Lockdown Protocol

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX sits in a performance bracket where its average benchmark score of 67469 places it among workstation-class processors. The closest rival is the Intel Xeon w5-3525, which scores 67673, a margin of only -0.3% relative to the Core Ultra 9. The AMD EPYC 4484PX follows closely at 67822 (-0.5%), and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5955WX scores 67868 (-0.6%). On the other side, the Intel Xeon 6515P trails slightly at 67006, a delta of +0.7% from the Core Ultra 9's perspective. These four processors form a tight cluster where no single part deviates by more than one percent from the others, meaning that in CPU-bound scenarios, swapping between these chips would produce nearly indistinguishable frame rates. The Core Ultra 9's 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs reinforces this position: it is not an outlier, but rather a representative member of a high-end tier.

For the AMD Radeon 890M, the situation is similarly clustered but at a much lower performance level. Its average benchmark score of 9210 places it near the AMD Radeon Vega 8, which scores 9221 (-0.1% delta). The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 is close at 9273 (-0.7%), followed by the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 at 9294 (-0.9%) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M at 9302 (-1%). The Radeon 890M's 45th percentile among all GPUs indicates a mid-range integrated solution that rivals older discrete graphics cards. In practice, a system built with the Radeon 890M would deliver frame rates nearly identical to one using a GTX 960 or GTX 850M, at least in terms of raw GPU compute. The delta percentages are all under one percent, so any differences in Lockdown Protocol would stem from driver optimization or memory bandwidth rather than architectural capability. The Radeon 890M's memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which means performance can vary based on the system's RAM configuration, a factor that does not apply to the discrete rivals with dedicated memory.

FAQ

Q: Can the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX handle Lockdown Protocol's CPU demands at any resolution?

A: Yes. The processor scores 35589 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2204 in single-core, ranking in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Xeon w5-3525 and AMD EPYC 4484PX, are within one percent of its average score, confirming it has ample headroom for the game's logic and AI workloads.

Q: What is the highest resolution and preset combination that maintains 60 FPS or higher?

A: The data shows only one playable configuration: 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which achieves an average of 78 FPS. All other tested settings at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K fall below the 60 FPS threshold. For example, 1080p Medium averages 56 FPS, and 1440p Low averages 58 FPS, both just short of playable.

Q: How does the Radeon 890M compare to its closest GPU rivals in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The Radeon 890M's average score of 9210 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon Vega 8 (9221, -0.1%), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (9273, -0.7%), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 (9294, -0.9%). This means users upgrading from a GTX 960 to the Radeon 890M would see no significant change in frame rates.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Lockdown Protocol at 4K resolution?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 17 FPS and High averages 23 FPS, while even Low only reaches 37 FPS. The Core Ultra 9 275HX's benchmark scores indicate it is not the constraint; the Radeon 890M's 45th percentile GPU ranking and its performance near the older GTX 960 confirm the integrated graphics cannot handle 4K rendering.

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

A: The measured average is 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. This represents a 30% drop from the 1080p Medium average of 56 FPS, illustrating the steep cost of higher resolutions on the Radeon 890M.

Q: Does the Core Ultra 9 275HX have integrated graphics that could aid in rendering?

A: Yes, it includes Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units. However, the measured FPS data in this analysis uses the AMD Radeon 890M as the primary GPU, so the Intel integrated graphics' separate performance in Lockdown Protocol is not documented in this dataset.

CPU and GPU Roles

Examining the measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear division of labor between the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and the AMD Radeon 890M. At 3840x2160, the GPU is overwhelmingly the dominant factor. The High preset yields 23 FPS, Medium 26 FPS, and Low 37 FPS—a spread of 14 FPS between the lowest and highest settings. This variation is almost entirely due to pixel shading and fill rate demands, which the Radeon 890M's 32 ROPs and 5.939 TFLOPS FP32 throughput struggle to satisfy. The Core Ultra 9's CPU performance, which ranks in the 94th percentile, is never the limiting factor at this resolution because the game's draw calls and physics are trivial compared to the rasterization load.

At 2560x1440, the balance shifts slightly but the GPU remains the primary constraint. The Low preset averages 58 FPS, nearly reaching the 60 FPS threshold, while High drops to 36 FPS and Ultra to 27 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 31 FPS, indicating that the Radeon 890M's shading units (1024) and texture mapping units (64) are saturated by higher-fidelity effects. The CPU's role is still secondary, as evidenced by the fact that even at Low settings the system cannot fully reach 60 FPS—a situation that would not occur if the CPU were the bottleneck, given the Core Ultra 9's single-thread score of 2204 in Cinebench R23.

At 1920x1080, the CPU and GPU roles become more balanced. The Low preset achieves 78 FPS, comfortably above the playable threshold, which suggests the GPU is capable of rendering the scene quickly enough and the CPU can feed it without stalling. However, the Medium preset drops to 56 FPS, a 22 FPS reduction from Low, and High falls to 49 FPS. This scaling indicates that the Radeon 890M's limited compute resources are still the main constraint, since the CPU's performance is unchanged across all presets. The Core Ultra 9's multi-threaded score of 35589 in Cinebench R23 would be more than sufficient for any game logic at 1080p, so the GPU's inability to maintain 60 FPS at Medium and above is the defining factor. The data suggests that for this specific game, the GPU dictates playability at every resolution, while the CPU only matters at the lowest settings where it can keep up with the GPU's output.

