Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers a remarkably consistent experience across Lockdown Protocol's settings ladder, with the data revealing a system that scales predictably from 1080p to 4K. The measured results show a pairing where the GPU's 20 GB frame buffer and the CPU's 14 cores create a balanced platform, though the performance gaps between presets hint at where each component's influence peaks. The benchmark database positions this combo at rank 489 out of 2828 tested configurations, placing it comfortably in the upper tier of systems, and the per-resolution numbers suggest that users can prioritize visual fidelity without sacrificing playability at most settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows for this combo point to Medium as the most balanced preset across all three resolutions, though the data tells a nuanced story when you examine the deltas between settings. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Medium costs 81 frames per second (280 down to 199), while the leap from Medium to High costs another 25 frames (199 to 174). The Ultra preset at 1080p delivers 130 FPS, which represents a 45% drop from Medium but still maintains a smooth experience. However, the more interesting pattern emerges at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

At 2560x1440, Medium produces 146 FPS with a measured minimum of 124 and maximum of 168, which is the only resolution where the min/max range is narrow enough to suggest consistent frame pacing. High at 1440p drops to 127 FPS, and Ultra falls to 96, while Low reaches 206. The 4K data shows Medium at 94 FPS (min 80, max 108), High at 82, and Ultra at 62, with Low hitting 133. Given that the game is a fast-paced FPS, the Medium preset emerges as the sweet spot because it maintains triple-digit frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, and stays above 90 FPS at 4K — a threshold that keeps competitive play viable.

For players prioritizing maximum smoothness, Low at 1440p (206 FPS) or even 4K (133 FPS) offers headroom well beyond typical display refresh rates. Conversely, those who favor visual quality over frame rate can select Ultra at 1440p (96 FPS) and still remain playable, though Ultra at 4K (62 FPS) approaches the lower boundary of what most FPS players would accept. The data suggests that Medium should be the default recommendation, with High as a viable alternative at 1080p or 1440p for those with adaptive sync displays, since the 174 and 127 FPS figures respectively provide enough overhead to smooth out frame time spikes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 489 out of 2828 tested combinations places it in the top 17.3% of all configurations in the database for Lockdown Protocol. This positioning is notable because the individual components show contrasting percentile standings: the CPU sits at the 89th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at just the 55th percentile among all graphics cards. The discrepancy suggests that the CPU is doing more heavy lifting in this pairing, which becomes evident when examining the measured FPS at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (0.1% faster), Intel Core i9-13900HX (0.1% slower), AMD EPYC 4364P (0.2% faster), and AMD EPYC 7303 (0.2% faster) — all within a fraction of a percent of each other, indicating that the Ultra 5 235 sits in a tightly contested performance band. The GPU's nearest rivals, meanwhile, are far less flattering: the AMD Radeon 660M (0.5% faster), NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile (0.5% faster), AMD Radeon RX 570X (0.9% faster), and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (1.5% slower) — a list that includes integrated and mobile parts, which underscores the 7900 XT's mediocre synthetic standing despite its actual gaming performance.

The rank of 489 becomes more impressive when you consider that the combo outperforms its GPU's percentile ranking would suggest. This implies that Lockdown Protocol is a title where the CPU's 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock contribute meaningfully to frame generation, particularly at 1080p where the 280 FPS Low result indicates the processor is feeding frames faster than many other configurations could. The combo's position in the top quintile of tested systems aligns with the CPU's strong showing, though the GPU's lower percentile suggests that this game may be more CPU-sensitive than GPU-bound at common resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT brings 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus with 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a substantial frame buffer for a game like Lockdown Protocol that appears to scale well with resolution. The GPU's boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz, paired with 5376 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs, provide the raw throughput needed to push the measured frame rates. The pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s help explain why the card can maintain 82 FPS at 4K High settings.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly relevant to the 4K results. With 20 GB of VRAM, the 7900 XT never approaches capacity limits in the measured scenarios, which allows the memory bandwidth to be the constraining factor rather than capacity. The 800.0 GB/s bandwidth supports the resolution scaling seen in the data: from 1080p High (174 FPS) to 1440p High (127 FPS) to 4K High (82 FPS), the performance drop follows a pattern consistent with pixel throughput demands rather than memory exhaustion.

