Lockdown Protocol

FAQ

Q: What is the comboRankInGame for the Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The combo ranks 1739 out of 2828 tested combinations. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, indicating that while it delivers playable performance in many scenarios, a substantial number of other CPU-GPU pairings produce higher frame rates in this title.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17177. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 7H12, scores 17120 (0.3% higher), while the Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17239 (0.4% lower). The AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G is 0.6% higher at 17278, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U is 0.6% lower at 17074. The differences are all within a fraction of a percent, meaning the i5-11400F sits in a tightly contested performance band.

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

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 falls in the 66th percentile for all GPUs. This indicates it outperforms roughly two-thirds of the GPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 21035, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, is only 0.6% higher at 21153, while the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT trails by 1.6% at 20713.

Q: What are the CPU's core and thread counts, and what are its clock speeds?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F features 6 cores and 12 threads. Its base clock is 2.60 GHz, and it can boost up to 4.40 GHz. The processor has a 65 W TDP and is built on Intel's 14 nm process node with the Rocket Lake architecture.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have, and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus. Memory bandwidth is rated at 320.0 GB/s, with memory clocks running at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). The GPU's base clock is 2317 MHz, and it boosts to 2572 MHz.

Q: What is the best average FPS recorded for this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS at 1920x1080 is 168, achieved with Low settings. Medium settings produce 119 FPS on average, High settings yield 104 FPS, and Ultra settings result in 78 FPS. All of these are recorded from measured data in the FACT PACK.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 128-bit memory bus to Lockdown Protocol. With a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s, the card has enough throughput to feed its 2560 shading units at high rates. The GPU's base clock of 2317 MHz and boost clock of 2572 MHz are relatively modest, but the Blackwell 2.0 architecture compensates with efficiency gains from the 5 nm TSMC process node. The RTX 5050 includes 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores, which could assist in any ray-traced or DLSS-enabled workloads the game might offer, though the measured FPS data does not specifically isolate those features.

The GPU's benchmark results show a PassMark G3D score of 17326 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502. Its Geekbench OpenCL score reaches 90334, while Vulkan scores 89381. These numbers suggest the card handles compute-heavy tasks competently, but its DirectX 12 PassMark score of 66 is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 150, hinting that newer API workloads might be more demanding. The GPU sits in the 66th percentile for all GPUs, meaning it outperforms most cards in the database, yet its nearest rivals include older mobile and desktop parts like the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile, which are within a 1.6% delta. This indicates the RTX 5050's raw performance is strong for its class, but not exceptional.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the GPU's role becomes clear when examining the measured FPS across resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 37 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth competitive play. Even at 1440p Ultra, the average is 57 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a fast-paced FPS. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM could be a limiting factor at higher resolutions with Ultra textures, though the data does not explicitly confirm VRAM capacity as the bottleneck. The card's pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s provide theoretical ceilings that align with the observed performance: at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly struggling to maintain high fill rates, while at 1080p Low, it has ample headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 168 at 1080p to 123 at 1440p (a 26.8% reduction), and then to 79 at 4K (a 35.8% reduction from 1440p). The scaling between 1080p and 1440p is steeper than between 1440p and 4K when measured in raw FPS terms, but the relative percentage drops are consistent with increasing pixel counts.

