Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol places this Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT pairing at rank 631 out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the top 38% of all configurations. The combination is solidly mid-pack, but the data reveals a significant imbalance: the RX 7900 XT is clearly the dominant component, while the aging six-core i5-9400 acts as the primary constraint on peak frame rates. This is not a balanced pairing, but it delivers playable performance across all settings, with the CPU bottleneck becoming more apparent as resolution drops.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 631 out of 1637, this combo sits in the upper-middle tier of tested configurations. The ranking reflects the GPU's strength being partially held back by the CPU. The RX 7900 XT itself ranks in the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 38358, placing it just ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile by 0.0% and the NVIDIA CMP 70HX by 0.3%, while trailing the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 by 0.4%. In contrast, the i5-9400 sits in the 50th percentile among CPUs, with an average score of 2305, essentially matching the Intel Core i3-10305 (0.2% ahead) and Intel Core i3-1125G4 (0.2% ahead), while trailing the Intel Core i7-8809G by 0.6%.

The score gap between the two components is stark: the GPU's 82nd percentile versus the CPU's 50th percentile. In Lockdown Protocol, this translates to a combo that can push high frame rates at lower resolutions but struggles to maintain consistency at 4K Ultra. The CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads, running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost of 4.10 GHz, are sufficient for the game's core logic but cannot fully feed the GPU's 5376 shading units at lower resolutions. The combo's rank is respectable, but the data clearly shows that upgrading the CPU would yield larger gains than upgrading the GPU for this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that Medium settings at 1440p provide the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 2560x1440 Medium, the combo delivers 128.5 FPS, which is 10% higher than High settings at the same resolution (124.6 FPS) and only 12% lower than Low (146.4 FPS). The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs just 4 FPS, making High a viable alternative if visual fidelity is prioritized. However, at 4K, the story changes: High produces 82.4 FPS, Medium drops to 93.9 FPS, and Low jumps to 127.5 FPS, showing that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

For 1080p users, Low settings at 164.2 FPS is the only configuration that breaks 160 FPS, but Medium (142.2 FPS) and High (139.4 FPS) are within a tight band, suggesting the CPU is capping performance. The data indicates that Ultra settings are only recommended at 1080p, where it achieves 120.3 FPS, but the 1440p Ultra result of 93.8 FPS and 4K Ultra of 60.4 FPS show diminishing returns. The best overall experience is 1440p Medium or High, depending on whether smoothness or detail is preferred, as both stay above 120 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Does the RX 7900 XT bottleneck the i5-9400 in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data suggests the opposite. The GPU's average benchmark score of 38358 (82nd percentile) far exceeds the CPU's 2305 (50th percentile). At 1080p, the FPS difference between Low (164.2) and Ultra (120.3) is only 44 FPS, indicating the CPU limits frame rates more than the GPU at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1440p offers the best balance. The combo achieves 124.6 FPS on High and 128.5 FPS on Medium at 2560x1440, maintaining smooth gameplay. At 4K, High settings drop to 82.4 FPS, while 1080p gains are marginal above 1440p.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the drop is from 139.4 FPS at 1080p to 124.6 FPS at 1440p to 82.4 FPS at 4K, a total reduction of 57 FPS. At Low settings, the drop is smaller: 164.2 to 146.4 to 127.5 FPS, a 37 FPS reduction.

Q: Is Ultra settings playable on this combo?

A: At 1080p, yes, with 120.3 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 93.8 FPS, which is still playable. At 4K, Ultra produces 60.4 FPS, which is borderline for a fast-paced FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's thread count affect performance?

A: The i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads, which is below average for modern CPUs. Its single-core score of 1125 in Cinebench R23 and multicore of 7969 are modest, likely causing the smaller FPS gains between 1080p and 1440p compared to the larger drop at 4K.

Q: What GPU is comparable to the RX 7900 XT?

