Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i5-12400 + Intel Arc B570

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a mid-pack experience in Lockdown Protocol, landing at rank 2264 out of 2828 tested combinations. This places the combo in the 20th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that while the pairing is functional, it sits below the median performer in this FPS title. The data reveals a system that can handle 1080p gaming comfortably but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions, with the GPU emerging as the primary constraint across most settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a clear and predictable decline as resolution increases, but the rate of that decline reveals important information about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 136 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 100 FPS, a 26.5% reduction. Pushing further to 4K Low yields 64 FPS, representing a 36% drop from 1440p and a 52.9% drop from 1080p. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is being increasingly taxed as pixel count rises, with the Arc B570's 10 GB frame buffer and 160-bit memory bus becoming more significant factors at higher resolutions.

The High settings preset shows a similar trajectory but with steeper declines. At 1080p High, the system achieves 84 FPS. At 1440p High, this falls to 62 FPS, a 26.2% reduction. At 4K High, the average drops to 40 FPS, a 35.5% reduction from 1440p and a 52.4% reduction from 1080p. The near-identical percentage drops between Low and High presets suggest that resolution scaling is consistent regardless of quality settings, pointing to a GPU-bound scenario where the rendering workload scales predictably with pixel count.

Ultra settings tell a more concerning story. The 1080p Ultra average of 63 FPS falls to 46 FPS at 1440p Ultra (a 27% drop) and then to 30 FPS at 4K Ultra (a 34.8% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 30 FPS is barely at the threshold of playability for a fast-paced FPS, and the scaling pattern suggests that the Arc B570 simply lacks the raw throughput to maintain fluid frame rates at this resolution and quality combination. The consistent percentage drops across all three quality presets — roughly 26-27% from 1080p to 1440p and 35-36% from 1440p to 4K — indicate a purely GPU-limited scenario with no CPU-related stalling at these resolutions.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with 19,600 million transistors packed into a 272 mm² die. The GPU operates at a fixed 2500 MHz base and boost clock, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). This configuration yields 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and a memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s across a 160-bit bus. In Lockdown Protocol, these specifications translate to a GPU that can handle 1080p gaming with authority but begins to show limitations as resolution increases.

The 10 GB GDDR6 frame buffer is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gameplay across all settings, as evidenced by the stable average frame rates at these resolutions. However, at 4K Ultra, the combination of higher pixel count and more demanding textures likely pushes against the memory capacity and bandwidth limits. The 30 FPS average at 4K Ultra, compared to 40 FPS at 4K High, suggests that the Ultra preset's additional memory and bandwidth demands exceed what the 160-bit bus can efficiently deliver.

Benchmark data places the Arc B570 in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20,556. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% faster), the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% slower), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4% faster), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (0.5% slower). The extremely tight clustering of these scores — all within 0.5% of each other — suggests that the Arc B570's performance class is well-established, and its Lockdown Protocol results should be viewed through this competitive lens.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS as a minimum playability threshold, the data shows that 1080p High delivers 84 FPS average, providing comfortable headroom above the target. The 1080p Medium preset offers 96 FPS average with a minimum of 82 FPS, making it the smoothest experience among the quality presets that still maintain visual fidelity. The 1080p Low preset achieves 136 FPS average, which is ideal for competitive play where maximum frame rates matter more than visual quality.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is the sweet spot, delivering 71 FPS average with a minimum of 60 FPS. This keeps the experience above the playability threshold while offering better visual quality than Low. The 1440p High preset at 62 FPS average is also viable, though the margin above 60 FPS is thinner. The 1440p Ultra preset at 46 FPS average falls below the 60 FPS target and should be avoided for serious gameplay.

The 4K resolution presents challenges across the board. The Low preset at 64 FPS is the only 4K option that clears the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 46 FPS average (39 FPS minimum) and High at 40 FPS fall short of smooth playability, while Ultra at 30 FPS is effectively unplayable for a fast-paced FPS. For 4K users, the Low preset is the only recommended option, and even then, the 64 FPS average offers limited headroom for demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i5-12400 and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2264 out of 2828 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places the combo in the bottom 20% of all tested systems, a somewhat surprising result given that both components are relatively modern. The ranking suggests that Lockdown Protocol is particularly demanding on GPU resources, and the Arc B570's position in the 65th GPU percentile does not translate to a competitive position when paired with a mid-range CPU.

