Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol pairs a six-core, six-thread Intel Core i5-9400 with an AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB, a combination that lands in the 928th position out of 1,637 tested combos. This mid-pack ranking places it squarely in the 56.7th percentile of all configurations, indicating a balanced but not exceptional pairing for this FPS title. The data shows a system capable of solid 1080p performance, but one that will require settings adjustments to maintain smooth frame rates at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p High settings?

A: The combo delivers an average of 119.9 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is highly playable for competitive shooters.

Q: How much faster is Low settings compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 145.1 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 66.2 FPS. This represents a 119% performance uplift when switching from Ultra to Low.

Q: Does the system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: No. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average frame rate falls to 43.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. Dropping to High settings at 4K brings it up to 57.2 FPS, still marginally under that threshold.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-core benchmark score?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 scores 7,969 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core, placing it at the 50th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2,305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 and 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134. It trails the Intel Core i7-8809G by 0.6%.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB features a 128-bit memory bus with GDDR6 memory, delivering 322.3 GB/s of bandwidth.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB is the primary driver of frame rate scaling across resolutions in Lockdown Protocol. Built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a 4 nm process, this GPU packs 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. Its boost clock of 3130 MHz and game clock of 2530 MHz provide substantial compute throughput, with a FP32 rating of 25.64 TFLOPS. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory operates at 20.1 Gbps effective, feeding the 128-bit bus to achieve that 322.3 GB/s bandwidth figure.

At 1080p, the GPU demonstrates its capability, pushing from 93.4 FPS at Ultra to 162.2 FPS at Low settings. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 73.6% performance drop, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor even at this resolution. The situation becomes more pronounced at 1440p, where Ultra settings yield 66.2 FPS versus 145.1 FPS at Low — a 54.4% reduction. This pattern suggests that Lockdown Protocol's visual effects at higher settings place significant stress on the GPU's shading and rasterization resources.

The 4K results further emphasize the GPU's workload. At 3840x2160, the average frame rates range from 43.7 FPS at Ultra to 93.6 FPS at Low. The gap between Ultra and Low at 4K is 53.3 FPS, which represents a 114% performance increase when lowering settings. This indicates that even the RX 9060 XT's 25.64 TFLOPS of compute power struggles with the pixel throughput required at 4K Ultra, as the 200.3 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes a bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 serves as a capable but unremarkable partner for this GPU. With six physical cores and six threads running at a 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.10 GHz boost, this Coffee Lake processor provides adequate processing power for Lockdown Protocol's game logic and physics. The 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth help keep the GPU fed with data, but the CPU's 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggests it is not a standout performer.

Cinebench R23 results show a multi-core score of 7,969 and a single-core score of 1,125. These numbers place the i5-9400 in the middle of the pack, with its average benchmark score of 2,305 sitting just 0.2% above the Intel Core i3-10305 and 0.2% above the Intel Core i3-1125G4. The nearest rival above it, the Intel Core i7-8809G, holds a 0.6% advantage. This tight grouping indicates that the i5-9400 delivers performance consistent with its peers, neither significantly boosting nor hindering the overall combo.

At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 162.2 FPS, which suggests the CPU can keep up with high frame rate demands in less graphically intensive scenarios. However, the fact that the 1080p Ultra frame rate (93.4 FPS) is nearly identical to the 4K Low frame rate (93.6 FPS) implies that at lower resolutions and settings, the CPU may start to limit the system's maximum output. The six-thread configuration, while sufficient for current titles, lacks the headroom of higher-core-count processors, potentially causing minor stutters in CPU-bound scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB achieves rank 928 out of 1,637 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places it just past the midpoint of all configurations, a positioning that reflects the balanced but unexceptional nature of both components. The CPU's 50th percentile standing and the GPU's 50th percentile among all GPUs suggest a system that delivers average performance relative to the broader hardware landscape.

The data indicates that this combo is neither a high-end enthusiast setup nor a low-end budget build. It sits in a zone where most modern games are playable at 1080p with high settings, but where 4K Ultra remains out of reach. The 119.9 FPS average at 1080p High demonstrates that the pairing is well-suited for competitive FPS play at that resolution, while the 57.2 FPS at 4K High shows it can handle 4K only with reduced graphical fidelity.

Compared to other combos in the database, this system's mid-pack ranking suggests that users would need to upgrade either the CPU or GPU to move significantly up the leaderboard. The CPU's six-thread limit may become a liability in future titles, while the GPU's 8 GB memory capacity and 128-bit bus could constrain performance in texture-heavy games. For Lockdown Protocol specifically, the combo delivers playable frame rates across most settings at 1080p and 1440p, but falls short of the 60 FPS mark at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals clear scaling patterns as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 119.9 FPS at 1080p to 88.2 FPS at 1440p, then further to 57.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a 26.4% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a 52.3% decrease from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is relatively consistent, suggesting that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck across all resolutions tested.

Low settings show a similar trend but with steeper percentage drops. The system achieves 162.2 FPS at 1080p, 145.1 FPS at 1440p, and 93.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 10.5%, indicating that at low graphical loads, the CPU begins to play a more significant role. However, the 35.5% decrease from 1440p to 4K confirms that the GPU still bears the brunt of the workload when pixel count increases dramatically.

Ultra settings exhibit the most pronounced scaling, with frame rates falling from 93.4 FPS at 1080p to 66.2 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 43.7 FPS at 4K. The 29.1% drop from 1080p to 1440p and the 34.0% drop from 1440p to 4K highlight the GPU's limitations when pushing maximum visual quality. The 4K Ultra result of 43.7 FPS is the lowest recorded figure in the dataset, underscoring that this combo is not suitable for 4K gaming at max settings.

The resolution scaling analysis points to the GPU as the primary limiting component. The RX 9060 XT's 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus struggle to maintain frame rates as resolution increases, particularly at higher settings that demand more memory bandwidth and pixel throughput. The CPU, while not a star performer, appears adequate for the frame rates achieved, as evidenced by the relatively small performance gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings. For users targeting 4K, the data suggests that Low settings (93.6 FPS) provide the only playable experience, while 1440p remains the sweet spot for balanced visual quality and performance.