Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a fast-paced FPS that responds strongly to both CPU and GPU headroom, and the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB delivers a highly playable experience across most settings, with the data showing a clear sweet spot at High settings for visual fidelity and frame rate balance. The measured results indicate that this pairing ranks 1091 out of 2828 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of configurations, and the overall performance profile suggests that users should prioritize a settings preset that maintains frame rates above 60 FPS at all resolutions while avoiding the diminishing returns of Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data strongly favors the High preset as the optimal choice for this CPU-GPU combination, as it provides the best balance between visual quality and frame rate stability across all three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, High settings deliver an average of 135 FPS, which is more than sufficient for competitive play in a fast-paced FPS, while the Medium preset only offers a modest increase to 154 FPS at the cost of reduced visual fidelity. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 217 FPS, but this comes with substantial graphical compromises that are unnecessary given the already high frame rates available at High settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset again emerges as the recommended choice, delivering an average of 99 FPS. This remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the visual upgrade from 1080p is substantial. The Medium preset at 1440p produces 113 FPS, but the difference of 14 FPS does not justify the reduction in texture quality and shadow detail that comes with dropping from High to Medium. At 4K, the High preset yields 64 FPS, which is just above the playable threshold, but the data suggests that users with 4K displays may want to consider the Medium preset, which delivers 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, providing a more consistent experience.

The Ultra preset is consistently the worst performer in the measured data, yielding only 48 FPS at 4K, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 101 FPS at 1080p. The frame rate drops from High to Ultra are substantial — 16 FPS at 4K, 25 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 1080p — while the visual improvements from High to Ultra are typically marginal in most FPS titles. The data indicates that Ultra settings impose a heavy penalty on this hardware combination without proportionate gains, making High the clear winner for the best experience per the measured rows. For users who prioritize maximum frame rates over visual quality, the Low preset at 1080p offers 217 FPS, but this is only recommended for competitive play where every frame matters, as the graphical downgrade is severe.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB is the primary driver of frame rate differences across settings presets, and its memory configuration plays a critical role in how Lockdown Protocol scales with resolution. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data shows that at 4K resolution, the GPU becomes increasingly constrained, with the High preset dropping to 64 FPS from 99 FPS at 1440p.

The GPU's core architecture, Blackwell 2.0 on a 5 nm process, includes 4608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. The boost clock of 2572 MHz allows the card to maintain high throughput in scenes with moderate geometric complexity. The measured FPS data reveals that the GPU's performance ceiling is reached at 4K Ultra, where it manages only 48 FPS, indicating that the 8 GB VRAM capacity and 128-bit memory bus become limiting factors at this resolution with maximum settings.

The RTX 5060 Ti's 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores suggest it has dedicated hardware for advanced rendering features, but the benchmark data does not indicate whether these are heavily utilized in Lockdown Protocol. The pixel rate of 123.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 370.4 GTexel/s provide theoretical capabilities that align with the observed frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, where the GPU delivers 101-217 FPS depending on settings. At 4K, the GPU's fill rate becomes a bottleneck, particularly at Ultra settings where the 48 FPS average reflects the increased pixel workload.

The GPU's overall benchmark percentile of 29 places it in the lower half of all GPUs, but the nearest rivals listed are older, less capable cards like the AMD FirePro W5130M and NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450. This comparison is misleading for gaming purposes, as those rivals score similarly on synthetic benchmarks but lack modern features like DirectX 12 Ultimate support and the high bandwidth of GDDR7 memory. In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the RTX 5060 Ti demonstrates that it can handle 1080p and 1440p gaming with high settings, but users should be aware that 4K gaming requires reduced settings to maintain playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB achieves a combo rank of 1091 out of 2828 tested configurations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 61st percentile of all tested combos. This ranking indicates that the pairing is above average for this game, but there is significant headroom for improvement with higher-end components. The CPU's individual benchmark scores are notably strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and a single-core score of 3655, placing it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 4901 places it in the 29th percentile among all GPUs, which drags down the overall combo ranking. However, the measured FPS data shows that the combo performs better than the GPU's percentile might suggest, particularly at 1080p and 1440p resolutions. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Passmark single-thread score of 4412, helps maintain high frame rates in a game that likely has CPU-bound sections, while the GPU handles the rendering workload.

Comparing the CPU to its nearest rivals, the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36938 on average, which is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36945 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D at 37018 (-0.2% delta), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 at 37093 (-0.4% delta). The Intel Core i9-12900T also scores similarly at 37112 (-0.5% delta). This means the CPU is performance-competitive with several mid-range and older high-end options, providing a solid foundation for gaming.

