Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a fast-paced FPS that clearly favors high frame rates, and the pairing of the Intel Core i5-12600KF with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT delivers a wide spectrum of performance across its four quality presets. The measured data shows that this combination is capable of pushing well past the 100 FPS mark at 1080p, but the demands of 4K resolution will require significant settings adjustments to maintain smooth gameplay. The benchmark results indicate a system that is well-balanced for high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gaming, with the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting the smoothest possible experience, the Low preset is the clear winner, delivering an average of 191 FPS at 1920x1080. This drops to 140 FPS at 2560x1440 and 90 FPS at 3840x2160. While the visual fidelity is reduced, the frame rate headroom is substantial, making this the best choice for competitive play where responsiveness is paramount. The data shows a massive 73 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p, indicating that the Ultra preset is incredibly demanding and not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays.

The Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, it produces an average of 135 FPS, which is only a 29% reduction from the Low preset but provides a significant visual upgrade. The frame times are also consistent, with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS, suggesting a stable experience. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset still maintains an average of 99 FPS, which is perfectly playable on a 144Hz monitor. The minimum of 84 FPS here shows that the system can handle intense scenes without dipping into uncomfortable territory.

The High preset is a solid middle ground, but it sacrifices more performance than it gains in visual quality. It produces 118 FPS at 1080p, which is a drop of 17 FPS from Medium. At 1440p, it falls to 87 FPS, and at 4K it drops to 56 FPS. The Ultra preset is only recommended for players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, as it yields 89 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and just 42 FPS at 4K. These numbers indicate that Ultra is best suited for slower-paced, visually focused gameplay or for taking screenshots.

The optimal experience depends on the user's display and priorities. For 1080p users with high-refresh-rate monitors, the Medium preset is the sweet spot, offering a strong combination of smoothness and detail. For 1440p users, Medium is also the recommended starting point, as it stays above the 90 FPS threshold. For 4K users, the Low preset is the only way to achieve a playable frame rate, as the High and Ultra presets fall below the 60 FPS target.

FAQ

Q: Can this CPU and GPU combo handle Lockdown Protocol at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but with significant limitations. At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves an average of 90 FPS, while the Medium preset drops to 64 FPS. The High preset falls to 56 FPS, and the Ultra preset is unplayable at 42 FPS. The data suggests that 4K gaming is only viable with the Low or Medium presets.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset is the most suitable option. The measured data shows an average of 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS. While it does not fully saturate a 144Hz display, it provides a much smoother experience than the High preset, which averages 87 FPS, and is significantly faster than the 65 FPS average of the Ultra preset.

Q: How does the CPU's core and thread count influence performance in this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-12600KF has 10 cores and 16 threads. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23391 and a single-core score of 3302. The data shows that at 1080p with the Low preset, the system reaches 191 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU effectively. The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the RX 6700 XT a strong performer compared to other GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT holds a percentile rank of 72 among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 27425 puts it in a close competition with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, which has a deltaPct of -0.5, meaning the RX 6700 XT is slightly ahead. It is also notably ahead of the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell, with a deltaPct of 1.1.

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

A: The difference is substantial. The Low preset produces an average of 191 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces an average of 89 FPS. This represents a 102 FPS drop, or a 53% reduction in performance, when switching to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the system provide a consistent frame rate, or are there significant drops?

A: The data includes min and max FPS only for the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, the average is 135 FPS with a minimum of 115 and a maximum of 156. This indicates a stable experience with a narrow frame time variance. Similarly, at 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 99 FPS with a minimum of 84, showing good consistency even at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a clear picture of how the system scales with resolution. At 1080p, the combo is heavily CPU-bound at lower settings, as evidenced by the 191 FPS average on Low. This is a very high frame rate that stresses the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls. As resolution increases, the load shifts to the GPU, and the frame rates drop accordingly.

Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the Low preset, the average frame rate drops from 191 FPS to 140 FPS, a 27% decrease. This is a significant drop, indicating that the GPU is starting to become a bottleneck. The trend continues at 4K, where the Low preset yields only 90 FPS, a further 36% decrease from 1440p. This progression shows that the RX 6700 XT's 12 GB of memory and 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth are sufficient for the workload, but its raw compute power (13.21 TFLOPS) is the limiting factor.

The scaling is even more dramatic on the Ultra preset. The system produces 89 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 27%, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 35%. This consistent pattern across all settings confirms that the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is the primary performance limiter at higher resolutions. The CPU, with its high single-thread performance (3dmark single thread score of 1016), has enough headroom to support these frame rates, but the GPU simply cannot render the increased pixel count fast enough.

