Lockdown Protocol

Opening

The data for Lockdown Protocol with the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 6600 presents a clear picture of a system constrained by its graphics card at higher resolutions, while demonstrating the CPU’s capacity to drive high frame rates at lower settings. The measured FPS shows a consistent scaling pattern across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, with the gap between Low and Ultra presets widening as resolution increases. This combination ranks in the 2213th position out of 2828 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database, a position that aligns with the GPU’s 63rd percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards. The analysis below breaks down the resolution scaling, component roles, and specific measured results to explain this performance profile.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and reveals that the AMD Radeon RX 6600 becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 146 FPS, which falls to 107 FPS at 1440p and then to 69 FPS at 4K. This represents a 53% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The pattern is similar but slightly less severe at Medium settings, where the system produces 103 FPS at 1080p, 76 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K — a 52% drop from the lowest to highest resolution. At High settings, the corresponding numbers are 90 FPS, 66 FPS, and 43 FPS, showing a 52% decline as well. The Ultra preset shows the steepest absolute decline, going from 68 FPS at 1080p to 50 FPS at 1440p and finally to 32 FPS at 4K, which is a 53% reduction.

The consistency of this percentage drop across all four settings presets — hovering around 52-53% — is notable. This uniformity suggests that the scaling bottleneck is primarily resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. When the GPU is already saturated at 1080p with Ultra settings, the relative performance loss at 4K is similar to when it is less stressed at Low settings. This behavior indicates a GPU-bound scenario at all tested resolutions, with the CPU having sufficient headroom to not interfere with the scaling curve. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, being a 96th percentile CPU, is not the constraining element; the data points strongly toward the RX 6600’s 8 GB memory and RDNA 2 architecture as the primary limiters.

The measured minimum and maximum FPS values at Medium settings provide additional insight into frame pacing. At 4K Medium, the system ranges from 42 to 56 FPS, a 14 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range is 64 to 87 FPS (a 23 FPS spread), and at 1080p Medium, it spans 88 to 119 FPS (a 31 FPS spread). The widening range at lower resolutions suggests that while average FPS increases, the variance also grows, which could lead to less consistent frame times. This is typical of a GPU that is less saturated at lower resolutions, allowing CPU-bound spikes to create larger fluctuations. The average FPS at 4K Medium (49 FPS) is below the 60 FPS target, while 1440p Medium (76 FPS) and 1080p Medium (103 FPS) both exceed it comfortably.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this configuration in Lockdown Protocol is 2213 out of 2828 total tested combinations. This places the system in the bottom 22% of all tested combos, which may seem surprising given the powerful CPU but is explained by the mid-range GPU. The RX 6600’s percentile rank of 63rd among all GPUs indicates that it outperforms a majority of graphics cards in general benchmarks, but in this specific game, the combo’s rank suggests that Lockdown Protocol is particularly demanding or that the GPU’s strengths do not align perfectly with the game’s rendering requirements.

Comparing the GPU to its nearest rivals in the database helps contextualize this rank. The RX 6600 has an average benchmark score of 19036, which is essentially tied with the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19030, 0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile (19049, -0.1% delta). It is also close to the NVIDIA Tesla K20m (19089, -0.3% delta) and the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation (18954, 0.4% delta). These near-identical scores suggest that the RX 6600’s raw compute performance is on par with a professional workstation card from a previous generation, a mobile gaming GPU, and a workstation-focused Ada Lovelace card. In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the combo’s rank of 2213 implies that many of these rival GPUs, when paired with appropriate CPUs, achieve better results. The fact that the CPU is in the 96th percentile but the combo rank is in the 22nd percentile underscores that the GPU is the dominant factor in this pairing’s overall standing.

The deltaPct values for the CPU’s nearest rivals show that the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is extremely close in performance to the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (0.2% higher average score), the AMD EPYC 4584PX (1.1% higher), and the AMD EPYC 9135 (1.2% higher). It trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3%. These small deltas indicate that no CPU upgrade would meaningfully change the combo’s rank in this game, as the bottleneck is clearly elsewhere. The data supports the interpretation that the combo rank is almost entirely determined by the GPU’s capability in Lockdown Protocol.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, fabricated on a 7 nm process. It has 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The GPU’s memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The base clock is 1626 MHz, with a boost clock of 2491 MHz and a game clock of 2044 MHz. The memory operates at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective data rate. These specifications result in a pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 8.928 TFLOPS.

In the context of Lockdown Protocol’s measured results, the GPU’s 8 GB memory capacity appears to be a limiting factor at 4K resolution. The average FPS at 4K Ultra is 32 FPS, which is unplayable for most users, while 4K High achieves 43 FPS and 4K Medium reaches 49 FPS. Only 4K Low, at 69 FPS, approaches a playable standard, but it does so by significantly reducing visual quality. The memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, as evidenced by the 146 FPS at 1080p Low and 107 FPS at 1440p Low, but the 4K results show a clear degradation that aligns with the GPU running out of memory bandwidth and capacity.

