Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core Ultra 5 125H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

This combo pairs a mobile Meteor Lake processor with NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell GPU, producing a system that ranks 551st out of 2,828 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. The rank places it in the top 19.5% of all tested combos, a strong showing driven almost entirely by the GPU's raw throughput. The measured frame rates confirm that this pairing delivers high-refresh 1440p gaming and playable 4K, though the CPU's mobile-class single-thread performance creates a visible ceiling at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 551 out of 2,828 represents the 80.5th percentile of all tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This is a solid result, though not a top-tier one, and the gap between this pairing and the absolute best combos is instructive. The CPU, Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, sits at the 79th percentile against all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 27,507. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (average score 27,535, delta -0.1%), the Intel Core i5-12600K (27,578, delta -0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (27,578, delta -0.3%). The AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355G trails slightly at 27,382, putting the Ultra 5 125H 0.5% ahead of that part.

The GPU, meanwhile, is a different story. The RTX 5090 ranks at the 92nd percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rivals show how close the top of the GPU chart is: the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605 (delta 0.3%), the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 (delta 0.6%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (delta 1.1%). The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X sits slightly higher at 80,959, putting the RTX 5090 1.4% behind that part. The GPU is clearly the dominant contributor to this combo's rank, but the CPU's position in the 79th percentile explains why the overall combo does not crack the top 500.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is a 14-core, 18-thread Meteor Lake part with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. It features 112 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark results show a multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score of 12,804.5 and a single-core score of 1,647.5, which is a notably weaker single-thread result relative to its multi-thread capability. In Passmark tests, the CPU achieves a multi-thread score of 21,100 and a single-thread score of 3,399.

In Lockdown Protocol, this CPU profile matters most at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 263 FPS on average, which suggests the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output at that setting. However, the gap between 1080p Low (263 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (127 FPS) is a 136 FPS drop, which is larger than the proportional reduction seen at higher resolutions. This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU begins to limit performance as settings increase, because the GPU has headroom to render more frames but the CPU's single-thread performance becomes a bottleneck. The single-core Cinebench R23 score of 1,647.5 is modest for a modern part, and the mix of 6 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores (implied by the 14-core count) is not ideal for a game that likely relies on a few heavily threaded tasks.

The CPU's 7 nm process node and 28 W TDP classify it as a mobile efficiency part, not a desktop gaming chip. Its nearest rivals in the database are all desktop CPUs, which highlights the gap in sustained performance. The Ultra 5 125H matches those parts in aggregate benchmark scores, but in a real-time game like Lockdown Protocol, the single-thread deficit shows up in the FPS scaling pattern.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the clear star of this combo. Built on the GB202 chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture and a 5 nm process from TSMC, it packs 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. The GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs give it a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s. Raw FP32 compute is 104.8 TFLOPS.

In benchmark tests, the RTX 5090 scores 18,355 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 334,370 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 376,728 in Geekbench Vulkan. Passmark results show a G3D score of 39,650 and a GPU compute score of 26,756. These numbers place it at the 92nd percentile, and the data confirms that the GPU is not the limiting factor in most Lockdown Protocol scenarios. At 4K Ultra, the combo still averages 60 FPS, which is a demanding workload for any GPU. The 32 GB VRAM is far beyond what this game requires, but it ensures no memory-related stutters at any resolution or setting.

The GPU's role is most evident in the scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low, the GPU is producing 263 FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 129 FPS. That is a 134 FPS reduction, which is less than the 4x pixel count increase would suggest if the GPU were the only factor. This indicates the CPU is holding the GPU back at 1080p, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary limiter as expected.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at three resolutions. At 1080p, the combo delivers 263 FPS on Low, 194 FPS on Medium (with a min of 165 and max of 223), 170 FPS on High, and 127 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting is the only one with min/max data at this resolution, showing a 58 FPS range between minimum and maximum frames.

At 1440p, the results are 201 FPS on Low, 142 FPS on Medium (min 121, max 164), 124 FPS on High, and 93 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 108 FPS, which is a 53.7% reduction. At 4K, the numbers compress further: 129 FPS on Low, 92 FPS on Medium (min 78, max 106), 80 FPS on High, and 60 FPS on Ultra. The range from Low to Ultra at 4K is 69 FPS, a 53.5% reduction.

