Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a playable, though not universally smooth, experience in Lockdown Protocol. The data indicates that this pairing is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with the Ultra preset proving too demanding at higher resolutions. Benchmark results show that the most balanced experience is achieved at 1440p with Medium settings, where the average frame rate remains above 60 FPS, while 4K gaming is only viable at Low settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings reveal a clear pattern: the Ultra preset is consistently the most demanding and offers the least headroom. At 1080p, the Ultra preset yields an average of 63 FPS, which is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes. The High preset at 1080p achieves 84 FPS, and the Medium preset reaches 96 FPS, making Medium the recommended choice for 1080p users who prioritize smoothness without a substantial visual downgrade. The Low preset at 1080p hits 136 FPS, which suits competitive play, but the visual compromise is significant.

For 1440p, the data shows a similar hierarchy. The Ultra preset drops to an average of 46 FPS, which is below the threshold for a consistently fluid experience. High settings at 1440p produce 62 FPS, which is playable but close to the edge. The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 71 FPS, with a minimum of 60 FPS and a maximum of 81 FPS, making it the best settings choice for this resolution. Low settings at 1440p reach 100 FPS, offering a high-refresh-rate option for those willing to reduce graphical fidelity.

At 4K, the situation changes drastically. The Ultra preset averages only 30 FPS, which is not suitable for a fast-paced FPS. High settings at 4K manage 40 FPS, still below the ideal range. Medium settings at 4K produce 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS. The Low preset at 4K achieves 64 FPS, which is the only 4K option that remains consistently playable. Therefore, the data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo should be limited to Low settings, while 1440p Medium offers the best balance of visual quality and performance.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 GPU is the primary driver of frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, and its specifications directly explain the measured results. The GPU features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results indicate that the GPU’s memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2500 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, with memory clocked at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). These clocks are modest, and the benchmark results show that the GPU’s compute capabilities, rated at 11.52 TFLOPS FP32, are adequate for Medium settings but struggle with Ultra presets.

The GPU’s architecture, Xe2-HPG on a 5 nm process, includes 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. The pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s are reflected in the frame rates: at 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 96 FPS, but at 4K Medium, it drops to 46 FPS, a reduction of over half. The GPU’s 18 ray tracing cores do not appear to provide a significant advantage in this game, as the Ultra preset, which likely enables more advanced effects, causes the largest performance hit. The GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus rank of 65 indicates it sits in the mid-range tier, and its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A750, has a similar average score with a deltaPct of -0.1, confirming that the B570 is positioned as a mid-range part.

The 10 GB VRAM capacity is another factor. At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate falls to 30 FPS, suggesting that the game’s memory requirements at that setting exceed what the GPU can efficiently handle. The data for 4K Medium, with a minimum of 39 FPS, supports this interpretation, as the frame pacing becomes inconsistent. For this game, the GPU’s role is clear: it provides solid performance at 1080p and 1440p with Medium or High settings, but its limitations become apparent at 4K and with the Ultra preset.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a consistent and predictable decline as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, which highlights the GPU as the primary bottleneck. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 136 FPS at 1080p to 100 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 36 FPS, and then to 64 FPS at 4K, another reduction of 36 FPS. This pattern indicates that the GPU’s rendering load scales almost linearly with pixel count, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to keep up.

At Medium settings, the decline is similar but with slightly different magnitudes. The average frame rate goes from 96 FPS at 1080p to 71 FPS at 1440p, a drop of 25 FPS, and then to 46 FPS at 4K, a drop of 25 FPS. The consistent delta between resolutions suggests that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU’s workload does not change significantly with resolution. The High settings show a similar trend, with 84 FPS at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p, and 40 FPS at 4K, representing drops of 22 FPS each step.

The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest scaling, with 63 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 17 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 16 FPS, which is proportionally larger given the lower starting point. This indicates that the Ultra preset places a heavy load on the GPU, and the resolution scaling amplifies the strain. The data shows that at 1080p, the combo can handle all presets, but at 4K, only Low settings remain above 60 FPS. This analysis confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor, and users targeting higher resolutions must lower settings to maintain playable frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed view of performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 136 FPS, with no minimum or maximum values recorded. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 96 FPS, with a minimum of 82 FPS and a maximum of 111 FPS, showing a tight frame time distribution. The High preset at 1080p averages 84 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 63 FPS. These results show that at 1080p, the combo is capable of high refresh rates on Low and Medium settings, while High and Ultra remain playable but with less headroom.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 100 FPS, which is a substantial drop from the 1080p result but still excellent for competitive play. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 71 FPS, with a minimum of 60 FPS and a maximum of 81 FPS. This configuration provides a stable experience, as the minimum frame rate does not dip below 60. The High preset at 1440p averages 62 FPS, which is playable but with less consistency. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 46 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for a smooth experience.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 64 FPS, making it the only 4K setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K averages 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS, indicating notable frame pacing issues. The High preset at 4K averages 40 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 30 FPS. The 4K results show a clear hierarchy, where each step up in settings costs roughly 6-10 FPS, and the Ultra preset becomes nearly unplayable. Overall, the measured FPS breakdown demonstrates that the combo is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p with Medium settings, as those configurations offer the best balance of frame rate and visual fidelity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2264 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the lower half of the database. This ranking is consistent with the measured frame rates, which show that the combo struggles with higher resolutions and the Ultra preset. The combo’s rank of 2264 out of 2828 means that approximately 80% of tested combinations perform better in this game, indicating that this pairing is not optimized for Lockdown Protocol’s demands.

The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus rank of 89 suggests that the processor is well above average in general benchmarks, with an average benchmark score of 46062. However, this strength does not translate to top-tier gaming performance in this title, as the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus rank of 65 is lower. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 20556 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which has a deltaPct of 0.1, and the Intel Arc A750, with a deltaPct of -0.1. These rivals show that the B570 is a mid-range GPU, and its performance in Lockdown Protocol reflects that positioning.

The combo rank is also influenced by the CPU’s nearest rivals. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average score of 46062, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, deltaPct 0.1) and the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, deltaPct -0.1). This suggests that the CPU is not a differentiator in gaming performance, and the GPU is the dominant factor. The combo’s rank of 2264 out of 2828 indicates that users seeking higher frame rates in Lockdown Protocol would need a more powerful GPU, as the current pairing is limited by the Arc B570’s capabilities.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 plays a supporting role in Lockdown Protocol, as the game’s frame rates are primarily determined by the GPU. The CPU features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration is capable of handling the game’s CPU demands, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates across different resolutions. The CPU’s 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide adequate data access for gaming workloads, and its 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth on a dual-channel DDR5 interface is sufficient for this title.

The CPU’s benchmark scores support its role as a non-bottleneck component. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 14769 in multi-core and 2085 in single-core, which are strong results. The PassMark multithread score of 37816 and single-thread score of 4516 further indicate that the CPU has ample processing power. The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus rank of 89 places it in the top 11% of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Intel Core i9-13900HX, both with similar average scores. This means that the CPU is not holding back the GPU in Lockdown Protocol.

However, the CPU’s TDP of 65 W and 14 threads suggest that it is not a high-end gaming processor, and its performance in this game is adequate but not exceptional. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 136 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s limit for frame generation. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU’s role diminishes. The CPU’s architecture, Arrow Lake on a 3 nm process, provides efficient performance, but the game does not appear to utilize the CPU’s full capabilities. Overall, the CPU is a capable partner for the Arc B570, ensuring that frame rates are not artificially limited at lower resolutions, but it does not boost the combo’s ranking in this game.