Lockdown Protocol

The Lockdown Protocol is a first-person shooter released on 2024-03-11. This analysis covers the combination of an Intel Core i3-12100F (Alder Lake, 10 nm, 4 cores / 8 threads) and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (Turing, 12 nm, 6 GB GDDR6) tested with measured in-game data. The combo ranks 3199 out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the lower half of the field. The CPU's launch MSRP is $97, and the GPU's launch MSRP is 279 USD.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates at all four settings show a sharp drop as the resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 122 (Low) to 57 (Ultra). At 2560x1440, the average FPS spans 90 (Low) to 42 (Ultra). At 3840x2160, the numbers fall further, from 58 (Low) down to 27 (Ultra). The pattern is uniform: every setting reduces its average by roughly the same amount when moving to a higher resolution, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting component as pixel count rises.

For example, at High quality, the 1080p average is 76, the 1440p average is 56, and the 4K average is 36. Even the Low preset – which sits at 122 FPS on 1080p – drops to 90 on 1440p and 58 on 4K. The incremental load from 1440p to 4K is larger than the step from 1080p to 1440p, which is typical for a GPU-bound game. The minimum FPS recorded on Medium settings reveals the stability pattern: at 1080p, the minimum is 74 with an average of 87; at 1440p, the minimum is 54 with an average of 64; at 4K, the minimum is 35 and the average 41, while the maximum stays close at 47. The tight min/max spread on Medium indicates the rendering workload is still manageable for the GPU at these resolutions, but the absolute averages are low at higher pixel counts.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU can still push the GPU to a high frame rate at Low; the 122 FPS figure is the single highest measurement in the entire set. But as the resolution climbs, the constant feature of GPU load quickly dominates: the 4K Ultra average of 27 is the lowest measurement across the board, trailing the 1080p Ultra result of 57 by a measure that shows a clear shift to pixel-fill limits rather than geometry.

How This Combo Ranks

In the overall database of tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, the i3-12100F + GTX 1660 Ti combo occupies position 3199 out of 3714. That means the bulk of tested hardware outperforms this setup, and only 515 combinations land worse. The percentile shows the CPU alone sits at the 63rd percentile of all CPUs (the average of individual processor scores from Cinebench R23), while the GPU sits at 41st percentile of all GPUs (based on PassMark G3D). The ranking gap between the two components – the GPU being weaker relative to its peers – is consistent with the observed frame rates: the GPU limits the system at high resolutions and high settings.

The measured rank is not an immutable property; changes such as faster memory or a stronger GPU would move the combination, but the data is based on a fixed configuration. The combo's percentile versus all tested hardware underlines its mid-range positioning, which is confirmed by the relative performance of the individual parts.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the TU116 chip using the 12 nm process at TSMC, with 6,600 million transistors on a die size of 284 mm². Its memory subsystem carries 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The base clock is 1500 MHz and the boost clock is 1770 MHz. Compute resources include 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 48 raster outputs (ROPs). The rated FP32 throughput is 5.437 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and a texture fill rate of 169.9 GTexel/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the PassMark G3D score for the GPU is 12,871 (with a percentile of 41), and its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon 540 (avg score 7,673 – 0.7% faster), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7,580 – 1.9% faster), the AMD Radeon R7 250 (7,557 – 2.2% faster), and the Intel Arc A310 (7,550 – 2.3% faster). The GTX 1660 Ti’s closest competition is within a single percent, meaning any of these four cards would land within a similar frame-rate envelope under the same game conditions. The GPU’s benchmark helps explain the frame rates: at 4K Ultra the card only manages 32 average FPS, while even its best case (1080p Low) tops out at 122 FPS. The 6 GB VRAM package, while adequate for many settings, is not a limiting factor at the resolution tested, as the measured range only runs into a 58 FPS ceiling at 4K Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table lists the complete measured FPS set from the benchmark runs. Medium rows include the minimum and maximum frame rates; all other settings default to the average.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| 1920x1080 | High | 76 | – | – |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 122 | – | – |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 87 | 74 | 100 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 57 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | High | 56 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 90 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 64 | 54 | 73 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 42 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | High | 36 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 58 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 41 | 35 | 47 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 27 | – | – |

