Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti combination delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Lockdown Protocol, with the GPU acting as the primary performance driver across all tested settings. The data shows a system capable of exceeding 140 FPS at 1440p on High settings, while still maintaining playable frame rates at 4K Ultra, positioning this combo well above the median of tested hardware pairings.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but consistent, revealing a workload that is heavily dependent on GPU throughput. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 313 FPS at 1920x1080 to 230 FPS at 2560x1440, a 26.5% reduction. Moving further to 3840x2160 yields 148 FPS, which is 52.7% below the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the RTX 5070 Ti's rendering capabilities are the limiting factor, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions.

The trend continues across other presets. For High settings, the transition from 1080p (194 FPS) to 1440p (142 FPS) represents a 26.8% drop, and the subsequent fall to 4K (92 FPS) is another 35.2% reduction. The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 223 FPS at 1080p, 163 FPS at 1440p, and 105 FPS at 4K. This consistent decline—roughly a 25-30% hit per resolution step—suggests that Lockdown Protocol scales its rendering load primarily with pixel count, with no sudden bottlenecks appearing at higher resolutions.

The most demanding configuration, 4K Ultra, produces an average of 69 FPS. This is 52.7% lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 146 FPS, demonstrating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant computational cost that amplifies the resolution penalty. The data indicates that while the RTX 5070 Ti can handle 4K, the playable envelope is limited to Medium and High settings, where the frame rate stays above the 90 FPS threshold. The scaling between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling: at High settings, the 50 FPS gap (142 to 92) is nearly identical to the gap at Low settings (230 to 148), reinforcing that the GPU's raw fill rate and bandwidth are the dominant constraints rather than any CPU-side limitation.

Settings Recommendations

The measured results point to High as the optimal balance for this combination, delivering strong performance without the steep cost of Ultra. At 2560x1440, High produces 142 FPS average, which is 35 FPS faster than Ultra's 107 FPS, while the visual difference between these presets is often marginal in fast-paced FPS titles. The jump from Medium to High is also efficient: 163 to 142 FPS at 1440p, a 12.9% performance loss for a notable increase in visual fidelity. For players targeting high refresh rates, High at 1440p is the clear sweet spot, as it maintains an average well above the 120 FPS mark.

At 1080p, High delivers 194 FPS, which is only 29 FPS less than Low (313 FPS) but provides substantially better image quality. The Medium preset at 1080p (223 FPS) is also viable, but High offers a better experience per the measured rows, as the performance delta between Medium and High is smaller than the jump from High to Ultra. The Ultra preset at 1080p (146 FPS) still provides a smooth experience, but the 48 FPS drop from High suggests that the extra settings have a pronounced impact on frame pacing, making it less desirable for competitive play.

For 4K users, the choices are more constrained. Medium is the highest preset that keeps the average above 100 FPS, with 105 FPS at 3840x2160. High drops to 92 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes. Ultra at 4K (69 FPS) is best avoided for consistent performance, as the 36 FPS gap from Medium represents a 34.3% reduction. The data suggests that Medium is the recommended preset for 4K, while High is the best overall choice for 1440p and 1080p, balancing frame rate and visual quality according to the measured averages.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 Ti's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical asset for Lockdown Protocol at higher resolutions. The 4K results, particularly at Ultra (69 FPS) and High (92 FPS), indicate that memory bandwidth is not a bottleneck, as the frame rate scales predictably with resolution rather than hitting a wall due to capacity or throughput limits. The GPU's 96 ROPs and 280 TMUs contribute to the consistent pixel and texture processing rates, with a pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 686.6 GTexel/s.

The boost clock of 2452 MHz, paired with the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, allows the GPU to maintain high utilization across all settings. The data shows that the RTX 5070 Ti's 43.94 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is well-suited to this title, as even the most demanding 4K Ultra configuration yields a playable 69 FPS average. The GPU's 70 RT cores and 280 tensor cores are present, but the measured frame rates suggest that Lockdown Protocol does not heavily rely on ray tracing or DLSS, as the raw rasterization performance drives the results. The 300 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a high-power part, but the benchmark numbers confirm that this power translates directly into frame rate headroom.

