Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

The combination of Intel's 12-core Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA's entry-level GTX 1050 Ti produces a heavily GPU-bound experience in Lockdown Protocol, with the measured frame rates showing that the graphics card is the definitive bottleneck across all tested configurations. The CPU, which sits at the 85th percentile among all tested processors, has ample headroom that the GPU simply cannot utilize, resulting in a system that ranks 3661 out of 3714 tested combos for this game. The benchmark data reveals a clear pattern: even at 1080p with Low settings, where the CPU would typically shoulder more of the workload, the system only reaches 61 FPS average, indicating that the GPU's Pascal architecture, with its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth, is the limiting factor in nearly every scenario.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all settings presets and resolutions points to a single viable configuration for playable performance. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 61 FPS average, which is the only tested configuration that crosses the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at the same resolution delivers 44 FPS average with a range of 37 to 50 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes. The High preset drops to 38 FPS, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS, making these settings increasingly difficult to recommend for smooth gameplay.

For users with 1440p displays, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset at 2560x1440 produces 45 FPS average, which is acceptable for slower-paced moments but may feel inconsistent during firefights. Medium drops to 32 FPS with a range of 27 to 37 FPS, and High falls to 28 FPS. At 4K, the results are largely unplayable: Low settings yield only 29 FPS, Medium produces 21 FPS with a range of 18 to 24 FPS, and High drops to 18 FPS. Ultra at 4K is a non-starter at 14 FPS.

The data indicates that Low settings at 1080p is the only configuration that delivers consistently smooth performance, with the 61 FPS average suggesting the system has just enough headroom to maintain playable frame rates in most scenarios. The Medium preset at 1080p could be considered for users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate stability, but the 37 FPS minimum recorded in the data shows that demanding scenes will cause noticeable stuttering. At higher resolutions, the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface become increasingly inadequate, and even Low settings fail to provide acceptable performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is an Alder Lake-S part with 12 cores and 20 threads, a configuration that is substantially overqualified for the demands of Lockdown Protocol when paired with this GPU. The CPU's benchmark scores reflect its strong multi-threaded capabilities: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28838, a PassMark multi-thread score of 34092, and a 3DMark max-threads score of 9983. Single-threaded performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4071 and a PassMark single-thread score of 3984.

The CPU's boost clock of 5.00 GHz and base clock of 3.60 GHz, combined with 25 MB of shared L3 cache, provide the kind of performance headroom that would allow this processor to handle far more demanding GPU configurations. In the context of this specific pairing, however, the CPU's role is largely passive. At 1080p Low, where the system achieves 61 FPS, the CPU is likely waiting on the GPU for most frames. The data shows that the CPU sits at the 85th percentile among all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35365, placing it just 0.2% above the Intel Core i7-12700K and 0.2% below the Intel Core i5-13600T in the nearestRivals comparison.

The measured FPS deltas across resolutions confirm the CPU's underutilization. Moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops from 61 to 45 FPS, a 26% reduction. From 1440p Low to 4K Low, the drop is from 45 to 29 FPS, another 36% reduction. These scaling patterns are classic signs of GPU limitation, where the CPU's frame generation capacity remains constant but the GPU's rendering workload increases with pixel count. The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and Geekbench multi-core score of 14367 suggest that even in CPU-intensive scenes, the processor would have significant reserve capacity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the primary constraint in this configuration, and its specifications explain the measured performance profile. The GPU features 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units, with a base clock of 1291 MHz and a boost clock of 1392 MHz. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is marginal for modern FPS titles even at 1080p.

The GPU's benchmark results place it at the 25th percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 4193. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R5 M330 (0.6% faster), NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (1% faster), NVIDIA Quadro K3000M (1.1% slower), and AMD Radeon Vega 3 (1.8% slower). These comparisons illustrate that the GTX 1050 Ti sits at the very bottom of the desktop GPU hierarchy, with performance levels that are closer to entry-level mobile parts than to modern desktop GPUs.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's limitations manifest clearly in the frame rate scaling. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 32 FPS (61 to 29), while at 1440p the same settings spread yields 24 FPS (45 to 21), and at 4K the spread is just 15 FPS (29 to 14). This narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming fully saturated, and the settings-dependent workload differences are being masked by the pixel fill rate bottleneck. The GPU's pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s and texture rate of 66.82 GTexel/s are simply insufficient for 4K rendering, where even Low settings produce only 29 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS in Lockdown Protocol?

