Lockdown Protocol

# FAQ

Q: What is the comboRankInGame for this Intel Core i5-12400 + AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT system in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The combination ranks 2439 out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the lower portion of the database for this game. That is roughly the 34th percentile, meaning nearly two-thirds of tested systems deliver higher average frame rates in Lockdown Protocol.

Q: Which resolution offers the highest average FPS for this combo?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system reaches 165 FPS average, which is the highest measured result across all tested configurations. The same resolution with Ultra settings drops to 77 FPS, showing a dramatic range depending on quality level.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i5-12400's average benchmark score is 18683. Its closest rival is the AMD EPYC 7643 with an average score of 18697, a delta of -0.1%. It sits within 0.9% of the Intel Core i3-14100F (18519) and trails the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811) by 0.7%.

Q: What GPU memory configuration does the Radeon RX 6650 XT use?

A: The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Memory clock is listed at 2190 MHz with 17.5 Gbps effective speed.

Q: Is there a measurable FPS difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440, Medium settings average 86 FPS (with a min of 73 and max of 99), while High settings average 75 FPS. That is an 11 FPS gap, suggesting Medium offers a noticeable performance advantage with presumably modest visual trade-offs.

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

A: The Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks in the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19765. Its nearest rival by average score is the NVIDIA Tesla K40m at 19885, a delta of -0.6%.

# GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains 11,060 million transistors across a 237 mm² die. Its shading array consists of 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. The GPU also includes 32 ray tracing cores, which are relevant for any modern FPS title that leverages DX12 Ultimate features.

Clock speeds are substantial: the base clock runs at 2055 MHz, the game clock at 2410 MHz, and the boost clock reaches 2635 MHz. These are high frequencies for the RDNA 2 generation, and they translate into a pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 337.3 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput is 10.79 TFLOPS, while FP16 reaches 21.59 TFLOPS via the 2:1 ratio.

Memory bandwidth is 280.3 GB/s from 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. For Lockdown Protocol, this memory configuration appears sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, but the data suggests it becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra where the average FPS falls to 36. The 8 GB capacity is worth questioning — at 3840x2160 with High settings, the system holds 49 FPS, but the gap between Low (78 FPS) and Ultra (36 FPS) at 4K is more than 2x, indicating that both memory pressure and shader complexity are scaling heavily with quality preset.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a Passmark G3D score of 17166 and a Passmark DirectX 12 score of 62. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1859. These numbers place the GPU at the 65th percentile overall, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA Tesla K40m (19885, -0.6%) and AMD FirePro W7000 (19905, -0.7%). The data indicates this is a mid-range GPU that performs competently but not exceptionally in synthetic tests, which aligns with its measured behavior in Lockdown Protocol.

The GPU's Vulkan score of 81306 and OpenCL score of 10111 from Geekbench suggest solid compute performance. The API support includes DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, meaning the card is fully capable of running modern FPS titles with advanced rendering features.

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that points to the GPU as the primary bottleneck in this system. At 1080p Low, the system averages 165 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 121 FPS, a reduction of 44 FPS or roughly 27%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 78 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p Low result.

The scaling is even more pronounced at higher settings. At Medium settings, 1080p produces 117 FPS, 1440p produces 86 FPS, and 4K produces 56 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium is 61 FPS, or a 52% reduction. At High settings, the progression is 103 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K — the 4K result is less than half of the 1080p result.

At Ultra settings, the system delivers 77 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below the 30 FPS threshold for playability on many displays, though it is technically above it. The pattern here is consistent: each resolution step roughly halves the pixel count (1080p to 4K is a 4x pixel increase), and the FPS drops approximately in proportion to the pixel count increase, which is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario.

The CPU is unlikely to be the limiting factor given its strong multi-threaded scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core at 15989, Passmark multithread at 18747). The 1080p Low result of 165 FPS suggests the CPU can feed the GPU at high frame rates, but the GPU's rendering capacity caps out as resolution increases. The data strongly implies that users targeting 4K should expect to use Low or Medium settings, while 1440p is viable at High, and 1080p can handle Ultra with playable frame rates.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2439 out of 3714 tested combinations places this system in the lower third of the database for Lockdown Protocol. This ranking reflects the combined capabilities of the Core i5-12400 and Radeon RX 6650 XT, and it suggests that while the system is fully capable of running the game, it is not among the high-end configurations that dominate the top ranks.

The CPU itself is ranked at the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, which is a solid position. The GPU is at the 65th percentile among all GPUs. The combination of a 72nd-percentile CPU with a 65th-percentile GPU yields a combo rank that is lower than either component's individual percentile, which indicates that the GPU is the constraining factor in this pairing for Lockdown Protocol's workload.

Relative to the nearest CPU rivals, the Core i5-12400 performs within 0.9% of the Intel Core i3-14100F (18519) and within 0.7% of the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811). The delta to the AMD EPYC 7643 is -0.1%, essentially a tie. This tells us that the CPU is well-positioned among its peers, and any performance shortfall in-game is not due to an unusually weak processor.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals by average benchmark score are all workstation or older cards: the NVIDIA Tesla K40m (19885, -0.6%), AMD FirePro D300 (19637, 0.7%), and NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (19602, 0.8%). The fact that the RX 6650 XT sits among these older professional cards in synthetic benchmarks is noteworthy, but in actual gaming the RDNA 2 architecture with modern API support should hold up better than those legacy parts.

