Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination delivers a playable experience in Lockdown Protocol across all tested resolutions, but the margin of safety shrinks dramatically as resolution increases. At 1080p and 1440p, this combo clears the 60 FPS threshold at every preset, including Ultra. At 4K, however, the Ultra preset falls to 42 FPS, and High settings dip below the playable line at 55 FPS, meaning only Low and Medium presets are viable at that resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this pairing shows a clear performance hierarchy tied to resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo is overwhelmingly fast. Low settings produce an average of 189 FPS, Medium delivers 134 FPS with a minimum of 114 and a maximum of 154, High reaches 117 FPS, and Ultra still holds an average of 88 FPS. Every preset at 1080p stays far above the 60 FPS playable threshold, with the gap between Low and Ultra representing a 101 FPS spread.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably but remains robust. Low settings average 138 FPS, Medium averages 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 and a maximum of 113, High averages 86 FPS, and Ultra drops to 64 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the first setting that approaches the playable threshold, yet it still clears it by 4 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 27% of the average FPS at Low and 27% at Ultra, indicating a consistent scaling factor across presets.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes significantly. Low settings still deliver a respectable 89 FPS average, and Medium averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 54 and a maximum of 73, which places it just above the playable line. High settings, however, fall to 55 FPS average, and Ultra plummets to 42 FPS. The 4K data reveals a steep drop-off: from Medium to High, the average FPS falls by 8 frames, and from High to Ultra, it falls by another 13 frames. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 54, which dips below the 60 FPS threshold even though the average is above it, indicating occasional frame hitches.

The min/max data is only available for Medium settings at each resolution, which provides insight into frame consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 114 to 154 FPS, a 40 FPS swing. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 83 to 113 FPS, a 30 FPS swing. At 4K Medium, the range is 54 to 73 FPS, a 19 FPS swing. This pattern suggests that while average FPS decreases with resolution, the frame-to-frame variance also compresses, meaning higher resolutions produce more stable but lower overall performance.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this CPU-GPU pairing ranks 2009 out of 3714 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all possible configurations, roughly in the 46th percentile of tested systems. The rank reflects that while this combo is far from the top of the leaderboard, it is not a weak performer either; it sits slightly above the median of all tested combinations.

The CPU itself benchmarks in the 90th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48995. This high CPU percentile suggests that the processor is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. The GPU, by contrast, benchmarks in the 61st percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17639. The gap between the CPU's 90th percentile and the GPU's 61st percentile indicates a potential imbalance: the CPU has more headroom than the GPU can utilize in this game.

The rank of 2009 out of 3714, combined with the CPU's strong percentile, implies that the RTX 4060 is the bottleneck for this pairing in Lockdown Protocol. If the GPU were upgraded while keeping the same CPU, the combo rank would likely improve substantially. Conversely, upgrading the CPU alone would yield minimal gains because the GPU would still cap performance.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows a clear division of labor between the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and the RTX 4060 across resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU is the primary constraint. The 189 FPS at Low settings versus 88 FPS at Ultra demonstrates that graphical fidelity, not CPU processing, dictates the frame rate. The CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads, with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, are more than sufficient to feed the GPU at this resolution, as evidenced by the high average FPS even at Ultra.

At 1440p, the balance shifts slightly but the GPU remains dominant. The 138 FPS at Low and 64 FPS at Ultra show that resolution scaling affects the GPU more than the CPU. The 54% drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is nearly identical to the 53% drop at 1080p, confirming that the GPU's workload scales consistently with settings regardless of resolution. The CPU's role here is to maintain minimum frame rates, and the data shows no signs of CPU-induced stuttering.

At 4K, the GPU becomes overwhelmingly the limiting factor. The 89 FPS at Low versus 42 FPS at Ultra represents a 53% reduction, but the absolute numbers are low enough that the GPU is clearly maxed out. The CPU's performance headroom is evident: even at 4K Low, the combo achieves 89 FPS, which is higher than many weaker CPUs could deliver with the same GPU. The scaling between resolutions tells the story: from 1080p Low to 1440p Low, FPS drops from 189 to 138, and from 1440p Low to 4K Low, it drops from 138 to 89. Each resolution step reduces FPS by roughly 30-35%, which is consistent with the GPU's memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory becoming increasingly taxed.

