Lockdown Protocol

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Lockdown Protocol with the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti covers three resolutions and four quality presets. At 3840x2160, the highest measured average is 28.8 FPS on Low settings, while Medium drops to 20.6 FPS, High falls to 17 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 16.6 FPS. None of these approach the 60 FPS playable threshold, and the gap between Low and Ultra is 12.2 FPS, which is a substantial 42.4% reduction in performance. The 4K data suggests the GTX 1050 Ti is heavily constrained at this resolution regardless of preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the picture improves but remains far from playable by the 60 FPS standard. Low settings deliver 47 FPS, Medium produces 34.4 FPS, High yields 28.4 FPS, and Ultra manages only 22.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p is a loss of 24.8 FPS, meaning Ultra runs at less than half the frame rate of Low. Even the best case at this resolution, Low at 47 FPS, is 13 FPS short of the playable threshold, so no preset at 1440p clears the bar.

At 1920x1080, the data finally shows a playable configuration. Low settings hit 62.8 FPS, which exceeds the 60 FPS threshold by 2.8 FPS. Medium falls to 45.9 FPS, High drops to 39.6 FPS, and Ultra sinks to 26.6 FPS. The spread across presets at 1080p is 36.2 FPS from Low to Ultra, indicating that quality settings have a profound impact on this hardware combination. The min and max FPS values are not recorded in the database for any resolution or preset, so the analysis relies solely on average frame rates.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results indicate that the GTX 1050 Ti is the dominant bottleneck in this pairing. The i5-9400, with a 47th percentile ranking among all CPUs, is a mid-range processor, while the GTX 1050 Ti sits at the 25th percentile among all GPUs. In a game like Lockdown Protocol, an FPS title, the GPU typically carries the rendering load, and the measured scaling across resolutions supports this. At 4K, the frame rates are uniformly low, with the best preset (Low) reaching only 28.8 FPS. At 1440p, Low improves to 47 FPS, a 63.2% increase over 4K Low. At 1080p, Low reaches 62.8 FPS, a further 33.6% improvement over 1440p Low. This steep resolution scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where reducing pixel count directly translates into higher frame rates.

The preset scaling reinforces the GPU-bound interpretation. At 1080p, dropping from Ultra to Low produces a 36.2 FPS gain, which is a 136.1% improvement. At 1440p, the same preset change yields a 24.8 FPS gain (111.7% improvement). At 4K, the gain is 12.2 FPS (73.5% improvement). The fact that preset changes have a larger absolute impact at lower resolutions suggests the GPU has more headroom to exploit when pixel count is reduced. If the CPU were the primary constraint, lowering settings would not produce such dramatic frame rate increases, especially at 1080p where the CPU has to feed frames at a higher rate.

The i5-9400's six cores and six threads are sufficient to keep the GTX 1050 Ti fed at 1080p Low, as evidenced by the 62.8 FPS result, but the GPU's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth likely cap performance at higher presets. The data does not include CPU-specific frame times or GPU utilization, so the exact split cannot be quantified, but the pattern is clear: at 4K and 1440p, the GPU is overwhelmed; at 1080p, it can reach playable levels only on the lowest preset. The 75 W TDP of the GPU and the 65 W TDP of the CPU indicate a modest power envelope, which aligns with the measured performance ceiling.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS. The best recorded average is 28.8 FPS on Low, but the verdict list for this resolution is empty, meaning no playable settings exist. The database marks this resolution as unplayable for this combination.

At 2560x1440, the situation is identical: no preset reaches 60 FPS. Low settings produce 47 FPS, which is the highest average at this resolution, but it falls 13 FPS short of the threshold. The verdict list is empty for 1440p, confirming that no settings are considered playable.

At 1920x1080, Low settings are the only playable preset, delivering 62.8 FPS. This is the sole configuration in the entire dataset that clears the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium at 45.9 FPS, High at 39.6 FPS, and Ultra at 26.6 FPS all miss the mark. The recommended approach for a 1080p display is therefore Low settings, which provides a 2.8 FPS margin above the threshold. There is no headroom for enabling higher presets while maintaining 60 FPS, so users must choose between visual quality and smooth frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Lockdown Protocol at 4K?

