Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Lockdown Protocol, with the data showing a clear shift from GPU-bound performance at 4K to a more balanced load at lower resolutions. The measured FPS indicates that this combo ranks in the 94th percentile of tested configurations, placing it firmly in the top tier for this title, though the CPU’s 10-core/10-thread design reveals some limitations in extreme low-resolution scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies within this system. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 331 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at Low settings drops that figure to 243 FPS, a 26.6% reduction. At 3840x2160 with Low settings, the average falls further to 157 FPS, representing a 52.6% drop from the 1080p result. This steep decline as resolution increases points to the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts, as the RTX 4080 SUPER’s rendering workload scales directly with resolution.

The pattern is consistent across all settings presets. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 235 at 1080p to 172 at 1440p (a 26.8% decrease) and then to 111 at 4K (a 52.8% decrease from 1080p). The High preset shows a similar trajectory: 205 FPS at 1080p, 151 FPS at 1440p, and 97 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings follow suit with 154 FPS at 1080p, 113 FPS at 1440p, and 73 FPS at 4K.

What these numbers reveal is that the scaling between 1080p and 1440p is nearly identical to the scaling between 1440p and 4K, roughly a 25-30% drop for each step up in resolution. This linear degradation is classic GPU-bound behavior. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s, is being pushed harder as pixel count increases. The fact that the 4K results still maintain playable framerates across all presets—even 73 FPS at Ultra—demonstrates that the GPU has substantial headroom, but the data clearly shows that the graphics card is the component determining performance at 4K.

However, the scaling between settings presets at a fixed resolution offers a different insight. At 1080p, the jump from Low (331 FPS) to Medium (235 FPS) is a 29% performance hit, while the jump from High (205 FPS) to Ultra (154 FPS) is a 24.9% hit. This indicates that even at 1080p, where the CPU has more relative influence, the GPU’s shading units (10,240) and texture mapping units (320) are still doing significant work. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is being utilized fully at all settings, but the CPU’s influence becomes more apparent at the lowest settings where framerates exceed 300 FPS.

The data suggests that for competitive play at 1080p, the Core Ultra 5 225’s 4.90 GHz boost clock and 20 MB of shared L3 cache are sufficient to keep up with the GPU’s output, but the 331 FPS ceiling at Low settings hints that a higher-core-count CPU might extract slightly more performance. The 10-thread design, while efficient, shows its limits when the GPU is not the constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 provides the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. At High settings, the combo delivers 151 FPS average, which is 55.7% higher than the 4K result at the same settings. The 1440p Medium preset produces 172 FPS, which is 55% higher than the 4K Medium result of 111 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its direct predecessor?

A: The benchmark data shows the RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54,209, which is 0.1% lower than the RTX 4080’s score of 54,247. This indicates nearly identical performance, with the SUPER variant offering no measurable advantage in synthetic tests.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 sufficient for high-refresh-rate gaming?

A: Yes, for this game. The CPU’s single-thread score of 3,655 in Cinebench R23 and its 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs show strong per-core performance. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (331 FPS) confirms that the 10-core processor can drive framerates well beyond typical high-refresh displays.

Q: What is the impact of Ultra settings on performance?

A: Ultra settings impose a significant penalty. At 1080p, Ultra produces 154 FPS compared to 205 FPS at High, a 24.9% reduction. At 4K, the Ultra preset yields 73 FPS versus 97 FPS at High, a 24.7% reduction. The performance cost is consistent across resolutions.

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

A: The combo ranks 175th out of 2,828 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6.2% of all systems tested for Lockdown Protocol. This high ranking reflects the balanced capabilities of the Core Ultra 5 225 and RTX 4080 SUPER.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures for the Medium preset?

A: The measured data includes min FPS only for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the minimum is 200 FPS with a maximum of 270 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum is 147 FPS and maximum is 198 FPS. At 4K, the minimum is 95 FPS and maximum is 128 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings. For players prioritizing competitive performance with maximum framerates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 331 FPS, which is the highest measured value across all configurations. However, this comes at the cost of visual quality. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a substantial improvement in visuals while still delivering 235 FPS, a 29% reduction from Low but still well above any display refresh rate.

The High preset emerges as the best overall experience. At 1080p, it produces 205 FPS, which is 12.8% lower than Medium but offers significantly better visual fidelity. At 1440p, High delivers 151 FPS, which is still high-refresh territory and represents a 33.2% improvement over the Ultra preset’s 113 FPS at the same resolution. The High preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot for this combo, balancing the RTX 4080 SUPER’s capabilities with the Core Ultra 5 225’s processing power.

Ultra settings are only recommended for players with displays capped at 60-75 Hz. The 4K Ultra result of 73 FPS is playable, and the 1080p Ultra result of 154 FPS is solid, but the performance cost relative to High is steep. The data shows that Ultra settings consistently reduce framerates by approximately 25% compared to High across all resolutions. Given that the GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM is unlikely to be the limiting factor at these settings, the reduction comes from the increased shading and texture work.

