Lockdown Protocol

# FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K a high-performance CPU?

A: Yes. The chip scores 35,850 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,020 in single-core, with a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 70,879 places it within 1.3% of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and 1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700KF.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's raw compute performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 delivers 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, and its PassMark G3D score of 39,650 places it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X by 1.4% in average benchmark score but leads the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB by 0.3%.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo averages 83 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playable threshold by a substantial margin. All four settings presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—are marked playable at 4K.

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

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 yields 128 FPS average, making it the most demanding playable option at that resolution. Medium settings produce 196 FPS, while Low reaches 276 FPS.

Q: Which component has a higher percentile ranking relative to its peers?

A: The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Both are elite-tier components, but the processor sits slightly higher relative to its competitive field.

Q: Does the system show any performance limitations at 1080p?

A: No. At 1920x1080, even the Ultra preset averages 175 FPS, with Low settings reaching 377 FPS. The minimum recorded frame rate at Medium settings is 227 FPS, indicating no perceptible bottleneck at this resolution.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K's average benchmark score of 70,879 places it in a tight cluster with several server and desktop processors. The Intel Xeon 6511P scores 71,051, a delta of -0.2%, making it virtually indistinguishable in aggregate compute performance. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 scores 71,370, which is 0.7% higher, while the Intel Core i7-14700KF trails by 1% with a score of 70,163. The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is the closest competitor in the opposite direction, scoring 69,996, a delta of 1.3% behind the 265K. For gaming workloads specifically, the i7-14700KF and Ryzen 7 9700F are the most relevant alternatives, as they share the desktop segment and similar multithreaded capabilities.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 79,842 is closely matched by several data-center and mobile parts. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605, a delta of 0.3% behind, while the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB is 0.6% behind at 79,396. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT trails by 1.1% with a score of 78,940. Interestingly, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959, which is 1.4% higher than the RTX 5090 in this aggregate metric. These figures suggest that the RTX 5090's raw compute throughput is comparable to professional-grade accelerators, though gaming-specific features like 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth differentiate it in real-world game tests.

For Lockdown Protocol specifically, the practical implication is that users with any of these rival CPUs or GPUs would experience broadly similar frame rates, provided the rest of the system is configured comparably. The CPU's nearest rivals bracket its performance within a 2% band, while the GPU's rivals span a 2.5% range.

CPU and GPU Roles

Benchmark results for Lockdown Protocol show a clear pattern of GPU dominance at higher resolutions and a more balanced workload at lower resolutions. At 3840x2160, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 95 FPS (178 vs. 83), a 53.4% drop. This substantial scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, as increasing rendering load directly reduces frame rates. The CPU, with its 20 cores and 3.90 GHz base clock, has ample headroom to feed the RTX 5090 at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the spread between Low and Ultra narrows slightly to 148 FPS (276 vs. 128), a 53.6% reduction. The pattern persists: the GPU remains the limiting factor, though the absolute frame rates are higher across all presets. The CPU's role becomes more apparent when comparing 1440p to 1080p results.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset reaches 377 FPS, while Ultra drops to 175 FPS—a 53.6% reduction. However, the key observation is that frame rates at 1080p are substantially higher than at 1440p for identical settings. For example, Ultra settings produce 175 FPS at 1080p versus 128 FPS at 1440p, a 36.7% increase. This scaling suggests that at 1080p, the CPU's performance begins to influence results, as the GPU has less work per frame and the processor's 5.50 GHz boost clock and 30 MB L3 cache become more relevant.

The data indicates that for Lockdown Protocol, the RTX 5090 governs performance at 4K and 1440p, while the Core Ultra 7 265K provides sufficient headroom to avoid bottlenecking even at 1080p. The consistent ~53% performance drop from Low to Ultra at every resolution confirms that the GPU is the dominant factor across the board, with the CPU playing a supporting role that becomes slightly more significant only at lower resolutions.

