Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Lockdown Protocol. The data shows a clear pattern: performance scales strongly with resolution, and the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings, while the CPU keeps up well at lower resolutions. This combo ranks in the 77th percentile of all tested configurations, indicating solid mid-pack performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable drop as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 costs 41.5 FPS (from 155.4 down to 113.9), and moving to 3840x2160 costs another 38.1 FPS (down to 75.8). This represents a 51.2% total reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, which is consistent with a GPU-bound workload where pixel count dominates.

At High settings, the same resolution scaling shows 1920x1080 at 99.6 FPS, 2560x1440 at 72.9 FPS, and 3840x2160 at 45.5 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 26.7 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 27.4 FPS — a nearly linear decline. This suggests the RX 5700 XT's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being taxed progressively as pixel count rises, with no single resolution causing a disproportionate collapse.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. At 1920x1080, Ultra delivers 71.2 FPS, which drops to 51.7 FPS at 2560x1440 and 33.7 FPS at 3840x2160. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 19.5 FPS, but the 1440p to 4K drop is 18.0 FPS — a slightly shallower decline at the top end. This indicates that at Ultra settings, the GPU is already saturated at 1080p, and additional resolution increases have diminishing relative impact because the frame time is already dominated by shading and texture work rather than pure fill rate.

The scaling behavior points to the GPU as the limiting component across all resolutions at Medium and above. At Low settings, the 4K result of 75.8 FPS still shows headroom, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU adequately even at high pixel counts when the graphics load is light. However, the i3-12100F's 4 cores and 8 threads are not the constraint here — the data shows the RX 5700 XT's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become the ceiling as settings rise.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture with a 7 nm process node from TSMC. Its clock speeds are listed as a base of 1605 MHz, a game clock of 1755 MHz, and a boost of 1905 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs, produce a texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s. The FP32 throughput is 9.754 TFLOPS.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role becomes evident when comparing Low to Ultra at the same resolution. At 1920x1080, Low produces 155.4 FPS while Ultra produces 71.2 FPS — a 54.2% reduction. At 2560x1440, the spread is 113.9 FPS versus 51.7 FPS (54.6% reduction), and at 3840x2160 it is 75.8 FPS versus 33.7 FPS (55.5% reduction). The consistency of this ~55% penalty across all resolutions indicates that the settings presets scale uniformly, likely increasing shading complexity, texture sampling, and post-processing effects rather than just resolution-dependent work.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the measured configurations; there is no min FPS data provided, so memory pressure cannot be directly observed. However, the fact that 4K Ultra still renders at 33.7 FPS without collapsing suggests the frame buffer is not overflowing. The GPU's percentile ranking of 68 versus all GPUs places it slightly above the midpoint, and its average benchmark score of 24731 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763, deltaPct -0.1) and Intel Arc A350M (24647, deltaPct 0.3). This means the RX 5700 XT is operating at the expected level for its class in this title.

The boost clock of 1905 MHz is the theoretical maximum, but sustained performance depends on thermal headroom — the card's 225 W TDP and dual-slot cooler suggest it can maintain high clocks under load, which the 4K Low result of 75.8 FPS supports. The PCIe 4.0 x16 interface provides ample bandwidth, and the 256-bit memory bus delivers 448.0 GB/s, which is likely a key factor in the smooth scaling from 1080p to 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 1268 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the 77.5th percentile, meaning roughly 22.5% of all tested configurations perform worse. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 72nd percentile (versus all CPUs) and the GPU's 68th percentile (versus all GPUs) — both components are similarly mid-tier, and the combo lands slightly below what each individual percentile might suggest.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context: the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX has an average score of 13534 (deltaPct -0.1, essentially identical), the Intel Core i7-1250U scores 13462 (deltaPct 0.4), the Intel Core i3-10105 scores 13430 (deltaPct 0.6), and the Intel Core i7-7700K scores 13280 (deltaPct 1.8). The i3-12100F's average benchmark score is 13516, so it is within 1.8% of all four rivals. This indicates the CPU is not a weak link in this pairing — its 4 cores and 8 threads with a 4.30 GHz boost clock are adequate for the game's demands.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals show a similar tight cluster: the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763, deltaPct -0.1), Intel Arc A350M (24647, deltaPct 0.3), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (24592, deltaPct 0.6), and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 (24519, deltaPct 0.9). The RX 5700 XT's average benchmark score is 24731, meaning all five GPUs are within 1% of each other. This suggests the measured FPS in Lockdown Protocol is representative of what this GPU class can deliver, and the combo rank is not skewed by an unusually strong or weak sample.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings achieve 155.4 FPS, Medium 111.2 FPS, High 99.6 FPS, and Ultra 71.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 44.2 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 28.4 FPS. This indicates that the Low preset removes significant graphical work, while the High to Ultra step is less punishing — likely due to diminishing returns on shadow quality or ambient occlusion.