For those with high-refresh 1440p displays, the Medium preset at 172 FPS provides a comfortable margin above 144 Hz. The 4K Medium result of 111 FPS is the best 4K option for smooth gameplay, as it sits above 100 FPS. Players should avoid 4K Ultra unless they prioritize visuals over framerate, as the 73 FPS result is the only measured value below 95 FPS across all settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 175th out of 2,828 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol. This places the system in the top 6.2% of all configurations tested, which is a strong result given the CPU’s mid-range positioning. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 36,938 places it just 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (score 37,018) and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (score 37,093). This near-identical performance to those rivals in synthetic benchmarks translates to competitive gaming results.

The ranking is particularly impressive when considering the GPU’s position. The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54,209, which is 0.1% below the RTX 4080 (score 54,247) and 1.1% below the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (score 54,828). Despite being slightly outscored by these rivals in synthetic tests, the combo’s 175th rank out of 2,828 indicates that the pairing works well together in this specific game.

The data shows that the combo’s ranking is driven more by the GPU than the CPU. The RTX 4080 SUPER sits in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 5 225 sits in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. This alignment ensures that neither component is drastically over- or under-powered relative to the other. The 10-core, 10-thread CPU with a 3.30 GHz base clock and 4.90 GHz boost clock provides enough single-thread performance to avoid bottlenecking the GPU in most scenarios, as evidenced by the 331 FPS result at 1080p Low.

Compared to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Core Ultra 5 225’s performance in this game is consistent with its synthetic scores. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which has a nearly identical average score (36,945 vs 36,938), would likely produce similar results in Lockdown Protocol. The ranking suggests that this combo is well-matched for the game’s engine, which appears to favor the GPU’s raw throughput over CPU multi-threading.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor built on the Arrow Lake architecture using a 3 nm process node from TSMC. Its base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, which is critical for FPS games. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,655 and multi-core score of 25,891 place it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, indicating strong per-core capabilities.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s role is evident in the framerate scaling at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 331 FPS, which is 110.8% higher than the 4K Low result of 157 FPS. This massive difference at the same settings indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is able to feed the GPU with enough frames to reach very high framerates. The 10 threads are sufficient to handle the game’s simulation and draw call overhead, which is typical for a competitive FPS title.

However, the CPU’s limitations become apparent when comparing the 1080p Low result to the 1080p Medium result. The drop from 331 FPS to 235 FPS (a 29% reduction) suggests that the GPU is taking on more work at Medium settings, but the CPU is still managing to provide frames at a high rate. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 192 KB of L1 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game’s physics and AI calculations.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 3 nm process node indicate an efficient design, but the lack of multi-threading (10 cores, 10 threads, no Hyper-Threading) means that heavily threaded workloads could be a bottleneck. The PassMark multi-thread score of 30,459 and the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25,891 show that the CPU is capable, but it trails higher-core-count rivals in multi-threaded tasks. In Lockdown Protocol, which appears to be GPU-bound at higher resolutions, this is not a significant issue, but at 1080p Low, the 331 FPS ceiling might be slightly limited by the CPU’s thread count.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s via dual-channel DDR5 is adequate for this game, and the 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes provide sufficient bandwidth for the RTX 4080 SUPER’s PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 16EU is irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU, but its presence doesn’t impact performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS data for this combo across all resolutions and settings is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces an average of 331 FPS. The Medium preset averages 235 FPS, with a minimum of 200 FPS and a maximum of 270 FPS. The High preset averages 205 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 154 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 177 FPS, representing a 53.5% reduction in performance at the highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 243 FPS. The Medium preset averages 172 FPS, with a minimum of 147 FPS and a maximum of 198 FPS. The High preset averages 151 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 113 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 130 FPS, a 53.5% reduction, which is nearly identical to the 1080p scaling.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 157 FPS. The Medium preset averages 111 FPS, with a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 128 FPS. The High preset averages 97 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 73 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 84 FPS, a 53.5% reduction, showing remarkably consistent scaling across resolutions.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p, the minimum of 200 FPS ensures smooth gameplay even during intense scenes. At 1440p, the minimum of 147 FPS stays above the 144 Hz refresh rate threshold. At 4K, the minimum of 95 FPS indicates that even in the most demanding moments, the framerate remains above 90 FPS.

Comparing the resolutions, the 1080p Low result of 331 FPS is 2.1 times higher than the 4K Low result of 157 FPS. The 1080p High result of 205 FPS is 2.1 times higher than the 4K High result of 97 FPS. This consistent 2.1x scaling factor across all settings confirms that the game’s performance is scaling directly with pixel count, which is a strong indicator of GPU-bound performance at all settings. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 816.0 GTexel/s texture rate are being fully utilized, with the CPU providing enough headroom at higher resolutions to avoid becoming the bottleneck.