Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti delivers a solid, high-refresh-rate experience in Lockdown Protocol, though the CPU becomes a noticeable limiting factor at lower resolutions. Benchmark results show the combination ranks 917th out of 1637 tested configurations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of systems. The measured frame rates across presets and resolutions reveal a system that can comfortably handle 1080p and 1440p gaming, but struggles to maintain fluid performance at 4K with maximum settings.

Settings Recommendations

The data clearly indicates that the High preset offers the most balanced experience across all three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, High produces an average of 119.5 FPS, which is 74.5 FPS below Ultra but 46 FPS above Low. More importantly, High delivers 25.5 more frames per second than Ultra at this resolution, making it the sensible choice for maintaining high frame rates without sacrificing visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 89.7 FPS average, which remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at this resolution produces 103.5 FPS, but the difference between Medium and High is only 13.8 FPS, suggesting that High provides substantial visual improvements for a modest performance cost. Ultra at 1440p drops to 67 FPS average, which is still playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

The 4K results present a more challenging picture. High at 3840x2160 yields 61.2 FPS average, barely clearing the 60 FPS mark. Medium produces 65.6 FPS, while Low jumps to 91.6 FPS. For 4K owners, the High preset is the optimal recommendation, as it maintains playable frame rates while delivering the best visual quality. Ultra at 4K falls to 43.1 FPS, which is below the smoothness threshold for competitive FPS gameplay.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 features 6 cores and 6 threads with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. This Coffee Lake processor, built on the 14 nm process, carries 9 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark performance places it at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-10305 with an average score of 2300 and a deltaPct of 0.2, and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 with a score of 2299 and the same 0.2 deltaPct. The Intel Xeon E-2134 scores 2295 at 0.4 percent behind, while the Intel Core i7-8809G leads by 0.6 percent with a score of 2319. These tightly clustered scores indicate that the i5-9400 sits at a performance plateau where small architectural differences determine ranking.

The 6-core, 6-thread configuration without hyper-threading means the CPU relies on raw clock speed rather than thread count. In Lockdown Protocol, an FPS title that typically favors higher clock speeds, the 4.10 GHz boost clock helps maintain frame delivery. However, the lack of additional threads becomes evident when comparing frame rates across resolutions. At 1080p, where GPU load is lower, the CPU must work harder to feed frames, and the gap between Low (165.5 FPS) and High (119.5 FPS) suggests the processor handles the less demanding settings more efficiently.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU runs at a base clock of 1410 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, and features 4864 shading units alongside 152 texture mapping units and 80 render output units. The 38 ray tracing cores and 152 tensor cores provide hardware support for advanced graphical features.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a PassMark G3D score of 20349 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2626. It ranks at the 69th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 25120. Its nearest rivals are closely matched: the AMD Radeon RX 6700M scores 25180 with a -0.2 deltaPct, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 achieves 25235 at -0.5 percent, and the AMD Radeon 890M reaches 25246, also at -0.5 percent. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP trails by 0.7 percent with a score of 25287.

The GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but can become constrained at 4K with higher presets. The measured FPS data supports this: at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 43.1 FPS, representing a significant decline from the 1440p Ultra result of 67 FPS. This 23.9 FPS difference between 1440p and 4K at Ultra settings indicates the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being pushed to their limits at the higher resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p gaming?

A: The High preset at 1920x1080 delivers 119.5 FPS average, offering a strong balance between frame rate and visual quality. Ultra produces 94 FPS, which is 25.5 FPS lower, while Medium achieves 138.5 FPS and Low reaches 165.5 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160, the High preset achieves 61.2 FPS average, which is playable. Low produces 91.6 FPS, Medium reaches 65.6 FPS, but Ultra drops to 43.1 FPS, falling below the smoothness threshold for competitive play.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, placing it 0.2 percent ahead of both the Intel Core i3-10305 and Intel Core i3-1125G4, and 0.4 percent ahead of the Intel Xeon E-2134. The Intel Core i7-8809G leads it by 0.6 percent.

Q: How does the GPU compare to AMD alternatives?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti scores 25120 on average, trailing the AMD Radeon RX 6700M by 0.2 percent and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 by 0.5 percent. It also sits 0.5 percent behind the AMD Radeon 890M and 0.7 percent behind the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the system achieves 119.5 FPS average, which drops to 89.7 FPS at 1440p High. This represents a 29.8 FPS decrease when moving between these two resolutions.

Q: Does the system benefit more from CPU or GPU upgrades?

A: The data shows that frame rates scale more dramatically with resolution changes than with preset changes, indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. At 1080p, the smaller performance gaps between presets suggest the CPU plays a larger role in frame delivery.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals distinct scaling patterns across presets. At Low settings, the system delivers 165.5 FPS at 1080p, 146.7 FPS at 1440p, and 91.6 FPS at 4K. This represents an 18.8 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a larger 55.1 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K.

High settings show a similar but more pronounced pattern: 119.5 FPS at 1080p, 89.7 FPS at 1440p, and 61.2 FPS at 4K. The 29.8 FPS decline from 1080p to 1440p and the 28.5 FPS decline from 1440p to 4K are nearly identical, suggesting that the GPU handles the resolution scaling consistently at this preset.

Ultra settings demonstrate the steepest scaling curve. The system achieves 94 FPS at 1080p, 67 FPS at 1440p, and 43.1 FPS at 4K. The 27 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and 23.9 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K indicate the GPU is progressively more constrained as pixel count increases.

The percentage changes tell a more revealing story. Moving from 1080p to 1440p, Low settings lose 11.4 percent of performance, High loses 24.9 percent, and Ultra loses 28.7 percent. From 1440p to 4K, Low drops 37.6 percent, High drops 31.8 percent, and Ultra drops 35.7 percent. These figures indicate that at higher presets, the GPU becomes the limiting component more quickly as resolution increases. The relatively smaller percentage drop at 4K Low compared to the absolute frame rates suggests the CPU begins to play a larger role in maintaining performance when the GPU is less stressed. This behavior is consistent with a system where the RTX 3060 Ti provides adequate compute power but the 6-core i5-9400 limits headroom at lower resolutions and less demanding settings.