Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination delivers a remarkably smooth experience in Lockdown Protocol, with the data showing that every single preset tested at 1080p and 1440p clears the 60 FPS threshold. The most demanding settings at 4K, however, begin to strain the system, with the Ultra preset dipping below the playable line. This analysis breaks down the recorded measurements, optimal settings per resolution, and the role each component plays in the final frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows its strongest performance ceiling. The Low preset produces an average of 234 FPS, which represents the highest recorded frame rate in the entire dataset. Moving up the quality ladder, the Medium preset averages 185 FPS with a minimum of 157 and a maximum of 212, showing excellent consistency even under load. The High preset averages 161 FPS, while the Ultra preset still maintains a very strong 121 FPS average. Even at the lowest recorded point across all 1080p settings, the system never approaches anything close to the playability threshold.

The 2560x1440 measurements show a predictable step down from 1080p, but the performance remains overwhelmingly smooth. The Low preset averages 191 FPS, which is only a 43 FPS drop from the same settings at 1080p. Medium settings at 1440p produce an average of 135 FPS, with a minimum of 115 and a maximum of 156, indicating that the frame pacing remains stable. High settings average 118 FPS, and the demanding Ultra preset still delivers a comfortable 89 FPS average. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra costs approximately 32 FPS, which is a relatively modest penalty for a 78% increase in pixel count.

The 3840x2160 results reveal where the hardware starts to feel the pressure. The Low preset averages 123 FPS, which is still extremely playable and only 111 FPS behind the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 100, all safely above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset averages 76 FPS, maintaining playability. The Ultra preset at 4K averages 57 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playability threshold, making it the only setting across all resolutions that fails to maintain smooth gameplay. The gap between High at 76 FPS and Ultra at 57 FPS represents a 19 FPS penalty for the highest quality settings.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the clear choice. The recorded average of 121 FPS is more than double the playability threshold, meaning there is substantial headroom for demanding scenes or background tasks. Even with the most aggressive settings, the system never drops below 60 FPS.

For 2560x1440, the Ultra preset also stands as the best option. The average of 89 FPS provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS requirement. The frame rate is high enough that most users would not notice any compromise in smoothness, and the visual quality at Ultra settings will be the most immersive available at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is High, which produces an average of 76 FPS. This is the most demanding preset that stays above the 60 FPS threshold, and it does so with a 16 FPS cushion. The Ultra preset at 57 FPS fails the playability test, and while Medium at 87 FPS is also playable, High offers better visual quality with only an 11 FPS penalty compared to Medium.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 4K with maximum settings?

A: No. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The best 4K option is High settings, which averages 76 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: The Ultra preset drops from 121 FPS at 1920x1080 to 57 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 64 FPS or approximately 53% of the 1080p performance.

Q: Is the frame rate stable at Medium settings?

A: Yes. At 1080p, Medium ranges from 157 to 212 FPS. At 1440p, the range is 115 to 156 FPS. At 4K, the range narrows to 74 to 100 FPS. All recorded minimums stay well above 60 FPS.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this system?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 produces an average of 234 FPS, which is the peak performance in the dataset.

Q: Does the system maintain 60 FPS at 1440p with any settings?

A: Yes, every preset tested at 2560x1440 stays above 60 FPS. Even the most demanding Ultra setting averages 89 FPS.

Q: How many FPS does the High preset lose at 4K compared to 1440p?

A: The High preset averages 118 FPS at 2560x1440 and 76 FPS at 3840x2160, a loss of 42 FPS when moving to 4K.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU data places the Intel Core i5-11400F in a tight cluster of comparable processors. The AMD EPYC 7H12 sits just 0.3% ahead in average benchmark score, making it virtually indistinguishable in synthetic workloads. The Intel Core Ultra 7 164U trails by 0.6%, while the Intel Core i5-12450H leads by 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G is 0.6% ahead. These deltas are so small that in real gaming scenarios, the choice between them would likely produce no measurable difference in Lockdown Protocol frame rates. The i5-11400F sits at the 71st percentile among all CPUs, indicating solid mid-range placement.

The GPU comparisons are more surprising. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has a nearest rival in the AMD Radeon HD 7770M, which is only 0.1% behind in average score. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 is 0.2% behind, the NVIDIA P106-090 is 0.5% behind, and the AMD Radeon Pro 555 trails by 1%. These are older or lower-tier cards that achieve similar synthetic benchmark scores, though the RX 9070 XT's modern architecture and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory likely provide advantages in games that the raw scores do not fully capture. The GPU ranks at the 55th percentile among all GPUs.

CPU and GPU Roles

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals how the balance of CPU and GPU load shifts. At 1920x1080, the CPU has a larger relative influence because the GPU can render frames quickly, potentially exposing CPU bottlenecks. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 234 FPS, which is a high enough rate that processor thread scheduling and draw call processing become meaningful factors.

As resolution increases to 2560x1440 and then 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The performance drop from 1080p to 4K at the same settings is substantial: Low goes from 234 to 123 FPS, Medium from 185 to 87 FPS, High from 161 to 76 FPS, and Ultra from 121 to 57 FPS. This pattern indicates that the RX 9070 XT is doing progressively more work per frame, and the CPU's role diminishes relative to the graphics card's output.

The fact that the 4K Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS while the CPU still has significant headroom suggests that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth resources are saturated at that configuration. The RX 9070 XT has a 256-bit memory bus with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth, but the pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s are finite resources that the Ultra preset at 4K fully consumes.

At lower resolutions, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz provide adequate processing power. The 3DMark multi-threaded scores, such as 5619 in the 16-thread test and 5652 in the max-thread test, indicate that the processor can handle multiple simultaneous game threads without becoming a limiting factor at 1080p and 1440p.

The Verdict

This system can run Lockdown Protocol effectively across all three tested resolutions, with one caveat at the highest settings. At 1920x1080, every preset clears the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra averaging 121 FPS and Low reaching 234 FPS. At 2560x1440, all four presets also stay above 60 FPS, with Ultra at 89 FPS and Low at 191 FPS. At 3840x2160, three of the four presets are playable: Low at 123 FPS, Medium at 87 FPS, and High at 76 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K, averaging 57 FPS, is the only configuration that fails to maintain smooth gameplay.

The verdict by resolution confirms this analysis. The 4K playable settings include High, Low, and Medium, with High being the best choice at 76 FPS. The 1440p verdict lists all four settings as playable, with Ultra as the best at 89 FPS. The 1080p verdict also includes all settings, with Ultra at 121 FPS. The system delivers a fully playable experience for almost every combination tested, and only the most demanding 4K preset requires a reduction in quality.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT ranks 988th out of 3714 total combos. This places the system in the top 27% of all tested configurations. The ranking reflects the strong 1080p and 1440p performance, while the 4K Ultra shortfall prevents a higher placement.

The rank is notable given the CPU's mid-range positioning at the 71st percentile among all CPUs. The combination works well because the GPU is capable enough to carry the load at lower resolutions, and the CPU provides sufficient throughput to avoid becoming a bottleneck. The single 4K Ultra failure is the primary factor holding the combo back from a higher rank, as every other tested configuration succeeds at maintaining playable frame rates. This is a balanced pairing that delivers consistent results across the majority of settings and resolutions.