Visual inspection of the table shows the 1080p Ultra result is 57, only 4 FPS faster than the 4K Low result of 58 – a strong sign that the GPUload is raising the floor. The single highest average is 122 FPS at 1080p Low, while the lowest is 27 FPS at 4K Ultra. The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max data, revealing a 20–30 FPS range from minimum to maximum at each resolution, which implies consistent rendering under standard load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F belongs to the Core 12th Gen family (Alder Lake), manufactured: on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 163 mm². It has 4 cores and 8 threads, base clock of 3.30 GHz, boost clock of 4.30 GHz, and a TDP of 58 W. The cache is composed of 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 12 MB L3 shared. It uses a dual-channel memory and supports both DDR4 and DDR5. In CPU benchmark suites, the CPU scores 4,051 in 3DMark with 16 threads, 1,659 with 2 threads, 2,859 with 4 threads, 4,026 with 8 threads, and 4,023 with max threads; the Cinebench R23 multi-core result is 11,860, single-core 1,674. A geekbench multi-core score is 7,252, single-core 1,932.

These numbers place it in the 86th percentile of all CPUs (the data in the pack uses 8, and the nearest rival Intel Core 5 120UL is 0.7% slower, while the Intel Core 3 N355 is within 1.4%). In Lockdown, the CPU proves to not be the first bottleneck – at 1080p Ultra, the GPU regains the dominant role, and the single-core score of 1,932 from Geekbench hints at the processing power for game logic. The frame rates remain modest even at 1080p Low (122 FPS), which while high, leaves headroom, meaning that the CPU could support even the higher GPU load if a future card is installed. The 4-core, 8-thread layout is sufficient to feed Geforce GTX 1660 Ti for most bullet physics, but it does not allow the GPU to stretch to triple-digit FPS at medium or high settings.

The measured data shows that at Low quality the frame rate scales from 122 (1080p) to 90 (1440p) and then 58 (4K) – a linear-like drop that the CPU can track, because the CPU occupancy is not reported, but the pattern mimics a GPU-limited scenario. The CPU's electrical overhead of 58 W sits beside the GPU's 120 W, and the PSU is recommended within the spec (300 W suggested). The architecture provides Gen 5 PCIe lanes and dual channel, which are sufficient for this GPU class.

FAQ

1. What is the highest measured average FPS in Lockdown Protocol with this combo?

The highest measured average is 122 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

2. What is the worst performance you can see with this combo?

The lowest measured average is 27 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

3. How does this combo rank among tested systems?

It ranks 3199 out of 3714 total tested combinations.

4. What type of memory bus is used on the GTX 1660 Ti?

It uses a 192-bit bus with 6 GB GDDR6 memory, giving 288.0 GB/s bandwidth.

5. What is the CPU's architecture and socket?

The i3-12100F uses the Alder Lake architecture on Intel Socket 1700, with a base clock 3.30 GHz and boost to 4.30 GHz.

6. Which individual GPU benchmark indicates its performance class?

The PassMark G3D score is 12, and its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon 540 (0.7% faster).

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings differ by resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset yields an average of 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 – a respectable balance. The High preset drops to an average of 76, while Ultra drops to an average toothsstill playable but less smoothly, and Low is the most – 122 FPS – but sacrifices visual quality. For a balanced experience at 1080p, the data suggests Medium is the sweet spot: the FPS margin over Ultra (87 vs 57) is clear, and the min FPS of 74 indicates the floor remains above most refresh rates.

At 2560x1440, Medium again delivers the best trade-off: average 64 with min 54, while the Low preset runs at an average of 90 (maximum acceleration to 1220) but the visual distortion is considerable, and High/Ultra fall to 56 and 42, respectively. For 1440p, Medium is the only setting that keeps the average above 60 with a comfortable min, so it is recommended.

For 3840x2160, the picture is different. The Low setting yields an average of 58 FPS, which is the lowest that stays above the traditionally smooth 60 FPS. Medium and High deliver averages of 41 and 36, respectives, while Ultra drops below 30 at an average of 27 – likely the worst experience. Therefore, to play at 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option based on measured frame rate, unless the user is willing to accept the below-30 average.

Overall, the best experience across the three test points is 1080p Medium (min 74, avg 87, max 100) and 1440p Medium (min 54, avg 64, max 73). The 4K results simply do not provide acceptable frame rates unless the settings are set to Low, which is a performance-first trade at the cost of visual fidelity. The data does not support Ultra for any resolution due to the steeply falling average: from 57 at 1080p, to 42 at 1440p, and to 27 at 4K.