Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a highly playable Lockdown Protocol experience, but the optimal settings depend heavily on your target resolution and refresh rate. At 1080p, the combo is capable of high refresh rate gaming, with Low settings producing 157.3 FPS and High settings still hitting 100.2 FPS. For 1440p, High settings at 69.7 FPS provides a smooth experience for most players, while Medium at 85.9 FPS is a strong alternative if you prefer higher frame rates over visual fidelity. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and you will need to drop to Low settings (73.3 FPS) or Medium (56.1 FPS) to maintain playability; High settings at 47.8 FPS and Ultra at 33.2 FPS are generally not recommended for fast-paced FPS play. The data suggests that for most users, the High preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, with the option to step down to Medium if you prioritize frame rate consistency.

Settings Recommendations

The measured performance rows reveal a clear hierarchy across the four presets at each resolution. At 1080p, the Ultra preset yields 74.5 FPS, which is smooth but leaves performance on the table if you own a 144Hz monitor. The High preset at 100.2 FPS is the sweet spot here, offering a significant visual upgrade over Medium (112.6 FPS) at a modest frame rate cost. If you are chasing maximum responsiveness, Low settings at 157.3 FPS will fully saturate most 144Hz displays.

Moving to 1440p, the pattern shifts. High settings produce 69.7 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a good experience on a 60Hz display. However, for 144Hz 1440p monitors, Medium at 85.9 FPS is the more practical choice, as it delivers a 23% frame rate increase over High while still looking substantially better than Low (116.5 FPS). The Ultra preset at 52.4 FPS is playable but will feel less responsive in competitive scenarios.

At 4K, the recommendation becomes straightforward: use Low settings (73.3 FPS) for the best experience. Medium (56.1 FPS) is borderline, and High (47.8 FPS) and Ultra (33.2 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS target that most FPS players consider minimum. The data shows that the performance gap between Low and Ultra widens dramatically at higher resolutions, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1470 MHz boosts to 1650 MHz, and the card has a peak FP32 throughput of 7.181 TFLOPS. In Lockdown Protocol, these specifications translate to a clear performance ceiling at higher resolutions. The benchmark results show that at 1080p, the GPU is not the limiting factor — the frame rate scales almost linearly with preset quality, from 157.3 FPS at Low to 74.5 FPS at Ultra. This suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at this resolution.

At 1440p, the GPU begins to show its limits. The drop from Low (116.5 FPS) to Ultra (52.4 FPS) represents a 55% reduction, which is expected as the GPU's shading units and ROPs (64) are tasked with more pixels. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The difference between 1080p Low (157.3 FPS) and 4K Low (73.3 FPS) is a 53% reduction, highlighting that the 8 GB VRAM capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game's assets, but the raw compute power (7.181 TFLOPS) is not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K with higher presets.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 63 places it in the mid-range tier, and its average benchmark score of 19774 puts it just 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 in the nearest rivals data. This indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, but 4K gaming requires significant settings compromises.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at how performance scales with resolution. From 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the frame rate drops from 100.2 FPS to 69.7 FPS, a 30% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at High, it drops further to 47.8 FPS, another 31% reduction. This consistent ~30% drop per resolution step indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at these settings.

At Low settings, the scaling is more severe. 1080p Low produces 157.3 FPS, 1440p Low drops to 116.5 FPS (26% reduction), and 4K Low drops to 73.3 FPS (37% reduction from 1440p). The larger drop at 4K Low suggests that even at the lowest settings, the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being saturated. The RTX 2060 SUPER's 256-bit memory bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are good for its class, but the 4K pixel count overwhelms them.

This scaling pattern has practical implications. If you are playing at 1080p, the CPU (Intel Core i5-12400) has enough headroom to handle the frame rates, as evidenced by the 157.3 FPS result at Low. At 1440p, the system is well-balanced, with the GPU doing most of the work but the CPU still keeping up. At 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, and upgrading the CPU would not yield meaningful FPS gains — the data shows that the limiting component is the RTX 2060 SUPER's compute power.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz 1080p monitor?

A: The High preset at 100.2 FPS is the best balance, as it provides a substantial visual improvement over Medium (112.6 FPS) while staying above 100 FPS. If you want to maximize frame rate, Low at 157.3 FPS will fully utilize a 144Hz display.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings (73.3 FPS) or Medium (56.1 FPS). High (47.8 FPS) and Ultra (33.2 FPS) are below the 60 FPS threshold and are not recommended for a competitive FPS title.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p?

A: The data shows the GPU is the primary limiter. At 1440p High, the frame rate is 69.7 FPS, and at 4K High it drops to 47.8 FPS, indicating that the RTX 2060 SUPER's compute power is the constraint. The i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for this game.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to the RTX 2070?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER's average benchmark score is 19774, which is 0.5% higher than the RTX 2070's score of 19680. In practical terms, they perform nearly identically, so you should not expect a meaningful difference in Lockdown Protocol.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: Low produces 157.3 FPS, while Ultra produces 74.5 FPS. This is a 53% reduction, showing that the Ultra preset demands significant GPU resources for marginal visual gains.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: Yes. The measured results show no indication of VRAM-related stuttering or performance collapse at any resolution. The 8 GB capacity paired with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for Lockdown Protocol's requirements.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1223 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the 25th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 75% of the combinations in the database perform better. This ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's mid-tier status — the RTX 2060 SUPER sits at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU is stronger at the 77th percentile.

The ranking suggests that while this combo is far from top-tier, it is not a weak pairing either. It is positioned for 1080p and 1440p gaming rather than 4K. The data shows that the combo's performance is consistent with its component rankings: the CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU, which is why the system performs better at lower resolutions where the CPU matters more. At 4K, the GPU's limitations drag the overall experience down, which is reflected in the lower ranking.

For context, the CPU's nearest rival is the Intel Core i7-9700, which has a nearly identical average score (19831 vs 19850, a 0.1% difference). The GPU's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, which scores 19706, just 0.3% lower. This means the combo's performance is well-matched to its component class — neither part is significantly holding back the other.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 18 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark results are strong: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15935 and a single-core score of 2249, with a 3DMark max-threads score of 5890.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p with lower settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 157.3 FPS, which is a high frame rate that requires the CPU to process game logic and draw calls quickly. The i5-12400's single-thread performance (910 in 3DMark single-thread) is sufficient for this task, and its 12 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and game threads.

However, the CPU's impact diminishes at higher resolutions. At 4K, the frame rates are limited by the GPU, not the CPU. The data shows that the CPU has a percentile ranking of 77 among all CPUs, meaning it is better than 77% of tested processors. This is a solid mid-to-high-end position. The CPU's average benchmark score of 19850 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and slightly higher than the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894, which is 0.2% lower). This indicates that the i5-12400 is more than capable of driving the RTX 2060 SUPER in this game, and the system's overall performance is not CPU-limited in any of the tested configurations.