Lockdown Protocol

Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the Intel Arc B580 delivers a consistent 60+ FPS experience across most of Lockdown Protocol’s resolution and settings matrix, but the data reveals a clear ceiling at 4K. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset reaches the playable threshold, averaging 73 FPS. Medium drops to 52 FPS average with a measured range of 44 to 59 FPS, while High falls further to 45 FPS and Ultra bottoms out at 34 FPS. The step from Low to Medium at 4K costs roughly 29% of average performance, and the jump to Ultra nearly halves the Low result. This pattern suggests the Arc B580’s 12 GB frame buffer and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for texture-heavy scenes, but the compute load at 4K overwhelms the GPU’s 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 throughput once shadows and post-processing scale up.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data covers three resolutions and four presets, with complete average figures for every combination, plus min/max only for Medium settings. At 1920x1080, the combo starts strong: Low averages 154 FPS, Medium averages 109 FPS with a 93 to 126 FPS window, High averages 95 FPS, and Ultra averages 72 FPS. The 1080p Medium min of 93 FPS is notably high, meaning even the worst frame in that run clears the 60 FPS playable threshold by 33 FPS. The 1080p Ultra result of 72 FPS is the lowest average at this resolution, but it still sits comfortably above the playable line. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is roughly 53%, indicating that the CPU—with its 20 cores and 20 threads—keeps feeding the GPU adequately, and the bottleneck shifts to the graphics card’s shading units and ROPs.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages compress downward. Low produces 113 FPS, Medium averages 80 FPS with a 68 to 92 FPS range, High averages 70 FPS, and Ultra drops to 52 FPS. The 1440p Medium minimum of 68 FPS is still above 60, but the margin shrinks to just 8 FPS. High at 1440p, at 70 FPS average, remains playable, but it is only 8 FPS above the threshold, leaving little headroom for scene complexity spikes. Ultra at 1440p misses the mark entirely at 52 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is not uniform: 1080p High to 1440p High costs 25 FPS, while 1080p Low to 1440p Low costs 41 FPS. This disproportionate drop at lower presets hints that the GPU’s pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s is the limiting factor when resolution increases, rather than texture bandwidth.

At 3840x2160, the results fall off a cliff. Low is the only playable preset at 73 FPS average. Medium averages 52 FPS (44 to 59 FPS range), High averages 45 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS. The 4K Medium maximum of 59 FPS never touches the 60 FPS line, and the 4K High average sits 15 FPS below playable. The spread from 4K Low to 4K Ultra is 39 FPS, a 53% reduction, mirroring the 1080p Low-to-Ultra percentage drop but from a much lower starting point. The min/max data at 4K Medium shows a 15 FPS spread, which is tighter than the 1440p Medium spread of 24 FPS, suggesting that at 4K the GPU is consistently saturated rather than experiencing intermittent spikes.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 72 FPS. This is the full visual experience available at this resolution. The data shows no preset at 1080p falls below the playable threshold, meaning the combo can run the game at maximum quality with a 12 FPS safety margin over the 60 FPS line.

At 2560x1440, the best playable preset is High, averaging 70 FPS. Medium also clears 60 FPS at 80 FPS average, but High provides superior visual fidelity while still maintaining a 10 FPS buffer above the threshold. Ultra at 1440p is not playable, falling to 52 FPS average. The choice between Medium and High at 1440p is a 10 FPS trade-off, and the data indicates High is the sweet spot for image quality without sacrificing smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the only playable setting is Low, averaging 73 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra all fail to reach 60 FPS, with averages of 52, 45, and 34 FPS respectively. The 4K Low result is surprisingly strong—it beats the 1440p Ultra score by 21 FPS—but the preset ceiling is absolute. There is no room to raise quality at 4K while keeping the game fluid.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the GPU’s nearest rivals, the Intel Arc B580’s average benchmark score of 23021 places it within 1% of several comparable cards. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP scores 23061, a 0.2% delta, meaning it would deliver nearly identical frame rates in Lockdown Protocol. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 scores 22895, which is 0.6% lower, so it would trail the Arc B580 by roughly one or two frames per second at equivalent settings. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 scores 23172, a 0.7% advantage, translating to a negligible FPS gain—likely within the margin of error for this benchmark. The NVIDIA P106-100 scores 23249, 1% higher, again a sub-3 FPS difference. For practical purposes, any of these four GPUs would produce the same playable preset tiers: 1080p Ultra, 1440p High, and 4K Low.

