Lockdown Protocol

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol with the Intel Core i5-12400 and Intel Arc B390 reveals a steep performance curve as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 88 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops that to 65 FPS, a reduction of 23 FPS, and at 3840x2160 it falls further to 42 FPS. The scaling pattern indicates that the Intel Arc B390 is the primary limiting component, as the frame rate drops are consistent with pixel-count increases rather than CPU-side bottlenecks.

Comparing the High preset across resolutions reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p High, the average is 55 FPS; at 1440p High, it drops to 40 FPS; and at 4K High, it reaches only 26 FPS. The proportional declines — roughly 27% from 1080p to 1440p and another 35% from 1440p to 4K — are characteristic of a GPU that is saturated by the rendering load. A CPU-bound scenario would show much smaller frame rate differences between resolutions, since the processor's work would remain roughly constant regardless of output resolution.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 41 FPS, which falls to 30 FPS at 1440p and 19 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is particularly telling: 19 FPS is below playable thresholds for most users, and it confirms that the Arc B390's compute resources are exhausted at this combination. The GPU's 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 24 ROPs are simply insufficient for 4K Ultra workloads in this title.

Medium settings show a similar trajectory: 63 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium minimum of 25 FPS and maximum of 34 FPS indicate frame time inconsistency, which suggests the GPU is working at its limits. The data shows that this combo is best suited to 1080p or 1440p operation; 4K is only viable at Low settings, where 42 FPS is achievable but still not smooth by modern standards.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance for the optimal settings preset at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 88 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo in any configuration. However, the Medium preset at 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 72 FPS offers a better experience balance: the 25 FPS penalty versus Low is acceptable for the visual quality improvement, and the minimum frame rate stays above 50 FPS, which is generally considered smooth for an FPS title.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 46 FPS average with a 39 FPS minimum is the recommended choice. The Low preset achieves 65 FPS, but the visual degradation at 1440p is more noticeable than at 1080p. The High preset at 40 FPS is marginally worse than Medium in average terms, and the Ultra preset at 30 FPS drops below the 60 FPS threshold by a significant margin. The Medium preset at 1440p provides the best compromise between frame rate and visual fidelity, with the 39 FPS minimum still being playable in most scenarios.

For 3840x2160, the options are severely constrained. The Low preset at 42 FPS is the only configuration that approaches acceptable performance. Medium at 30 FPS, High at 26 FPS, and Ultra at 19 FPS are all below the 30 FPS minimum threshold that most players would consider playable. Even the Low preset's 42 FPS average is marginal for a competitive FPS, so 4K operation should be reserved for less demanding gameplay scenarios or used with reduced resolution scaling where available.

Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset consistently delivers the worst frame rates, with 19 FPS at 4K, 30 FPS at 1440p, and 41 FPS at 1080p. The performance delta between Medium and Ultra is substantial — 22 FPS at 1080p, 16 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K — which indicates that the Ultra preset's additional visual features impose a heavy cost on the Arc B390. The data suggests that Medium is the highest preset this combo can handle while maintaining reasonable frame rates, and at 4K, even Medium is insufficient.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combination in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the most suitable resolution, with 88 FPS at Low settings and 63 FPS at Medium settings. At 2560x1440, the best result is 65 FPS at Low, but 4K performance drops to 42 FPS at Low settings, which is marginal for an FPS title.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Medium across resolutions?

A: At 1080p, Ultra delivers 41 FPS versus 63 FPS for Medium, a 22 FPS deficit. At 1440p, Ultra achieves 30 FPS versus 46 FPS for Medium, a 16 FPS deficit. At 4K, Ultra produces 19 FPS versus 30 FPS for Medium, an 11 FPS deficit. The Ultra preset consistently costs at least 11 FPS compared to Medium.

Q: Is this combination CPU-bound or GPU-bound in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The resolution scaling data indicates GPU-bound behavior. Frame rates drop significantly as resolution increases — for example, 88 FPS at 1080p Low falls to 42 FPS at 4K Low — which is characteristic of a graphics card being the limiting factor. A CPU-bound scenario would show much smaller differences across resolutions.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 25 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 39 FPS, and at 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum is 53 FPS. These minimums provide insight into frame time consistency for the Medium preset.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score relate to its in-game performance?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, which places it in the 9th percentile among all GPUs. This low percentile is consistent with the measured in-game results, where even 1080p Ultra only achieves 41 FPS and 4K Ultra drops to 19 FPS. The GPU's nearest rivals — such as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX with a delta of 1.3% — are also low-end parts, confirming its entry-level positioning.

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

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 42 FPS average. At Medium settings, 4K drops to 30 FPS with a 25 FPS minimum, and at High and Ultra, it falls to 26 FPS and 19 FPS respectively. For a competitive FPS, 42 FPS at 4K Low is borderline playable but not ideal.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Intel Core i5-12400 and Intel Arc B390 produce the following results across presets. Low settings deliver 88 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo at any resolution. Medium settings achieve 63 FPS average with a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 72 FPS, providing a consistent frame rate window. High settings drop to 55 FPS average, while Ultra settings deliver 41 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 47 FPS, indicating that the GPU's performance headroom is consumed quickly by higher presets.

