Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers exceptional performance in Lockdown Protocol, with benchmark results showing that this combination clears the 60 FPS playable threshold at every tested setting across all three resolutions. The data indicates a system that is heavily overqualified for the game's demands, with average frame rates ranging from a low of 80.3 FPS at 4K Ultra to a high of 313.7 FPS at 1080p Low. This analysis explores the measured FPS breakdown, the roles of the CPU and GPU, optimal settings, and how this combo ranks against other tested configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combination in Lockdown Protocol shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are remarkably high across the board: the Low preset delivers 313.7 FPS, Medium yields 253.2 FPS, High produces 217.4 FPS, and Ultra still maintains a formidable 165.3 FPS. These figures indicate that at 1080p, the system is likely operating near the CPU's limits rather than the GPU's, given the massive headroom in graphical throughput.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS remain impressively high, though the scaling shows a more pronounced gap between presets. The Low preset achieves 258.7 FPS, Medium drops to 181.7 FPS, High reaches 159.3 FPS, and Ultra settles at 120.8 FPS. The percentage difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is approximately 53%, which is less pronounced than at 1080p where the difference is roughly 47% from Low to Ultra. This suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU begins to play a more significant role in determining performance.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates still exceed the 60 FPS threshold comfortably, but the scaling pattern changes markedly. Low preset yields 167.4 FPS, Medium delivers 121.7 FPS, High produces 105.5 FPS, and Ultra dips to 80.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is about 52%, which is consistent with the 1440p scaling, but the absolute numbers are much lower. Notably, the min and max FPS fields are null in the dataset, so the analysis relies solely on average FPS, which indicates that the average is the primary metric for this game's performance.

What stands out is the steepness of the drop from Medium to Ultra at 4K: a decline of 41.4 FPS (from 121.7 to 80.3). This is a 34% reduction in average frame rate, whereas the drop from Medium to Ultra at 1440p is 60.9 FPS (from 181.7 to 120.8), a 33.5% reduction. The consistency of this percentage drop across resolutions suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a consistent additional load on the GPU, regardless of pixel count, which is a relevant observation for users looking to optimize settings.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a shifting balance between CPU and GPU load as resolution changes. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low (313.7 FPS) and Ultra (165.3 FPS) is 148.4 FPS, which indicates that the CPU is likely the bottleneck at the lower resolution. Since the graphics settings affect GPU load, the fact that reducing settings from Ultra to Low nearly doubles the frame rate at 1080p implies that the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the CPU is capable of feeding frames at a very high rate. The Intel Core i7-12700K has a high multi-threaded score in the 3DMark max threads test (9979) and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784, which supports its ability to keep up with the RTX 5080 at lower resolutions.

At 2560x1440, the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 137.9 FPS (258.7 vs 120.8), which is a smaller absolute difference than at 1080p. This suggests that the GPU's workload increases with more pixels, but the CPU is still able to keep pace. The GPU, with its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and a memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s, has the bandwidth to handle the higher resolution textures, but the scaling indicates that the RTX 5080's compute power (56.28 TFLOPS FP32) is not being fully utilized until more demanding settings are applied.

At 3840x2160, the difference between Low (167.4 FPS) and Ultra (80.3 FPS) is 87.1 FPS, which is a smaller absolute gap than at lower resolutions. This is a classic sign of GPU-bound behavior: increasing resolution puts more pressure on the graphics pipeline, and the CPU's role becomes less critical. The fact that Ultra at 4K still delivers 80.3 FPS suggests that the RTX 5080 is handling the high pixel count with relative ease, as the GPU's pixel rate is 293.1 GPixel/s, which is more than enough for 8.3 million pixels at 4K. The data implies that this combo is CPU-bound at 1080p and GPU-bound at 4K, with 1440p being the crossover region.

Best Settings per Resolution

For users seeking the highest quality preset that maintains 60 FPS or above, the verdict is straightforward: this combo can run Ultra at every resolution tested. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 165.3 FPS, which is 105.3 FPS above the playable threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 120.8 FPS, exceeding the threshold by 60.8 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 80.3 FPS, which is 20.3 FPS above the 60 FPS mark.

