Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + Intel Arc B390

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics produces a combination that ranks near the bottom of the tested pool for Lockdown Protocol, sitting at position 2512 out of 2828 tested combos. This places the system in the 11th percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that while the CPU is a capable modern desktop part, the graphics solution dramatically limits the gaming experience. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings presets reveal a system that can achieve playable results only at the lowest settings and lowest resolution, with a maximum average of 88 FPS at 1080p Low and a minimum of 19 FPS at 4K Ultra. The data shows a consistent pattern: this combo is fundamentally GPU-bound, with the Arc B390's integrated nature and modest compute resources constraining performance regardless of the CPU's headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across twelve combinations of resolution and settings presets provides a clear picture of what this system can deliver. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves an average of 88 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to 63 FPS average, still technically playable but with a minimum of 53 FPS that suggests occasional stutter during intense scenes. High at 1080p yields 55 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 41 FPS. Given that Lockdown Protocol is a fast-paced FPS title, the recommendation is to prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, making 1080p Low the optimal choice for responsive gameplay.

For users who insist on higher visual quality, 1080p Medium represents the best compromise, offering 63 FPS average with a minimum of 53 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 25 FPS (from 88 to 63), which is substantial, while the jump from Medium to High costs another 8 FPS (from 63 to 55). The Ultra preset at 1080p should be avoided, as the 41 FPS average falls below the threshold for smooth competitive play in an FPS title. At 1440p, even the Low preset only manages 65 FPS average, which is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes. All other 1440p presets fall below 50 FPS, with Ultra at 30 FPS and High at 40 FPS, making 1440p Low the only reasonable choice at that resolution. At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS; Low reaches 42 FPS, Medium 30 FPS, High 26 FPS, and Ultra 19 FPS, so 4K gaming is only viable for casual play or screenshots.

The measured data strongly suggests that this system is best utilized at 1080p with the Low or Medium preset. The 88 FPS at Low provides the smoothest experience, while 63 FPS at Medium offers a balance between visual quality and performance. Users should avoid Ultra settings at any resolution, as the performance penalty is severe and the visual improvement in a fast-paced FPS is often imperceptible during gameplay.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p with the Low preset, which delivers 88 FPS average. The Medium preset at 1080p achieves 63 FPS average, just above the 60 FPS threshold. No other resolution or settings combination in the measured data reaches 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system can maintain playable frame rates across multiple presets. At 1440p, only the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS (65 FPS), while all other presets fall below 50 FPS. At 4K, even Low only reaches 42 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Low at the same resolution?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 41 FPS compared to 88 FPS on Low, representing a 53% reduction in average frame rate. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 30 FPS from Low's 65 FPS, a 54% reduction. At 4K, Ultra achieves 19 FPS versus 42 FPS on Low, a 55% reduction.

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

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has a passmark multithread score of 30459 and ranks in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, while the Intel Arc B390 ranks in the 9th percentile of all GPUs with a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482. The frame rates scale more dramatically with resolution than with CPU-intensive settings, indicating GPU limitation.

Q: What minimum FPS can be expected at 1080p Medium?

A: The measured data shows a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 72 FPS at 1080p Medium, with an average of 63 FPS. This indicates some frame time variance, but the minimum remains above 50 FPS.

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

A: The combo ranks 2512 out of 2828 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations. This rank reflects the GPU's limited performance rather than the CPU's capabilities.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process with a Panther Lake chip. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz and boosts to 2500 MHz, producing a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1). Notably, the memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning the GPU relies on shared system memory rather than dedicated VRAM, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent."

This shared memory architecture has significant implications for Lockdown Protocol performance. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, places it in the company of legacy discrete GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower), and GT 710 (1443, 2.7% slower). The fact that the Arc B390's nearest rivals are all low-end GPUs from previous generations underscores its limited gaming capability. The GPU's 80 W TDP and IGP slot width indicate it is designed for power efficiency rather than high-performance gaming, and its "Portable Device Dependent" display outputs suggest it may be intended for mobile or compact systems.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's limitations manifest clearly in the frame rate scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 88 FPS, but this drops to 65 FPS at 1440p Low (26% reduction) and 42 FPS at 4K Low (52% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU that has limited fill rate and memory bandwidth, as higher resolutions require more pixel processing and memory throughput. The shared memory architecture likely contributes to this, as the GPU must compete with CPU workloads for the same memory bandwidth, potentially causing performance degradation in complex scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2512 out of 2828 tested configurations places this system in the 11th percentile overall for Lockdown Protocol performance. This ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's limited capabilities, as the CPU component is comparatively strong. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 achieves an average benchmark score of 36938, ranking in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36945, 0% delta), AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018, -0.2% delta), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093, -0.4% delta), and Intel Core i9-12900T (37112, -0.5% delta). This places the CPU essentially at parity with these competitors, with less than 1% performance difference among all five.