At Medium settings, the 1080p average is 119 FPS, which falls to 87 FPS at 1440p (a 26.9% drop) and then to 56 FPS at 4K (a 35.6% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and Medium settings suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor in both cases, as the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at these settings. However, the picture changes when examining High settings: 1080p yields 104 FPS, 1440p drops to 76 FPS (a 26.9% drop), and 4K falls to 49 FPS (a 35.5% drop from 1440p). The similar scaling percentages across settings indicate that the GPU's workload scales predictably with resolution, and the CPU is not introducing a bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Ultra settings tell a slightly different story. At 1080p, the average is 78 FPS, which drops to 57 FPS at 1440p (a 26.9% reduction) and then to 37 FPS at 4K (a 35.1% reduction from 1440p). The fact that the percentage drops remain nearly identical across all settings, around 27% from 1080p to 1440p and 35% from 1440p to 4K, strongly implies that the RTX 5050's rendering capabilities are the dominant constraint. The CPU's role is likely secondary, as the 6-core i5-11400F with a 4.40 GHz boost clock should be sufficient for most game logic at these frame rates. The data suggests that players seeking higher FPS at 4K would need a more powerful GPU, as the RTX 5050 simply cannot maintain playable frame rates at the highest settings in this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a wide range of performance depending on settings. Low settings produce an average of 168 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most standard monitors. Medium settings yield 119 FPS on average, with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS, indicating smooth frame pacing. High settings bring the average down to 104 FPS, while Ultra settings result in 78 FPS. For competitive play at 1080p, Low or Medium settings are clearly the best choices, as both exceed 100 FPS on average.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. Low settings average 123 FPS, which remains excellent for high-refresh-rate gaming. Medium settings produce 87 FPS on average, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS, making it a viable option for 1440p monitors with adaptive sync. High settings drop to 76 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 57 FPS. The 1440p Medium setting appears to be the sweet spot, offering a balance between visual quality and frame rate that stays above 60 FPS on average.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5050 begins to struggle. Low settings average 79 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a competitive FPS. Medium settings drop to 56 FPS on average, with a minimum of 48 FPS and a maximum of 65 FPS, putting the experience at the edge of playability. High settings average 49 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 37 FPS. At 4K, players would need to accept significant compromises in visual fidelity to maintain smooth gameplay, and even then, the frame rates are noticeably lower than at 1440p. The data clearly shows that 4K gaming with this combo is best reserved for slower-paced titles or for players who prioritize resolution over frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination ranks 1739 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the 61.5th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 61% of the tested combos perform better in this game. The rank is a composite measure that accounts for the CPU and GPU synergy, and the data indicates that this pairing is not particularly well-optimized for Lockdown Protocol's engine.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 71 for all CPUs suggests it is a capable processor in general, but its performance in this game is constrained by the GPU. The GPU's 66th percentile ranking is slightly lower, and the combined result places the combo below what one might expect from adding the two percentiles together. This suggests that Lockdown Protocol may be more GPU-intensive than many other titles, or that the 6-core/12-thread configuration of the i5-11400F is not fully utilized by the game's threading model.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the i5-11400F is essentially tied with the AMD EPYC 7H12, Intel Core i5-12450H, AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G, and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, with all deltas under 1%. This means that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would likely produce nearly identical results in Lockdown Protocol, assuming the same GPU. The bottleneck is clearly the RTX 5050, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU at most settings and resolutions. The combo rank of 1739 reflects this imbalance, and players looking to improve performance would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This configuration is typical for mid-range desktop processors of its generation, and it should handle most modern game workloads adequately. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache, which provides reasonable data locality for game engines.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-11400F scores 14340 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2024 in single-core. Its Geekbench scores are 7737 multi-core and 1777 single-core, while PassMark multithread score reaches 16908. The CPU's average benchmark score of 17177 puts it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is above average in general computing tasks. However, the 3DMark results show a more nuanced picture: the 2-thread score of 1691 and 4-thread score of 3171 are relatively modest, while the 8-thread score of 4691 and max-thread score of 5652 suggest that scaling beyond 6 threads provides diminishing returns.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU across most settings and resolutions. The FPS scaling patterns, consistent 27% drops from 1080p to 1440p and 35% drops from 1440p to 4K across all settings, indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences at higher resolutions, where the GPU becomes more strained. Instead, the consistent scaling suggests the CPU has enough headroom even at 1080p Low, where 168 FPS is achieved. The 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (51.2 GB/s bandwidth) are adequate for this workload, though the 14 nm process node means the CPU runs hotter than newer parts. Overall, the i5-11400F provides sufficient processing power for Lockdown Protocol, and its performance is unlikely to be the primary constraint in most scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and the player's preference for frame rate versus visual quality.

At 1920x1080, Medium settings are the clear recommendation. The average of 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS ensures smooth gameplay even in intense firefights, while the visual improvements over Low settings (which average 168 FPS) are substantial. High settings at 104 FPS are also viable, but the 15 FPS difference between High and Medium may not justify the visual gains for competitive players. Ultra settings at 78 FPS are playable but may feel less responsive in a fast-paced FPS, so they are only recommended for players who prioritize graphics over performance.

For 2560x1440, Medium settings again provide the best balance, averaging 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS. This keeps the experience above the 60 FPS threshold for most of the time, though dips to 74 FPS could be noticeable on high-refresh-rate monitors. Low settings at 123 FPS are ideal for esports-focused players who want maximum frame rates, while High settings at 76 FPS are acceptable for those who want better visuals. Ultra settings at 57 FPS are borderline, and players should be prepared for occasional frame drops below 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the recommendations become more constrained. Low settings at 79 FPS are the only option that provides a consistently smooth experience, though the visual quality will be significantly reduced. Medium settings at 56 FPS (with a minimum of 48 FPS) are playable but may feel stuttery during fast movement, and High or Ultra settings at 49 FPS and 37 FPS respectively are not recommended for competitive play. For 4K gaming, players should either accept Low settings or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for a better balance.

Overall, Medium settings at 1080p or 1440p offer the best combination of visual quality and frame rate for this combo. At 4K, Low settings are the only viable choice for maintaining playable performance. The data consistently points to the GPU as the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings, so players with 4K displays should consider a GPU upgrade if they want to enjoy Lockdown Protocol at higher visual fidelity.