The rank of 2439 out of 3714 means there are approximately 1275 combos that rank worse, and 2438 that rank better. For a mid-range pairing, this is a reasonable outcome, but gamers seeking high-refresh-rate 4K or maximum Ultra settings will need to look at higher-tier GPUs.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1080p, the system can handle Ultra at 77 FPS average, which is smooth for most displays. However, the jump from Ultra to High at 1080p yields a substantial increase to 103 FPS, a 26 FPS gain that may be worth the visual downgrade for competitive play. Medium at 1080p provides 117 FPS, and Low reaches 165 FPS — the latter being ideal for high-refresh 144Hz or 165Hz monitors.

At 1440p, High settings deliver 75 FPS, which is playable but not silky smooth on 144Hz panels. Medium at 1440p provides 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS, which is a safer choice for maintaining consistent frame pacing. Low at 1440p reaches 121 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play. Ultra at 1440p drops to 56 FPS, which is borderline for fast-paced FPS action.

At 4K, the system struggles at higher settings. High produces 49 FPS, Medium produces 56 FPS (min 47, max 64), Low produces 78 FPS, and Ultra produces 36 FPS. For 4K gaming, Low or Medium are the only sensible choices, with Medium offering the best balance of visual quality and playability. The 36 FPS Ultra result is below the 40 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for acceptable FPS gameplay.

The best overall experience per the measured data appears to be 1440p Medium, which offers 86 FPS average with a minimum of 73 FPS. This configuration provides smooth gameplay with decent visual fidelity. For maximum competitive advantage, 1080p Low at 165 FPS is the clear winner, offering the highest frame rate and lowest input latency. For visual quality, 1080p Ultra at 77 FPS is the best option, though 1440p High at 75 FPS offers a similar experience with higher resolution.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive view of the system's capabilities in Lockdown Protocol.

1920x1080:

• Low: 165 FPS average
• Medium: 117 FPS average, 100 FPS minimum, 135 FPS maximum
• High: 103 FPS average
• Ultra: 77 FPS average

The 1080p results show a clear progression from Low to Ultra, with each step up in settings costing roughly 20-30 FPS. The Medium preset has the only recorded minimum and maximum values, suggesting it is the most thoroughly tested preset.

2560x1440:

• Low: 121 FPS average
• Medium: 86 FPS average, 73 FPS minimum, 99 FPS maximum
• High: 75 FPS average
• Ultra: 56 FPS average

At 1440p, the system remains playable at all settings, but Ultra dips to 56 FPS which may be too low for fast-paced FPS action. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 73 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

3840x2160:

• Low: 78 FPS average
• Medium: 56 FPS average, 47 FPS minimum, 64 FPS maximum
• High: 49 FPS average
• Ultra: 36 FPS average

The 4K results clearly show the GPU's limitations. Only Low settings achieve a comfortable 78 FPS. Medium dips to 56 FPS with a 47 FPS minimum, which is borderline. High and Ultra are below 50 FPS, making them poor choices for this resolution.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Ultra settings grows with resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 88 FPS (165 vs 77). At 1440p, it is 65 FPS (121 vs 56). At 4K, it is 42 FPS (78 vs 36). This suggests that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more saturated and the relative cost of higher settings diminishes in absolute terms, though the percentage cost remains significant.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. This CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700.

The CPU's benchmark results are strong for a mid-range desktop part. In Cinebench R23, it scores 15989 multi-core and 2257 single-core. Geekbench shows 8564 multi-core and 1848 single-core. Passmark multithread is 18747, with a single-thread score of 3456. The 3DMark tests show 5873 for 16 threads, 4745 for 8 threads, 3012 for 4 threads, and 1692 for 2 threads. The single-thread 3DMark score is 910.

The CPU is ranked at the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18683. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the AMD EPYC 7643 at 18697 (-0.1%), Intel Core i7-1355U at 18730 (-0.3%), AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 at 18811 (-0.7%), and Intel Core i3-14100F at 18519 (0.9%). This tight grouping indicates that the Core i5-12400 is well-matched to its competitors in synthetic workloads.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The measured FPS data suggests the CPU is not the bottleneck in most scenarios. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 165 FPS, which is a high frame rate that many CPUs struggle to maintain. The strong multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R20 multi-core at 6715, Passmark integer math at 58366) and the high boost clock of 4.40 GHz contribute to this capability.

The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are adequate for modern FPS titles, which typically scale well with 6-8 cores. The 18 MB L3 cache helps with game data locality, and the dual-channel memory controller supports high bandwidth for DDR4 or DDR5. The fact that the combo rank (2439 out of 3714) is lower than the CPU's individual percentile (72nd) suggests that the GPU, not the CPU, is the limiting factor in this pairing.

The CPU's single-thread performance, as measured by Passmark single-thread at 3456 and 3DMark single-thread at 910, is sufficient for handling game engine main threads. The 4-thread score of 3012 in 3DMark indicates solid performance for lightly threaded workloads, which is typical of FPS game engines. The data implies that users could pair this CPU with a more powerful GPU to unlock higher frame rates, particularly at 1080p where the CPU is capable of feeding frame rates well above 165 FPS.