Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT delivers a solid, high-refresh-rate experience in Lockdown Protocol, but the data reveals a clear hierarchy where resolution dictates performance ceilings. At 1080p, the combination is exceptionally strong, while 4K Ultra pushes the GPU to its limits, resulting in a playable but less fluid frame rate. The measured results show a system balanced around 1440p and 1080p gaming, with the GPU acting as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions and the CPU providing ample headroom at lower ones.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and follows a predictable pattern dictated by pixel count. At the High preset, the average FPS falls from 118 at 1920x1080 to 87 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 31 FPS, and then further to 56 at 3840x2160. This represents a 53% decrease in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the rendering load scales heavily with resolution, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a drop of 31 FPS, highlighting that the RX 6700 XT faces a significant challenge at 4K, even on the High preset.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with average FPS going from 191 at 1080p to 140 at 1440p and finally to 90 at 4K. The 101 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K Low demonstrates that at lower settings, the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the reduced shading work allows for much higher output at every resolution. The Medium preset follows a similar trend, with averages of 135, 99, and 64 FPS across the three resolutions. These results indicate that while the CPU is capable of pushing very high frame rates at 1080p Low (191 FPS), the GPU's rendering capacity is what ultimately caps performance, especially as resolution increases.

The data suggests that the limiting component shifts based on the chosen settings. At 1080p Low, the 191 FPS average is likely approaching the CPU's maximum frame generation capability for this game, though the GPU is still the primary constraint. However, as resolution climbs to 1440p and 4K, the GPU's pixel and texture processing workload becomes the dominant factor, causing the FPS to scale down consistently. The transition from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings (from 99 to 64 FPS) is a 35% drop, which is a heavier penalty than the 27% drop from 1080p to 1440p, confirming that the RX 6700 XT's 384.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 13.21 TFLOPS compute are stretched increasingly thin at higher pixel counts.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested configurations for Lockdown Protocol, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks at 1950 out of 3714 total combos. This places it in the 53rd percentile, meaning it outperforms just over half of all tested systems and is outclassed by the top 47%. This mid-pack ranking is a direct reflection of the hardware's position; the CPU is a 6-core Alder Lake part with a 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the GPU holds a 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, so their combined performance is expected to be competitive but not top-tier.

The combo's rank suggests that while it delivers strong absolute performance in Lockdown Protocol, many other configurations—likely those with higher-end GPUs or more powerful CPUs—achieve higher average frame rates. The ranking is a holistic measure that accounts for all tested combinations, including those with flagships. A rank of 1950 indicates that this system is squarely in the middle of the pack, offering a balanced experience that is neither a budget outlier nor a performance leader. The data implies that users seeking to move into the upper echelon of the rankings would need to upgrade either the GPU to a model with more compute units or the CPU to one with more cores.

This mid-tier ranking aligns with the hardware's individual benchmarks. The CPU's average benchmark score is 19039, which is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, with a deltaPct of 0. The GPU's average score of 27425 is similarly close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile, showing a deltaPct of 0. This indicates that the components are well-matched to their direct competitors, but neither is a standout performer that would push the combo into the top quartile of systems tested.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is the dominant component in this configuration for Lockdown Protocol, as evidenced by the FPS scaling across resolutions. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides a 384.0 GB/s bandwidth, which is sufficient for the textures and assets at 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra. The GPU's core clocks are 2321 MHz base and 2581 MHz boost, with a game clock of 2424 MHz, which allows it to sustain high throughput during intense firefights. The measured results show that the GPU's 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the primary driver of frame rates, particularly at higher settings.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB proves adequate for all tested presets, as there are no data points indicating a memory-related performance cliff, such as a sudden FPS drop at 4K Ultra that would suggest VRAM swapping. The GPU's 40 ray accelerators are present, but their impact on this game is not directly measurable from the FPS data, which shows a linear progression of performance from Low to Ultra. The 64 ROPs and 160 TMUs ensure that pixel fill rate and texture filtering are handled efficiently, but the 165.2 GPixel/s pixel rate and 413.0 GTexel/s texture rate are what enable the 56 FPS average at 4K High.

At 1080p, the GPU is not the primary constraint, as the 191 FPS at Low settings demonstrates. However, the GPU still needs to process every frame, and its performance ceiling becomes apparent when comparing the 1080p Ultra (89 FPS) to the 1440p High (87 FPS). These nearly identical results suggest that the GPU is hitting a similar workload threshold, where the increased resolution at High settings is offset by the lower settings at 1080p. The GPU's role is thus to provide consistent rendering power, which it does effectively up to 1440p High, but it cannot maintain high refresh rates at 4K with maxed-out settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance of visual quality and frame rate is achieved at the High preset for 1440p and 1080p resolutions. At 2560x1440 High, the average FPS is 87, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and is a significant improvement over the Ultra preset's 65 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra at 1440p costs 22 FPS (from 87 to 65), which is a 25% performance penalty for likely marginal visual gains. Therefore, High is the recommended preset for 1440p to maintain a fluid experience.

