Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core Ultra X9 388H + AMD Radeon RX 7800M

The measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol with this mobile Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and AMD Radeon RX 7800M combination reveals a system that scales predictably across resolutions and settings, with the GPU clearly becoming the dominant constraint as pixel count rises. At 1080p, the combo delivers smooth triple-digit frame rates at most settings, but the climb to 4K exposes a sharp performance cliff that shifts the bottleneck calculus. The combination ranks 1894th out of 2828 tested combos for this game, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database, which is a meaningful signal given the hardware's individual benchmark percentiles — the CPU sits at the 88th percentile while the GPU sits at the 73rd percentile. This disparity between component rankings and in-game rank suggests that Lockdown Protocol's engine favors certain hardware traits that this pairing does not fully exploit.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 162 FPS at 1920x1080 to 119 FPS at 2560x1440, then down to 77 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 26.5% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 35.3% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 85 FPS, or roughly 52% of the starting value. This pattern indicates that even at the lowest settings, the rendering load at 4K is substantially heavier than what the RX 7800M can sustain at high frame rates.

At Medium settings, the scaling follows a similar trajectory but with lower absolute values: 115 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 27.0% and 35.7% respectively, nearly identical to the Low-setting deltas. This consistency across settings suggests that resolution scaling is largely independent of the preset chosen, pointing to a fixed cost per pixel that the GPU must pay regardless of visual complexity. The High preset shows 100 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K — again a 26.0% and 35.1% drop pattern. Ultra settings produce 75 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K, with percentage drops of 26.7% and 34.5%.

The uniformity of these percentage drops across all four settings is remarkable. It implies that the limiting component at higher resolutions is not the CPU but rather the GPU's raw pixel throughput and memory bandwidth. The RX 7800M has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth, which is substantial for a mobile part but clearly insufficient to maintain 60 FPS at 4K beyond Low settings. The 4K Ultra result of 36 FPS is particularly telling — it suggests that even the most demanding settings cannot be offset by the CPU's strong single-thread performance, as the GPU simply runs out of headroom.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining 60+ FPS at High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the average FPS is 74, which clears the 60 FPS threshold comfortably. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average drops to 48 FPS, which falls short. So 1440p High is the highest resolution that sustains 60+ FPS on this preset.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to Low at 1080p?

A: The average frame rate at 1920x1080 jumps from 75 FPS on Ultra to 162 FPS on Low, a gain of 87 FPS or roughly 116% improvement. This is the largest setting-to-setting delta across all resolutions.

Q: Is the 4K Medium result playable?

A: The measured average at 3840x2160 Medium is 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 FPS and a maximum of 63 FPS. The minimum dips below 60, so while the average is near playable, frame time consistency may suffer in demanding scenes.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested systems for this game?

A: It ranks 1894th out of 2828 tested combos, placing it in the 67th percentile of all tested systems. This is below the CPU's individual 88th percentile and the GPU's 73rd percentile, indicating the pairing underperforms relative to its component-level benchmarks.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 1440p at Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 115 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average is 84 FPS. The difference is 31 FPS, or a 27% reduction when moving up one resolution tier.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever reach 60 FPS at any resolution?

A: No. The highest Ultra result is 75 FPS at 1920x1080, which does exceed 60. At 2560x1440 Ultra, the average falls to 55 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Ultra, it drops to 36 FPS. So Ultra is only playable at 1080p.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800M is the primary driver of frame rate differences across settings and resolutions in Lockdown Protocol. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a defining characteristic for how the card handles high-resolution textures and effects. The GPU's base clock is 1295 MHz with a boost clock of 2335 MHz and a game clock of 2145 MHz, giving it a theoretical FP32 performance of 35.87 TFLOPS. These specs place it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 27883.

The measured data shows that the RX 7800M's performance ceiling in this game is reached at 1080p Low, where it achieves 162 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p — from 162 to 75 FPS — represents a 53.7% reduction in frame rate, which is a substantial cost for the additional visual features. At 4K, the same setting range spans 77 FPS at Low to 36 FPS at Ultra, a 53.2% reduction. This consistency suggests that the GPU's shading units, texture mapping units, and render output units are being utilized in a linear fashion as settings increase, with no single bottleneck emerging at a particular preset.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (0.2% higher average score), AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (0.3% lower), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (0.5% lower), and AMD FirePro S7150 (0.8% lower). These are all older or workstation-oriented parts, which contextualizes the RX 7800M's performance tier. In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's 73rd percentile ranking translates to playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p across most settings, but 4K gaming requires significant setting compromises, as the highest 4K average is just 77 FPS at Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1894 out of 2828 tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol places this system in the lower third of all tested setups, specifically at the 67th percentile. This is a curious result given that the CPU alone ranks at the 88th percentile among all CPUs and the GPU ranks at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs. If component performance translated directly to game performance, one would expect a higher in-game rank, but the data suggests that Lockdown Protocol's engine does not scale favorably with this particular hardware pairing.