The GPU's benchmark scores further contextualize its role. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5623 and PassMark G3D score of 29009 indicate solid DirectX 12 performance, which is relevant since Lockdown Protocol as a modern FPS likely leverages DX12 features. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 71068 suggests strong API-level performance, while the OpenCL score of 12756 and GPU compute score of 16828 show compute capabilities that may influence physics or particle effects in-game. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 51.48 TFLOPS and FP16 of 103.0 TFLOPS (2:1) provide the arithmetic capacity needed for high-resolution rendering, though the 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS shows that even this hardware hits limits when all settings are maxed.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 with Medium settings delivers 146 FPS with a measured minimum of 124 and maximum of 168, which provides both high frame rates and consistent frame pacing. At 1920x1080 Medium reaches 199 FPS, while 4K Medium drops to 94 FPS, so 1440p offers the best balance of visual detail and performance headroom.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 199 FPS at 1920x1080 to 146 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 26.6% reduction), then to 94 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 52.8% reduction from 1080p). At High settings, the drop is from 174 FPS to 127 FPS to 82 FPS across the same resolutions, indicating a consistent scaling pattern.

Q: Does the GPU's 20 GB VRAM matter for this game?

A: The measured results suggest that VRAM capacity is not a bottleneck at any resolution. The 20 GB frame buffer is more than sufficient for 4K Ultra, as evidenced by the 62 FPS result, and the 800.0 GB/s bandwidth appears to be the more relevant memory characteristic for this title's performance scaling.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: The CPU's 89th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 55th percentile, combined with the 1080p Low result of 280 FPS, indicates that the processor plays a significant role in frame generation. The GPU becomes more influential at 4K where the 62 FPS Ultra result reflects rendering limits rather than CPU constraints.

Q: Can this combo handle high refresh rate monitors?

A: At 1080p, every preset except Ultra exceeds 144 FPS (Low: 280, Medium: 199, High: 174), and even Ultra reaches 130 FPS. At 1440p, Low (206) and Medium (146) support 144Hz displays, while High (127) and Ultra (96) require lower refresh rates. At 4K, only Low (133) approaches 144Hz territory.

Q: What is the minimum FPS for this combo in the measured data?

A: The only min FPS values recorded are for Medium settings: 80 FPS at 4K, 124 FPS at 1440p, and 169 FPS at 1080p. These minimums are consistently within 15% of the average FPS, suggesting stable frame delivery without major hitches.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how this combo's performance scales across resolutions, and the pattern tells a clear story about which component dominates in different scenarios. At Medium settings, the frame rate progression from 1080p (199 FPS) to 1440p (146 FPS) to 4K (94 FPS) shows a 26.6% drop for each resolution step, which is roughly proportional to the pixel count increase (2.25x from 1080p to 1440p, 2.25x from 1440p to 4K). This linear scaling suggests the GPU is the primary limiter at Medium settings across all resolutions.

The Low preset tells a different story. From 1080p (280 FPS) to 1440p (206 FPS) is a 26.4% reduction, but from 1440p to 4K (133 FPS) is a 35.4% reduction. The steeper drop at 4K Low indicates that even with minimal graphical load, the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes more strained at higher pixel counts, while the 1080p result of 280 FPS suggests the CPU is capable of feeding frames well beyond what most displays can show.