A: Based on average benchmark scores, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile matches it exactly at 38349 (0.0% delta), while the NVIDIA CMP 70HX is 0.3% slower and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is 0.6% slower.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 164.2 FPS on Low, 142.2 FPS on Medium, 139.4 FPS on High, and 120.3 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 44 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between High and Ultra (19 FPS). This suggests that Ultra settings impose a significant GPU load that the CPU partially mitigates at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong: Low hits 146.4 FPS, Medium 128.5 FPS, High 124.6 FPS, and Ultra 93.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 53 FPS, and the drop from High to Ultra (31 FPS) is more pronounced than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is beginning to take over as the primary bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the FPS falls to 127.5 (Low), 93.9 (Medium), 82.4 (High), and 60.4 (Ultra). The Low-to-Ultra spread is 67 FPS, and the step from Medium to High costs 11.5 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 22 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 60.4 FPS is the only configuration in the entire dataset that dips below 60 FPS, confirming that the GPU's 20 GB of VRAM and 800.0 GB/s bandwidth are pushed to their limits only at the highest settings and resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the clear performance driver in this combo. With 5376 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs, it delivers 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. Its 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus provides 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Lockdown Protocol at all tested settings. The GPU's boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz are high, and its benchmark scores reflect this: a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 5623 and a Passmark G3D score of 29009.

The GPU's 82nd percentile ranking means it outperforms the vast majority of installed hardware. In the measured FPS data, the GPU's strength is most visible at 4K, where it manages 82.4 FPS on High despite the CPU's limitations. The RX 7900 XT's 84 RT cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are not directly tested in the FPS data, but the high frame rates at 1440p and above indicate it has ample headroom. However, the data also shows that at 1080p, the GPU is not fully utilized, as the FPS differences between Low and Medium are minimal (22 FPS), suggesting the CPU is the limiting factor in those scenarios.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is the bottleneck in this pairing. Its 6 cores and 6 threads, based on the Coffee Lake architecture, run at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost to 4.10 GHz. The CPU's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth are modest by modern standards. Its benchmark scores are unremarkable: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, placing it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's limitations are evident in the 1080p results. The jump from Low (164.2 FPS) to Medium (142.2 FPS) is only 22 FPS, and High (139.4 FPS) is nearly identical to Medium. This clustering suggests the CPU cannot process frames fast enough to take advantage of the GPU's extra headroom at lower resolutions. At 1440p, the CPU still holds back performance, but the GPU becomes more engaged, as shown by the wider spread between settings (53 FPS from Low to Ultra). At 4K, the CPU is less of a factor, and the GPU's load dominates, evidenced by the dramatic drop from Medium (93.9 FPS) to Ultra (60.4 FPS). The i5-9400's end-of-life status and lack of hyper-threading are consistent with its mid-pack CPU ranking.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear shift in the limiting component. At High settings, the FPS drops from 139.4 at 1080p to 124.6 at 1440p (a 10.6% decrease) and then to 82.4 at 4K (a 33.9% decrease from 1440p). This pattern indicates that the CPU is constraining performance at 1080p and 1440p, as the FPS reduction is smaller than the pixel count increase. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, as the FPS drop is more severe.

At Low settings, the scaling is different: 164.2 at 1080p, 146.4 at 1440p (10.8% decrease), and 127.5 at 4K (12.9% decrease from 1440p). The smaller drops at Low settings suggest the reduced GPU load allows the CPU to maintain higher frame rates even at 4K. Conversely, at Ultra settings, the drop is sharpest: 120.3 at 1080p, 93.8 at 1440p (22% decrease), and 60.4 at 4K (35.6% decrease). This shows that the GPU's 20 GB VRAM and compute resources are fully taxed only at 4K Ultra, while the CPU limits the ceiling at lower resolutions. The data confirms that for this combo, lowering resolution yields diminishing returns below 1440p, as the CPU prevents the GPU from reaching its full potential.