Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + Intel Arc B390

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the Intel Arc B390 delivers playable frame rates at 1080p, but the integrated graphics solution becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution climbs. Benchmark data shows the combo ranks 2512th out of 2828 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the lower 11th percentile of all systems. This is a configuration where the CPU's strong multi-threaded performance is largely wasted by the GPU's limited throughput, particularly at higher resolutions where the Arc B390's shared memory architecture and modest 24 ROPs constrain output to sub-60 FPS territory.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 88 FPS average, which drops to 65 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 42 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 52% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the frame rate is heavily dependent on pixel throughput rather than CPU capability. The scaling pattern is consistent across all quality presets — High settings drop from 55 FPS at 1080p to 40 FPS at 1440p and 26 FPS at 4K, a 53% decrease.

Medium settings show the same trend: 63 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which pushes the GPU hardest, falls from 41 FPS at 1080p to 30 FPS at 1440p and bottoms out at 19 FPS at 4K. These numbers tell a clear story: the Arc B390's rendering pipeline saturates quickly as pixel count rises. The 24 ROPs and 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for 4K workloads, even with a CPU that can easily feed frames.

The data suggests the limiting component at 4K is unambiguously the GPU. The Core Ultra 5 235's 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock are more than capable of sustaining high frame generation, but the Arc B390's 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 throughput becomes the ceiling. Notably, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is roughly 25-30% across all settings, while the gap from 1440p to 4K is another 35-40%. This non-linear scaling points to memory bandwidth constraints — the system-shared memory architecture means the GPU competes with the CPU for DDR5 bandwidth, and 4K frame buffers exacerbate this contention.

For players targeting smooth gameplay, 1080p is the only resolution where the combo consistently exceeds 60 FPS, and only at Low settings. The 1440p Low result of 65 FPS is the sole sub-1080p resolution to break that threshold. At 4K, even Low settings only muster 42 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for competitive FPS play. The benchmark results indicate that this configuration is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p requiring reduced settings to remain playable.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. Its 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs operate at a base clock of 300 MHz and boost to 2500 MHz. The GPU's memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with no dedicated VRAM — the bus width, memory type, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent." This is a fundamental constraint for Lockdown Protocol, which benefits from dedicated video memory for texture streaming and frame buffering.

The GPU's benchmark score in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 is 1482, which places it at the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts: the GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower), and GT 710 (1443, 2.7% slower). This puts the Arc B390 at the very bottom of the performance spectrum, roughly equivalent to entry-level GPUs from over a decade ago. The 1.3-2.7% deltas against these rivals show that the Arc B390 is not merely close to them — it is statistically their peer, despite being a modern integrated solution.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the GPU's limitations manifest clearly. The 19 FPS average at 4K Ultra and 26 FPS at 4K High demonstrate that the pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s is insufficient for high-resolution rendering. The texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s and 48 TMUs handle texture mapping adequately at lower resolutions, but the ROP count becomes the binding constraint at higher pixel counts. The GPU's 12 RT cores are present but do not appear to provide any meaningful benefit in this title, as the measured FPS at all settings and resolutions suggests rasterization performance is the limiting factor.

The system-shared memory means there is no dedicated VRAM pool, which likely contributes to the steep performance drop at 4K. With the CPU also requiring DDR5 bandwidth for its 14 cores, memory contention increases with resolution as larger frame buffers demand more frequent accesses. The 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth available to the CPU is shared with the GPU, and while the exact GPU bandwidth is "System Dependent," the measured results indicate that 4K workloads starve the GPU of necessary memory throughput.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread desktop processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It runs at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boosts to 5.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's L3 cache is 24 MB shared, with 192 KB L1 and 3 MB L2 per core. This processor is manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The CPU's benchmark results are strong: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 14769, single-core 2085, and Passmark multithread reaches 37816 with a single-thread score of 4516.

The Core Ultra 5 235's performance percentile of 89% versus all CPUs indicates it sits in the upper tier of processors. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030 avg score, 0.1% slower), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098 avg score, 0.1% faster), AMD EPYC 4364P (45970 avg score, 0.2% slower), and AMD EPYC 7303 (45960 avg score, 0.2% slower). The delta percentages are all within 0.2%, meaning the Core Ultra 5 235 performs essentially identically to these competitors in synthetic benchmarks.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is to feed frames to the GPU. At 1080p Low, the 88 FPS average suggests the CPU can generate frames faster than the GPU can render them, confirming the GPU is the bottleneck at this setting. However, the CPU's 14 threads and 5.00 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient for the game's FPS workload — Lockdown Protocol is not CPU-bound at any resolution tested. The Passmark physics score of 2570 and data compression score of 390711 indicate strong general-purpose performance, but these do not translate to higher frame rates when the GPU is the limiting factor.

The CPU's 14 cores all have the same 3 MB L2 cache and 192 KB L1 per core, with no performance-core/efficiency-core split visible in the data. This uniform architecture likely helps with consistent frame pacing, as the measured FPS at Medium settings shows a narrow range (53-72 at 1080p, 39-53 at 1440p, 25-34 at 4K). The min FPS values are close to the averages, indicating minimal frame drops, which is a positive sign for the CPU's ability to maintain smooth delivery of frames to the GPU.

The memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s is shared between CPU and GPU due to the integrated graphics configuration. This is a potential concern for multi-tasking, but for Lockdown Protocol, the benchmark data shows that the CPU's 14 threads are adequately fed even at 4K, since the GPU is the constraining factor. The CPU's launch MSRP is $257, and it supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus. The processor's integrated graphics (Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 24EU) is separate from the Arc B390 GPU used in this combo, which is notable — the system is using the higher-end integrated GPU rather than the CPU's basic iGPU.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS in Lockdown Protocol?

A: Only at 1080p with Low settings, where it achieves 88 FPS average. At 1080p Medium, it drops to 63 FPS, and at High it falls to 55 FPS. At 1440p, only Low settings reach 60+ FPS (65 FPS), while all other settings at 1440p and 4K fall below 60 FPS.

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

A: At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 88 at 1080p to 42 at 4K, a 52% reduction. At High settings, it drops from 55 to 26, a 53% reduction. At Ultra, it drops from 41 to 19, a 54% reduction.

Q: What is the best resolution for this configuration?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo maintains playable frame rates across most settings. At 1440p, only Low settings exceed 60 FPS, and at 4K, even Low settings cannot reach 45 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% faster than the NVIDIA GT 520MX, 1.5% faster than the GeForce 800M, 2.5% faster than the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% faster than the GT 710. These are all legacy entry-level parts.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck at all resolutions. The Core Ultra 5 235's CPU percentile of 89% and strong multi-core scores (14769 in Cinebench R23) far exceed what the Arc B390 can utilize. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking clearly indicates it limits frame rates.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average is 63 FPS with a range of 53-72 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 46 FPS with a range of 39-53 FPS. At 4K Medium, it falls to 30 FPS with a range of 25-34 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 2512th out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 11% of all systems. This ranking reflects the GPU's severe performance limitations — the Arc B390's 9th percentile standing among all GPUs drags down what would otherwise be a strong CPU pairing. The Core Ultra 5 235's 89th percentile CPU ranking shows the processor is not the issue; rather, the integrated GPU's performance is comparable to decade-old discrete parts.

The combo's rank of 2512 out of 2828 means it outperforms 316 other tested configurations. Given that the GPU's nearest rivals are all NVIDIA parts from the GT 520MX and GT 710 era, it is likely that most combos ranked below this one use similarly weak or older integrated graphics. However, the data shows that in a modern FPS title, this level of GPU performance is marginal at best. The 19 FPS at 4K Ultra and 26 FPS at 4K High are indicative of a system that can barely render the game at playable levels even at the lowest settings.

The ranking gap between CPU and GPU performance is stark: the CPU sits at the 89th percentile while the GPU sits at the 9th percentile. This 80-percentile disparity is unusual and highlights a severely imbalanced configuration. For Lockdown Protocol, the combo rank suggests that the system is only suitable for low-resolution, low-settings play, and even then, the experience will be below what most competitive FPS players expect. The 1080p Low result of 88 FPS is the standout metric, but the 1080p High result of 55 FPS is more representative of typical gaming conditions.

Settings Recommendations

For this configuration, the measured data points to 1920x1080 with Low settings as the only preset that delivers a comfortable frame rate for fast-paced FPS play. The 88 FPS average at 1080p Low provides headroom for competitive play, though it is notably below the 144 Hz or 240 Hz targets that many FPS players prefer. If visual quality is a priority, Medium settings at 1080p (63 FPS average) is the highest preset that maintains a playable frame rate, with only a 25 FPS drop from Low.

At 1440p, Low settings (65 FPS) is the only viable option, and even this is marginal for competitive play. The 1440p Medium result of 46 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold, and High and Ultra at 1440p fall to 40 and 30 FPS respectively. At 4K, no setting combination achieves playable frame rates — the best result is 42 FPS at Low, which is still below 60 FPS and likely to feel sluggish in a shooter.

The Ultra preset should be avoided entirely with this combo. At 1080p Ultra (41 FPS), 1440p Ultra (30 FPS), and 4K Ultra (19 FPS), the frame rates are all below playable thresholds. The performance cost of Ultra over High is substantial: at 1080p, Ultra drops 14 FPS from High (55 to 41), at 1440p it drops 10 FPS (40 to 30), and at 4K it drops 7 FPS (26 to 19). This suggests Ultra settings introduce rendering effects that disproportionately tax the Arc B390's limited resources.

The data indicates that the best experience for this combo is 1080p Low for maximum frame rate, or 1080p Medium as a balanced compromise between visuals and performance. Players who insist on 1440p should stick to Low settings, while 4K is not recommended under any preset. The Medium preset's measured frame ranges (53-72 FPS at 1080p, 39-53 at 1440p) show acceptable consistency, indicating the system can maintain relatively stable frame pacing when not pushed to its limits.