Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 is a combination that lands in the lower portion of the database for Lockdown Protocol, ranking 3508 out of 3714 tested combos. This places it in the 94th percentile from the bottom, meaning most other systems deliver higher frame rates. The data shows this pairing is strictly a 1080p setup, and even then, only at the lowest settings does it clear the 60 FPS playable threshold. At higher resolutions, every preset falls short, making the system unsuitable for 1440p or 4K gaming in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded measurements for this combo show a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the system produces an average of 75.5 FPS on Low settings, which is the only configuration that reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. Moving up to Medium settings drops the average to 54.9 FPS, a reduction of 27.3% versus Low. High settings yield 46.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37.6 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 37.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary constraint as graphical load increases.

At 2560x1440, the averages decline across the board. Low settings produce 53.8 FPS, just under the playable threshold. Medium drops to 42.9 FPS, High to 36.7 FPS, and Ultra to 28.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 25 FPS, a narrower range than at 1080p, which suggests that the CPU is starting to limit performance even at lower settings. The 1440p Low result is 28.7% slower than the 1080p Low result, while the 1440p Ultra result is 23.4% slower than the 1080p Ultra result, showing a fairly consistent scaling penalty.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates in any preset. Low settings average 37.5 FPS, Medium averages 29 FPS, High averages 24.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 15.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 22 FPS, which is the smallest absolute spread across all resolutions. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is saturated even at Low settings, and the CPU has little additional headroom to exploit as settings are reduced. The 4K Low result is exactly half the 1080p Low result, and the 4K Ultra result is 41.2% of the 1080p Ultra result.

The min and max frame rates were not recorded for any resolution or preset, so the analysis relies solely on average FPS. The data shows no configuration at 1440p or 4K reaches 60 FPS, and the only playable setting at 1080p is Low. For users targeting 60 FPS, this combo is effectively a 1080p Low system for Lockdown Protocol.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i3-12100F in the database are led by the Intel Core 5 120UL, which scores 13594 against the i3-12100F's 13494, a delta of 0.7% in favor of the Core 5. The Intel Core 3 N355 scores 13492, essentially identical at a 0% delta. The Intel Core i5-9500 scores 13452, which is 0.3% lower than the i3-12100F. The Intel Core i7-1250U scores 13351, a 1.1% deficit. In practical terms, these CPUs would deliver nearly identical frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, so swapping between them would not change the playability verdict.

For the AMD Radeon RX 570, the closest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 470, which scores 28996 versus the RX 570's 28766, a delta of 0.8% in favor of the RX 470. The AMD Radeon RX 6800M scores 28874, a 0.4% advantage over the RX 570. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X scores 28580, which is 0.7% lower. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 scores 28421, a 1.2% deficit. These four GPUs bracket the RX 570's performance so tightly that any of them would produce nearly identical FPS in Lockdown Protocol. A user with an RX 470 or RX 6800M would see essentially the same frame rates, within 1% at most.

The CPU percentile rank is 68, meaning the i3-12100F outperforms 68% of all CPUs in the database. The GPU percentile rank is 74, meaning the RX 570 outperforms 74% of all GPUs. However, in this specific game, the combo ranks near the bottom, indicating that Lockdown Protocol is particularly demanding on both components relative to their overall standings.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor at 1080p, while the CPU becomes more relevant as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the FPS drops from 75.5 on Low to 37.6 on Ultra, a 50.2% reduction. This large swing shows that the RX 570 is quickly overwhelmed by higher graphical settings. At 2560x1440, the same settings change produces a drop from 53.8 to 28.8, a 46.5% reduction. At 3840x2160, the drop is from 37.5 to 15.5, a 58.7% reduction, which is actually the largest percentage drop across all resolutions.

