Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a commanding performance profile in Lockdown Protocol, with measured frame rates that scale predictably across resolutions and presets. The data indicates that this combination is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings, while the CPU’s robust multi-threading capabilities become more relevant at lower presets. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS rows to determine optimal settings, component roles, and overall ranking.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, the High preset at 2560x1440 is the optimal choice. The data shows an average of 168.2 FPS at this setting, which is comfortably above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors. Moving up to Ultra at the same resolution drops the average to 123.7 FPS, a 26% reduction that provides diminishing visual returns for the performance cost. The difference between High and Medium at 1440p is also notable, with High delivering 168.2 FPS versus 190.9 FPS for Medium; the 22.7 FPS gap suggests that High is the sweet spot where the visual enhancements are worth the performance trade-off.

At 1920x1080, the High preset achieves 230.1 FPS, which is sufficient for even the fastest competitive displays. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 169.3 FPS, still highly playable, but the drop from High is substantial. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 313.7 FPS, showing the ceiling of this combo’s capability, but the visual degradation is severe. For users prioritizing maximum frame rates on a 240 Hz monitor, Medium at 1080p (264.6 FPS) is a better compromise than Low, as it retains more graphical detail while still exceeding the refresh rate.

At 4K, the High preset provides 110.1 FPS, making it the only 4K setting that breaks the 100 FPS barrier. The Ultra preset at 4K falls to 82.2 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced FPS action. Medium at 4K offers 121.6 FPS, but the step down from High is less visually noticeable at this resolution. Given the data, High at 4K is the recommended preset for users with 4K displays, as it maintains smooth gameplay without sacrificing too much detail. Overall, the analysis points to High as the most efficient preset across all three resolutions, with 1440p High providing the best overall experience for most users.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the measured frame rates. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This massive memory allocation ensures that Lockdown Protocol never encounters VRAM limitations, even at 4K Ultra settings. The data supports this: the 4K Ultra preset still manages 82.2 FPS, a respectable number that would be far lower if the GPU were running out of memory.

The GPU’s clock speeds are 2235 MHz base and 2520 MHz boost, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node. The 16,384 shading units and 128 RT cores provide the raw compute power necessary for the game’s rendering demands. The benchmark results confirm the GPU’s strength: the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 and the Passmark G3D score of 38194 place it in the 91st percentile among all GPUs. The data shows that the RTX 4090 is the primary driver of FPS in this game, as evidenced by the steep drop in performance when moving from Low to Ultra settings at any given resolution. For instance, at 1440p, the Ultra preset (123.7 FPS) is 54% slower than the Low preset (268.3 FPS), a gap that is almost entirely attributable to the GPU’s workload.

The GPU’s nearest rival by average benchmark score is the NVIDIA Tesla T4, with a deltaPct of -0.4, meaning the RTX 4090 scores slightly lower in synthetic tests but still delivers far superior gaming performance due to its dedicated gaming architecture. The 450 W TDP and triple-slot cooler are the physical costs of this performance, but the data shows they are justified in Lockdown Protocol.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that highlights the GPU-bound nature of this combo. At the High preset, average frame rates are 230.1 FPS at 1080p, 168.2 FPS at 1440p, and 110.1 FPS at 4K. This represents a 27% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 35% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, which indicates that the GPU is being pushed progressively harder as pixel count increases, but the RTX 4090 has enough headroom to maintain playable frame rates at all resolutions.

The Low preset shows even more dramatic scaling: 313.7 FPS at 1080p, 268.3 FPS at 1440p, and 176.2 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is particularly telling—it is only 56% of the 1080p Low result, showing that even at minimal settings, the 4K pixel workload is substantial. Conversely, the Ultra preset shows the smallest relative drop: 169.3 FPS at 1080p, 123.7 FPS at 1440p, and 82.2 FPS at 4K. This compressed scaling at Ultra suggests that the game’s Ultra settings introduce effects that are less resolution-dependent, such as post-processing or shadow quality, which tax the GPU evenly across resolutions.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would cluster closer together across resolutions, particularly at lower settings. Instead, the data shows that even at 1080p Low, the combo does not exceed 313.7 FPS, suggesting that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at this level, but the GPU is the ceiling for higher settings. The 4K Ultra result of 82.2 FPS confirms that the RTX 4090 is the primary constraint, as the CPU’s performance is identical regardless of resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 32nd out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the top 2% of all configurations tested, a strong result that reflects the high-end nature of both components. The rank is likely held back by the CPU, as the RTX 4090 is among the fastest GPUs available, but the i7-12700KF is a previous-generation processor.

The CPU’s percentile ranking against all CPUs is 89, meaning it outperforms 89% of tested processors. Its average benchmark score is 35355, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i5-14400 (deltaPct 0.1, meaning the i7 scores 0.1% lower) and the Intel Core i9-12900HX (deltaPct 0.2, meaning the i7 scores 0.2% lower). These tiny deltas indicate that the i7-12700KF is performance-equivalent to these newer or mobile parts, suggesting that the CPU is not a significant bottleneck in this game.

The GPU’s percentile ranking is 91, with an average benchmark score of 66473. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, has a deltaPct of -0.4, meaning the RTX 4090 scores slightly lower in synthetic benchmarks. However, in gaming workloads like Lockdown Protocol, the RTX 4090’s gaming-specific features give it a clear advantage. The combo rank of 32 suggests that there are 31 configurations that perform better, likely pairing the RTX 4090 with newer CPUs like the Core 14th-gen or Ryzen 7000-series parts. Still, a top-32 finish out of 1637 combos is an excellent result.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF provides the computational foundation for this gaming system, and its specifications are well-suited to Lockdown Protocol. The CPU has 12 cores and 20 threads, based on the Alder Lake architecture with a 10 nm process node. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, and it features a 25 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 28979, while single-core reaches 4091. The Passmark multithread score is 34092, and the 3DMark max threads score is 9983.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 313.7 FPS, which confirms the CPU’s ability to handle the game’s physics and AI calculations at high speed. The single-thread performance is particularly important for FPS games, and the CPU’s boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures that the primary game thread is never starved. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and Passmark single-thread score of 3984 confirm that the CPU has excellent per-core performance.

The CPU’s 20 threads come into play during multi-player scenarios or when other background tasks are running. The Passmark physics score of 1780 and the Cinebench R20 multicore score of 12171 suggest that the CPU can handle complex calculations without causing frame drops. The nearest CPU rival, the Intel Core i5-14400, has an average score of 35336, which is nearly identical to the i7-12700KF’s 35355. This indicates that the i7-12700KF is not a limiting factor in this combo; its performance is sufficient to keep the RTX 4090 fully utilized at most settings. The only scenario where the CPU might show its age is at 1080p Low, where the 313.7 FPS result approaches the upper limit of what this CPU can deliver, but this is far beyond typical display refresh rates.