At 2560x1440, the numbers are 113.9 FPS (Low), 83.5 FPS (Medium), 72.9 FPS (High), and 51.7 FPS (Ultra). The Medium to High drop is only 10.6 FPS, which is the smallest step across any resolution at this tier. This suggests the Medium preset is a sweet spot for 1440p, offering 83.5 FPS with likely acceptable visual quality. The Ultra preset at 51.7 FPS is borderline for fast-paced FPS play.

At 3840x2160, the results are 75.8 FPS (Low), 51.4 FPS (Medium), 45.5 FPS (High), and 33.7 FPS (Ultra). The difference between Medium and High is 5.9 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 11.8 FPS. At 4K, only Low settings provide a consistently smooth experience above 60 FPS. Medium at 51.4 FPS is playable but not ideal for competitive play, while High and Ultra fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Lockdown Protocol at 1440p with High settings?*

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings is 72.9 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, though it leaves limited headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: What is the best resolution for a competitive advantage?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 155.4 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the dataset. This provides the lowest latency and greatest responsiveness for fast-paced FPS action.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 5700 XT's average benchmark score is 24731, which is within 0.9% of the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 (24519) and within 0.1% of the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763). The Intel Arc A350M is 0.3% behind, and the GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile is 0.6% behind.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. At 1920x1080 Low, the FPS reaches 155.4, and the CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, has a nearly identical average score (deltaPct -0.1), suggesting the i3-12100F is performing as expected.

Q: What FPS can be expected at 4K with Medium settings?

A: The measured average at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is 51.4 FPS. This is below 60 FPS, so users may need to lower to Low settings (75.8 FPS) for a smoother 4K experience.

Q: How does the combo rank overall in this game?

A: It ranks 1268 out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the 77.5th percentile. This is a solid mid-tier result, given the CPU's 72nd percentile and GPU's 68th percentile individually.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear hierarchy for each resolution. For 1920x1080, Low settings at 155.4 FPS is the only preset that fully saturates a 144Hz monitor, while High at 99.6 FPS is excellent for 100Hz displays. Medium at 111.2 FPS offers a good balance if visual fidelity matters, but Low provides the highest competitive edge. Ultra at 71.2 FPS is still playable but not optimal.

At 2560x1440, Low at 113.9 FPS is the best choice for high-refresh monitors, while Medium at 83.5 FPS is the recommended preset for most users — it offers a substantial visual upgrade over Low with only a 30.4 FPS penalty. High at 72.9 FPS is acceptable, but the step from Medium to High yields only 10.6 FPS, making it a poor trade-off. Ultra at 51.7 FPS should be avoided for FPS gameplay.

For 3840x2160, Low at 75.8 FPS is the only preset that exceeds 60 FPS, making it the default recommendation for 4K. Medium at 51.4 FPS is playable if the user prioritizes visuals over frame rate, but High (45.5 FPS) and Ultra (33.7 FPS) fall into a range that may cause noticeable input lag in a fast-paced FPS. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo requires significant settings compromises, and 1440p is the practical ceiling for high-quality play.