Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti delivers a playable but constrained experience in Lockdown Protocol, a fast-paced FPS released on March 11, 2024. The data shows this pairing ranks 1411th out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the lower tier of systems evaluated for this title. At 1080p, the setup manages respectable frame rates across most settings, but the GPU becomes a clear bottleneck as resolution climbs, with 4K Ultra performance dipping below playable thresholds.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1080p Low delivers the highest average FPS at 126 frames per second, while 1080p High still achieves 79.9 FPS. At 1440p, Low settings produce 90.8 FPS, but High drops to 56.3 FPS. For 4K, only Low settings (56.8 FPS) approach playable levels, with Ultra falling to 26.8 FPS.

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

A: This pairing holds rank 1411 out of 1637 total combos tested, placing it in the lower 14% of all systems evaluated for this game. The CPU itself sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs tested, while the GPU ranks at the 55th percentile among all GPUs.

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

A: The GPU is the primary constraint. The Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850 and sits competitively against rivals like the Core i7-9700 (19831, only 0.1% difference). The GTX 1660 Ti, with an average score of 13925, is the weaker component and struggles as resolution increases, evidenced by FPS dropping from 126 at 1080p Low to 36.2 at 4K High.

Q: What are the CPU's core and thread specifications?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache.

Q: What memory specifications does the GPU use?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti comes with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its memory clock runs at 1500 MHz, which translates to 12 Gbps effective.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti (avg score 13925) is 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 570X (13871), 0.7% behind the NVIDIA Tesla K10 (14029), and 0.8% ahead of both the RTX A2000 Mobile (13821) and GTX 680 (13812).

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides a solid foundation for Lockdown Protocol, though its influence on frame rates diminishes at higher resolutions. With 6 cores and 12 threads, this Alder Lake-S architecture processor (launch MSRP $199) supports dual-channel DDR4 or DDR5 memory and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 CPU lanes. Its single-thread performance is robust — scoring 910 in 3DMark single-thread and 2249 in Cinebench R23 single-core — which matters for a game that relies on responsive input and consistent frame pacing.

In multi-threaded workloads relevant to game logic and background tasks, the i5-12400 posts a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 and a 3DMark max-threads score of 5890. The PassMark multithread score of 18747 and physics score of 1105 indicate the CPU can handle the game's simulation overhead without becoming the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions. The CPU's average benchmark score of 19850 places it at the 77th percentile, and it trades blows with its nearest rivals: it's 0.1% ahead of the Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.4% ahead of the Core i5-11600K (19771), while sitting 0.2% behind the Core i7-8700 (19894) and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (19928).

At 1080p Low, the system achieves 126 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed frames well above the 60 FPS threshold. However, the CPU's contribution becomes less impactful as resolution scales; the FPS differences between settings at the same resolution are driven more by GPU workload than CPU capability. The i5-12400's 10 nm process and 65 W TDP make it an efficient partner, but its locked multiplier means no overclocking headroom, so the GPU must carry the load when settings are raised.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is the decisive component in this pairing, and its 6 GB GDDR6 frame buffer (192-bit bus, 288.0 GB/s bandwidth) becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. Based on the Turing architecture with TU116 chip (12 nm, 6,600 million transistors), this GPU runs at a base clock of 1500 MHz and boosts to 1770 MHz. Its 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s, translating to 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 compute.

The GPU's benchmark results show a mixed profile: a PassMark G3D score of 12871 (55th percentile overall) but weaker DirectX 12 performance at 51 in PassMark's DX12 test, versus 103 in DX11. This suggests the GTX 1660 Ti handles older APIs more comfortably, which could explain why Lockdown Protocol's performance varies so sharply with settings. The GPU's nearest rivals are clustered closely: it's 0.4% ahead of the RX 570X (13871), 0.8% ahead of both the RTX A2000 Mobile (13821) and GTX 680 (13812), but 0.7% behind the Tesla K10 (14029).

In practical terms, the GTX 1660 Ti's 6 GB VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p but strained at 1440p and 4K. The data shows 1080p High at 79.9 FPS and 1440p Medium at 65.1 FPS, but 4K High collapses to 36.2 FPS. The GPU's 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs aligns with its mid-range positioning, and its end-of-life production status suggests no further driver optimizations are forthcoming. For Lockdown Protocol, the GPU dictates that players stay at 1080p or 1440p with reduced settings to maintain competitive frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 1411th out of 1637 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 14% of all systems evaluated. This low ranking is somewhat surprising given the CPU's strong relative performance — the i5-12400 sits at the 77th percentile among CPUs — but it underscores how heavily the GPU drags down the overall result. The GTX 1660 Ti's 55th percentile GPU ranking, while not terrible, is insufficient for a modern FPS at higher resolutions.

Benchmark results indicate the CPU is not the weak link. The i5-12400's average score of 19850 is nearly identical to its closest rival, the Core i7-9700 (19831, deltaPct 0.1%), and it outperforms the Core i5-11600K (19771, deltaPct 0.4%). The GPU, however, lags in comparison to what the CPU can support. The system's rank of 1411 suggests that many other tested combos feature stronger GPUs paired with comparable or weaker CPUs, which is typical for mid-range builds where graphics hardware is the primary differentiator.

For context, the GPU's average benchmark score of 13925 is just 0.4% above the RX 570X and 0.8% above the GTX 680, both of which are older architectures. This clustering indicates the GTX 1660 Ti offers no meaningful performance advantage over its immediate predecessors, further explaining the low combo ranking. Players using this system should expect it to be outpaced by a significant majority of tested configurations, particularly those with more modern GPUs.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p, the system delivers 126 FPS on Low, 90.5 FPS on Medium, 79.9 FPS on High, and 57.8 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, those numbers drop to 90.8, 65.1, 56.3, and 44.3 FPS respectively. At 4K, performance falls further to 56.8 (Low), 44.2 (Medium), 36.2 (High), and 26.8 (Ultra).

The percentage drops between resolutions are steep but consistent. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the FPS drops from 126 to 90.8, a reduction of roughly 28%. From 1440p Low to 4K Low, the drop is from 90.8 to 56.8, another 37% reduction. This scaling behavior is characteristic of a GPU that exhausts its memory bandwidth and shading capacity as pixel count increases.

The settings scaling at each resolution further confirms the GPU bottleneck. At 1080p, going from Low to Ultra halves the frame rate (126 to 57.8 FPS). At 4K, the same settings change reduces FPS from 56.8 to 26.8, a 53% drop. The GPU's 6 GB VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain high texture quality and effects at 4K, making 1080p the only resolution where Ultra settings remain playable. For players targeting 60 FPS, the data suggests 1080p High (79.9 FPS) is the sweet spot, with 1440p requiring Low settings (90.8 FPS) to stay above that threshold.