Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination in Lockdown Protocol ranks 1454th out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11% of the database. The CPU has a launch MSRP of $196 and the GPU has a launch MSRP of $229. This pairing pairs a strong 10-core processor with a mid-range Turing GPU, and the measured frame rates reveal a system that is consistently GPU-limited at higher resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1454 out of 1637 means it outperforms only 183 other tested combinations, or roughly 11% of the field. This low standing is not due to a weak CPU: the i5-13400F sits in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25236. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered—the Intel Core i7-13620H scores 25201 (0.1% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D scores 25365 (0.5% higher), and the AMD EPYC 9474F and Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 are within 0.5% as well. The GPU, however, is only in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 14286. Its nearest rivals—the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14314, 0.2% higher), Intel Iris Xe MAX (14315, 0.2% higher), AMD Radeon Vega 11 (14352, 0.5% higher), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389, 0.7% higher)—all edge it out. The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-pack GPU explains why the overall combo ranks so low: the GPU becomes the limiting factor in a game that scales heavily with resolution and settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best measured FPS at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 123.8 FPS average. Medium yields 84.9, High 76.7, and Ultra 56.1.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings, which produce 66.4 FPS. Low reaches 92.4, High drops to 55, and Ultra falls to 44.2.

Q: How does the CPU’s core count affect performance?

A: The i5-13400F has 10 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21279 and single-core score of 3004 indicate strong throughput, which supports high frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is not saturated.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. This is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K the frame rates drop sharply.

Q: Which settings give the smoothest experience at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low settings reach near-playable levels at 58.1 FPS. Medium is 41.3, High 36.4, and Ultra 24.6.

Q: How does this combo compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 14286 is 0.2% lower than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14314) and 0.7% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389), indicating a very tight performance band.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on Raptor Lake, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. It has 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 per core. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 21279 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3004 in single-core, while Geekbench reports 10971 multi-core and 2301 single-core. Passmark’s multithread test yields 25032, and the 3DMark 16-thread score is 7314. These numbers place the CPU in the 82nd percentile of all processors, meaning it is well above average for gaming workloads.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s role becomes evident when examining frame rates at 1080p. At Low settings, the combo reaches 123.8 FPS, which is high enough to suggest the CPU is not the bottleneck. Even at 1080p Ultra, the frame rate is 56.1, still above 50. The CPU’s strong single-thread performance (3004 in R23 single-core) helps maintain high minimum frame rates in a fast-paced FPS. However, as resolution increases, the GPU takes over as the limiting factor. The CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for this game, which is not heavily multithreaded; the measured data shows that the i5-13400F can feed the GTX 1660 SUPER effectively at all tested settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings each. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 123.8 FPS on Low, 84.9 on Medium, 76.7 on High, and 56.1 on Ultra. At 2560x1440, the numbers are 92.4 (Low), 66.4 (Medium), 55 (High), and 44.2 (Ultra). At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop to 58.1 (Low), 41.3 (Medium), 36.4 (High), and 24.6 (Ultra). These figures show a clear pattern: each step up in settings reduces FPS by roughly 20-30%, and each resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p to 4K cuts performance by about 40-50% at the same setting. For example, at High settings, 1080p yields 76.7, 1440p yields 55, and 4K yields 36.4. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial—at 1080p, Low is 123.8 while Ultra is 56.1, a difference of 67.7 FPS. This indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER’s 6 GB frame buffer and 336 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for lower presets but become strained at higher quality levels.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a consistent halving of frame rates across all settings. At Low, 123.8 FPS at 1080p drops to 58.1 at 4K, a 53% reduction. Medium goes from 84.9 to 41.3, a 51% drop. High falls from 76.7 to 36.4, a 53% reduction. Ultra drops from 56.1 to 24.6, a 56% decrease. This near-uniform scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario: the CPU’s performance is sufficient to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but the GPU’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth become the limiting factor as resolution increases. The GTX 1660 SUPER’s pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s are modest by modern standards, and the 6 GB VRAM is likely a constraint at 4K, especially with higher texture quality. The data shows that the i5-13400F is not the bottleneck at any resolution; even at 4K Low, the CPU can push 58.1 FPS, which is close to the GPU’s ceiling. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions, but the observed halving indicates the GPU is the primary constraint.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the measured rows point to specific presets. At 1080p, Medium (84.9 FPS) and High (76.7 FPS) both exceed 60, while Ultra (56.1) falls just short. At 1440p, only Medium (66.4) stays above 60; Low (92.4) is also viable but sacrifices visual quality. At 4K, no setting reaches 60 FPS—Low is closest at 58.1, but it is still below the threshold. Therefore, the best experience per the measured data is 1080p High, which offers 76.7 FPS with good visual fidelity, or 1440p Medium at 66.4 FPS for a higher resolution. For players prioritizing frame rate over resolution, 1080p Low at 123.8 FPS provides a very high refresh rate. Ultra settings are only recommended at 1080p if the user accepts 56.1 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive FPS. The data suggests that the GTX 1660 SUPER is best paired with Medium or High presets at 1080p or Medium at 1440p, while 4K should be avoided unless the user is willing to run Low settings and accept sub-60 FPS.