Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake-S desktop processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel interface and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 CPU lanes. In synthetic benchmarks, the processor’s single-thread score of 909 in 3DMark and 2332 in Cinebench R23 indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for the FPS genre where game logic and draw calls often rely on a few heavily loaded threads. Its multi-threaded results, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 and a Geekbench multicore score of 9138, show that the six physical cores can handle background tasks without compromising frame pacing. The CPU sits at the 77th percentile among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 19221. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, scores 19210, a delta of just 0.1%, meaning the i5-12400F effectively trades blows with that older flagship in aggregate compute. The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS scores 19364, putting it 0.7% ahead, while the AMD EPYC 7773X trails by 1.3% with a score of 18979.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with minimal latency. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 259 FPS, a figure that suggests the processor is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions and lighter graphical loads. However, as resolution increases, the frame rates drop significantly, indicating that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide ample bandwidth for game assets, and its 65W TDP means sustained boost clocks are plausible under gaming loads. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 58.2, which is a 77.5% reduction from the 1080p Low result, a clear sign that the CPU’s 12 threads are not the constraint in this title. Instead, the i5-12400F’s performance is sufficient to drive high refresh rates at 1440p, where it achieves 118 FPS on High settings, leaving headroom for the GPU to work.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, containing 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s base clock is 1920 MHz with a boost clock of 2475 MHz, and its memory runs at 1313 MHz, or 21 Gbps effective. With 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, the card is capable of 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. It also includes 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The RTX 4070 holds the 81st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37283. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, scores 37507, which is 0.6% higher, while the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A trails by 1.9% with a score of 38008. The RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135, putting it 2.2% ahead, and the AMD Radeon RX 5300M is 2.5% behind with 36371.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU’s 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are pivotal. At 4K Ultra settings, the average FPS is 58.2, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by the combination of high resolution and maximum graphical fidelity. Dropping to 4K High raises the average to 73.6 FPS, a 26.5% improvement, while 4K Medium yields 89.6 FPS and 4K Low hits 121.6 FPS. This scaling pattern shows that the RTX 4070’s compute and memory subsystems are the primary drivers of performance at 4K, as the CPU’s contribution is relatively constant. At 1440p, the GPU still dominates: High settings produce 118 FPS, but Ultra drops to 90.7 FPS, a 23.1% penalty. The card’s 64 ROPs and 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for the game’s visual effects, but the data suggests that VRAM capacity is not a limitation even at 4K, as the performance delta between settings is more attributable to shader complexity than memory allocation.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 422nd out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 25.8% of all configurations. This rank reflects the balance between a mid-range CPU and a high-end GPU, where the RTX 4070 provides the bulk of the graphical horsepower while the i5-12400F avoids bottlenecking at most settings. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 259 FPS, which is 2.1 times the 4K Ultra result of 58.2 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. In contrast, at 1080p, the CPU’s 12 threads are enough to sustain high frame rates, but the GPU’s 29.15 TFLOPS are not fully utilized until resolution increases.

Comparing to other combos, the i5-12400F’s average benchmark score of 19221 is nearly identical to the i7-8700K, so the CPU does not differentiate much from older platforms. However, the RTX 4070’s 81st percentile GPU rank means the combo outperforms systems with weaker graphics cards, even if they have faster CPUs. For instance, a combo with a Ryzen 5 7533HS (0.7% faster CPU) but a slower GPU would likely score lower in-game due to the GPU bottleneck. The 422nd rank out of 1637 combos suggests that this pairing is well above average, but not elite; top-tier combos likely feature CPUs like the Core i9 or Ryzen 9 with RTX 4090-class GPUs, which would push the rank higher. The measured FPS data indicates that the combo is capable of 4K gaming at playable frame rates on High settings (73.6 FPS), but for competitive play at 1440p, it excels, with 118 FPS on High and 189.6 FPS on Low.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 259, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F scores 19221 on average, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210) and 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i5-1335U (19167).

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor, as the average FPS drops to 58.2 at 4K Ultra, while the CPU’s 12 threads are sufficient to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions like 1080p Low (259 FPS).

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p High and 4K High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the combo averages 162.4 FPS, while at 4K High it averages 73.6 FPS, representing a 54.7% drop in performance.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 rank among all GPUs in the database?

A: The RTX 4070 holds the 81st percentile, with an average benchmark score of 37283, placing it ahead of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507) by 0.6%.

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The combo ranks 422nd out of 1637 tested combinations, which places it in the top 25.8% of all configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear trend: as resolution increases, average frame rates drop substantially, with the most significant penalties occurring at 4K. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 259 FPS on Low, 184.1 on Medium, 162.4 on High, and 123.7 on Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, these figures fall to 189.6, 134.9, 118, and 90.7 respectively. At 3840x2160, the averages drop further to 121.6, 89.6, 73.6, and 58.2. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows an average reduction of about 27% across all settings, while the jump from 1440p to 4K incurs a further 36% reduction, on average. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component, as the CPU’s performance is relatively constant across resolutions, while the GPU’s workload scales with pixel count.

Specifically, the transition from 1080p Ultra (123.7 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (90.7 FPS) is a 26.7% drop, and from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra (58.2 FPS) is a 35.8% drop. The fact that the 4K Ultra result falls below 60 FPS highlights the GPU’s inability to maintain high frame rates at maximum settings and resolution, despite its 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the 259 FPS result suggests that the CPU can drive very high frame rates when the GPU is not saturated, but the GPU’s 29.15 TFLOPS are underutilized at this resolution. The data also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases: at 1080p, the difference is 135.3 FPS (259 vs 123.7), while at 4K, it narrows to 63.4 FPS (121.6 vs 58.2). This narrowing indicates that at 4K, even Low settings are GPU-bound, whereas at 1080p, the CPU can more easily feed the GPU, making the GPU the bottleneck only at higher settings. Overall, the combination is best suited for 1440p gaming, where it delivers 118 FPS on High and 90.7 FPS on Ultra, providing a smooth experience without the steep performance penalties seen at 4K.