The CPU's nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (0.2% lower average score), Intel Core i9-13950HX (0.3% higher), AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (0.4% higher), and Intel Core i5-13600 (0.5% higher) — all sit within a narrow performance band. This indicates the Core Ultra X9 388H is competitive with mainstream desktop and high-end mobile parts, yet the in-game rank does not reflect that strength. Similarly, the GPU's rivals are within 0.8% of its average score, meaning the RX 7800M is not an outlier in either direction for synthetic benchmarks.

The gap between component-level percentiles and the in-game combo rank suggests that Lockdown Protocol may be sensitive to factors not captured by synthetic benchmarks, such as memory latency, driver optimization, or specific instruction paths. The CPU has 16 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz, which should provide ample computational headroom, but the game's engine may not utilize all cores effectively. The combo's rank of 1894 out of 2828 means that 934 tested combos performed worse, but 1893 performed better, which is a sobering context for a system with this hardware.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience per the measured rows, the 1920x1080 Medium preset offers the most balanced outcome. At 115 FPS average with a minimum of 98 FPS and maximum of 132 FPS, this setting provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while retaining visual quality above the Low preset. The minimum of 98 FPS ensures that frame time spikes are unlikely to cause perceptible stutter, making this the most consistent option for competitive play. High settings at 1080p drop the average to 100 FPS, which is still smooth but offers less headroom for demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 84 FPS average with a minimum of 72 FPS, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold. This is the recommended choice for users prioritizing resolution over raw frame rate, as the 72 FPS minimum still provides a playable experience. The High preset at 1440p averages 74 FPS but lacks minimum FPS data, making it a riskier choice for consistency-sensitive players. For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 77 FPS is the only setting that clears 60 FPS, but the visual compromise is significant. The Medium preset at 4K averages 54 FPS with a 46 FPS minimum, which may be acceptable for slower-paced gameplay but is not ideal for a competitive FPS.

The Ultra preset is difficult to recommend at any resolution. At 1080p it averages 75 FPS, which is playable, but the 45 FPS gap between Ultra and Medium at the same resolution suggests that the extra visual features come at a high performance cost. At 1440p Ultra drops to 55 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 36 FPS, both of which are below the 60 FPS target. For users who prioritize visual fidelity, 1080p Ultra is the only viable option, but Medium at 1440p provides a better resolution-to-performance trade-off.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings was measured. Low settings produced an average of 162 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. Medium settings averaged 115 FPS, with a minimum of 98 FPS and maximum of 132 FPS. High settings averaged 100 FPS, again with no minimum or maximum recorded. Ultra settings averaged 75 FPS, with the lowest average of the 1080p group. The spread from Low to Ultra at this resolution is 87 FPS, with each step up in settings costing roughly 20-30 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Low settings averaged 119 FPS. Medium settings averaged 84 FPS, with a minimum of 72 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS. High settings averaged 74 FPS. Ultra settings averaged 55 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 64 FPS, which is a smaller absolute reduction than at 1080p but a similar percentage decline. The Medium preset's minimum of 72 FPS is worth noting, as it indicates the system can maintain playable frame rates even in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, Low settings averaged 77 FPS. Medium settings averaged 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 FPS and maximum of 63 FPS. High settings averaged 48 FPS. Ultra settings averaged 36 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 41 FPS, and notably, the Ultra result falls below the 40 FPS threshold, which is generally considered the lower bound for playable gaming. The Medium preset's maximum of 63 FPS shows that the system can occasionally reach playable territory, but the 46 FPS minimum reveals significant frame time variance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is a 16-core, 16-thread processor based on the Panther Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's average benchmark score is 44466, placing it at the 88th percentile of all CPUs, with a PassMark single-thread score of 4280 and a multithread score of 36811. In Cinebench R23, it scores 18911 in multicore and 2200.5 in single-core.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but it provides sufficient headroom at 1080p to avoid bottlenecking. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 162 FPS suggests the CPU can feed the GPU effectively at high frame rates. However, the combo rank of 1894 out of 2828 indicates that the CPU's strengths are not fully realized in this game. The nearest CPU rivals — the Ryzen 5 7500X3D (-0.2%), Core i9-13950HX (+0.3%), Ryzen AI Max 385 (+0.4%), and Core i5-13600 (+0.5%) — all score within 0.5% of the Core Ultra X9 388H, yet the in-game performance may vary due to architectural differences in cache hierarchy or instruction handling.

The CPU's 16 threads match its 16 cores, meaning there is no hyperthreading overhead, which can be advantageous for games that scale linearly with physical cores. The 5.10 GHz boost clock provides strong single-thread performance, reflected in the 2200.5 Cinebench R23 single-core score. The L3 cache of 18 MB is shared across all cores, which is modest compared to some desktop parts, but the 153.6 GB/s memory bandwidth from LPDDR5X support helps sustain memory-intensive workloads. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is capable of driving frame rates above 160 FPS at Low settings, indicating that the processor is not the limiting factor until frame rates reach very high levels.