For 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 118 FPS, which is an excellent result for high-refresh-rate monitors. While the Low preset achieves 191 FPS, the High preset offers a better visual experience without sacrificing the frame rate needed for competitive play. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 89 FPS, which is still playable but introduces unnecessary performance loss. The data shows that Medium at 1080p (135 FPS) is also a viable option, but High provides a better visual-to-performance ratio, as the 17 FPS difference between Medium and High is less impactful than the 29 FPS difference between High and Ultra.

At 3840x2160, none of the presets deliver a consistently high-refresh-rate experience. The High preset averages 56 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay, while Medium averages 64 FPS and Low averages 90 FPS. For 4K users, the Low preset is the only option that approaches high refresh rates, but the visual compromise is substantial. The Medium preset at 4K is the best compromise, offering 64 FPS, which is playable for single-player experiences but not ideal for fast-paced multiplayer. The data suggests that 4K is not the target resolution for this combo, and users should prefer 1440p High for the best overall experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured average frame rates for Lockdown Protocol with this hardware is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields 191 FPS, the Medium preset yields 135 FPS with a minimum of 115 and a maximum of 156, the High preset yields 118 FPS, and the Ultra preset yields 89 FPS. These figures show a clear progression where each step up in settings reduces performance by 20-30 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High (17 FPS).

At 2560x1440, the averages are 140 FPS for Low, 99 FPS for Medium with a minimum of 84 and a maximum of 114, 87 FPS for High, and 65 FPS for Ultra. The 4K results at 3840x2160 show 90 FPS for Low, 64 FPS for Medium with a minimum of 54 and a maximum of 74, 56 FPS for High, and 42 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset is the only one with min and max values recorded across all resolutions, indicating it was the focus of stability testing. The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra widens significantly as resolution increases, from a 102 FPS difference at 1080p to a 48 FPS difference at 4K, underscoring the GPU's diminishing ability to handle higher settings at higher pixel counts.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F plays a supporting role in Lockdown Protocol, providing the computational foundation for the GPU. With 6 cores and 12 threads, this Alder Lake processor has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, which is sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p and 1440p. The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, and its dual-channel memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 allows for flexible system builds. The benchmark results show a single-thread score of 909 in 3DMark, which is crucial for game logic and physics that are often single-thread dependent.

The CPU's performance is not the limiting factor in this configuration, as evidenced by the 1080p Low result of 191 FPS. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU is capable of processing game state updates fast enough to support high refresh rates. However, the CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are moderate, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380, which is adequate for background tasks and streaming but not a primary driver of FPS in this game. The 3DMark scores for 8 threads (4779) and 16 threads (5895) show that scaling is linear, but the game likely does not utilize all 12 threads fully.

The CPU's rank against all CPUs is at the 73rd percentile, with its average benchmark score of 19039 being nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (deltaPct 0) and Intel Core 3 201E (deltaPct -0.1). This indicates that the i5-12400F is a mainstream performer that does not bottleneck the RX 6700 XT in most scenarios. The data suggests that upgrading the CPU would not yield significant FPS gains in Lockdown Protocol at 1440p or 4K, as the GPU is the primary constraint. At 1080p, a faster CPU could potentially push the Low preset frame rate higher than 191 FPS, but the gains would be marginal and limited to the lowest settings.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 at High settings is the optimal resolution, providing an average of 87 FPS. This delivers a smooth experience without the performance sacrifice seen at 4K, where the High preset only averages 56 FPS.

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

A: Yes, but with compromises. The 4K Low preset averages 90 FPS, while Medium averages 64 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 42 FPS, indicating that 4K is playable only at lower settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its direct rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19039, which is virtually identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047, deltaPct 0) and the Intel Core 3 201E (19056, deltaPct -0.1). This indicates a tight performance parity.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 87 FPS, while Ultra averages 65 FPS. This is a 22 FPS drop, representing a 25% reduction in performance for the higher visual settings.

Q: Is the GPU's 12 GB VRAM sufficient for the highest settings?

A: Yes, the measured data shows no anomalies in FPS at 4K Ultra (42 FPS) that would suggest VRAM overflow. The performance drop is consistent with the increased rendering load, not a memory capacity issue.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: The data suggests minimal bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 191 FPS, which is a high frame rate. The CPU's 6-core, 12-thread configuration and 4.40 GHz boost clock are sufficient to keep the GPU fed, though higher FPS would require a more powerful CPU.