Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combination delivers a capable 1080p and 1440p experience in Lockdown Protocol, with the data showing that the GPU becomes the primary scaling factor as resolution increases. At 4K, the combo remains playable but requires a step down from the top preset, while at lower resolutions, the headroom is substantial enough to max out the game's settings comfortably.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the highest preset that maintains an average of at least 60 FPS is High, which produces an average of 64 FPS. The data shows that Medium averages 74 FPS, and Low reaches 104 FPS, but both are less demanding than High. The Ultra preset falls below the playable threshold at 48 FPS, so it is not recommended for 4K.

At 2560x1440, the most demanding playable preset is Ultra, which yields an average of 75 FPS. This is a notable improvement over the 4K result, as all four presets — Low at 161 FPS, Medium at 114 FPS, High at 100 FPS, and Ultra at 75 FPS — stay well above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

At 1920x1080, the highest playable preset is also Ultra, delivering an average of 102 FPS. The data shows that Ultra at 1080p is significantly more comfortable than at 1440p, with a 27 FPS advantage over the 75 FPS seen at the higher resolution. Lower presets at 1080p include High at 136 FPS, Medium at 156 FPS, and Low at 219 FPS, all of which are far above the minimum requirement.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling across resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant constraint as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 102 FPS, while at 2560x1440 the same preset drops to 75 FPS — a 26.5% decrease — and at 3840x2160 it falls to 48 FPS, a 53% drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern suggests that the RX 7700 XT is the limiting factor when pixel count increases, as the CPU's relative workload diminishes.

Conversely, the CPU's role is more pronounced at lower resolutions where frame rates are higher. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 219 FPS, which is roughly 2x the frame rate of 4K High at 64 FPS. This gap between Low and High settings at the same resolution also highlights GPU dependence; for instance, at 2560x1440, Low (161 FPS) is 61% faster than Ultra (75 FPS), but the CPU must still handle the higher frame output.

The benchmark data shows that the Core Ultra 5 245, with a passmark multithread score of 38706, is unlikely to bottleneck at these frame rates, given that the GPU's passmark G3D score is 22547. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking versus all CPUs also suggests it has headroom. However, at 4K, the shift is clear: the GPU's raw throughput, with a pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s, becomes the decisive factor, as the 48 FPS Ultra result shows a clear GPU-bound scenario.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured results are as follows: Ultra averages 48 FPS, High averages 64 FPS, Medium averages 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 and maximum of 85, and Low averages 104 FPS. The lack of min/max data for most settings means the variance is only known for Medium, where the gap between min and max is 22 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the settings scale as: Ultra averages 75 FPS, High averages 100 FPS, Medium averages 114 FPS with a min of 97 and max of 131, and Low averages 161 FPS. The Medium preset shows a 34 FPS variance, which is the largest recorded for this resolution, indicating a more unstable frame delivery relative to the average.

At 1920x1080, the data shows: Ultra averages 102 FPS, High averages 136 FPS, Medium averages 156 FPS with a min of 132 and max of 179, and Low averages 219 FPS. The Medium preset here has a 47 FPS max-min spread, which is the widest of any settings entry in the entire dataset, suggesting that even at lower resolutions, certain scenes can cause significant frame swings, though the average remains high.

The only settings with full min/max data are Medium across all three resolutions, which allows for a direct comparison: 4K Medium has a 63-85 FPS range, 1440p Medium has 97-131 FPS, and 1080p Medium has 132-179 FPS. This shows that the lowest recorded frame at 1080p Medium (132 FPS) is still higher than the average at 4K Ultra (48 FPS), reinforcing the resolution scaling trend.

FAQ

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

A: No, the data shows that Ultra at 3840x2160 averages 48 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The highest playable setting at 4K is High, which averages 64 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming?

A: Ultra is the most demanding preset that stays playable at 2560x1440, with an average of 75 FPS. This is the highest settings option that remains above the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: The GPU is more likely the limiting factor at 1080p, as the CPU's single-thread score of 4394 and multi-thread score of 38706 are high enough to support the 219 FPS Low preset results. The GPU's performance, with a G3D score of 22547, is the more constrained component.

Q: How does the frame rate vary at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: The Medium preset has recorded min/max values: at 1080p, the range is 132-179 FPS; at 1440p, it is 97-131 FPS; and at 4K, it is 63-85 FPS. The average FPS for these settings are 156, 114, and 74, respectively.

Q: Is the 4K High preset a stable option for this game?

A: The data indicates a 64 FPS average at 3840x2160 High, but there is no min/max data recorded for that setting. The Medium preset at 4K shows a min of 63 FPS, so High may have more variance, but the average is above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 161 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 75 FPS. This is a gap of 86 FPS, or roughly 2.15x the performance, between the lowest and highest presets.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, and its nearest rival are within a 0.8% range. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G scores 49196, which is 0.4% higher, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 49228, 0.5% higher. On the Intel side, the Core i5-14600K scores 48618, which is 0.8% lower, and the Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698, 0.6% lower. Any of these processors would likely produce similar frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, as the CPU's performance delta is marginal.

For the GPU, the RX 7700 XT has an average score of 22549, with rivals ranging from -1.5% to +1.7%. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 scores 22895, which is 1.5% higher, and the RTX 5060 Mobile scores 22435, 0.5% lower. The RTX 4060 Mobile scores 22729, 0.8% higher, while the AMD Radeon RX 5700 scores 22170, 1.7% lower. In game, these small deltas mean the choice of GPU among this group would produce nearly identical FPS numbers, with the RTX 2080 being the strongest on paper.

The combination of the CPU and GPU rivals suggests that pairing a Ryzen 9 7900 or i5-14600K with the RX 7700 XT would shift the benchmark scores only slightly, but the measured FPS would likely stay within the same range, given the game's GPU bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p, a CPU difference of 0.8% could affect the 219 FPS Low result by a few frames, but the overall playability would remain unchanged.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing ranks 1397th out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, which places it in the top 37.6% of all configurations. The ranking reflects a balance between the CPU's 90th percentile performance and the GPU's 67th percentile performance, resulting in a solid mid-high tier result for the game.

The rank indicates that while the CPU is above average for the market, the GPU is more mid-pack, which holds back the overall standing. The data suggests that the combo is well suited for 1080p and 1440p play, where the Ultra settings are viable, but the 4K Ultra result of 48 FPS prevents the combo from achieving a higher rank. The difference between the CPU's percentile ranking and the GPU's percentile ranking highlights that upgrading the GPU would likely improve the game's rank more than upgrading the CPU, based on the scaling data.