Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol pairs the Intel Core i5-10400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, a combination that produces a wide spread of frame rates depending on resolution and quality settings. The data shows a system capable of high refresh rate play at lower resolutions, while 4K Ultra demands significant compromises. This analysis breaks down the measured performance figures to explain where the bottleneck lies and what the scores mean relative to other tested hardware.

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

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features a shared 12 MB L3 cache, with 64 KB of L1 and 256 KB of L2 per core. Memory support is DDR4 over a dual-channel bus, providing 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-10400F demonstrates its multithreaded capabilities. It scores 4,748 in 3DMark with 16 threads and 4,735 at max threads, while single-thread performance reaches 688 in 3DMark and 2,541 in PassMark. Cinebench R23 results show 10,297 multi-core and 1,453 single-core. The processor sits in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14,168.

For Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role varies with resolution. At 1080p, the i5-10400F's 12 threads can keep up with the RTX 3080's output, as frame rates scale strongly with lower GPU load. However, the 6 physical cores limit the ceiling in heavily threaded scenes. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 3,929 versus the 16-thread score of 4,748 indicates diminishing returns beyond 8 threads, which suggests the CPU handles the game's typical workload without severe stuttering but may not fully exploit the GPU at lower settings.

How This Combo Ranks, use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific pairing of the i5-10400F and RTX 3080 ranks 580th out of 1,637 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. That places it in the upper-middle tier of all systems tested, roughly in the 65th percentile of combos. The ranking reflects a balance: the CPU is not a top-tier part, but the GPU's strength compensates at higher resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals show how close the i5-10400F sits to comparable processors. The AMD EPYC 7552 has an average score of 14,115, which is 0.4% lower than the i5-10400F's 14,168. The AMD Ryzen 3 7320C scores 14,277, a 0.8% advantage, while the Intel Core i5-8500 achieves 14,332, just 1.1% ahead. The AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 rounds out the group with 14,336, 1.2% higher. These deltas are all within a narrow band, meaning the CPU is not a differentiating factor against these specific alternatives.

The GPU's nearest rivals tell a similar story. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo scores 35,860, 0.2% above the RTX 3080's 35,787. The AMD Radeon 880M is 0.4% lower at 35,646, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE leads by 0.9% with 36,101. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile trails by 1% at 35,435. The RTX 3080 sits in the 80th percentile among all GPUs, with these rivals all clustered within a 1% range, indicating the combo's rank is more influenced by the CPU than the GPU in this pairing.

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

The measured frame rates reveal a clear shift in system bottleneck as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 198.8 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 181.1 FPS, a 8.9% reduction. At 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 120.6 FPS, which is a 39.3% drop from 1080p. This pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU is the primary limiter, as the GPU has headroom to render more frames but the processor cannot feed it fast enough.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is different. The 1080p Ultra score is 113.5 FPS, which drops to 83.1 FPS at 1440p (a 26.8% decrease) and further to 56.5 FPS at 4K (a 50.2% decrease from 1080p). This steeper decline at higher settings shows the GPU becoming the limiting factor, as the increased graphical load saturates the RTX 3080's capabilities. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 64.1 FPS (120.6 vs 56.5), while at 1080p the gap is 85.3 FPS (198.8 vs 113.5), confirming that the CPU constrains performance more at lower resolutions and settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown, resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 198.8 FPS, Medium reaches 173.7 FPS, and High manages 153.6 FPS. Ultra drops to 113.5 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 85.3 FPS, showing that settings have a substantial impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but begins to dip. Low settings yield 181.1 FPS, Medium achieves 130.9 FPS, and High hits 113.8 FPS. Ultra falls to 83.1 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 98.0 FPS, a wider gap than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is handling more of the load.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 3080 is pushed harder. Low settings still manage 120.6 FPS, but Medium drops to 85.5 FPS, High to 75.8 FPS, and Ultra to 56.5 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 64.1 FPS. The 4K numbers show that only Low settings approach high refresh rates, while Ultra falls below 60 FPS, making it unsuitable for competitive play.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process by Samsung. It contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, with a transistor density of 45.1M per mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz, with memory running at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective).

The card has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. It features 8,704 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, along with 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores. Compute performance is rated at 29.77 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16. The RTX 3080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, and connects via PCIe 4.0 x16.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's memory capacity is sufficient for all tested settings. The 10 GB VRAM does not appear to cause issues at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS is 56.5. The GPU's 80th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35,787, aligns with its performance in this title. The RTX 3080's boost clock of 1710 MHz allows it to maintain high utilization, but at 4K Ultra, the card is clearly the bottleneck, as frame rates drop to levels that suggest the GPU is saturated.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in Lockdown Protocol?

A: At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system averages 153.6 FPS, which balances visual quality with high refresh rates. For competitive play, 1080p Low at 198.8 FPS offers the highest frame rates.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: At Low settings, the drop is from 198.8 FPS to 120.6 FPS, a 39.3% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 113.5 FPS to 56.5 FPS, a 50.2% reduction.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p Medium?

A: At 1440p Medium, the system achieves 130.9 FPS. The relatively small drop from 1080p Medium (173.7 FPS) to 1440p Medium (130.9 FPS) suggests the GPU is starting to become the primary limiter, though the CPU still has influence.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 compare to its nearest rival in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3080's average score of 35,787 is 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35,860) and 0.9% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36,101).

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking and what does it mean for this game?

A: The i5-10400F is in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. This indicates it performs better than most processors, but its 6-core design can limit frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra in Lockdown Protocol?

A: No. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 56.5, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. Lowering to 4K High raises the average to 75.8 FPS, which passes the mark.