A: Yes, but only at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the measured average FPS is 61. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 44 FPS, and no other tested configuration reaches 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combination?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where playable frame rates are achievable. At 2560x1440, even Low settings produce only 45 FPS average, and at 3840x2160, the maximum average FPS across any setting is 29.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has an average benchmark score of 4193. It is 0.6% slower than the AMD Radeon R5 M330, 1% slower than the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M, 1.1% faster than the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M, and 1.8% faster than the AMD Radeon Vega 3.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The benchmark data indicates the GPU is the definitive bottleneck. The CPU ranks at the 85th percentile among all tested CPUs, while the GPU ranks at the 25th percentile. The frame rate scaling across resolution and settings changes is consistent with GPU limitation.

Q: What is the expected performance difference between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, Ultra settings produce 29 FPS compared to 61 FPS on Low, a 52% reduction. At 1440p, the reduction is 53% (45 to 21 FPS), and at 4K, the reduction is 52% (29 to 14 FPS).

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combination ranks 3661 out of 3714 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 1.4% of all tested systems.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across the three tested resolutions reveals a consistent pattern of GPU-bound performance. At Low settings, the system achieves 61 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p represents a 26% reduction, while the drop from 1440p to 4K represents a 36% reduction. These scaling factors are slightly less than the pixel count differences would suggest, indicating that the GPU is partially bottlenecked by other factors such as memory bandwidth and fill rate.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 44 FPS at 1080p, 32 FPS at 1440p (27% reduction), and 21 FPS at 4K (34% reduction). The High preset shows 38 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p (26% reduction), and 18 FPS at 4K (36% reduction). The consistency of these scaling percentages across all settings presets strongly suggests that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the limiting factor, as the resolution-dependent workload scales predictably regardless of the quality preset.

The data also shows that the gap between Low and Medium settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 17 FPS (61 to 44); at 1440p, the difference is 13 FPS (45 to 32); and at 4K, the difference is 8 FPS (29 to 21). This narrowing indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's pixel processing capacity becomes the dominant constraint, and the additional work from Medium settings (compared to Low) has less relative impact. The 4K Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 18 and a maximum of 24, demonstrating that even the frame time variance is tightly constrained by the GPU's throughput limits.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its best results. Low settings achieve 61 FPS average, Medium produces 44 FPS with a range of 37 to 50 FPS, High delivers 38 FPS, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The 32 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at this resolution shows that the GPU has some headroom to accommodate higher quality settings, but the step from Medium to High (6 FPS drop) and High to Ultra (9 FPS drop) shows diminishing returns as each settings tier adds more rendering work.

At 2560x1440, the performance envelope compresses. Low settings produce 45 FPS, Medium delivers 32 FPS with a range of 27 to 37 FPS, High achieves 28 FPS, and Ultra drops to 21 FPS. The 24 FPS spread between Low and Ultra is narrower than at 1080p, reflecting the GPU's increasing saturation at higher pixel counts. The Medium preset's minimum of 27 FPS indicates that even moderate quality settings will cause noticeable frame drops in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the results are largely academic. Low settings produce 29 FPS, Medium delivers 21 FPS with a range of 18 to 24 FPS, High achieves 18 FPS, and Ultra drops to 14 FPS. The 15 FPS spread between Low and Ultra demonstrates that at 4K, the GPU is operating in a heavily constrained regime where even the lowest quality settings cannot overcome the pixel fill rate bottleneck. The system's performance at 4K is below the threshold for acceptable gameplay in any scenario, with the best case (Low settings) still producing frame times of approximately 34 milliseconds.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti ranks 3661 out of 3714 tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 1.4% of all systems tested. This ranking is consistent with the component-level percentiles: the CPU sits at the 85th percentile among all tested CPUs, while the GPU sits at the 25th percentile among all tested GPUs. The massive disparity between these two percentile positions explains why this combo ranks so poorly despite having a strong processor.

The CPU's nearest rivals — the Intel Core i7-13700T (0.1% slower), Intel Core i5-13600T (0.2% faster), Intel Core 5 213PE (0.2% slower), and Intel Core i7-12700K (0.2% faster) — all have nearly identical average benchmark scores, confirming that the processor is not the source of this combo's low ranking. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals — the AMD Radeon R5 M330, NVIDIA Quadro K2100M, NVIDIA Quadro K3000M, and AMD Radeon Vega 3 — all fall within 1.8% of the GTX 1050 Ti's average benchmark score, confirming that the GPU is the limiting component.

The ranking reflects the fundamental mismatch between the CPU's capabilities and the GPU's limitations. With an average benchmark score of 35365 for the CPU and 4193 for the GPU, the system has roughly 8.4 times more CPU compute capacity than GPU compute capacity. In a game like Lockdown Protocol, which is a fast-paced FPS with significant GPU demands, this imbalance results in the GPU becoming the sole determinant of performance. The measured FPS data confirms this: the system's performance is almost entirely a function of the GPU's rendering capabilities, with the CPU's substantial headroom going unused in every tested configuration.