The Medium settings consistently show the largest min-to-max spread, which suggests that this setting introduces occasional frame hitches that are smoothed out in the average. The High and Ultra settings have no min/max data, so the averages are the only available metric, but the Medium numbers indicate that frame pacing is most variable at that preset.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is not uniform across settings, which reveals the bottleneck characteristics of this combo. At Low settings, 1080p produces 263 FPS, 1440p produces 201 FPS, and 4K produces 129 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs 62 FPS, while the transition from 1440p to 4K costs 72 FPS. This is a relatively smooth degradation, and the fact that 4K Low still hits 129 FPS shows the GPU has substantial headroom.

At Medium settings, the scaling is 194 FPS at 1080p, 142 FPS at 1440p, and 92 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 50 FPS, which is a 35.2% reduction. At High settings, the numbers are 170 FPS at 1080p, 124 FPS at 1440p, and 80 FPS at 4K. The 1440p to 4K drop is 44 FPS, a 35.5% reduction. At Ultra settings, the pattern is 127 FPS at 1080p, 93 FPS at 1440p, and 60 FPS at 4K. The 1440p to 4K drop is 33 FPS, a 35.5% reduction.

The consistent ~35% drop from 1440p to 4K across Medium, High, and Ultra settings indicates the GPU is the primary limiter at these resolutions. The 1080p to 1440p drops are proportionally smaller (27.8% for Low, 26.8% for Medium, 27.1% for High, and 26.8% for Ultra), which suggests the CPU is partially limiting at 1080p. The fact that the Low setting shows a larger absolute drop from 1080p to 1440p (62 FPS) than from 1440p to 4K (72 FPS) is expected, but the percentage scaling tells the real story: the GPU is doing the heavy lifting at 4K, while the CPU constrains the top-end frame rates at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports a clear recommendation for most users: High settings at 1440p or 4K offer the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1440p High, the combo delivers 124 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and close to the 144 Hz refresh rate that many monitors target. At 4K High, the 80 FPS average is still playable, and the visual upgrade from 1440p is significant on a 4K display.

For users with high-refresh 1080p monitors, Medium settings at 194 FPS is the sweet spot, as it offers a 24 FPS improvement over High (170 FPS) while remaining well above the 144 Hz mark. The Ultra preset at 1080p still hits 127 FPS, but the jump from High to Ultra costs 43 FPS, which is a 25.3% reduction for what is typically a marginal visual gain in a fast-paced FPS.

At 4K, the choice is between High (80 FPS) and Medium (92 FPS). The 12 FPS difference may be worth the visual fidelity of High for users who prioritize image quality, but those who want a more consistent frame rate should select Medium. The Ultra preset at 4K hits exactly 60 FPS, which is the minimum for most displays, but it leaves no headroom for frame drops in intense scenes. The Low settings are not recommended at any resolution, as they sacrifice too much visual quality for frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of most displays.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Lockdown Protocol?

A: Yes, the measured data shows 60 FPS average at 4K Ultra and 80 FPS at 4K High. The GPU has 32 GB of VRAM and 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which provides ample headroom for 4K rendering.

Q: Why does the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K by roughly 35% at Medium, High, and Ultra settings?

A: The consistent ~35% reduction from 1440p to 4K across those settings indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,647.5) begins to limit frame rates, which is why the proportional drops are smaller at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 27,507 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (27,535, delta -0.1%) and the Intel Core i5-12600K (27,578, delta -0.3%). It is 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355G (27,382).

Q: What is the best setting for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: At 1080p, Medium settings deliver 194 FPS, which exceeds 144 Hz with margin. At 1440p, High settings deliver 124 FPS, which is below 144 Hz but still smooth. Users targeting 144 Hz at 1440p should consider Medium (142 FPS), which just misses the target but is close.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM matter for this game?

A: The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory is far more than Lockdown Protocol requires at any tested setting. The measured frame rates do not show evidence of VRAM-related performance degradation, even at 4K Ultra.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 551st out of 2,828 tested combinations, placing it in the top 19.5% of all tested combos. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking (average score 79,842) is the primary driver of this position, while the CPU's 79th percentile ranking (average score 27,507) provides a solid but not exceptional foundation.