Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a fast-paced FPS that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT delivers a balanced but resolution-dependent experience. The data shows that this system is best suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming, with the Medium preset offering the most consistent frame pacing, while 4K Ultra remains a demanding target that exceeds the hardware's comfortable capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data clearly indicates that the Medium preset provides the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance for this specific hardware combination. At 1920x1080, Medium produces an average of 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 136 FPS, which is a remarkably stable range that avoids the frame-time spikes that can disrupt aiming in a competitive FPS. The minimum of 101 FPS ensures the experience stays above the 100 FPS threshold, a critical factor for maintaining smooth tracking and responsiveness.

While the Low preset achieves a higher average of 167 FPS at 1080p, the visual downgrade is significant enough that the raw frame rate advantage does not compensate for the loss of detail in a game where target acquisition is key. The High preset sits at 104 FPS average, which is playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes, and its lack of reported minimum FPS data suggests less predictable performance than Medium's documented 101 FPS floor. The Ultra preset drops to only 78 FPS average at 1080p, which is below the ideal range for a competitive FPS and indicates that the GPU is being pushed beyond its efficient operating envelope.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again proves to be the best choice, yielding an average of 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS. This is a slightly tighter margin than at 1080p, but the 74 FPS minimum remains acceptable for slower-paced gameplay, though competitive players may prefer to drop to Low for the 123 FPS average. For 4K, the Medium preset's 56 FPS average with a 48 FPS minimum is the only viable option for playable performance, though it requires accepting a lower visual bar than the High or Ultra presets that fall to 49 FPS and 37 FPS respectively. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot across all resolutions, offering the most consistent frame delivery relative to the visual quality.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, and its specifications explain the performance scaling observed. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s, which is substantial for a card in its class. This memory capacity is particularly relevant for Lockdown Protocol, as the game's texture-heavy environments can consume significant VRAM at higher settings, and the 16 GB buffer prevents memory-related stutters that could otherwise occur on cards with smaller pools.

The GPU's clock behavior, with a base clock of 1980 MHz, a game clock of 2470 MHz, and a boost clock of 2755 MHz, shows that the card is designed to sustain high frequencies under load. The game clock of 2470 MHz is the realistic sustained frequency during gaming, and the boost clock of 2755 MHz represents the peak single-core boost. The RDNA 3.0 architecture with 2048 shading units and 32 ray accelerators provides 22.57 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is the raw throughput that drives the rasterization performance seen in the measured FPS.

The GPU's 60th percentile ranking against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17083, places it in the mid-range tier. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, which scores 17208 and is 0.7% higher, indicating that the RX 7600 XT is nearly on par with that card in synthetic benchmarks. The AMD Radeon HD 7970M scores 17019, 0.4% lower, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 scores 17037, 0.3% lower, and the NVIDIA Tesla M4 scores 16932, 0.9% lower. This positioning explains why the card can handle 1080p Ultra at 78 FPS but struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 4K High, as the raw compute power is sufficient for lower resolutions but becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The GPU's power configuration, with a TDP of 190 W and a suggested PSU of 450 W, means it draws a moderate amount of power for its performance class. The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for the 16 GB frame buffer, and the 1x 8-pin power connector is a standard configuration. The card's dimensions of 204 mm in length and 115 mm in height make it a dual-slot design that fits in most mid-tower cases, though the 3x DisplayPort 2.1 and 1x HDMI 2.1a outputs are the only connectivity options.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 serves as a capable partner to the GPU, with its 14 cores and 14 threads providing ample parallel processing for game logic and physics. The CPU's base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz demonstrate a wide frequency range, allowing it to scale from power-efficient operation to high-performance bursts when needed. The Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process node by TSMC, houses 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die, which contributes to its efficiency and performance characteristics.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong single-threaded and multi-threaded capabilities. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 14769 in multicore and 2085 in singlecore, while in Cinebench R20 it scores 6202 and 875 respectively. The PassMark single-thread score of 4516 and multithread score of 37816 further confirm its balanced performance profile. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache, with 192 KB of L1 and 3 MB of L2 per core, provides sufficient cache hierarchy for game data that needs to be accessed frequently.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46062, places it in the upper echelon of processors. Its nearest rivals are closely matched: the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46030 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098 (0.1% lower), the AMD EPYC 4364P scores 45970 (0.2% higher), and the AMD EPYC 7303 scores 45960 (0.2% higher). This tight grouping indicates that the Core Ultra 5 235 is competitive with high-end mobile and server parts, providing strong game logic performance.