However, the GPU's 9th percentile ranking drags the overall combo performance down significantly. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 places the Arc B390 in the bottom decile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are all legacy low-end GPUs from NVIDIA. This extreme mismatch between CPU and GPU capability creates a system where the processor is effectively never the bottleneck; the GPU limits frame rates at every resolution and settings combination. The rank of 2512 out of 2828 reflects this GPU constraint, showing that most other tested combos, even those with weaker CPUs, likely outperform this system because they include more capable discrete GPUs.

The practical implication is that users should not expect this combo to deliver competitive frame rates in Lockdown Protocol at mainstream settings. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, the 88 FPS average is the ceiling, and this drops dramatically with any increase in visual quality. The system's rank suggests it is better suited for less demanding titles or for users who prioritize resolution over frame rate, though even at 4K Low the 42 FPS average is below ideal for an FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions reveals how this system scales with pixel count. At the Low preset, average frame rates are 88 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K. This represents a 26% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 52% reduction from 1080p to 4K overall. For the Medium preset, the averages are 63 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K, showing reductions of 27% and 52% respectively. The High preset shows 55 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K, with reductions of 27% and 53%. Finally, the Ultra preset yields 41 FPS at 1080p, 30 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K, representing reductions of 27% and 54%.

This consistent scaling pattern—approximately 26-27% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and 52-54% from 1080p to 4K—indicates that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect frame rates to remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU workload would be similar regardless of pixel count. Instead, the proportional decrease in FPS as resolution increases is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The 4K resolution requires four times the pixel fill rate of 1080p, and the observed frame rate at 4K is roughly half that at 1080p, which is consistent with the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth constraints.

The data also reveals that the Arc B390's performance degradation is not linear with pixel count but rather follows a pattern where 1440p is consistently about 73-74% of 1080p performance, and 4K is about 46-48% of 1080p performance across all presets. This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth, which is system-dependent due to the shared memory architecture, becomes increasingly strained at higher resolutions. The fact that this scaling holds across all four presets indicates that the GPU's limitations are fundamental to its architecture rather than being specific to certain settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combo in Lockdown Protocol is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 88 FPS average
• Medium: 63 FPS average, 53 FPS minimum, 72 FPS maximum
• High: 55 FPS average
• Ultra: 41 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 65 FPS average
• Medium: 46 FPS average, 39 FPS minimum, 53 FPS maximum
• High: 40 FPS average
• Ultra: 30 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 42 FPS average
• Medium: 30 FPS average, 25 FPS minimum, 34 FPS maximum
• High: 26 FPS average
• Ultra: 19 FPS average

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range from 53 to 72 FPS shows a spread of 19 FPS, indicating moderate frame time variance. At 1440p Medium, the range tightens to 39-53 FPS, a spread of 14 FPS, while at 4K Medium, the range is 25-34 FPS, a spread of 9 FPS. This narrowing of the frame time range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated, with less headroom for variance.

The step-down from Low to Medium at each resolution is notable: 25 FPS at 1080p (88 to 63), 19 FPS at 1440p (65 to 46), and 12 FPS at 4K (42 to 30). The step from Medium to High costs 8 FPS at 1080p (63 to 55), 6 FPS at 1440p (46 to 40), and 4 FPS at 4K (30 to 26). The step from High to Ultra costs 14 FPS at 1080p (55 to 41), 10 FPS at 1440p (40 to 30), and 7 FPS at 4K (26 to 19). This pattern shows that the performance penalty for each settings tier is consistent across resolutions, with Low to Medium being the largest jump, followed by High to Ultra, and Medium to High being the smallest.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread desktop processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on TSMC's 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. It operates with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The CPU supports PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes, and its integrated graphics are Arc Xe-LPG with 16 execution units. The launch MSRP is $246.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Core Ultra 5 225 demonstrates solid multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and single-core score of 3655. Its Passmark single-thread score is 4412, and the multithread score is 30459. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates it is a strong performer relative to the broader processor market. However, in Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's capabilities are largely untapped due to the GPU bottleneck. The measured frame rates do not show signs of CPU limitation; even at 1080p Low where the GPU is least stressed, the 88 FPS average suggests the CPU could handle higher frame rates if the GPU allowed.

The 10-core, 10-thread configuration with no hyperthreading is well-suited for gaming workloads, which typically favor higher single-thread performance. The 4.90 GHz boost clock provides strong single-thread capability, as evidenced by the Cinebench R15 single-core score of 368 and R20 score of 891. For an FPS title like Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's single-thread performance is more critical than its multi-thread capability, and the data shows the Core Ultra 5 225 is more than adequate for this role. The Passmark physics score of 2342 and integer math score of 65345 further indicate robust computational performance that should not bottleneck gaming workloads.

The primary issue is that the Arc B390 integrated GPU shares the system's memory bandwidth with the CPU. While the CPU supports 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth, the GPU's performance is "System Dependent" for bandwidth, meaning it must contend with CPU workloads for memory access. In a game like Lockdown Protocol, this contention could cause occasional frame hitches, though the measured minimum FPS values (e.g., 53 FPS at 1080p Medium) suggest the impact is manageable. The CPU's 20 MB of L3 cache helps reduce memory traffic for CPU-side workloads, potentially mitigating some of this contention, but the GPU's need for frequent memory access at higher resolutions remains a limiting factor.