The scaling between resolutions at the same settings reveals the CPU's role. At Low settings, the FPS goes from 75.5 at 1080p to 53.8 at 1440p, a 28.7% drop, and then to 37.5 at 4K, a further 30.3% drop. At High settings, the values are 46.5 at 1080p, 36.7 at 1440p, and 24.4 at 4K, representing drops of 21.1% and 33.5%. The fact that the relative drops are not uniform suggests that the CPU is able to keep up reasonably well at lower resolutions but becomes more of a bottleneck as resolution increases, particularly at 4K where the GPU is fully saturated.

The verdict data confirms that no settings are playable at 1440p or 4K, while only Low is playable at 1080p. This pattern indicates that the RX 570 is the limiting factor, as even the lowest settings cannot produce 60 FPS at 1440p. The i3-12100F, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, appears sufficient for the Low preset at 1080p but cannot compensate for the GPU's lack of raw throughput at higher resolutions. The CPU's single-thread score of 893 in 3dmark and multi-thread score of 4023 in 3dmark max threads are adequate for this workload, but the GPU's 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is simply not enough for demanding presets.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Lockdown Protocol at 60 FPS on any settings?

A: Yes, but only at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the average FPS is 75.5. All other settings at 1080p, and all settings at 1440p and 4K, fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p?

A: There is no playable setting at 2560x1440. The highest average FPS at that resolution is 53.8 on Low, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The same applies to 3840x2160, where even Low only reaches 37.5 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 570 compare to its closest rival, the RX 470?

A: The RX 470 scores 28996 in the database, which is 0.8% higher than the RX 570's 28766. In Lockdown Protocol, this translates to a negligible difference in frame rates, likely less than 1 FPS at any given setting.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the low frame rates at 4K?

A: The GPU is the primary constraint at 3840x2160. The FPS range from 15.5 on Ultra to 37.5 on Low shows that the RX 570 is fully saturated, and reducing settings provides limited gains. The CPU's performance, while modest, is not the limiting factor at this resolution.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p Medium settings?

A: The recorded average is 54.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. This setting is not considered playable according to the database's criteria, despite being close to the target.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for Lockdown Protocol?

A: It ranks 3508 out of 3714 combos, placing it in the bottom 5.5% of all tested configurations for this game. This is significantly worse than its individual component percentiles would suggest.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 1920x1080, the only playable setting is Low, which delivers an average of 75.5 FPS. This is the best configuration that stays at or above 60 FPS. Medium settings drop to 54.9 FPS, which is below the threshold, so Low is the recommended preset for this resolution.

For 2560x1440, there are no playable settings. The best average FPS is 53.8 on Low, which falls short of the 60 FPS requirement. Users at this resolution would need to lower the resolution to 1080p or upgrade the GPU to achieve playable frame rates.

For 3840x2160, there are no playable settings either. The highest average FPS is 37.5 on Low, which is well below the threshold. This resolution is not viable with this hardware combo for Lockdown Protocol.

The database indicates that 1080p Low is the only configuration that meets the playable threshold. Users seeking higher visual quality would need to accept frame rates below 60 FPS, with 1080p Medium at 54.9 FPS being the closest alternative.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this system in Lockdown Protocol is 3508 out of 3714 tested combinations. This puts it in the bottom 5.5% of all systems tested for this game. The CPU percentile rank of 68 and GPU percentile rank of 74 are both above average, yet the in-game performance is far below average. This discrepancy highlights that Lockdown Protocol is a demanding title that punishes weaker GPUs, and the RX 570's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 5.095 TFLOPS of compute throughput are insufficient for high-refresh gaming.

The rank of 3508 means there are 3507 combos that perform better, and only 206 combos that perform worse. Most of those worse-performing systems likely use significantly older integrated graphics or entry-level discrete GPUs. The data shows that this pairing is only marginally better than the worst systems in the database for this game. Users with this hardware should expect to play at 1080p Low to achieve playable frame rates, and any attempt to increase resolution or settings will result in sub-60 FPS gameplay. The nearest rival CPUs and GPUs would not change this outcome, as they all fall within 1.2% of the tested components' scores.