Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i5-10400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

The pairing of Intel's Comet Lake six-core i5-10400F with NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace RTX 4070 SUPER produces a fascinating dataset in Lockdown Protocol, a 2024 FPS title. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is heavily influenced by graphics settings, with a 198.2 FPS peak at 1080p Low and a 63.3 FPS floor at 4K Ultra, suggesting that this combo is more GPU-limited at higher resolutions while the CPU becomes a more significant factor at lower settings.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a predictable, yet steep, drop in performance across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 198.2 at 1920x1080 to 181 at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 8.7%. This modest decline indicates that at Low settings, the system retains substantial headroom, likely because the graphics workload is light enough that the CPU can keep the GPU fed. Moving to High settings, the drop from 168.2 FPS at 1080p to 135 FPS at 1440p is a more substantial 19.7% decrease, showing that as graphical fidelity increases, the GPU begins to take a more dominant role.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160) is far more aggressive. At High settings, the average FPS plummets from 135 to 86.8, a 35.7% reduction. This dramatic falloff is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are being pushed to their limits. The trend continues at Ultra settings, where the frame rate drops from 100.6 at 1440p to 63.3 at 4K, a 37.1% decline. Interestingly, the Low settings curve shows the smallest relative drop from 1080p to 4K (198.2 to 139.9, a 29.4% decrease), suggesting that at Low, the limiting component shifts back toward the CPU, which maintains a more consistent performance envelope across resolutions.

The data implies that for 4K gaming, the user is firmly in GPU territory. The difference between 1080p and 4K at Medium settings (176.4 vs 96.3 FPS) represents a 45.4% performance loss, which is a clear indicator that the rendering resolution is the primary bottleneck. At 1080p, the system appears to be more balanced, with the i5-10400F's six cores and 12 threads providing enough throughput to approach the GPU's ceiling.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the AD104 chip using a 5 nm process, with a base clock of 1980 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, which is a critical factor in the 4K results. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz, with 21 Gbps effective speed, and the GPU's 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units contribute to its overall throughput.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role is most evident in the Ultra settings results. At 4K Ultra, the system manages only 63.3 FPS, which is a 54.3% drop from the 1080p Ultra score of 135.3 FPS. This severe scaling penalty indicates that the game's Ultra preset is extremely demanding, likely leveraging features like ray tracing or high-resolution textures that saturate the GPU's 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability. The GPU's 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs (based on its average benchmark score of 42576) places it near the performance of the NVIDIA RTX A6000, which shows a deltaPct of -0.2% relative to the 4070 SUPER.

The GPU's 56 ray tracing cores and 224 tensor cores are not explicitly tested in these frame rate measurements, but the substantial performance gap between High and Ultra settings suggests that these features are active at the highest preset. The 220 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU indicate a power-hungry component, but the benchmarks show that even at 4K Low, the GPU can deliver 139.9 FPS, demonstrating its raw rasterization strength when not burdened by advanced effects.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 1637 tested combinations in the database, this specific pairing of the i5-10400F and RTX 4070 SUPER achieves a rank of 373. This places it in the top 22.8% of all combos tested for Lockdown Protocol, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The rank reflects the balance between the two components; the CPU's 73rd percentile standing (average benchmark score of 14168) is slightly lower than the GPU's 84th percentile, but the combination still lands in the upper quartile of all tested systems.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD EPYC 7552 (deltaPct of +0.4%), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (deltaPct of -0.8%), and Intel Core i5-8500 (deltaPct of -1.1%). These close margins indicate that the i5-10400F is competitive with a range of processors across different market segments, but it is not a top-tier performer. The GPU's nearest rivals show similar clustering, with the RTX A6000 at -0.2% deltaPct and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE at -0.3% deltaPct, suggesting that the 4070 SUPER sits in a tightly contested performance band.

