Lockdown Protocol

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Lockdown Protocol with the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 covers three resolutions and four quality presets. At 3840x2160, the average frame rates span from 60 FPS at Ultra to 129 FPS at Low. High sits at 80 FPS, while Medium averages 92 FPS with a minimum of 78 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K lands exactly on the 60 FPS playable threshold, which makes it the most demanding configuration that still clears the target. Low at 4K is more than double the Ultra figure, which suggests the preset scaling is substantial at this resolution.

Dropping to 2560x1440, the same pattern continues but with higher headroom. Low reaches 201 FPS, High hits 124 FPS, Medium averages 142 FPS with a range of 121 to 164 FPS, and Ultra produces 93 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 108 FPS, which is a larger absolute difference than at 4K, where the gap is 69 FPS. This indicates that resolution scaling interacts with preset choice in a non-linear way.

At 1920x1080, the numbers climb further. Low delivers 273 FPS, High reaches 170 FPS, Medium averages 194 FPS with a minimum of 165 FPS and maximum of 223 FPS, and Ultra still manages 127 FPS. Every preset at 1080p is far above the 60 FPS playable threshold, with the lowest recorded average being 127 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p shows the tightest min-max spread among all Medium settings across resolutions, with 165 to 223 FPS, a 58 FPS range. In contrast, Medium at 1440p spans 121 to 164 FPS, a 43 FPS range, and Medium at 4K spans 78 to 106 FPS, a 28 FPS range. The relative variability shrinks as resolution increases, which points to GPU-bound behavior at higher pixel counts.

The data does not include minimum or maximum values for Low, High, or Ultra presets at any resolution, so the analysis relies on averages for those settings. The Medium preset is the only one with full min-max data across all three resolutions. The 4K Medium minimum of 78 FPS is noteworthy because it remains well above the 60 FPS threshold even in the worst recorded moment, while the 1440p Medium minimum of 121 FPS and 1080p Medium minimum of 165 FPS show progressively larger safety margins.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions reveals how the workload shifts between the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and the RTX 5090. Moving from 1080p to 1440p to 4K increases the pixel count significantly, and the frame rate drops accordingly. At Low settings, the progression is 273 FPS at 1080p, 201 FPS at 1440p, and 129 FPS at 4K. That is a 144 FPS drop from 1080p to 4K, which is a 53% reduction. At Ultra settings, the progression is 127 FPS at 1080p, 93 FPS at 1440p, and 60 FPS at 4K, a 67 FPS drop or 53% reduction as well. The consistent percentage drop across presets suggests that resolution scaling dominates the performance curve regardless of quality level.

The preset scaling tells a different story. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra reduces the average from 273 FPS to 127 FPS, a 146 FPS penalty. At 1440p, the same preset change reduces from 201 FPS to 93 FPS, a 108 FPS penalty. At 4K, it reduces from 129 FPS to 60 FPS, a 69 FPS penalty. The absolute cost of enabling Ultra shrinks as resolution rises, but the relative cost grows. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 47% of the Low preset's frame rate. At 4K, Ultra delivers 47% of Low's frame rate as well. This symmetry suggests the game's rendering pipeline applies preset changes proportionally across resolutions.

The RTX 5090 is clearly the dominant component at 4K, where even Low settings produce 129 FPS and Ultra barely clears 60 FPS. The CPU becomes relatively more important at 1080p, where the 273 FPS Low figure approaches the practical ceiling for many display refresh rates, but the data does not separate CPU and GPU utilization directly. The fact that 4K Low produces 129 FPS while 1080p Ultra produces 127 FPS is a striking result: the two configurations land within 2 FPS of each other despite very different workloads. This implies that the bottleneck shifts from the GPU at 4K to a more balanced or CPU-influenced regime at 1080p Ultra.

The 28 W TDP of the Core Ultra 7 165H, a mobile processor, combined with the 575 W TDP of the RTX 5090, a desktop-class GPU, creates an unusual pairing. The benchmark results show no obvious CPU limitation at any resolution, but the 1080p Low result of 273 FPS may approach the point where the CPU's 16 cores and 22 threads start to matter. The processor's multi-threaded scores, such as 14,551 in Cinebench R23, suggest ample compute headroom, but the game's frame pacing at very high frame rates could depend on single-thread performance, where the CPU scores 1,759 in Cinebench R23.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset achieves exactly 60 FPS on average, which meets the playable threshold. This is the most demanding setting that stays at or above 60 FPS. The High preset at 80 FPS and Medium at 92 FPS offer higher frame rates, but Ultra is the maximum quality option that remains playable. The 4K Ultra result is precisely on the boundary, so any slight variation in scene complexity could push it below 60 FPS, but the recorded average is exactly at the threshold.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 93 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold with substantial margin. This allows players to run the game at maximum quality settings without sacrificing smoothness. The 93 FPS average provides a 33 FPS buffer above the playable threshold, which should absorb most scene-to-scene variation. The Medium preset at 142 FPS and High at 124 FPS are available for those who want higher refresh rates, but Ultra is the recommended maximum quality setting.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 127 FPS, more than double the playable threshold. This is the best settings choice for 1080p because it delivers maximum quality while still providing a high refresh rate experience. The 127 FPS average is sufficient for 120 Hz displays, and the gap between Ultra and the next preset down, Medium at 194 FPS, shows that users have significant headroom to trade quality for even higher frame rates if desired. Across all three resolutions, Ultra is the best playable setting, with the caveat that 4K Ultra sits exactly at the 60 FPS line.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination run Lockdown Protocol at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages exactly 60 FPS, which meets the playable threshold. This is the most demanding setting that remains at or above 60 FPS at 4K.

