Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a playable experience across most resolutions in Lockdown Protocol, though the data reveals a system that shifts from CPU-bound at 1080p to firmly GPU-bound at 4K. The combo ranks 2165th out of 3714 tested configurations in this game, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the field, which is consistent with a mid-range CPU from 2022 and a GPU from 2019. Benchmark results show the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become the primary constraint as resolution climbs, while the i5-12400's six Performance cores with 12 threads handle the game's logic without becoming a bottleneck at higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals where the bottleneck resides. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 109 FPS at 1920x1080 to 80 FPS at 2560x1440, then further to 51 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 26.6% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 36.3% drop from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative reduction from 1080p to 4K is 53.2%, indicating that the GPU is scaling with pixel count in a way that suggests it is the limiting component at higher resolutions.

Low settings show an even steeper relative decline. At 1920x1080 Low, the system produces 175 FPS; at 2560x1440 Low, it drops to 129 FPS; at 3840x2160 Low, it falls to 83 FPS. The 1080p-to-4K reduction here is 52.6%. Interestingly, the Low preset's 4K result of 83 FPS is still higher than the High preset's 1080p result of 109 FPS when viewed as a percentage of peak capability. This pattern indicates that when graphics load is minimized, the CPU can push the frame rate quite high at lower resolutions, but the GPU still cannot maintain those rates at 4K.

Ultra settings exhibit the most dramatic scaling penalty. The 1080p Ultra average of 82 FPS drops to 60 FPS at 1440p, then to 39 FPS at 4K. The 1440p-to-4K drop of 35% mirrors the High preset's behavior, confirming that the RTX 2070 SUPER's compute throughput is the dominant factor at 4K regardless of preset. The data shows that Medium settings follow a similar trajectory: 125 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K.

The limiting component shifts based on resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (175 FPS) and Ultra (82 FPS) is 113%, which suggests the GPU still matters even at the lowest resolution. However, the CPU's 3dmark_single_thread score of 910 and passmark_single_thread score of 3456 indicate it can feed frames well above what the GPU can render at 4K. At 4K, the spread from Low (83 FPS) to Ultra (39 FPS) is 113% as well, but the absolute numbers are lower, showing that the GPU is saturated. The practical takeaway: at 1080p, the system is balanced; at 1440p, the GPU begins to dominate; at 4K, the GPU is the clear constraint, with the CPU's headroom going unused.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows 2560x1440 offers the best balance. At High settings, it achieves 80 FPS average, which is 73% of the 1080p High result (109 FPS) but with significantly more detail. At 4K High, the average drops to 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth for an FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 20282 is 1% lower than the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480), 1.2% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534), 1.3% lower than the Intel Arc B570 (20556), and 1.5% lower than the Intel Arc A750 (20582). This places it at the bottom of its immediate peer group.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400 a bottleneck for the RTX 2070 SUPER?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 175 FPS, which is high enough to suggest the CPU is not limiting in that scenario. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the constraint, as the FPS drops to 51 at High settings regardless of the CPU's capability. The CPU's percentile rank of 72 versus the GPU's percentile rank of 65 suggests the CPU is relatively stronger.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low yields 129 FPS average, while Ultra yields 60 FPS average. That is a 115% improvement in frame rate from Ultra to Low. The Medium preset sits in between at 91 FPS.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 2070 SUPER have, and does it matter here?

A: The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (39 FPS) versus 4K High (51 FPS) indicates that the extra memory pressure at Ultra settings reduces performance by 23.5%, which is consistent with the GPU hitting memory bandwidth limits.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 2165th out of 3714 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 58.3rd percentile. This means roughly 42% of tested systems perform worse, while 58% perform better.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings six cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This is a 10 nm Alder Lake-S part with 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core. Its 3dmark_max_threads score of 5890 and 3dmark_single_thread score of 910 show a solid balance between multi-threaded and single-threaded capability. In Lockdown Protocol, an FPS title that typically relies on a few strong cores, the single-thread performance is more relevant than the multi-thread results.

The CPU's cinebench_r23_multicore score of 15989 and singlecore score of 2257 indicate that it can sustain high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. At 1080p Low, the system produces 175 FPS, which is the highest measured value across all configurations. This suggests that at low graphical settings, the i5-12400 is capable of feeding the RTX 2070 SUPER with enough frames to approach the GPU's rendering limit. The passmark_single_thread score of 3456 reinforces that the per-core performance is adequate for this game's logic.

However, the CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases. At 4K, the frame rate is determined almost entirely by the GPU, as evidenced by the fact that the difference between Low (83 FPS) and Ultra (39 FPS) at 4K is driven by GPU load, not CPU capability. The 3dmark_16_threads score of 5873 is nearly identical to the max threads score of 5890, indicating that the CPU does not scale significantly beyond 16 threads, which is fine for a game that likely uses fewer than that.

