Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol pairs an Intel Core i5-10400F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, a combination that places 261st out of 1,637 tested combos in this game. That top 16% ranking reflects a system where the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, but the 10th-gen CPU is holding back the absolute ceiling. The data shows a playable experience across all tested settings, but the bottleneck shifts decisively based on resolution and quality preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The 261st rank out of 1,637 combos puts this pairing in the 84th percentile of all tested systems for Lockdown Protocol. That is a strong result, but it is not the top-tier placement the RTX 5090 could achieve with a newer processor. The GPU alone sits in the 94th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. The gap between those two percentile positions explains why this combo ranks where it does: the RTX 5090 is capable of more, but the i5-10400F limits how much of that capability translates into actual frames.

Looking at the measured data, the combo still delivers high frame rates at every resolution and setting tested. The lowest average FPS recorded is 86.9 at 4K Ultra, which remains well within playable territory for a fast-paced FPS. The highest average is 198.1 FPS at 1080p Low. The spread between those extremes shows a system that can adapt to both competitive and visual priorities, though not without compromises.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows suggest that the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1440p High, the combo averages 148.6 FPS, which is smooth enough for competitive play while still providing decent visual fidelity. At 4K High, the average drops to 113.6 FPS, still comfortably above the 100 FPS threshold that many FPS players consider mandatory. High settings avoid the steep performance penalties of Ultra, which costs about 23% of the frame rate compared to High at 4K (86.9 vs 113.6) and about 10% at 1440p (134.1 vs 148.6).

For players who prioritize maximum frame rates over visuals, Low settings are the clear choice. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 198.1 FPS, and even at 4K Low it maintains 156.6 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 18% of performance at 1080p (198.1 to 176) and about 18% at 4K (156.6 to 128.6). Medium offers a reasonable middle ground, but the visual gains over Low are modest in this title. The data suggests that High is the sweet spot for most, with Low reserved for pure competitive scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system scales under increasing resolution load. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 164.9 at 1080p to 148.6 at 1440p, a decline of about 10%. Moving from 1440p to 4K High drops the average to 113.6, another 24% reduction. The total scaling from 1080p to 4K High is roughly 31% fewer frames, which is relatively modest for a game that is not heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions.

The pattern shifts at Low settings. The 1080p Low average of 198.1 FPS drops to 180.7 at 1440p (about 9% less) and then to 156.6 at 4K (another 13% less). The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is about 21%, smaller than the drop at High. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU becomes a more significant limiting factor, particularly at 1080p where the RTX 5090 could otherwise push much higher frame rates. The i5-10400F's six cores and twelve threads, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, cap the maximum achievable FPS in lighter scenes.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more pronounced. The 1080p Ultra average of 148.7 FPS drops to 134.1 at 1440p (about 10% less) and then to 86.9 at 4K (a 35% reduction). This steeper drop at 4K Ultra indicates that the GPU is finally becoming the primary bottleneck at that extreme setting, which aligns with the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory being pushed harder by the higher resolution and quality preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers its highest raw performance. Low settings average 198.1 FPS, Medium drops to 176, High to 164.9, and Ultra to 148.7. The gap between Low and Ultra is about 25%, which is moderate for a FPS title. The 1080p results show that even with a 2.90 GHz base clock CPU, the system can exceed 148 FPS at every setting, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 1440p, the averages are 180.7 FPS on Low, 155.7 on Medium, 148.6 on High, and 134.1 on Ultra. The drop from 1080p is consistent across settings, ranging from about 9% at Low to 10% at High. The 1440p results remain strong, with even Ultra averaging above 134 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay. The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo if you want a balance of visual fidelity and high frame rates.

At 4K, the averages are 156.6 FPS on Low, 128.6 on Medium, 113.6 on High, and 86.9 on Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is more significant, particularly at Ultra where the average falls below 90 FPS. The 4K results indicate that Ultra is only borderline playable, while High offers a much more comfortable margin. Low settings at 4K still deliver over 156 FPS, which is impressive for a 4K resolution and shows the raw power of the RTX 5090 despite the CPU bottleneck.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this combo, and its specifications explain why the system performs as well as it does. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, the GPU has a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s, which is more than enough for Lockdown Protocol's texture and geometry demands at any resolution. The boost clock of 2407 MHz, combined with 21,760 shading units, delivers raw compute that the game can utilize at higher resolutions.

The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is a massive amount of compute, and the data shows that at 4K, the GPU is the primary bottleneck at Ultra settings. The 86.9 FPS average at 4K Ultra is a result of the GPU being fully utilized, whereas at 1080p Low, the CPU likely limits the frame rate. The 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms that the RTX 5090 is near the top of the performance hierarchy, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,411 reflects strong DirectX 12 performance, which is relevant for Lockdown Protocol's rendering pipeline.

The GPU's memory capacity of 32 GB is overkill for this game, but it ensures that there is no VRAM-related stuttering or texture pop-in at any tested setting. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth also helps maintain consistent frame times at 4K, where memory bandwidth becomes more critical. The RTX 5090 D, the closest rival with an average score of 84,241, is only 0.1% behind, meaning this GPU is performing exactly as expected.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is the weaker link in this combo, and its impact is visible in the measured FPS data. With six cores and twelve threads, the CPU has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache is modest by modern standards, but the CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it is not a slouch. However, compared to the GPU's 94th percentile, the CPU is clearly the limiting factor in CPU-bound scenarios.

The benchmark results for the i5-10400F show a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10,297 and a single-core score of 1,453. These numbers place it in the same performance class as the AMD EPYC 7552, which has an average score of 14,115 and is only 0.4% ahead, and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, which is 0.8% ahead. The i5-8500 is 1.1% ahead, and the AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 is 1.2% ahead. This tight grouping indicates that the i5-10400F is competitive with its direct rivals, but none of these CPUs are anywhere near the RTX 5090's performance tier.

The CPU's impact is most evident at 1080p Low settings, where the average FPS of 198.1 is likely capped by the CPU's single-thread performance. The 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and PassMark single-thread score of 2,541 suggest that the CPU cannot feed the GPU fast enough to exceed 200 FPS in this title. At 4K Ultra, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, which is why the FPS drop from 1440p to 4K is steeper at Ultra than at Low. The data indicates that upgrading the CPU would yield higher frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the gains at 4K Ultra would be minimal since the GPU is already maxed out.