The combo's rank of 1091 suggests that users can expect good performance in Lockdown Protocol, but those seeking the highest frame rates at 4K or with maximum settings may need to consider a more powerful GPU. The data shows that the combo is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it delivers frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold at High settings. At 4K, the combo falls into the 48-103 FPS range depending on settings, with Ultra settings pushing it below the playable threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of how this combo performs across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS at 217, followed by Medium at 154 FPS (with a minimum of 131 and maximum of 178), High at 135 FPS, and Ultra at 101 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear progression from Low to Ultra, with each settings tier reducing frame rates by roughly 20-30%. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 131 indicates good frame time consistency, while the Ultra preset's 101 FPS average still provides a smooth experience on most displays.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 159 FPS, Medium delivers 113 FPS (minimum 96, maximum 130), High produces 99 FPS, and Ultra drops to 74 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p reduces frame rates by approximately 27-35% across all settings, which aligns with the increased pixel count of 77% more pixels. The High preset at 1440p remains above 90 FPS, making it a strong choice for users with 144Hz displays, while the Ultra preset's 74 FPS still provides acceptable performance for most players.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset produces 103 FPS, Medium delivers 73 FPS (minimum 62, maximum 84), High drops to 64 FPS, and Ultra falls to 48 FPS. The 4K results reveal the GPU's limitations, as even the Low preset cannot maintain the frame rates seen at lower resolutions. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 62 is notable, as it indicates that the combo can maintain frame rates above the 60 FPS threshold at 4K with Medium settings, making it the only 4K preset that offers a consistently smooth experience. The High preset at 4K is borderline, with an average of 64 FPS, but the lack of minimum FPS data means users may experience occasional dips below 60 FPS.

The frame rate differences between settings are consistent across resolutions, with Ultra typically costing 30-40% of the frame rate compared to High. This pattern suggests that Ultra settings enable computationally expensive effects that strain the GPU, while High settings provide a more balanced workload. The data also shows that the Medium preset offers a reasonable compromise, delivering frame rates that are 15-25% higher than High while maintaining visual quality that is only slightly reduced.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior of this combo reveals important insights into which component becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases. Moving from 1080p to 1440p, the frame rates drop by approximately 27-35% across all settings. This scaling is close to what would be expected if the GPU were the primary bottleneck, as the pixel count increases by 77% but frame rates only drop by roughly a third, indicating that the GPU still has headroom at 1080p.

The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a more dramatic frame rate reduction. At High settings, the FPS drops from 99 to 64, a 35% decrease, while at Low settings, it drops from 159 to 103, a 35% decrease. The Ultra preset drops from 74 to 48, a 35% decrease. This consistent scaling suggests that the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU even at 4K.

However, the absolute frame rates tell a more nuanced story. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 217 FPS, which is well above what most displays can show, indicating that the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution. At 4K Ultra, the 48 FPS result shows that the GPU is heavily constrained, but the fact that the frame rate drops by 35% from 1440p to 4K, rather than the theoretical 44% pixel count increase, suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate are the limiting factors rather than the CPU.

The data indicates that the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 provides enough processing power to keep up with the RTX 5060 Ti at all resolutions. The CPU's 10 cores and 10 threads, with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, are sufficient for Lockdown Protocol's workload, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate scaling. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at higher resolutions, but instead they continue to scale with pixel count, confirming that the GPU is the performance limiter.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 plays a supporting but important role in this combo, providing the processing power needed to maintain high frame rates in Lockdown Protocol. The CPU features 10 cores and 10 threads based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This configuration delivers strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655 and the Passmark single-thread score of 4412.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are also solid, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and a Passmark multithread score of 30459. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle the game's background tasks and any multi-threaded rendering workloads, but the single-thread performance is more critical for FPS games like Lockdown Protocol, where game logic and physics often run on fewer threads.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide fast access to frequently used data, which helps reduce latency in CPU-bound scenarios. The memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 ensures that the CPU can feed data to the GPU without creating a bottleneck. The CPU's 65 W TDP suggests it runs efficiently, and its 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that it is a capable gaming processor.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU's influence is most apparent at 1080p with Low settings, where the combo achieves 217 FPS. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU can process game logic quickly enough to feed the GPU at very high frame rates. At higher resolutions, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, but the consistent frame rate scaling suggests that the CPU does not introduce any significant frame pacing issues.

The CPU's nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Ryzen 5 5500X3D, all score within 0.5% of the Core Ultra 5 225 in average benchmarks, indicating that this CPU is competitive with other mid-range options. The data does not show any CPU-specific bottlenecks in Lockdown Protocol, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings changes, which is a hallmark of a balanced CPU-GPU pairing.