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded at 1080p?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 produces 273 FPS on average, the highest figure in the entire dataset. Medium reaches 194 FPS, High reaches 170 FPS, and Ultra reaches 127 FPS.

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

A: At Low settings, the average drops from 273 FPS at 1080p to 129 FPS at 4K, a 144 FPS reduction. At Ultra settings, the average drops from 127 FPS at 1080p to 60 FPS at 4K, a 67 FPS reduction.

Q: Are the minimum frame rates at Medium settings still above 60 FPS?

A: Yes. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 78 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 121 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 165 FPS. All minimums clear the playable threshold.

Q: Which resolution offers the largest safety margin above 60 FPS at Ultra settings?

A: 1920x1080 at Ultra averages 127 FPS, which is 67 FPS above the threshold. This is the largest absolute margin. 1440p Ultra at 93 FPS provides a 33 FPS margin, and 4K Ultra at 60 FPS provides no margin.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's benchmark percentile compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, has an average score of 79,605, which is 0.3% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is 1.1% lower, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X is 1.4% higher.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H ranks at the 84th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H, which has an average benchmark score of 33,989, just 0.3% higher than the 165H's 34,083. The AMD EPYC 4244P scores 34,220, which is 0.4% higher, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 also scores 34,222, 0.4% higher. The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X scores 34,260, 0.5% higher. All four rivals are within one percentage point, which means any of them would produce nearly identical CPU-bound performance in Lockdown Protocol. The 3700X is a desktop part from an older generation, yet its benchmark average nearly matches the newer mobile processor, suggesting that the game's CPU demands are not particularly sensitive to architecture differences within this performance band.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, with an average score of 79,605, which is 0.3% lower than the 5090's 79,842. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396, 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940, 1.1% lower, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959, 1.4% higher. The Pro Vega 64X is the only rival that scores higher, and it does so by a slim margin. These GPU alternatives would deliver similar frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, though the Tesla P100 parts are datacenter-oriented and may lack the consumer driver optimizations that the RTX 5090 receives. The RX 6850M XT is a mobile GPU, which means it would face thermal and power constraints in a laptop that the desktop 5090 does not encounter.

For the specific combination, the CPU and GPU each have four nearest rivals, but pairing any of these alternatives would produce a system with very similar overall performance. The CPU rivals span both Intel and AMD, and the GPU rivals include both NVIDIA and AMD, which gives users several substitution paths without materially changing the expected frame rates in Lockdown Protocol.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 776th out of 3,714 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places the combo in the top 21% of all tested systems. The rank reflects the combined performance of both components, and the percentile data for each part provides context: the CPU is at the 84th percentile while the GPU is at the 92nd percentile. The GPU is the stronger component relative to its peers, which aligns with the measured FPS data showing high frame rates even at 4K.

The rank of 776 out of 3,714 means there are 775 combinations that perform better in this game, but the vast majority of tested systems, 2,938 to be exact, rank below this setup. The top 20.9% placement is driven primarily by the RTX 5090's dominance, as the CPU's 84th percentile is respectable but not elite. The gap between the CPU and GPU percentiles, 8 points, suggests that the system is slightly GPU-forward in its performance profile. In Lockdown Protocol specifically, this means the frame rates are likely limited more by the GPU at high resolutions and by the CPU at low resolutions, but the data shows playable performance at every tested setting.

The Verdict

This PC can run Lockdown Protocol at all tested resolutions and presets. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages exactly 60 FPS, which meets the playable threshold. High averages 80 FPS, Medium averages 92 FPS, and Low averages 129 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 93 FPS, High averages 124 FPS, Medium averages 142 FPS, and Low averages 201 FPS. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 127 FPS, High averages 170 FPS, Medium averages 194 FPS, and Low averages 273 FPS. Every single recorded configuration clears the 60 FPS threshold, and only 4K Ultra sits exactly on the line without margin.

The verdict by resolution is straightforward: 4K supports all settings including Ultra at exactly 60 FPS, 1440p supports Ultra at 93 FPS, and 1080p supports Ultra at 127 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration where the average equals the threshold rather than exceeding it, so players who want a safety buffer at 4K should consider High at 80 FPS or Medium at 92 FPS. For maximum quality with headroom, 1440p Ultra at 93 FPS is the best balance, while 1080p Ultra at 127 FPS is ideal for high refresh rate displays. The data confirms that this combination is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay across the entire resolution and settings matrix.