On the CPU side, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K scores 70879 on average, with a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6511P, scores 71051 (a 0.2% advantage), so CPU-bound scenarios would be essentially identical. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 scores 71370 (0.7% higher), and the Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 70163 (1% lower). The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F scores 69996 (1.3% lower). Given that Lockdown Protocol’s FPS numbers scale more with GPU than CPU in the measured data—the 1080p to 4K drop is steep across all presets—swapping the 265K for any of these rivals would not change the playable settings list. At 1080p Ultra, a 1% CPU difference might shift the 72 FPS average by less than 1 FPS, which is imperceptible.

The Verdict

This PC can run Lockdown Protocol, but the playable envelope is strictly resolution-dependent. At 1920x1080, all four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra averaging 72 FPS. This is the only resolution where maximum settings are viable. At 2560x1440, three presets are playable: Low at 113 FPS, Medium at 80 FPS, and High at 70 FPS. Ultra fails at 52 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low is playable at 73 FPS; Medium, High, and Ultra all fall short. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: 1080p owners can max out the game, 1440p owners must settle for High, and 4K owners must use Low. The combo’s overall rank in this game is 2795 out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the lower third of systems—competent for 1080p and 1440p mid-range play, but not a high-end performer.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows the GPU is the dominant constraint at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s influence is most visible at 1080p. At 1920x1080, the gap between Low (154 FPS) and Ultra (72 FPS) is 82 FPS, a 53% drop. This scaling is driven by the GPU’s shading workload, but the fact that even Ultra stays above 60 FPS indicates the Core Ultra 7 265K’s 20 threads are not a bottleneck—if the CPU were limiting, the Ultra preset would likely dip closer to the 60 FPS line. At 2560x1440, the Low-to-Ultra spread is 61 FPS (113 to 52), a 54% reduction, nearly identical to the 1080p percentage. This consistency suggests the GPU’s FP32 throughput is the limiting factor as pixel count rises, not the CPU’s memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s or its 30 MB shared L3 cache.

The resolution scaling tells the same story. From 1080p Low to 4K Low, the average drops from 154 to 73 FPS, a 53% decline. From 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra, the drop is from 72 to 34 FPS, a 53% decline. The uniform percentage loss across presets and resolutions points to a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU’s role is to maintain a high enough floor so that the GPU can stretch its legs; the 1080p Medium min of 93 FPS and 1440p Medium min of 68 FPS indicate the CPU never drags the frame rate below the GPU’s output. If the CPU were weak, the min FPS values would be significantly lower than the averages at lower resolutions, but the measured data shows min FPS within 12 to 15 FPS of the average at Medium settings. The Core Ultra 7 265K’s single-thread score of 2020 in Cinebench R23 and its 2713 Geekbench single-core score are sufficient to keep up with the Arc B580’s output, and the GPU’s 68th percentile ranking versus 94th for the CPU confirms the graphics card is the weaker link.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2795 out of 3714 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 25th percentile of systems. This is a modest showing, reflecting the GPU’s mid-range positioning. The CPU alone sits in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, but the GPU’s 68th percentile drags the combined result down. In practical terms, this rank means the system outperforms roughly one-quarter of tested rigs but is outpaced by three-quarters. The measured FPS data aligns with this rank: 1080p Ultra at 72 FPS is respectable, but 4K Ultra at 34 FPS is far below what top-tier systems would deliver. The nearest GPU rivals (RTX 3080, RTX 2080) would likely shift the rank slightly, but the delta of under 1% in average benchmark score would move the combo only a few positions in the overall ranking.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Lockdown Protocol at 60 FPS on Ultra settings?

A: Only at 1920x1080, where Ultra averages 72 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 52 FPS, and at 3840x2160, Ultra averages 34 FPS—both below the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: High is the most demanding preset that stays playable at 2560x1440, averaging 70 FPS. Medium also works at 80 FPS, but High offers better visuals with a 10 FPS margin over the 60 FPS line.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B580 compare to the RTX 3080 in this game?

A: The Arc B580’s average benchmark score is 23021, while the RTX 3080 scores 23172, a 0.7% advantage. This translates to a negligible FPS difference—likely one or two frames per second at any given preset.

Q: Is the Core Ultra 7 265K or the Arc B580 the bottleneck in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile, while the GPU ranks in the 68th. The FPS drops by roughly 53% from 1080p to 4K across all presets, indicating the GPU’s pixel throughput limits performance.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum is 68 FPS, which is still 8 FPS above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The average is 80 FPS, with a maximum of 92 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming at all?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which averages 73 FPS. Medium drops to 52 FPS average with a 44 to 59 FPS range, and High and Ultra fall to 45 and 34 FPS respectively, making them unplayable by the 60 FPS standard.