The preset scaling provides additional evidence. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra costs 101 FPS. At 1440p, the same move costs 74 FPS. At 4K, it costs 47 FPS. This diminishing absolute cost indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU is already so burdened that additional settings have less relative impact. The CPU, with its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and single-core score of 4648, has ample compute power for this game's FPS mechanics, but the RTX 4060's 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the ceiling.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 sits very close to several alternatives. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G has an average score of 49196, which is 0.4% lower than the Core Ultra 5 245's 48995. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 49228, just 0.5% higher. The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698, which is 0.6% lower, and the Intel Core i5-14600K scores 48618, which is 0.8% lower. These deltas are all within 1%, meaning that swapping the Core Ultra 5 245 for any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical performance in Lockdown Protocol, assuming the GPU remains constant. The i5-14600K is the closest match in terms of market positioning, and its 0.8% lower score would be imperceptible in gameplay.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are more disparate in age and capability. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 has an average score of 17666, which is 0.2% higher than the RTX 4060's 17639. The AMD Radeon 780M scores 17588, 0.3% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro 560 scores 17551, 0.5% lower, and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 scores 17509, 0.7% lower. The HD 7790 and 780M are vastly different hardware generations, but their benchmark scores are nearly identical to the RTX 4060, indicating that in terms of raw compute, they would behave similarly in Lockdown Protocol. However, the RTX 4060's modern features, such as 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores, are not captured in these scores, so real-world performance could differ in ray-traced scenarios.

If a user were to pair the Core Ultra 5 245 with a GPU that scores like the Radeon 780M, the combo rank in Lockdown Protocol would likely be similar, since the GPU delta is only 0.3%. Conversely, pairing the i5-14600K with the RTX 4060 would yield a combo rank almost identical to the 2009 out of 3714, given the CPU's 0.8% lower score.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best settings are Ultra, which achieves an average of 88 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS playable threshold and represents the highest visual fidelity available. The Ultra preset at 1080p is the recommended choice, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over High (117 FPS) while still maintaining a comfortable frame rate margin.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are also Ultra, with an average of 64 FPS. This clears the playable threshold by 4 FPS, which is a slim but acceptable margin. The 1440p Ultra preset is viable, but the 64 FPS average leaves little room for frame drops in busy scenes. If a user prioritizes consistency over visual quality, High at 86 FPS would be a safer choice, but Ultra is technically playable.

At 3840x2160, the best settings are Medium, which averages 63 FPS. This is the only preset above 60 FPS at 4K besides Low (89 FPS). The Medium preset offers a better visual experience than Low while still clearing the threshold, though the minimum FPS of 54 indicates that some frames will dip below 60. For users who demand a strict 60 FPS lock, Low at 89 FPS is the more reliable option, but Medium is the highest playable preset.

The Verdict

This PC can run Lockdown Protocol, but the experience varies significantly by resolution. At 1920x1080, the combo is fully capable, clearing 60 FPS at every preset including Ultra (88 FPS). This is the resolution where the system shines, offering high frame rates even at maximum settings. At 2560x1440, the combo also clears 60 FPS at all presets, with Ultra at 64 FPS being the most demanding playable option. Users at 1440p can enjoy the game at Ultra settings without issue, though the margin is tighter than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the verdict is mixed. The data shows that Low (89 FPS) and Medium (63 FPS) are playable, but High (55 FPS) and Ultra (42 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold. The verdict by resolution confirms this: 4K playable settings are Low and Medium, with Medium being the best at 63 FPS. This means 4K users must compromise on visual quality to maintain playability. The High preset's 55 FPS average is close to the threshold but not quite there, and the Ultra preset's 42 FPS is a significant step down.

In summary, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and RTX 4060 combination is a solid 1080p and 1440p performer for Lockdown Protocol, capable of running the game at maximum settings with headroom. At 4K, it is only playable on Low and Medium settings, with Medium being the highest preset that clears 60 FPS. For users targeting 4K, a GPU upgrade would be necessary to unlock High or Ultra presets, as the CPU has ample headroom to support a stronger graphics card.