU’s older architecture becomes more relevant at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results to clarify where the bottleneck lies and how the combo ranks among the 2,828 tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the shifting load between the CPU and GPU. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 163 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 147 FPS, a reduction of 16 FPS (approximately 9.8%). At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls further to 95 FPS, which is a substantial 41.7% decrease from the 1440p figure. This steep drop indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The pattern is even more pronounced at High settings. The system achieves 124 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K. The transition from 1080p to 1440p results in a 26.6% performance loss, while moving from 1440p to 4K incurs a 35.2% loss. This consistent degradation suggests that the Radeon RX 7700’s rendering pipeline is saturated by the increased resolution, leaving the Intel Core i5-9400 with enough headroom to feed frames without becoming a major bottleneck at these settings.

However, the scaling at Low settings tells a different story. The relatively small gap between 1080p (163 FPS) and 1440p (147 FPS) suggests that the CPU is starting to limit performance at 1080p, preventing the GPU from fully stretching its legs. The larger drop to 4K Low (95 FPS) re-engages the GPU as the primary constraint. The data shows a classic crossover: at lower resolutions and settings, the six-core i5-9400 cannot keep pace with the RX 7700’s raw throughput, but at higher resolutions, the GPU’s workload dominates the frame time.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achieved by this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest measured average is 163 FPS, recorded at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

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

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system averages 44 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold often targeted for smooth gameplay.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 147 FPS average, while Ultra settings drop to 68 FPS average, a difference of 79 FPS.

Q: Is there a measurable minimum frame rate for the Medium preset?

A: Yes, for Medium settings, the system records minimum FPS values: 121 FPS at 1080p, 88 FPS at 1440p, and 57 FPS at 4K.

Q: What is the total number of combos this configuration is ranked against?

A: The combo rank is 1431 out of 2,828 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol.

Q: Does the RX 7700’s 16 GB VRAM appear to be a limiting factor in these results?

A: The measured FPS does not indicate VRAM capacity issues, as even at 4K Ultra, the bottleneck appears to be compute-bound rather than memory-bound, given the consistent scaling across settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. Its specifications include 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation pipelines. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. Memory is a key asset: 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This memory configuration is substantial for a game like Lockdown Protocol, ensuring that texture streaming and high-resolution assets do not starve the rendering engine.

In the benchmark results, the GPU’s role is most evident in the scaling from Medium to Ultra settings. At 1080p, Medium averages 142 FPS, while Ultra drops to 93 FPS. This 34.5% reduction illustrates the cost of enabling higher-quality effects, likely including shadows, reflections, and post-processing. The GPU’s compute throughput, rated at 25.18 TFLOPS FP32, is sufficient to handle these loads, but the frame rate still falls as the settings increase.

The RX 7700’s performance relative to its peers is notable. Its average benchmark score of 15,852 places it near the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15,862, 0.1% faster) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15,679, 1.1% slower). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 9060 by 1% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti by 1.7%. In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the GPU’s 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests it is a mid-to-upper-tier part, but the measured FPS indicates that the CPU pairing can hold it back in certain scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. At 1080p, Medium delivers 142 FPS average with a minimum of 121 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without sacrificing too much detail. The High preset at 1080p is also viable at 124 FPS average, but the drop from Medium to High is only 18 FPS, while the visual improvement may be marginal for some users.

At 1440p, Medium provides 104 FPS average with an 88 FPS minimum, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. High settings at 1440p yield 91 FPS average, which is still playable but closer to the edge of 60 FPS territory during intense scenes. For 4K, the data shows that Medium is the practical ceiling, averaging 67 FPS with a 57 FPS minimum. High at 4K drops to 59 FPS average, which is borderline for smooth play, and Ultra falls to 44 FPS, which is not recommended for competitive play.

The Low preset is only advisable for esports-style play where maximum frame rate is paramount. At 1440p Low, the system hits 147 FPS, and at 1080p Low, it reaches 163 FPS. However, the visual downgrade is significant, and the Medium preset’s 142 FPS at 1080p is close enough that most users would prefer the quality increase.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested configurations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1,431 out of 2,828 combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the 49.4th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms roughly half of the configurations. The ranking reflects a balance between the GPU’s strong rasterization performance and the CPU’s dated architecture.

The CPU’s average benchmark score is 2,254, which puts it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2,259, 0.2% faster), the Intel Core i3-10305 (2,264, 0.4% faster), the Intel Core i7-10710U (2,248, 0.3% slower), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2,246, 0.4% slower). This tight grouping shows that the i5-9400 is firmly in the middle of the pack for CPU compute, which limits its ability to push the GPU to its fullest potential in low-resolution, high-frame-rate scenarios.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 15,852 places it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with rivals including the Radeon R9 370X, RX 9060, Pro W5500, and RTX 3060 Ti. The combo’s overall rank of 1,431 suggests that while the GPU is capable, the CPU’s performance ceiling prevents the system from climbing higher in the rankings, especially in a CPU-sensitive title like Lockdown Protocol.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 163 FPS, Medium achieves 142 FPS with a minimum of 121 FPS and a maximum of 163 FPS, High reaches 124 FPS, and Ultra drops to 93 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 70 FPS, representing a 42.9% reduction in performance when enabling maximum quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages decrease across the board. Low settings yield 147 FPS, Medium averages 104 FPS with a minimum of 88 FPS and a maximum of 120 FPS, High averages 91 FPS, and Ultra falls to 68 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 79 FPS, a 53.7% drop, which is more severe than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is under greater stress.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates on higher presets. Low settings average 95 FPS, Medium averages 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS and a maximum of 77 FPS, High averages 59 FPS, and Ultra averages 44 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 51 FPS reduction, or 53.7%, consistent with the 1440p pattern. Notably, the 4K Medium minimum of 57 FPS is close to the 60 FPS target, but any dip in complex scenes could cause noticeable stuttering.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 256 KB of L2 per core, and 9 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is limited to DDR4 with dual-channel bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, and the CPU connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the frame rate of 163 FPS is likely near the CPU’s limit. The fact that 1440p Low only drops to 147 FPS, a 9.8% reduction, suggests that the CPU is still able to feed the GPU adequately at this resolution, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck at 4K. The i5-9400’s single-core performance, as measured by Cinebench R23 at 935 points, is adequate for gaming, but its multi-core score of 6,629 points shows its age compared to modern processors.

The CPU’s 47th percentile ranking and its close proximity to rivals like the i7-1068NG7 and Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 indicate that it is not a performance outlier. In this game, the CPU does not appear to be a severe bottleneck at higher resolutions, but at 1080p with Low settings, it limits the system from achieving even higher frame rates that the RX 7700 could theoretically produce. For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors, the CPU may be the constraining factor, while at 1440p and 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary determinant of performance.