A: No. The highest average frame rate at 3840x2160 is 28.8 FPS on Low settings, with Ultra dropping to 16.6 FPS. The playable threshold of 60 FPS is not reached at any preset.

Q: What is the best preset at 1440p?

A: Low settings produce the highest average at 47 FPS, but this still falls below the 60 FPS threshold. No preset at 2560x1440 is marked as playable in the database.

Q: Is 1080p playable with this hardware?

A: Yes, but only on Low settings, which average 62.8 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall below 60 FPS, with Ultra averaging just 26.6 FPS.

Q: How much does the preset choice affect performance at 1080p?

A: The difference between Low and Ultra at 1920x1080 is 36.2 FPS. Low averages 62.8 FPS, while Ultra averages 26.6 FPS, meaning Ultra runs at less than half the frame rate of Low.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to other GPUs in the database?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti sits at the 25th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R5 M330, scores 0.6% higher on average, while the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M scores 1.1% lower.

Q: Where does this CPU rank among all processors?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 is at the 47th percentile among all CPUs. Its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, has an average score that is 0.2% lower, while the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 0.4% higher.

The Verdict

The data shows a clear answer: this PC can run Lockdown Protocol only at 1920x1080 with Low settings. That configuration averages 62.8 FPS, just above the 60 FPS playable threshold. Every other combination of resolution and preset falls short. At 3840x2160, the best case is 28.8 FPS on Low, which is far from smooth. At 2560x1440, Low reaches 47 FPS, still below the threshold. At 1080p, Medium (45.9 FPS), High (39.6 FPS), and Ultra (26.6 FPS) all fail to hit 60 FPS.

The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: 4K and 1440p have no playable settings, while 1080p supports only Low. For users with a 1080p monitor, the game is technically playable, but the experience is constrained to the lowest quality preset. There is no margin for error: 62.8 FPS is only 2.8 FPS above the threshold, so demanding scenes could dip below 60 FPS, although the database does not record min FPS values to confirm this. For anyone expecting medium or high quality at playable frame rates, this hardware combination does not deliver it.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database's ranking of tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti ranks 3642 out of 3714 combos. That places it in the bottom 1.9% of tested systems, meaning roughly 98% of recorded combinations perform better in this game. The rank reflects the GPU's low standing (25th percentile) and the CPU's modest mid-range position (47th percentile). The combination is near the very bottom of the tested field, which aligns with the measured frame rates: only one preset across all resolutions clears 60 FPS, and that preset is the lowest possible quality.

The rank also contextualizes the playability finding. At 1080p Low, the system is technically playable, but its position at 3642 of 3714 suggests that most other tested hardware achieves higher frame rates or supports higher quality settings at playable speeds. The gap between this combo and the top of the ranking is not quantified in the database, but the percentile positions of both components point to a system that is adequate for low-end 1080p gaming in this title and little else.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database provide context for what other processors would behave similarly. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 has an average score 0.2% lower than the i5-9400, making it effectively equivalent in CPU-bound scenarios. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 0.3% higher, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 0.4% higher, and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 0.4% lower. These four processors bracket the i5-9400 within a 0.8% performance band, so swapping to any of them would produce nearly identical results in Lockdown Protocol, assuming the GPU remains the same.

On the GPU side, the GTX 1050 Ti's nearest rivals are equally close. The AMD Radeon R5 M330 scores 0.6% higher, the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M scores 1.0% higher, the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M scores 1.1% lower, and the AMD Radeon Vega 3 scores 1.8% lower. These deltas are small enough that any of these GPUs paired with the i5-9400 would likely produce frame rates within a couple of frames per second of the measured results. A system with the Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 and the Radeon R5 M330, for instance, would be expected to perform almost identically to the tested configuration, given that both the CPU and GPU rivals are within 1% of their respective counterparts.

The practical implication is that the measured FPS data for this combo is representative of a broader cluster of low-end hardware. Users with any of these alternative CPUs or GPUs should expect similar playability outcomes: 1080p Low at approximately 62.8 FPS, with all other presets and resolutions falling short of the 60 FPS threshold. The narrow performance band among the nearest rivals means that no meaningful upgrade path exists within this immediate cluster; moving to a measurably faster experience would require jumping to hardware outside this group.