Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 delivers a compelling 1080p and 1440p experience in Lockdown Protocol, but 4K remains a challenge outside of the lowest preset. Benchmark data shows this combination achieves a playable 60 FPS threshold at 1080p across all settings, including Ultra at 78 FPS average, while 1440p caps out at High with 76 FPS average. At 4K, only the Low preset clears the bar at 79 FPS average, with Medium dipping to 56 FPS and Ultra falling to 37 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the RTX 5050 delivers strong headroom: Low settings produce 168 FPS average, Medium reaches 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 and maximum of 137, High hits 104 FPS, and Ultra still manages 78 FPS. This resolution shows no dips below the 60 FPS playable threshold, making it the most versatile option for this hardware combination.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably but remains respectable. Low settings achieve 123 FPS average, Medium drops to 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 and maximum of 100, High settles at 76 FPS, and Ultra falls to 57 FPS — just under the playable threshold. The Medium preset’s 74 FPS minimum indicates smooth frame pacing, while High’s average of 76 FPS suggests consistent delivery despite lacking recorded min/max values.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5050’s 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus become limiting factors. Low settings still manage 79 FPS average, but Medium drops to 56 FPS with a minimum of 48 and maximum of 65, High falls to 49 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 37 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K — a 23 FPS difference — highlights how dramatically preset scaling impacts this resolution.

The data shows that the 1080p Medium preset offers the best balance of smoothness and visual fidelity, with its 101 FPS minimum ensuring no stutter-prone moments. For 1440p, the High preset’s 76 FPS average provides a stable experience, though the lack of min/max data for that preset means users should expect occasional variance based on the Medium preset’s observed spread.

CPU and GPU Roles

The Intel Core i5-12400F’s six cores and twelve threads, boosting to 4.40 GHz, provide sufficient processing power for Lockdown Protocol at all tested resolutions. The CPU’s benchmark scores — including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380 and single-core score of 1680 — indicate it can feed the GPU without becoming a bottleneck at 1080p, where the RTX 5050 delivers 168 FPS on Low settings.

At 1440p, the GPU begins to assert dominance, as evidenced by the scaling from 123 FPS (Low) to 57 FPS (Ultra) — a 66 FPS swing driven almost entirely by graphics load rather than CPU throughput. The CPU’s 3DMark 16-thread score of 5895 and max-thread score of 5912 show consistent multi-threaded performance, but the RTX 5050’s pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s become the limiting factors at higher resolutions.

The 4K results confirm a GPU-bound scenario. The RTX 5050’s FP32 throughput of 13.17 TFLOPS and 320.0 GB/s memory bandwidth struggle to maintain frame rates as resolution increases, with Ultra dropping to 37 FPS. The CPU’s role diminishes further at 4K, as the 79 FPS Low preset result versus 37 FPS Ultra demonstrates that graphics settings — not CPU capability — dictate performance.

Preset scaling reinforces this analysis: at 1080p, the difference between Low (168 FPS) and Ultra (78 FPS) is 90 FPS, while at 4K, the same preset range yields only a 42 FPS spread. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU saturates its memory bandwidth and shading resources before the CPU can become a factor.

FAQ

*Q: Can this PC run Lockdown Protocol at 1080p with maximum settings?*

A: Yes. The Ultra preset at 1920x1080 achieves 78 FPS average, well above the 60 FPS playable threshold. All four presets at 1080p — Low at 168 FPS, Medium at 119 FPS, High at 104 FPS, and Ultra at 78 FPS — are playable.

Q: What is the best 1440p preset for this hardware?

A: High is the best playable option at 2560x1440, delivering 76 FPS average. Medium also works at 87 FPS with a 74 FPS minimum, but Ultra falls to 57 FPS, just below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with the RTX 5050 and i5-12400F?

A: Only with the Low preset, which produces 79 FPS average. Medium dips to 56 FPS, High to 49 FPS, and Ultra to 37 FPS — all below the playable threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 5050’s average benchmark score of 21035 places it within 1.6% of the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20713) and 0.6% below the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153). It trails the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (21379) by 1.6%.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: Benchmark data suggests the i5-12400F keeps pace at 1080p, where GPU load dominates. At 1440p and 4K, GPU limitations are evident from the steep FPS drops across presets, indicating the RTX 5050 is the primary constraint.

Q: What is the minimum FPS observed in the benchmark data?

A: The lowest recorded minimum is 48 FPS at 3840x2160 on Medium settings. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 74 FPS, and at 1920x1080 Medium, it is 101 FPS.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the Intel Core i5-12400F, the nearest rival by average benchmark score is the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS at 19047 (0% delta), followed by the Intel Core 3 201E at 19056 (-0.1%), the Intel Core i5-1335U at 18982 (0.3%), and the AMD EPYC 7773X at 18979 (0.3%). These processors deliver within 0.3% of the i5-12400F’s average score of 19039, meaning users could expect nearly identical CPU-driven performance in Lockdown Protocol.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050’s average benchmark score of 21035 sits close to several alternatives. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 20713, 1.6% lower, while the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL scores 21153, 0.6% higher. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile leads at 21379, 1.6% above the RTX 5050. These deltas are small enough that frame rates in Lockdown Protocol would differ by only a few FPS at most settings.

Notably, the RTX 5050’s percentile rank of 66 among all GPUs places it above the RX 5600 XT, which is a popular desktop card. Users migrating from an RX 5600 XT would see a marginal improvement of roughly 1.6% in synthetic benchmarks, translating to negligible real-world FPS gains in this game.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the most demanding option that stays at or above 60 FPS, delivering 78 FPS average. This makes 1080p the only resolution where all presets are playable, with even the heaviest settings maintaining a comfortable margin above the threshold.

For 2560x1440, the High preset provides the best visual quality while keeping performance playable, achieving 76 FPS average. The Medium preset offers a buffer with 87 FPS average and 74 FPS minimum, but High is the highest tier that clears 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, only the Low preset reaches the playable threshold, with 79 FPS average. Medium falls short at 56 FPS, so users targeting 4K must sacrifice visual fidelity to maintain smooth gameplay.

The Verdict

The i5-12400F and RTX 5050 combination can run Lockdown Protocol at 1080p with every preset — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — all exceeding 60 FPS, with Ultra at 78 FPS average. At 1440p, the system remains playable on High (76 FPS) and Medium (87 FPS), but Ultra falls to 57 FPS, just below the threshold. For 4K, only the Low preset clears 60 FPS at 79 FPS average; Medium (56 FPS), High (49 FPS), and Ultra (37 FPS) are not playable.

This hardware ranks 2293 out of 3714 tested combinations for this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier. The data confirms that the RTX 5050’s 8 GB memory capacity and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results demonstrate clear limitations. Users seeking 4K playability would need to consider a higher-tier GPU, as the CPU shows no signs of bottlenecking at any resolution tested. For 1080p and 1440p gamers, this system delivers a smooth, high-frame-rate experience with room to spare on the highest settings.