The rank of 373 out of 1637 is particularly notable because it shows that the GPU's strength can partially compensate for the CPU's more modest capabilities. In games that are heavily GPU-bound, such as Lockdown Protocol at 4K, the combination can outperform many systems with more powerful CPUs but weaker GPUs. The data suggests that for an esports-style FPS, this pairing offers a compelling balance, though the CPU may become a limiting factor in CPU-intensive scenes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 198.2 FPS on Low settings, 176.4 FPS on Medium, 168.2 FPS on High, and 135.3 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 62.9 FPS, representing a 31.7% performance loss when maxing out settings. This is a substantial drop, but the absolute numbers remain high, with even the Ultra preset achieving well over 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the scores are 181 FPS on Low, 148.8 FPS on Medium, 135 FPS on High, and 100.6 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is linear for Medium (176.4 to 148.8, a 15.6% drop) and High (168.2 to 135, a 19.7% drop), but the Low setting only loses 8.7% of its performance. This suggests that at Low settings, the bottleneck is not the GPU, but rather the CPU's ability to process the game's logic and draw calls.

At 3840x2160, the results are 139.9 FPS on Low, 96.3 FPS on Medium, 86.8 FPS on High, and 63.3 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low score of 139.9 FPS is particularly impressive, showing that the GPU has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates even at 4K when settings are reduced. The jump from Low to Medium at 4K (139.9 to 96.3) represents a 31.2% performance penalty, which is the largest single-setting transition in the entire dataset, highlighting the significant workload increase that the Medium preset introduces.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combination achieves in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 198.2, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Lockdown Protocol?

A: Yes, it can. At 4K with Low settings, it averages 139.9 FPS, and at 4K with High settings, it averages 86.8 FPS. However, at 4K Ultra, it drops to 63.3 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14168, which is 0.4% higher than the AMD EPYC 7552, 0.8% lower than the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, and 1.1% lower than the Intel Core i5-8500.

Q: What is the largest performance drop between consecutive quality presets?

A: The largest drop occurs at 4K when moving from Low to Medium settings, where the average FPS falls from 139.9 to 96.3, a 31.2% decrease.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is ranked in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 42576.

Q: How does the 1080p Ultra performance compare to the 4K Ultra performance?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 135.3 FPS, while at 4K Ultra, it averages 63.3 FPS, representing a 53.2% reduction in performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, and connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 198.2 FPS, which is only 8.7% higher than the 1440p Low score of 181 FPS. This small difference suggests that the CPU is nearing its limit at these settings, as the GPU is not fully saturated. The CPU's single-thread performance, as measured by its 3dmark single-thread score of 688, is modest, but its 12 threads provide adequate multi-threading for modern game engines.

The CPU's benchmark scores show a strong multi-threaded capability relative to its single-thread performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 is substantially higher than its single-core score of 1453, indicating that the processor scales well with additional threads. This is beneficial for Lockdown Protocol, which likely utilizes multiple threads for game logic and physics. However, the CPU's 73rd percentile ranking suggests that it is not a top-end processor, and in CPU-bound scenarios (such as 1080p Low), it may hold back the RTX 4070 SUPER from reaching its full potential.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the user's resolution and performance targets. For 1080p gaming, the High preset offers an excellent balance, delivering 168.2 FPS, which is only 15.2% lower than the Low preset's 198.2 FPS but with significantly better visual quality. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 135.3 FPS, which is still smooth, but the 32.9 FPS difference between High and Ultra may not justify the visual gain for competitive play.

At 1440p, the High preset at 135 FPS is the recommended choice for most users, as it provides a high refresh rate experience while maintaining good visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 148.8 FPS offers a slight performance boost for those prioritizing frame rate, while the Ultra preset at 100.6 FPS is viable for users with 100 Hz monitors who want maximum quality.

For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 139.9 FPS is the standout option for competitive play, but it sacrifices significant visual quality. The High preset at 86.8 FPS provides a more balanced experience, though it requires a 60-90 Hz display to fully utilize. The Ultra preset at 63.3 FPS is only recommended for users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate and have a 60 Hz display. In summary, the data suggests that High settings at 1080p or 1440p offer the best overall experience, while 4K users should choose between Low for competitive play or High for visual quality.