Lockdown Protocol

The pairing of the Intel Core i3-12100F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a study in extremes, placing a high-end GPU with a decidedly entry-level desktop processor. The data shows that this combination produces a wide range of frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, depending heavily on resolution and quality settings. The benchmark results indicate a system that can deliver exceptional performance at high resolutions but which shows clear signs of CPU limitation when the graphical load is lightened.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. It runs at a base clock of 3.30 GHz and can boost up to 4.30 GHz. This is a modest CPU by modern standards, ranking in the 72nd percentile against all CPUs in the database. Its benchmark scores, such as 11,912 points in Cinebench R23 multicore and 1,681 points in the single-core test, confirm its position as a capable but not high-end performer. The data shows it sits within 1.8% of the Intel Core i7-7700K in average benchmark score, which provides a useful reference point for its generation of performance.

In Lockdown Protocol, the influence of this CPU is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings. The way the frame rates scale suggests that the CPU is often the limiting factor, particularly at 1080p. For instance, at 1080p with Low settings, the system averages 270.5 FPS, but this is not a massive jump from the 230.1 FPS seen at High settings. The gap between these settings is only about 17.6%, which is a smaller relative difference than what is seen at higher resolutions. This pattern indicates that the GPU has enough headroom to render frames quickly, but the CPU’s four physical cores become a bottleneck, preventing the frame rate from climbing even higher. The processor’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and support for dual-channel DDR4 or DDR5 memory are sufficient for this game, but its core count is not.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a flagship graphics card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture. It features a massive 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock is listed at 2520 MHz, and it houses 16,384 shading units. This hardware places it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473. The GPU's raw power is evident in its Passmark G3D score of 38,194, which is significantly higher than that of the CPU.

The RTX 4090’s role in this pairing is to provide immense graphical throughput, which is most visible when the resolution is high enough to stress the GPU. At 4K, the card is clearly the dominant component, as the frame rates scale more predictably with settings. For example, at 4K, the difference between Low (173 FPS) and Ultra (84.5 FPS) settings is a substantial 51.9% drop, demonstrating that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. The 24 GB VRAM capacity is more than ample for Lockdown Protocol at any settings, ensuring that memory capacity is never a limiting factor. The data confirms that the GPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions, but it becomes the primary driver of performance as the pixel count increases.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS across resolutions reveals a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average frame rate drops from 230.1 FPS to 167.2 FPS, a reduction of 27.3%. This is a significant drop, but the frame rate remains very high. The real insight comes from comparing the scaling at different quality presets.

At Low settings, the frame rate only drops from 270.5 FPS at 1080p to 243.6 FPS at 1440p, a mere 9.9% decrease. This small drop strongly suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor at these lower graphical loads; the GPU has plenty of spare capacity, so increasing the resolution does not change the frame rate much because the CPU is already working at its maximum. The situation changes dramatically when moving to 4K. At High settings, the frame rate falls to 111.2 FPS, which is a 33.5% drop from the 1440p result. At 4K Ultra, the average is 84.5 FPS. This much steeper decline at 4K indicates that the GPU is now becoming the primary constraint, as the sheer number of pixels requires more shading and texture work, which is the RTX 4090's domain. The data shows that the system is CPU-bound at 1080p and progressively becomes more GPU-bound as the resolution increases to 4K.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the database of tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, this specific pairing of the Core i3-12100F and RTX 4090 ranks 60th out of 1,637 tested combos. This places it in the top 3.7% of all tested systems, which is a strong result given the CPU's modest specifications. However, the ranking is a testament to the sheer power of the GPU, which can compensate for the CPU's limitations at higher resolutions.

The combo's rank suggests that while it is not the absolute fastest configuration, it outperforms the vast majority of other systems tested. The data indicates that the RTX 4090 is so powerful that even with a relatively weak CPU, the overall system performance in Lockdown Protocol is excellent, particularly at 4K where the GPU is the primary driver. The rank of 60 out of 1,637 shows that this combination is a high performer in the game, but it also implies that many other CPU and GPU pairings with more balanced components would likely achieve even higher scores. The result is a system that is faster than most, but which leaves performance on the table at lower resolutions due to the CPU's limitations.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achieved by this combo in Lockdown Protocol?*

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 270.5 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings, the system achieves an average of 84.5 FPS.

Q: Is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K consistent across all settings?

A: No, the drop is much larger at higher settings. For example, at Low settings the frame rate falls from 270.5 FPS to 173 FPS (a 36.1% drop), while at High settings it falls from 230.1 FPS to 111.2 FPS (a 51.7% drop), indicating the GPU becomes more of a bottleneck at 4K.

Q: What is the CPU's benchmark percentile compared to all other CPUs?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F ranks in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs in the database.

Q: How does the CPU's average benchmark score compare to the Intel Core i7-7700K?

A: The Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score that is 1.8% higher than the Core i7-7700K.

Q: What is the GPU's position relative to other tested graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks in the 91st percentile of all GPUs in the database, with its average benchmark score placing it within 1.3% of the NVIDIA Quadro P6000.