The i5-12400's 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform are modest by today's standards, and its percentile rank of 72 versus all CPUs puts it in the upper-middle tier. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores essentially identically (18697 vs 18683, a -0.1% delta), while the Intel Core i3-14100F is 0.9% lower. This tells us that the i5-12400 is not a weak link in this combo; rather, the GPU is the component that holds back higher frame rates at 1440p and 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 175 FPS average, which is the single best result in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 125 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 143 FPS, providing a consistent experience above the 100 FPS mark. High settings drop to 109 FPS, while Ultra settings fall to 82 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 93 FPS, or 113%, showing that the GPU is still heavily taxed even at the lowest resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease noticeably but remain playable. Low settings average 129 FPS, which is still above the refresh rate of most 1440p monitors. Medium settings average 91 FPS with a minimum of 78 FPS and maximum of 105 FPS. High settings average 80 FPS, and Ultra settings average 60 FPS, which is exactly at the threshold for smooth gameplay. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each preset is consistent: Low falls 26.3%, Medium falls 27.2%, High falls 26.6%, and Ultra falls 26.8%. This uniformity indicates that the GPU is scaling predictably with pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 83 FPS, which is still acceptable for an FPS, but Medium drops to 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS. High settings average 51 FPS, and Ultra settings average 39 FPS. The 1440p-to-4K drops are steeper than the 1080p-to-1440p drops: Low falls 35.7%, Medium falls 35.2%, High falls 36.3%, and Ultra falls 35.0%. This steepening confirms that the GPU is reaching its limits at 4K, likely due to the 8 GB VRAM capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth being insufficient for the higher pixel workload.

The minimum FPS values for Medium settings provide additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 106 FPS, which is 84.8% of the average. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 78 FPS, or 85.7% of the average. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 50 FPS, or 84.7% of the average. This consistency in frame time variance suggests that the system does not suffer from severe stuttering, even when the GPU is heavily loaded.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU with 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. It operates at a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is a key specification for Lockdown Protocol, as the game's texture streaming at 4K Ultra appears to saturate this bandwidth, resulting in the lowest measured average of 39 FPS.

The GPU's passmark_g3d score of 18169 and 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 1651 place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 20282 is marginally lower than its nearest rivals: the Quadro M4000M (20480, -1%), the RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, -1.2%), the Arc B570 (20556, -1.3%), and the Arc A750 (20582, -1.5%). This indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is at the bottom of its immediate performance tier, which aligns with its age (released in 2019) relative to those competitors.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role becomes dominant at 1440p and above. At 1080p Low, the 175 FPS result suggests the GPU can still render quickly when the pixel workload is low. However, at 4K Ultra, the 39 FPS average is 22.3% of the 1080p Low result, showing that the GPU's compute throughput and memory bandwidth are insufficient for high-resolution high-detail work. The 64 ROPs and 113.3 GPixel/s pixel rate are adequate for 1080p but become a limiting factor at 4K, where the pixel count quadruples.

The GPU's 12 nm process node and 215 W TDP indicate it draws significant power for its performance class, but the data does not suggest thermal throttling as a cause for the FPS drops. Instead, the consistent scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K points to a straightforward GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. The 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is modest by current standards but sufficient for this game at 1080p and 1440p with adjusted settings.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080, the High preset at 109 FPS is the recommended choice. It delivers a smooth experience well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the jump from Medium (125 FPS) to High (109 FPS) costs only 12.8% of frame rate while providing notably better visual quality. Ultra at 82 FPS is still playable, but the 33% drop from High to Ultra may not justify the visual gains in a fast-paced FPS where frame rate matters more than shadows or reflections.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 91 FPS is the sweet spot. It provides a minimum FPS of 78, which ensures that even the most demanding scenes stay above 75 FPS. High at 80 FPS is also viable, but the 13.8% reduction from Medium to High may be noticeable during intense firefights. Low at 129 FPS is available for competitive play, but the visual compromise is significant. Ultra at 60 FPS is exactly at the threshold and may suffer from occasional dips below 60 in busy scenes, making it less ideal for an FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset at 83 FPS is the only setting that provides a consistently smooth experience. Medium at 59 FPS is borderline, with a minimum of 50 FPS that could cause perceptible stuttering during action sequences. High at 51 FPS and Ultra at 39 FPS are not recommended for competitive play, as the frame rates fall below the 60 FPS standard and the minimum FPS values (where available) indicate potential dips. For 4K users, sacrificing visual fidelity for playability is the pragmatic choice.

The data suggests that the best overall experience is 1440p Medium or High. At 1440p Medium, the 91 FPS average with a 78 FPS minimum provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS floor, and the visual quality is substantially better than 1080p. At 1440p High, the 80 FPS average is still smooth, and the extra detail may be worth the 13.8% frame rate cost for players who prioritize image quality over maximum frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 2165th out of 3714 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the 41.7th percentile from the top, meaning that 58.3% of tested systems perform better. Given the age of the GPU (released in 2019) and the mid-range positioning of the CPU (released in 2022), this rank is consistent with expectations.

The CPU's percentile rank of 72 is higher than the GPU's percentile rank of 65, which suggests that the i5-12400 is the stronger component in this pairing. The CPU's average benchmark score of 18683 is only 0.1% lower than the AMD EPYC 7643, a server-class processor, indicating that the i5-12400 punches well above its weight class. Conversely, the GPU's average benchmark score of 20282 is 1.5% lower than the Intel Arc A750, which is a more modern mid-range offering.

In the context of Lockdown Protocol specifically, the combo's rank suggests it is capable of playing the game at acceptable frame rates in most scenarios, but it will not excel at 4K or with Ultra settings. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1440p, the system can maintain 80-129 FPS depending on settings, which is competitive with many modern systems. At 1080p, the system performs very well, with 109-175 FPS across presets.

The rank of 2165 out of 3714 is not a condemnation but rather a reflection of the hardware's age. The RTX 2070 SUPER was a high-end GPU in 2019, but by 2024 it sits in the lower-middle tier. The i5-12400 remains a capable CPU, but its six cores are outmatched by newer eight-core and higher-clocked parts. Together, they form a system that is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Lockdown Protocol, but not for 4K or extreme settings. Players with this combo should target 1440p Medium or High for the best experience, as the data clearly shows that 4K is beyond the GPU's comfortable reach in this title.