Lockdown Protocol

FAQ

Q: What is the most demanding setting preset that stays above 60 FPS at 4K with this CPU/GPU combo?

A: At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 72 FPS, making it the most demanding playable option. The Medium preset averages 82 FPS, while Low averages 116 FPS. Ultra drops to 54 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 1440p compared to 4K?

A: At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 84 FPS, which is fully playable. At 3840x2160, the same preset averages only 54 FPS, a 30 FPS drop that pushes it under the 60 FPS threshold. This indicates a steep scaling cost for Ultra settings as resolution increases.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1080p for this hardware?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 114 FPS, so it is both the most demanding and the best playable setting. The Medium preset averages 174 FPS, High averages 152 FPS, and Low reaches 245 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested CPU/GPU combinations for Lockdown Protocol?

A: This Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination ranks 1099 out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has an average benchmark score of 36938, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36945, 0% delta) and slightly below the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018, -0.2% delta) and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093, -0.4% delta).

Q: What GPU performance tier does the RX 9070 occupy based on its percentile ranking?

A: The GPU sits at the 69th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23877. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, scores 23736 (0.6% higher), while the AMD Radeon RX 6800S scores 24063 (-0.8% delta).

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a clear pattern: at lower resolutions, the CPU becomes the limiting factor, while at higher resolutions the GPU workload dominates. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 245 FPS average, suggesting the CPU is feeding frames faster than the GPU can render them at higher settings. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 71 FPS (from 245 to 174), which is a substantial drop that points to GPU-bound rendering entering the picture.

At 2560x1440, the scaling shifts noticeably. Low settings hit 180 FPS, Medium drops to 128 FPS, and High falls to 112 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is 52 FPS, smaller than the 71 FPS gap at 1080p. This compression suggests the GPU is becoming more saturated as pixel count rises, reducing the headroom available for settings increases. Ultra at 1440p still manages 84 FPS, indicating the GPU retains significant capability at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the dominant factor. Low settings average 116 FPS, Medium drops to 82 FPS, and High falls to 72 FPS. The Ultra preset collapses to 54 FPS, which is below the playable threshold. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 62 FPS, but the absolute numbers are much lower than at 1440p or 1080p. The frame rate ceiling at 4K appears constrained by the GPU's rendering throughput, with the CPU likely having ample headroom given the 116 FPS achieved even at Low settings.

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K shows a consistent pattern: each step up in resolution reduces the maximum achievable frame rate across all settings. At Low settings, the progression is 245 → 180 → 116 FPS, representing drops of 27% and 36% respectively. At Ultra settings, the progression is 114 → 84 → 54 FPS, with the 4K figure falling below the 60 FPS threshold. The data implies that for this game at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU and GPU are reasonably balanced, but at 4K the GPU becomes the bottleneck, especially at higher presets.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the most demanding option that stays at or above 60 FPS, averaging 114 FPS. This leaves substantial headroom above the 60 FPS threshold, meaning the hardware is not stressed at this resolution. The Medium preset offers 174 FPS and High offers 152 FPS, but Ultra provides the highest visual fidelity while remaining comfortably playable.

At 2560x1440, Ultra again is the best playable setting, averaging 84 FPS. This is 24 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold, providing a solid margin for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 128 FPS and High at 112 FPS are also viable, but Ultra delivers the maximum visual quality without sacrificing playability.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. Ultra drops to 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, so it is not playable. The best playable setting is High, averaging 72 FPS. Medium averages 82 FPS and Low averages 116 FPS, but High offers the best balance of visual quality and performance at 4K. The 12 FPS gap between High (72) and Ultra (54) indicates that the Ultra preset imposes a significant rendering cost at this resolution.

The Verdict

This PC can run Lockdown Protocol, but the playable settings depend heavily on resolution. At 1920x1080, all four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra averaging 114 FPS. At 2560x1440, the same four presets are playable, with Ultra at 84 FPS. At 3840x2160, three presets are playable — Low (116 FPS), Medium (82 FPS), and High (72 FPS) — but Ultra fails to reach 60 FPS, averaging only 54 FPS.

The verdict is clear: for 1080p and 1440p gaming, this combo delivers fully playable performance at the highest settings. For 4K gaming, users must step down to High settings to maintain 60 FPS. The data indicates that 4K Ultra is the only configuration that falls short, which is a minor limitation given the otherwise strong performance across all other resolution and settings combinations.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals are all within 0.5% of its average benchmark score, indicating that swapping to any of these processors would produce nearly identical results in this game. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F matches the Core Ultra 5 225 exactly (0% delta), while the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is 0.2% faster, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 is 0.4% faster, and the Intel Core i9-12900T is 0.5% faster. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming, so any of these CPUs would behave similarly in Lockdown Protocol.

On the GPU side, the AMD Radeon RX 9070's nearest rivals show slightly more variation. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z scores 0.6% higher, the AMD Radeon RX 6800S scores 0.8% lower, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile scores 1.1% higher, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER scores 1.2% lower. These deltas are small, meaning any of these GPUs would produce comparable frame rates in this game, with the RTX 2080 SUPER being the closest in absolute score (24170 vs 23877).

The combination of this CPU with any of its rival processors and this GPU with any of its rival graphics cards would likely yield frame rates within a few percent of the measured values. For users considering alternative hardware, the data suggests that the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER would be the most direct substitutes, offering near-identical performance profiles.

How This Combo Ranks

This combo ranks 1099 out of 3714 tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 70th percentile of all tested configurations. This means roughly 30% of tested combos perform better, while 70% perform worse. The rank reflects a strong but not top-tier position, consistent with the CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 69th percentile among all GPUs.

The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-to-high-percentile GPU results in a balanced system that performs well across most settings and resolutions. The rank suggests that in this game, the GPU is the more limiting factor, as the CPU's higher percentile ranking (85th) does not fully compensate for the GPU's lower percentile (69th) in demanding scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates are as follows: Low averages 245 FPS, Medium averages 174 FPS with a minimum of 148 and maximum of 200, High averages 152 FPS, and Ultra averages 114 FPS. The Medium preset shows the only available min/max data at this resolution, indicating a 52 FPS range between minimum and maximum frame times.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 180 FPS, Medium averages 128 FPS with a minimum of 109 and maximum of 147, High averages 112 FPS, and Ultra averages 84 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a 38 FPS range between min and max, which is tighter than at 1080p, suggesting more consistent frame pacing at higher resolution.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 116 FPS, Medium averages 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 and maximum of 95, High averages 72 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K shows a 25 FPS range between min and max, the tightest of any resolution, which suggests the GPU is operating in a more consistent envelope at this resolution despite lower absolute frame rates.

The data shows that for Medium settings, frame time consistency improves as resolution increases. At 1080p, the min-to-max spread is 52 FPS; at 1440p, it is 38 FPS; at 4K, it is 25 FPS. This pattern implies that at higher resolutions, the GPU is more uniformly saturated, reducing frame time spikes. Conversely, at lower resolutions, the CPU may introduce occasional frame pacing variability as it feeds frames at higher rates.