The data suggests that the i5-12600KF is a capable partner for this GPU. The fact that the 1080p Low preset reaches 191 FPS indicates that the CPU is not holding the system back in less demanding scenarios. However, the large frame rate drops at 1440p and 4K show that the GPU is the component that determines the ceiling for performance in Lockdown Protocol. For users with 1080p or 1440p monitors, this is a well-balanced pairing; for 4K, the GPU will be the main constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global ranking of tested hardware combinations for Lockdown Protocol, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT holds a rank of 1950 out of 3714 total combos. This places it in the 52nd percentile, meaning it outperforms slightly more than half of all other tested systems. While not a top-tier combination, it is positioned comfortably in the middle of the pack, representing a mainstream gaming setup that can handle the game well at standard resolutions.

The ranking reflects the combined capabilities of both components. The CPU, with a percentile rank of 79 among all CPUs, is a strong performer. Its average benchmark score of 27799 places it in close competition with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which has a deltaPct of -0.3, meaning the i5-12600KF is marginally faster in synthetic benchmarks. It is also slightly ahead of the Intel Core i9-10900K (deltaPct of -0.3) and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (deltaPct of -0.3), showing that it holds its own against older and mobile flagships.

The GPU, with a percentile rank of 72 among all GPUs, is also a solid mid-to-high-range performer. Its average benchmark score of 27425 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile (deltaPct of 0) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (deltaPct of -0.5). This demonstrates that the RX 6700 XT provides desktop-class performance that rivals even the most powerful mobile GPUs and the previous generation's flagship desktop card.

When combined, the rank of 1950 out of 3714 suggests that while the individual components are above average, the overall system is not optimized for the absolute highest performance in Lockdown Protocol. The game's demands, particularly at higher settings, seem to be more heavily weighted toward the GPU, which holds the combo back from a higher ranking. Nevertheless, the data shows that this is a competent pairing that will provide a satisfying experience for most gamers.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. It features a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, allowing it to handle both multi-threaded workloads and single-threaded tasks with high efficiency. Its benchmark scores reflect this balance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23391 and a single-core score of 3302.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings. The data shows that at 1080p with the Low preset, the system achieves 191 FPS. This high frame rate is a strong indicator that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to keep it busy. The i5-12600KF's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3dmark single thread score of 1016, is crucial for a game engine that likely relies heavily on a single main thread for game logic.

However, the CPU's influence diminishes as the resolution increases. At 4K, the frame rate drops to 90 FPS on Low settings, which is a 53% reduction from the 1080p result. This indicates that the GPU is no longer being fed as effectively because it is struggling to render the higher pixel count, not because the CPU is unable to provide data. The CPU is likely waiting for the GPU to finish rendering each frame, a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck.

The processor's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory also contribute to its performance. The high cache size helps reduce memory latency, which can improve frame times in games. The data suggests that the i5-12600KF is not the limiting factor in this pairing for most gaming scenarios. It provides ample computational power to support the RX 6700 XT, and its performance is only fully utilized when the GPU is not the bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact average frame rates measured for this combination, broken down by resolution and settings preset.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 191 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 135 | 115 | 156 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 118 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 89 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 140 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 99 | 84 | 114 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 87 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 65 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 90 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 64 | 54 | 74 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 56 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 42 | - | - |

The data reveals a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions. The Low preset provides the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, High, and finally Ultra. At 1080p, the system is capable of delivering an excellent experience on all presets, with even the Ultra preset maintaining an average of 89 FPS. This makes 1080p the ideal resolution for this hardware combination, as it allows for high visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness.

At 1440p, the frame rates become more demanding. The Low preset still provides a very playable 140 FPS, and the Medium preset offers a solid 99 FPS. The High preset drops to 87 FPS, which is still acceptable, but the Ultra preset falls to 65 FPS, which may be too low for fast-paced action on a high-refresh-rate monitor. The minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at this resolution is 84, indicating that the experience remains stable.

At 4K, the system's limitations become apparent. The Low preset is the only option that provides a frame rate above 60 FPS, with an average of 90. The Medium preset averages 64 FPS, which is playable but with a minimum of 54 FPS that could lead to noticeable stutters. The High and Ultra presets are not recommended for 4K, as they average 56 FPS and 42 FPS respectively. The data clearly shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K reserved for lower settings.