The Verdict

Based on the measured FPS data, this PC can run Lockdown Protocol, but only under very specific conditions. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: at 3840x2160, no settings pass the 60 FPS threshold, with the best-case Low preset averaging 37 FPS. At 2560x1440, the situation is identical—no preset reaches 60 FPS, and the closest is Low at 58 FPS, which still falls short. At 1920x1080, the system becomes playable, but only on the Low preset, which averages 78 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 56 FPS, below the 60 FPS playable threshold, and High averages 49 FPS. Therefore, the clear verdict is that this combination can run Lockdown Protocol at 1080p Low with a comfortable margin, but cannot achieve 60 FPS at any higher resolution or with more demanding settings. The Radeon 890M's integrated nature, with its 45th percentile GPU ranking and performance comparable to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, caps the system's capability. The Core Ultra 9 275HX is not the limiting factor; its CPU benchmarks are far above what this game requires, but the GPU simply cannot render the game at higher resolutions or presets within the 60 FPS target.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 23 FPS with no minimum or maximum recorded. Low improves to 37 FPS, also without min/max values. Medium averages 26 FPS with a minimum of 22 and a maximum of 30, showing moderate frame variability. Ultra averages 17 FPS, the lowest recorded in the entire dataset, with no min/max values. The pattern at 4K is consistent: every setting is far below the 60 FPS threshold, and the spread from Ultra to Low (20 FPS) indicates that even drastic quality reductions cannot make the game playable.

At 2560x1440, High averages 36 FPS, Low averages 58 FPS, Medium averages 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 and a maximum of 47, and Ultra averages 27 FPS. The Low preset's 58 FPS is the closest any setting comes to 60 FPS outside of 1080p, but it still misses the mark. The Medium preset's min/max range of 12 FPS (from 35 to 47) suggests some scenes are more demanding, but the overall average remains below playable. The step from Low to High is a 22 FPS drop, and from High to Ultra is another 9 FPS drop, showing that each quality tier carries a significant cost.

At 1920x1080, High averages 49 FPS, Low averages 78 FPS, Medium averages 56 FPS with a minimum of 47 and a maximum of 64, and Ultra averages 36 FPS. The Low preset is the only configuration in the entire dataset that exceeds 60 FPS, and it does so by a substantial 18 FPS margin. Medium's average of 56 FPS is tantalizingly close to playable, but the minimum of 47 FPS indicates that frame drops would occur during intense moments. The Ultra preset's 36 FPS is nearly identical to the 4K Low setting at 37 FPS, demonstrating that the Radeon 890M's rendering capability at 1080p Ultra is roughly equivalent to 4K Low—both are limited by the same GPU throughput constraints.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of tested hardware combinations for Lockdown Protocol, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and AMD Radeon 890M ranks 3495 out of 3714 total combinations. This places it in the bottom 6% of all tested systems, a position driven almost entirely by the GPU's limited performance. The Core Ultra 9 275HX's CPU ranking is in the 94th percentile, but the combo rank reflects the combined system's ability to run the game, and the Radeon 890M's 45th percentile GPU standing drags the overall result down. The rank of 3495 means that 219 other tested combinations perform worse, while 3494 perform better. This is not surprising given that the Radeon 890M is an integrated GPU competing against systems with discrete graphics cards. The nearest GPU rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 and GTX 465, are older discrete parts that still outperform or match the 890M, but they are rarely paired with a flagship mobile CPU like the Core Ultra 9. The data indicates that this combo is unbalanced for Lockdown Protocol: the CPU has far more capability than the GPU can utilize, leading to a system where the GPU is the sole bottleneck. For users seeking higher frame rates, the CPU would not need an upgrade, but the GPU would need to be replaced with a discrete solution to meaningfully improve performance.

Best Settings per Resolution

Given the 60 FPS playable threshold, the best settings per resolution are determined by the most demanding preset that maintains an average of at least 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset qualifies, so there is no recommended setting; the best average is the Low preset at 37 FPS, but it remains unplayable. At 2560x1440, the same applies—no preset reaches 60 FPS, with Low at 58 FPS being the closest but still below the threshold. At 1920x1080, the Low preset is the only playable option, averaging 78 FPS. This is the best settings recommendation for this resolution, as it is the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 56 FPS would be a visual upgrade, but it falls short of playable, so users must choose between quality and performance. The data suggests that at 1080p Low, the system has 18 FPS of headroom above the threshold, which could accommodate minor scene variations without dropping below 60 FPS. For any resolution above 1080p, the recommendation is to lower the resolution to 1080p and use Low settings, as no amount of quality reduction at 1440p or 4K can achieve playable frame rates. This configuration represents the practical ceiling for this hardware combo in Lockdown Protocol.