High settings exhibit the most consistent scaling: 174 FPS at 1080p, 127 FPS at 1440p (27.0% drop), and 82 FPS at 4K (35.4% drop from 1440p). Ultra settings follow a similar trajectory: 130 FPS at 1080p, 96 FPS at 1440p (26.2% drop), and 62 FPS at 4K (35.4% drop). The consistent pattern across High and Ultra, with a roughly 27% reduction for the first resolution step and 35% for the second, implies that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are the limiting factors at these settings.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU has sufficient headroom to push frame rates higher, as evidenced by the 280 FPS Low result. At 1440p, the system appears more balanced, with the GPU beginning to take on a larger role. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as the frame rate differences between presets compress (133 Low, 94 Medium, 82 High, 62 Ultra) compared to the wider gaps at 1080p (280 Low, 199 Medium, 174 High, 130 Ultra). This compression at 4K shows that once the GPU is saturated, CPU power has diminishing returns.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz, built on the Arrow Lake architecture at a 3 nm process node. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 per core provide substantial on-die storage for game data, while the dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures the processor can feed data to the GPU efficiently. The PassMark single-thread score of 4516 and multithread score of 37816 place this chip at the 89th percentile among all CPUs.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's influence is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the combo achieves 280 FPS. This result indicates that the processor's 5.00 GHz boost clock and 14 cores are capable of sustaining extremely high frame rates when the GPU has minimal work to do. The Cinebench R23 scores — 14769 multicore and 2085 single-core — reinforce this capability, suggesting strong per-thread performance that matters for game logic and draw call processing.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all within 0.2% of its average score, which places it in a cluster of high-performance processors. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (0.1% faster) and Intel Core i9-13900HX (0.1% slower) are particularly close matches, indicating that the Ultra 5 235 competes with both mobile flagship and desktop high-end parts. This performance level, combined with the 89th percentile ranking, helps explain why the combo ranks at 489 out of 2828 in this game despite the GPU's lower synthetic standing.

The CPU's 14 threads (equal to its core count) mean no hyperthreading, but the 14 physical cores provide ample parallel processing for modern game engines. The PassMark physics score of 2570 and integer math score of 87948 suggest solid computational throughput for game physics and AI calculations, while the floating point score of 117951 indicates strong performance for graphics-related computations. The data compression score of 390711 and encryption score of 29293 show general-purpose processing capability that may benefit asset streaming in open-world or densely populated FPS scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 280 FPS, followed by Medium at 199 FPS with a minimum of 169 and maximum of 229, High at 174 FPS, and Ultra at 130 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear progression where each settings tier costs roughly 25-50% of the previous tier's performance, with Low being 40.7% faster than Medium and Medium being 14.4% faster than High.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset reaches 206 FPS, Medium achieves 146 FPS with a minimum of 124 and maximum of 168, High produces 127 FPS, and Ultra drops to 96 FPS. The 1440p data shows a similar pattern to 1080p but with compressed gaps: Low to Medium is a 29.1% reduction, Medium to High is 13.0%, and High to Ultra is 24.4%. The medium preset's min/max range of 124-168 FPS indicates that 75% of frames fall within a 44 FPS window, suggesting reasonably stable performance.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 133 FPS, Medium provides 94 FPS with a minimum of 80 and maximum of 108, High reaches 82 FPS, and Ultra falls to 62 FPS. The 4K results show the most compressed scaling between presets: Low to Medium is a 29.3% reduction, Medium to High is 12.8%, and High to Ultra is 24.4%. The medium preset's min/max range of 80-108 FPS demonstrates that even at 4K, the system maintains playable frame rates with only a 28 FPS spread.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values, providing the most complete picture of frame pacing. The consistency of the min/max deltas (60 FPS at 1080p, 44 FPS at 1440p, 28 FPS at 4K) suggests that as resolution increases, frame delivery becomes more consistent, likely because the GPU becomes the bottleneck and reduces CPU-induced frame time variability. The high FPS at 1080p Low (280) indicates that players seeking maximum competitive advantage can achieve extremely high frame rates, while those prioritizing visual quality can still expect playable performance at 4K Ultra (62 FPS).