The CPU component of this pairing, the Intel Core i5-12400, sits in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 18,683. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643 (0.1% slower), the Intel Core i7-1355U (0.3% slower), the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (0.7% slower), and the Intel Core i3-14100F (0.9% faster). The CPU's strong relative performance suggests that it is not the limiting factor in this combo's low ranking; rather, the GPU's inability to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions drags the overall ranking down.

The delta between the CPU's 72nd percentile and the combo's 20th percentile ranking indicates a significant GPU bottleneck in Lockdown Protocol. This is consistent with the resolution scaling analysis, which showed the GPU becoming increasingly constrained as pixel count rises. For users considering this combo, the data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield substantially better results in this title, while CPU upgrades would provide minimal benefit.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: The 1080p Medium preset delivers 96 FPS average with a minimum of 82 FPS, making it the best balance of visual quality and performance. For competitive play, 1080p Low achieves 136 FPS average.

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

A: Only at Low settings, which produces 64 FPS average. The Medium preset drops to 46 FPS average (39 FPS minimum), High to 40 FPS, and Ultra to 30 FPS, all below the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: How does the Arc B570 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20,556 is 0.1% faster than the Intel Arc A750, 0.1% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, 0.4% faster than the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M, and 0.5% slower than the AMD Radeon R9 M390X.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this combo?

A: The GPU is the primary constraint. The i5-12400 ranks in the 72nd CPU percentile, while the combo ranks in the 20th percentile overall, indicating that GPU performance limits the system's results.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The 1440p Medium preset produces 71 FPS average with a minimum of 60 FPS and a maximum of 81 FPS, making it a viable option for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 2264 out of 2828 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 20% of all systems tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 136 FPS average on Low settings, 96 FPS average on Medium (82 FPS minimum, 111 FPS maximum), 84 FPS average on High, and 63 FPS average on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra represents a 53.7% reduction in average frame rate, demonstrating the significant performance cost of the Ultra preset at this resolution.

The 2560x1440 results show 100 FPS average on Low, 71 FPS average on Medium (60 FPS minimum, 81 FPS maximum), 62 FPS average on High, and 46 FPS average on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 54%, nearly identical to the 1080p spread, indicating consistent scaling across quality presets at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the data reveals 64 FPS average on Low, 46 FPS average on Medium (39 FPS minimum, 52 FPS maximum), 40 FPS average on High, and 30 FPS average on Ultra. The 4K Ultra result represents the lowest measured performance in the entire dataset, and the 34 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 4K highlights the GPU's limitations at this resolution.

The Medium preset is the only quality level with reported minimum and maximum frame rates across all three resolutions, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the 82-111 FPS range shows reasonable consistency. At 1440p Medium, the 60-81 FPS range maintains the 60 FPS floor. At 4K Medium, the 39-52 FPS range reveals significant dips below playability thresholds.

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 with a die size of 163 mm². It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads appear sufficient to feed the Arc B570 without becoming a bottleneck, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU's workload is relatively higher. The 1080p Low result of 136 FPS average demonstrates that the i5-12400 can drive high frame rates when the GPU is not the limiting factor. However, the 3dmark benchmarks show a significant scaling pattern: the 16-thread score of 5873 is only slightly higher than the 8-thread score of 4745, suggesting that the CPU's performance plateaus beyond 8 threads.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15,989 and single-core score of 2,257 indicate solid multi-threaded performance for a mainstream processor. The Geekbench multicore score of 8,564 and single-core score of 1,848 further confirm this positioning. The PassMark multithread score of 18,747 places the i5-12400 in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms roughly 72% of tested processors.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark performance include the AMD EPYC 7643 (0.1% slower), the Intel Core i7-1355U (0.3% slower), the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (0.7% slower), and the Intel Core i3-14100F (0.9% faster). The tight clustering of these scores suggests that the i5-12400 sits at a performance plateau where minor architectural differences produce negligible real-world impact. In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame delivery, and the data indicates it does so effectively — the frame rate drops across resolutions follow GPU-limited scaling patterns rather than CPU-induced stuttering or inconsistency.

The i5-12400's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide adequate data locality for game workloads, while the dual-channel memory controller supports both DDR4 and DDR5, giving builders flexibility in system configuration. The CPU's 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it a power-efficient choice, though the locked multiplier prevents overclocking. For Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's 6 cores are sufficient for the game's threading model, and the benchmark results confirm that the GPU, not the CPU, is the limiting component in this pairing.