The verdictByResolution data confirms that all settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are marked as playable at each resolution, meaning no setting falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The best settings per resolution are Ultra in all cases, with the highest average FPS at 1080p being 165.3, at 1440p being 120.8, and at 4K being 80.3. If a user wanted to prioritize higher frame rates over visual fidelity, they could drop to High at 4K for 105.5 FPS, or to Medium for 121.7 FPS, but the Ultra preset still holds firmly above the 60 FPS line. For competitive play, the Low preset at 1440p (258.7 FPS) or 1080p (313.7 FPS) would provide the highest refresh rate potential, but the data shows that the Ultra preset is entirely viable for a standard 60 Hz display at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame field places this Intel Core i7-12700K and GeForce RTX 5080 combination at rank 148 out of 3714 tested combos. This means that this specific configuration is in the top 4% of all tested systems for Lockdown Protocol, which is a strong indicator of its high performance tier. The percentileVsAllCpus for the CPU is 84, and the percentileVsAllGpus for the GPU is 87, both of which are above the 80th percentile, suggesting that each component is well above average in its own right.

To put the rank in perspective, the GPU's average benchmark score is 56083, with a percentile vs all GPUs of 87. The CPU's average benchmark score is 35287, with a percentile of 84. These scores indicate that the combo is not just a one-trick pony for this game, but rather part of a high-performing hardware class. The rank of 148 out of 3714 combos means that only 147 other tested combinations were faster in Lockdown Protocol, which could include systems with more powerful GPUs or slightly faster CPUs, but the data shows that this combo is well within the top tier.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Lockdown Protocol at 4K with the Ultra preset?

A: Yes, the measured data shows an average of 80.3 FPS at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 313.7 at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for performance at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the scaling between presets is still large (from 258.7 FPS at Low to 120.8 FPS at Ultra), indicating that the GPU settings have a significant impact, but the CPU is still sufficient to deliver high frame rates, as the system is not fully GPU-bound until 4K.

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

A: The combo is ranked 148th out of 3714 tested combos, putting it in the top 4% of all systems tested for this game.

Q: Does the Ultra preset at 1080p maintain 60 FPS?

A: Yes, Ultra at 1920x1080 averages 165.3 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded?

A: The lowest average FPS recorded is 80.3, which occurs at 4K with the Ultra preset, still comfortably above the playable threshold.

The Verdict

The verdict is unequivocal: this PC can run Lockdown Protocol at every resolution and preset combination tested, with no exceptions. The verdictByResolution data shows that all four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are playable at 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160, with the best setting being Ultra at each resolution. The average FPS at the best settings are 165.3 at 1080p, 120.8 at 1440p, and 80.3 at 4K, all of which comfortably exceed the 60 FPS threshold. This means the system has headroom for future updates or more demanding titles, but for Lockdown Protocol specifically, the user will never have to compromise on visual quality to maintain a smooth experience. Even the most demanding preset at the highest resolution delivers 80.3 FPS, which is 33% above the playable threshold.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearestRivals data for the CPU and GPU provides context for what other hardware would behave similarly. For the Intel Core i7-12700K, the closest rivals are the Intel Core i5-13600T with an average score of 35305 and a deltaPct of -0.1%, the Intel Core i7-12700KF with 35365 and -0.2%, the Intel Core i7-13700T with 35403 and -0.3%, and the Intel Core 5 213PE with 35428 and -0.4%. These deltas are all within less than half a percent, meaning that swapping the 12700K for any of these CPUs would yield nearly identical CPU performance, and thus a similar FPS experience in Lockdown Protocol.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, the nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 8060S with an average score of 55757 and a deltaPct of 0.6%, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB with 55698 and 0.7%, and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X with 54828 and 2.3%. Interestingly, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE has a higher average score of 57367 with a deltaPct of -2.2%, meaning it is 2.2% faster than the RTX 5080 in this benchmark. These deltaPct values are small, indicating that the GPUs in the nearestRivals list will deliver very similar frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, with the RX 9070 GRE being slightly faster. Users considering a system with any of these CPUs paired with the RTX 5080 could expect essentially the same measured FPS results, as the CPU differences are under 1% and the GPU differences are under 3%.