Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile delivers a performance profile that is decisively positioned for high-refresh-rate gaming in Lockdown Protocol. Benchmark results show this combination handles the game’s most demanding presets with ease at standard resolutions, while 4K Ultra remains the only setting that dips below the 60 FPS playability threshold. The data reveals a system where the GPU’s immense rasterization power dominates, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom to avoid bottlenecking even at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4090 Mobile produces 77 FPS on High settings, 88 FPS on Medium, and 124 FPS on Low. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration in the entire dataset that fails to hit the 60 FPS playable mark, averaging 58 FPS. For the Medium preset at this resolution, the frame time consistency is notable, with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS, indicating a stable range even when the average is below the 60 FPS threshold for Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scaling is significant. The Ultra preset achieves 89 FPS, which is a 53% improvement over the 4K Ultra result. High settings produce 119 FPS, Medium yields 136 FPS, and Low reaches 192 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution shows excellent frame pacing, with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS, suggesting smooth gameplay with no severe drops.

At 1920x1080, the combination becomes almost overkill for Lockdown Protocol. The Ultra preset delivers 122 FPS, while High reaches 162 FPS, Medium hits 186 FPS, and Low pushes to 262 FPS. The Medium settings provide a minimum of 158 FPS and a maximum of 214 FPS, demonstrating that even the most conservative frame rate measurements are well above what most displays can refresh. The jump from 1440p to 1080p at Ultra settings is a 37% increase, showing that the GPU still has substantial headroom even as resolution drops.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that maintains at least 60 FPS is High, with an average of 77 FPS. While Medium is also playable at 88 FPS and Low at 124 FPS, High offers the best visual fidelity without compromising the playability threshold. The Ultra preset at 58 FPS is technically below the 60 FPS line, making it unsuitable for consistent competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset is the best setting, averaging 89 FPS. This is the highest quality option available and it clears the 60 FPS requirement by a substantial margin. All four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—are playable at this resolution, with even the lowest frame rate recorded at 116 FPS on Medium.

For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset again takes the top spot, delivering 122 FPS. Every setting from Low to Ultra surpasses the 60 FPS threshold, with the minimum recorded frame rate being 158 FPS on Medium. This resolution presents no challenges for the combo, allowing players to max out the graphics options without concern.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores show that the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is closely matched with several desktop and mobile processors. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X has an average score of 29123, which is a 0.1% difference from the Ultra 5 135H’s 29093. The Intel Xeon Phi 7210 scores 29245, a 0.5% delta, while the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT scores 28940, a 0.5% difference in the opposite direction. The Intel Core i5-13500HX is the closest competitor at 29270, with a -0.6% delta.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 with an average score of 43301 and a 0.8% delta, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile at 43268 with a 0.9% delta, and the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB at 43262 with a 0.9% delta. The NVIDIA RTX A6000 scores 44075, which is -0.9% from the RTX 4090 Mobile’s 43667. In practice, any of these GPU alternatives would deliver nearly identical frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, though the RTX 5050 Mobile is the most direct modern comparison.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Lockdown Protocol at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 58 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. High settings at 4K achieve 77 FPS and are the best playable option.

Q: What is the highest playable setting at 2560x1440?

A: The Ultra preset is playable at 1440p, with an average of 89 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides the maximum visual quality.

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

A: The average FPS drops from 122 at 1920x1080 Ultra to 58 at 3840x2160 Ultra, representing a 52% reduction in frame rate.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data shows high frame rates at 1080p, with Low settings reaching 262 FPS. This indicates the GPU is not fully saturated, and the CPU likely becomes the primary constraint at these extreme frame rates.

Q: Are there any settings where the game is unplayable?

A: Only the 4K Ultra preset falls below the 60 FPS threshold at 58 FPS. All other tested combinations of resolution and settings exceed 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 Mobile compare to the RTX 5050 Mobile in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 43667, while the RTX 5050 Mobile scores 43268. The delta is 0.9%, meaning the 4090 Mobile is marginally faster in general compute tests.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a clear division of labor. At 3840x2160, the frame rate drops from 124 FPS on Low to 58 FPS on Ultra, a 53% reduction. This indicates the GPU is the dominant factor, as the rendering load increases significantly with resolution and settings. The CPU’s role is secondary at 4K, as the 18-thread Meteor Lake processor has ample headroom to feed the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the gap between Low (192 FPS) and Ultra (89 FPS) is 54%, which is nearly identical to the 4K scaling. This suggests the GPU remains the primary bottleneck, though the absolute frame rates are higher due to the reduced pixel count. The CPU’s 14 cores and 18 threads are sufficient to maintain these frame rates without becoming a limiting factor.

At 1920x1080, the pattern shifts. The difference between Low (262 FPS) and Ultra (122 FPS) is 53%, but the absolute values are far above what most CPUs can sustain. The fact that Low settings nearly double the Ultra frame rate indicates the GPU is still the main constraint, but the CPU’s single-thread performance, reflected in its 1700 Cinebench R23 single-core score, becomes more relevant at these high frame rates. The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H’s boost clock of 4.60 GHz helps maintain these elevated FPS numbers, though the data cannot confirm whether the CPU becomes a hard limit above 262 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination ranks 806 out of 3714 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the top 22% of all systems tested, which is a strong result given the game’s release date of March 2024 and the relatively recent hardware. The CPU’s percentile of 81 against all processors and the GPU’s percentile of 84 against all GPUs both contribute to this above-average standing.

The ranking indicates that most other tested combos are slower in this game, but it also shows that there are 805 combinations that produce higher frame rates. These would likely be systems with desktop-grade GPUs or higher-tier mobile parts. The RTX 4090 Mobile’s 84th percentile is impressive for a laptop GPU, but it is not the absolute top performer in the database. The 120W TDP for the GPU and the 28W TDP for the CPU suggest this is a power-constrained mobile setup, yet the benchmark results show it still delivers excellent performance for Lockdown Protocol, with only the 4K Ultra preset falling short of the playable threshold.