At 2560x1440, the same settings ladder shows reduced performance across the board. Low settings achieve 65 FPS average, which is 23 FPS lower than at 1080p. Medium settings reach 46 FPS average with a minimum of 39 FPS and maximum of 53 FPS, representing a 17 FPS drop from the 1080p Medium result. High settings produce 40 FPS average, and Ultra settings yield 30 FPS average. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 23-27% of frame rate depending on the preset, with Ultra showing the smallest absolute loss of 11 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance degrades further. Low settings deliver 42 FPS average, which is the only 4K result above 40 FPS. Medium settings achieve 30 FPS average with a minimum of 25 FPS and maximum of 34 FPS, showing significant frame time variance. High settings drop to 26 FPS average, and Ultra settings produce 19 FPS average. The 4K to 1080p comparison shows that Low settings lose 46 FPS, Medium loses 33 FPS, High loses 29 FPS, and Ultra loses 22 FPS when scaling from 1080p to 4K.

The Medium preset is the only configuration with complete min/max data across all three resolutions. The data shows that the frame rate window narrows as resolution increases: 53-72 FPS at 1080p, 39-53 FPS at 1440p, and 25-34 FPS at 4K. This narrowing indicates that the GPU's frame pacing becomes more consistent at lower resolutions where it has more headroom, while at 4K the frames are constrained by the GPU's maximum output capability.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2512 out of 2828 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 11% of all combos tested. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU's limited rendering capability, as the CPU's performance metrics are substantially stronger relative to its peers.

The Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% delta), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% delta), GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% delta), and GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% delta). This places the GPU firmly in entry-level territory, and the measured FPS data reflects this positioning — the combo cannot sustain 60 FPS at 1080p with Medium or higher settings.

In contrast, the Intel Core i5-12400 ranks in the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18683. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643 (18697, -0.1% delta), Intel Core i7-1355U (18730, -0.3% delta), AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811, -0.7% delta), and Intel Core i3-14100F (18519, 0.9% delta). This CPU performance level is more than adequate for Lockdown Protocol's requirements, as evidenced by the GPU-bound scaling behavior observed in the measured data.

The combination of a mid-range CPU with an entry-level GPU creates a significant imbalance that is reflected in the low combo rank. The 2512th position out of 2828 combos indicates that most tested configurations deliver better frame rates in this game. The data suggests that the GPU is the bottleneck in virtually all scenarios, and upgrading to a more capable graphics card would yield substantial FPS improvements without requiring a CPU change.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings 6 cores and 12 threads operating at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture processor, built on Intel's 10 nm process, has an 18 MB shared L3 cache and 80 KB L1 cache per core. The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15989 and a 3DMark max threads score of 5890.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU, as indicated by the resolution scaling behavior. The 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2257 demonstrate that the i5-12400 provides adequate single-thread performance for game logic and physics calculations. The PassMark single-thread score of 3456 further confirms this capability.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance — with a Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 1611, R20 multi-core score of 6715, and Geekbench multi-core score of 8564 — ensures that background tasks and game threading do not introduce bottlenecks. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 4745 and 16-thread score of 5873 suggest that the CPU can handle games that leverage multiple cores effectively.

However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration. The significant frame rate drops at higher resolutions — from 88 FPS at 1080p Low to 42 FPS at 4K Low — indicate that the GPU's rendering throughput is the constraint. The CPU's 12 threads are more than sufficient for Lockdown Protocol's workloads, and the processor's 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs positions it well above the GPU's 9th percentile ranking.

The CPU's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel architecture, provides flexibility for system configuration. The 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it a mainstream choice, and its production status remains active. The launch MSRP of $199 positions it as a mid-range processor, though this combo's overall performance is constrained by the GPU.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated GPU based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process with a Panther Lake chip. It operates at a base clock of 300 MHz and boost clock of 2500 MHz, with 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, 24 ROPs, and 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU's compute capabilities include 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 and 15.36 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), with a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s.

The GPU's memory subsystem uses system-shared memory, which means bandwidth is system-dependent. This architecture choice has significant implications for Lockdown Protocol's performance, as the GPU must share memory bandwidth with the CPU. The 80 W TDP and IGP slot width indicate this is designed for integrated graphics solutions, not discrete cards.

The Arc B390's benchmark results are modest: a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all older, low-end NVIDIA parts — the GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% delta), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% delta), GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% delta), and GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% delta). This competitive positioning explains the measured FPS results in Lockdown Protocol.

The GPU's 24 ROPs are a significant constraint for high-resolution rendering. At 4K, the pixel count is roughly four times that of 1080p, and the ROP throughput of 60.00 GPixel/s is insufficient to maintain frame rates above 30 FPS at Medium or higher settings. The 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 throughput limits the shader work that can be performed, which affects the Ultra preset's additional visual effects.

Support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 ensures API compatibility with modern games, but the raw performance is the limiting factor. The GPU's system-shared memory architecture means that performance can vary depending on the system's memory configuration, which the measured data reflects in the frame rate inconsistencies at higher resolutions. The 4K Medium minimum of 25 FPS and maximum of 34 FPS show a 9 FPS variance, indicating the GPU struggles to maintain consistent frame pacing under load.