The boost clock of 2491 MHz is relatively high, and the data suggests that the GPU is able to maintain high utilization across all settings. The difference between Low and Ultra at each resolution is instructive: at 1080p, the gap is 78 FPS (146 vs 68); at 1440p, the gap is 57 FPS (107 vs 50); and at 4K, the gap is 37 FPS (69 vs 32). This shrinking gap at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming more uniformly saturated regardless of settings, as the pixel count dominates the workload. The GPU’s percentile rank of 63rd places it above the median, but its nearest rivals include mobile and workstation parts, suggesting that in a desktop gaming context, it is a mid-range solution. The launch MSRP for this GPU is 329 USD, which positions it as an entry-level to mid-range option from its 2021 release.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset produces an average of 146 FPS, which is the best result across all configurations. Medium settings yield 103 FPS, with a measured range of 88 to 119 FPS. High settings reduce the average to 90 FPS, and Ultra brings it down to 68 FPS. All four presets at 1080p are above 60 FPS, making this resolution fully playable with headroom for high refresh rate monitors. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 53% performance penalty, which is significant but still leaves the minimum preset well above typical display refresh rates.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops by approximately 27-28% across all settings compared to 1080p. Low settings average 107 FPS, which remains smooth. Medium averages 76 FPS (range: 64-87 FPS), High averages 66 FPS, and Ultra averages 50 FPS. The 1440p results indicate that Medium and High presets are viable for competitive play, while Ultra dips below the 60 FPS threshold. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium (64 FPS) is still above 60, suggesting that frame drops are not severe enough to cause noticeable stuttering in most scenarios.

At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles to maintain playable frame rates except at Low settings. Low averages 69 FPS, which is just above 60 but with no minimum FPS data provided. Medium averages 49 FPS (range: 42-56 FPS), High averages 43 FPS, and Ultra averages 32 FPS. The 4K results show that even the Medium preset, which is typically a balanced option, cannot sustain 60 FPS. The minimum FPS of 42 at 4K Medium indicates that dips can be substantial, potentially causing noticeable hitches during intense gameplay moments. The data clearly shows that 4K is only viable with the Low preset, and even then, the lack of minimum FPS data means there is uncertainty about frame consistency.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1920x1080, the High preset at 90 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it remains well above 60 FPS while providing better graphics than Medium (103 FPS) or Low (146 FPS). The Ultra preset at 68 FPS is also playable, but the 22 FPS penalty compared to High may not justify the visual gains. For users with 144Hz or higher refresh rate monitors, the Low preset’s 146 FPS at 1080p is the only option that fully utilizes such displays, but it comes with significant visual compromises.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset (76 FPS) is the recommended choice, as it delivers a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while maintaining reasonable visual fidelity. The High preset (66 FPS) is also acceptable, but it leaves less headroom for frame drops. The Ultra preset (50 FPS) falls below 60 FPS and should be avoided for competitive play. The Low preset (107 FPS) is viable for high refresh rate 1440p monitors, but again, the visual quality reduction is substantial. The minimum FPS data at 1440p Medium (64 FPS) confirms that this preset maintains above-60 FPS even in demanding scenes.

For 3840x2160, the only preset that achieves an average above 60 FPS is Low (69 FPS). However, the lack of minimum FPS data for this preset introduces uncertainty. The Medium preset (49 FPS) is borderline playable but will experience dips to 42 FPS, which may be noticeable. The High (43 FPS) and Ultra (32 FPS) presets are not recommended for 4K gaming, as they fall well below the 60 FPS target. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this GPU is only feasible with significant graphical sacrifices, and users should consider lowering resolution to 1440p for a better experience. Overall, the 1080p High or 1440p Medium presets provide the best experience per the measured rows, balancing visual quality against frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s and features PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes. Its benchmark scores are impressive: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and a single-core score of 7303, along with a Passmark multi-thread score of 60860 and a single-thread score of 4823.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s role is to provide sufficient frame generation capability to avoid bottlenecking the GPU. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 146 FPS, which is a high frame rate that requires strong single-core performance. The CPU’s single-core Cinebench R23 score of 7303 and Passmark single-thread score of 4823 are indicative of excellent per-core performance, which is critical for FPS games that often rely on a few heavily utilized threads. The 24 cores and 24 threads also provide ample multi-threading capacity, as evidenced by the Passmark multithread score of 60860, which ensures that background tasks or game engine threads do not starve the rendering pipeline.

However, the data also shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution or settings preset. The consistent FPS scaling pattern across resolutions, with the GPU clearly being the bottleneck at 4K, indicates that the CPU has significant headroom. The CPU’s 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs, combined with its nearest rivals being within 1.3% in average benchmark scores, confirms that it is one of the fastest desktop processors available. In this game, the CPU’s contribution is to ensure that the GPU is fully utilized at lower resolutions, allowing the system to hit 146 FPS at 1080p Low. The 5.80 GHz boost clock is particularly beneficial for maintaining high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios, which is why the 1080p results are so strong. The 36 MB of L3 cache likely helps with game data locality, reducing memory latency and improving frame time consistency, though the exact impact cannot be isolated from the provided data.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 provides the highest average FPS across all settings, with the Low preset reaching 146 FPS and High achieving 90 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 76 FPS, while 4K only reaches 69 FPS at Low settings. The 1080p resolution offers the most headroom and best overall experience per the measured results.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: No, at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings, the measured average FPS is 50, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 76 FPS (with a minimum of 64 FPS) is the highest setting that maintains above-60 FPS performance at 1440p.

Q: How does the RX 6600 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 6600 has an average benchmark score of 19036, which is essentially tied with the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19030, 0% delta) and the GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile (19049, -0.1% delta). It also matches the Tesla K20m (19089, -0.3% delta) and the RTX 2000 Ada Generation (18954, 0.4% delta).

Q: Is the CPU powerful enough for this game?

A: Yes, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core processor with a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303 place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution.

Q: What is the frame rate range at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the measured FPS ranges from 42 to 56, with an average of 49. This indicates that while the average is below 60 FPS, there is some variation in frame times, with dips potentially noticeable during intense scenes.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: The 8 GB GDDR6 memory with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth appears to be a limiting factor at 4K, as the average FPS drops to 32 at Ultra and only reaches 69 at Low. The memory configuration is likely insufficient for the texture and geometry demands at 3840x2160, which aligns with the significant performance drop compared to 1440p.