In the context of Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's 14 cores are more than sufficient to handle the game's simulation and AI workloads, ensuring that the GPU is not starved of data. The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with a dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s bandwidth provides adequate data throughput for the game's streaming requirements. The PCIe Gen 5 support with 20 lanes ensures that the GPU has a high-bandwidth connection, even though the RX 7600 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x8. The CPU's 65 W TDP is relatively low for a desktop part, suggesting that it maintains high clock speeds without excessive power draw, which helps with sustained performance in long gaming sessions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT ranks 1800 out of 2828 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places the combo in the 36th percentile of all tested systems, meaning that a significant majority of combinations deliver higher frame rates in this game. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component performance, but it reflects the fact that Lockdown Protocol is particularly demanding on the GPU at higher resolutions, and the RX 7600 XT is only a mid-range card.

The ranking indicates that while the CPU is a strong performer, the GPU holds the combo back from achieving higher positions. The data shows that the combo's performance is competitive at 1080p, where it can deliver over 100 FPS on Medium settings, but the ranking likely incorporates performance across all settings and resolutions, where the 4K results drag the average down. The 1800th rank out of 2828 combos suggests that many systems with more powerful GPUs, even if paired with slower CPUs, can achieve better overall frame rates in this game.

The gap between this combo and higher-ranked options is primarily due to GPU compute limitations. The RX 7600 XT's 22.57 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the game's engine appears to scale heavily with raw GPU throughput at higher resolutions. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking is not the limiting factor, as evidenced by the fact that even with the GPU maxed out at 4K Ultra, the CPU is still able to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain 37 FPS. This suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield a disproportionate improvement in the combo's rank, while upgrading the CPU would have a minimal impact.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data demonstrates a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At the Medium preset, the average FPS drops from 119 at 1920x1080 to 87 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 32 FPS or approximately 27%. Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 56 FPS, a reduction of 31 FPS or approximately 36%. This scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, as the frame rate decreases nearly linearly with the increase in pixel count.

At the High preset, the scaling is even more pronounced: 104 FPS at 1080p drops to 76 FPS at 1440p (a 28 FPS or 27% reduction), and then to 49 FPS at 4K (a 27 FPS or 36% reduction). The Low preset shows similar proportional drops, with 167 FPS at 1080p falling to 123 FPS at 1440p (44 FPS or 26% reduction) and then to 79 FPS at 4K (44 FPS or 36% reduction). The consistent percentage drops across settings suggest that the GPU's fill-rate and shading capabilities are the bottleneck, as the CPU's workload does not scale significantly with resolution.

The 4K Ultra result of 37 FPS is particularly telling, as it represents the absolute worst-case scenario where the GPU is fully saturated. The fact that the CPU can still maintain a playable frame rate at this extreme setting indicates that the processor is not a limiting factor in any resolution. The data suggests that players seeking higher frame rates at 4K would need to either reduce settings to Low (79 FPS) or consider a more powerful GPU, while those satisfied with 1080p gaming can comfortably use High or Medium settings for a smooth experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings provides options for different priorities. The Low preset achieves the highest average FPS at 167, making it ideal for competitive play where maximum frame rate is paramount. The Medium preset delivers 119 FPS average with a tight 101-136 FPS range, offering the best balance for most players. The High preset produces 104 FPS average, which is still smooth but with less headroom. The Ultra preset drops to 78 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. The Low preset delivers 123 FPS average, which remains excellent for competitive play. The Medium preset provides 87 FPS average with a 74-100 FPS range, where the minimum of 74 FPS is still above the 60 FPS threshold for acceptable gameplay. The High preset produces 76 FPS average, which is adequate but leaves little room for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset falls to 57 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS target and indicates that this setting is not recommended at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The Low preset achieves 79 FPS average, which is surprisingly playable and suggests that the game's low settings are well-optimized. The Medium preset delivers 56 FPS average with a 48-65 FPS range, where the minimum of 48 FPS may cause noticeable stutter in intense combat. The High preset drops to 49 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and only suitable for slower gameplay. The Ultra preset produces 37 FPS average, which is not recommended for any serious play. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most consistent frame delivery, with the documented minimum and maximum values showing less variance than other settings.