The GPU's percentileVsAllGpus of 86 places it in the upper tier of all tested graphics cards, but its nearestRivals list includes older parts like the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (deltaPct -2) and RX 6800 XT (deltaPct 3.1). This suggests that while the RTX 5070 Ti is a strong performer, its advantage over previous-generation flagships is not overwhelming in this specific workload. The 16 GB memory size is more than sufficient for Lockdown Protocol's current demands, and the data shows no signs of VRAM limitation even at 4K Ultra, as the frame rates are consistent with compute-bound rather than memory-bound behavior.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 232nd out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 8.2% of all hardware pairings. This is a strong result that reflects the balance between the Core Ultra 5 225 and the RTX 5070 Ti. The combo's percentile ranking is driven primarily by the GPU's high-end performance, as the CPU's 85th percentile standing among all processors is slightly lower but still robust. The ranking indicates that this system will outperform the vast majority of tested configurations, with only 231 combos achieving higher frame rates in this game.

The high rank is particularly notable given that the CPU is a mainstream 10-core part rather than a flagship. The data suggests that Lockdown Protocol is not heavily CPU-bound, as the combo achieves frame rates that compete with systems using more expensive processors. The gap between this combo and the top-ranked systems is likely due to GPU differences, as the RTX 5070 Ti, while powerful, is not the absolute fastest card available. The 232nd rank out of 2828 combos means that roughly 92% of tested systems will deliver lower average FPS in this game, making this an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate monitors at 1440p and solid 4K performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 brings 10 cores and 10 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This configuration, based on the Arrow Lake architecture, provides sufficient single-thread performance for Lockdown Protocol, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain low latency during gameplay, though the data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck across all tested settings.

At 1080p Low, the system achieves 313 FPS, which suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames to saturate its capabilities. The single-core score of 3655 in Cinebench R23 and 4412 in Passmark single-thread tests indicate strong per-core performance, which is crucial for FPS titles that often rely on a few heavily loaded threads. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 36938, places it in the upper tier, though it sits just below rivals like the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (deltaPct 0) and AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (deltaPct -0.2).

The multi-core performance, while not directly tested in this game, shows a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891, which is robust for a 10-core part. However, the measured FPS data reveals that even at 1080p, the frame rates are not CPU-limited, as the drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all presets. The CPU's 3 nm process node and 65 W TDP contribute to efficient operation, but the key takeaway is that the Core Ultra 5 225 provides enough headroom to avoid becoming a limiting factor in Lockdown Protocol, allowing the RTX 5070 Ti to perform to its full potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates across presets are 313 FPS (Low), 223 FPS (Medium), 194 FPS (High), and 146 FPS (Ultra). The Medium preset shows a minimum of 189 FPS and a maximum of 256 FPS, indicating a stable frame pacing with a 67 FPS range. The High preset at 1080p delivers 194 FPS average, which is 48 FPS higher than Ultra, highlighting the significant cost of the highest settings. The Low preset's 313 FPS average demonstrates the system's ability to exceed 300 FPS at the lowest settings, making it ideal for competitive play where frame rate is paramount.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 230 FPS (Low), 163 FPS (Medium), 142 FPS (High), and 107 FPS (Ultra). The Medium preset shows a minimum of 139 FPS and a maximum of 188 FPS, with a 49 FPS range that suggests slightly less consistency than at 1080p. The High preset at 1440p (142 FPS) is the standout result, as it maintains a frame rate well above the 120 Hz refresh rate that many gaming monitors support. The Ultra preset at 1440p (107 FPS) is still playable but represents a 24.6% drop from High, making it a less attractive option for users seeking smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 148 FPS (Low), 105 FPS (Medium), 92 FPS (High), and 69 FPS (Ultra). The Medium preset shows a minimum of 90 FPS and a maximum of 121 FPS, with a 31 FPS range that indicates acceptable frame consistency at 4K. The High preset at 4K (92 FPS) is close to the 90 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for a good experience, while the Ultra preset (69 FPS) drops below that threshold. The Low preset at 4K (148 FPS) shows that the GPU can still deliver high frame rates at lower settings, but the visual compromise is significant. Overall, the data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p for maximum frame rates, 1440p for the best balance, and 4K for visual fidelity at the cost of performance.