The Verdict

This PC configuration can run Lockdown Protocol exceptionally well at all tested resolutions. At 3840x2160, the system averages 83 FPS on Ultra settings, comfortably exceeding the 60 FPS playable threshold. The High preset delivers 111 FPS, Medium reaches 127 FPS, and Low achieves 178 FPS. All four settings presets at 4K are marked playable, meaning there is no scenario where this hardware fails to clear 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance scales upward across the board. Ultra settings average 128 FPS, High settings reach 171 FPS, Medium produces 196 FPS, and Low hits 276 FPS. The minimum recorded frame rate at Medium settings is 167 FPS, which remains well above the playable threshold. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 175 FPS on Ultra, 234 FPS on High, 268 FPS on Medium, and 377 FPS on Low. The minimum at Medium settings is 227 FPS.

The verdict is unambiguous: this combo not only runs the game but does so with enough headroom to enable maximum settings at any resolution. The lowest average frame rate across all 12 measured configurations is 83 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still 38% above the 60 FPS threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 3,714 tested combinations in the Lockdown Protocol benchmark database, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 41st. This places the combo in the top 1.1% of all tested systems, a position consistent with the individual component percentiles—94th for the CPU and 92nd for the GPU.

The rank reflects the synergy between the two components. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35,850 and the GPU's PassMark G3D score of 39,650 combine to produce frame rates that outperform the vast majority of tested configurations. The 41st position indicates that a small number of systems—likely those with higher-end CPUs or more specialized configurations—achieve better results, but the gap is marginal given the 4K Ultra result of 83 FPS.

For context, the nearest CPU rivals (Xeon 6511P, Xeon Platinum 8270, i7-14700KF, Ryzen 7 9700F) and GPU rivals (Tesla P100 variants, RX 6850M XT, Pro Vega 64X) would produce similar rankings, with the 2% aggregate performance delta between them translating to single-digit FPS differences in-game. The 41st rank is a strong indicator that this system delivers near-top-tier performance without requiring exotic hardware.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that maintains an average of at least 60 FPS is Ultra, which produces 83 FPS. This is the highest quality setting available and the system clears the threshold with 23 FPS of headroom.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 128 FPS, making it the best choice for maximum visual fidelity while maintaining a high refresh rate. The 128 FPS result is more than double the playable threshold, enabling smooth gameplay on 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitors.

At 1920x1080, Ultra settings deliver 175 FPS, the highest average among all resolutions at maximum quality. This result supports 144 Hz and 165 Hz displays with ease, and even 240 Hz monitors would see near-maximum refresh rates in most scenes.

Across all three resolutions, the Ultra preset is the recommended setting. The system never dips below an average of 83 FPS at any resolution with Ultra enabled, and the minimum recorded frame rate at any resolution with Medium settings is 108 FPS at 4K, indicating excellent frame time consistency.

Measured FPS Breakdown

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 178 FPS average
• Medium: 127 FPS average, 108 FPS minimum, 146 FPS maximum
• High: 111 FPS average
• Ultra: 83 FPS average

At 4K, the progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline: 178 → 127 → 111 → 83. The Medium preset's minimum of 108 FPS provides a useful floor for frame pacing, suggesting that even during intense scenes, the system stays well above 60 FPS. The gap between High (111) and Ultra (83) is 28 FPS, representing the cost of the highest quality settings.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 276 FPS average
• Medium: 196 FPS average, 167 FPS minimum, 226 FPS maximum
• High: 171 FPS average
• Ultra: 128 FPS average

At 1440p, the curve steepens: 276 → 196 → 171 → 128. The Medium preset's minimum of 167 FPS is higher than the 4K Ultra average, demonstrating the resolution's impact on GPU load. The step from High (171) to Ultra (128) is a 43 FPS drop, the largest single-preset delta at this resolution.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 377 FPS average
• Medium: 268 FPS average, 227 FPS minimum, 308 FPS maximum
• High: 234 FPS average
• Ultra: 175 FPS average

At 1080p, the numbers reach their peak: 377 → 268 → 234 → 175. The Medium minimum of 227 FPS exceeds the 4K Ultra average by 144 FPS, underscoring how resolution scaling affects this GPU. The Ultra preset at 1080p (175 FPS) is still higher than the High preset at 1440p (171 FPS), indicating that resolution is the dominant variable in this system's performance profile.

The data across all 12 configurations shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step down (4K → 1440p → 1080p) yields approximately 35-40% higher frame rates at equivalent settings, and each settings step down (Ultra → High → Medium → Low) yields approximately 20-30% higher frame rates at equivalent resolutions. This consistency indicates a well-balanced system where neither component creates unexpected bottlenecks.