Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol pairs the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, producing a dataset that reveals a system balancing a modern 14-core CPU against a legacy 11 GB GPU. The measured frames per second (FPS) across resolutions and settings paint a clear picture of where this combination excels and where it struggles, particularly under the load of a 2024 FPS title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average at 1920x1080 is 180 FPS on Low settings. High settings still deliver 111 FPS, while Medium and Ultra produce 128 and 84 FPS, respectively.

Q: How does the GPU's performance percentile compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti sits in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 15548 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon R9 M380 (15521, 0.2% faster) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679, 0.8% slower), placing it in a tight cluster of mid-range performers.

Q: Does the CPU's benchmark score place it near any specific competitor?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062, which is almost exactly matched by the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, -0.1% delta). This indicates the two processors deliver nearly identical synthetic performance.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested system configurations?

A: In Lockdown Protocol, this specific CPU and GPU pairing ranks 1585 out of 2828 tested combos, placing it in the middle of the pack for overall performance.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the system maintain an average above 60 FPS?

A: The system stays above 60 FPS on all settings at 1080p and 1440p, except for Ultra at 1440p which averages 61 FPS. At 4K, only Low (85 FPS) and Medium (60 FPS) settings achieve or exceed the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-core performance compare to its single-core performance?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 scores 14769 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2085 in single-core. This ratio shows strong scaling, with multi-threaded performance being roughly seven times higher than single-thread, a typical result for a 14-core processor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the primary driver of frame rate in Lockdown Protocol, and its 11 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 352-bit bus provides 484.4 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is a critical factor; the data shows that at 3840x2160, the average FPS drops from 85 on Low to just 40 on Ultra, a 53% reduction. This steep decline suggests the GPU's compute throughput, rated at 11.34 TFLOPS FP32, becomes the limiting factor as graphical fidelity increases, rather than memory capacity alone.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 1481 MHz and a boost of 1582 MHz, are modest by modern standards, yet the card still manages playable results at lower presets. For instance, at 2560x1440, the GTX 1080 Ti delivers 132 FPS on Low and 94 FPS on Medium, indicating that the Pascal architecture can handle the game's engine efficiently when not burdened by high-detail effects. However, the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2231 highlights its age; this is a card that is end-of-life, and the benchmark results show it struggling to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra, where it averages only 40 FPS.

The GTX 1080 Ti's percentile ranking of 58 places it just above the midpoint of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals—the Radeon R9 M380 and Radeon Pro W5500—show it is not an outlier in either direction. In practical terms for Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's 11 GB frame buffer is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data implies that ultra-high resolutions with maxed settings will push the card to its limits. The measured FPS at 4K High (53 FPS) versus 4K Medium (60 FPS) shows a performance cliff that is more about shading and texture work than memory size, pointing to the GPU's raw processing power as the bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the High preset at 111 FPS is the sweet spot, as it offers a substantial improvement over Ultra (84 FPS) while remaining well above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 128 FPS is also viable, but High provides a better visual-to-performance trade-off given the 17 FPS difference is relatively small.

At 2560x1440, the High preset drops to 82 FPS, which is still smooth, but the Medium preset at 94 FPS is the more balanced choice. The data shows a 12 FPS gain from High to Medium, suggesting that Medium settings reduce the GPU load just enough to provide headroom without sacrificing too much visual quality. Ultra at 1440p averages 61 FPS, which is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The only settings that maintain an average of 60 FPS or above are Low (85 FPS) and Medium (60 FPS). The Medium preset is the highest quality option that stays at the 60 FPS mark, making it the recommended choice for 4K. High and Ultra fall to 53 and 40 FPS respectively, which are below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The data strongly suggests that users with a 4K display should either stick to Medium or lower the resolution to 1440p for a better experience.

How This Combo Ranks

This system ranks 1585 out of 2828 total combinations tested in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 56th percentile of all configs. This middle-of-the-road ranking is consistent with the individual component performance: the CPU is in the 89th percentile of all processors, while the GPU is in the 58th percentile. The combination of a high-tier CPU with a mid-tier GPU results in an overall score that is dragged down by the graphics card's age.

The rank implies that this setup will outperform systems with weaker CPUs but struggle against those with comparable or better GPUs. For example, the CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-13900HX, would likely pair with a more modern GPU to achieve a better rank. The data indicates that the GTX 1080 Ti is the limiting factor in this pairing; upgrading the GPU would yield a significantly higher combo rank, as the CPU has ample headroom to support faster graphics cards.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 180 at 1080p to 132 at 1440p (a 27% decrease) and then to 85 at 4K (a 53% decrease from 1440p). This progressive decline is a textbook example of a system where the GPU's pixel throughput is the primary constraint, as the CPU (with its 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock) is more than capable of feeding frames at these rates.

At High settings, the drop is more severe: 111 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p (a 26% drop), and 53 FPS at 4K (a 35% drop from 1440p). The steeper decline at 4K High indicates that the GPU's texture and shading units are overwhelmed, leading to a disproportionate performance hit. The Medium settings show a similar pattern, with 128 FPS at 1080p, 94 FPS at 1440p, and 60 FPS at 4K, confirming that the GTX 1080 Ti's compute capabilities are the bottleneck.

The data points to the GPU as the limiting component across all resolutions. The CPU's performance, as measured by its Passmark single-thread score of 4516, is sufficient to handle the game's logic at even the lowest FPS recorded (40 FPS at 4K Ultra). Therefore, any attempt to improve frame rates at higher resolutions would require a GPU upgrade, not a CPU one.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a clear matrix of performance. At 1920x1080, the system achieves:

• Low: 180 FPS average
• Medium: 128 FPS average (108 FPS min, 147 FPS max)
• High: 111 FPS average
• Ultra: 84 FPS average

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 132 FPS average
• Medium: 94 FPS average (80 FPS min, 108 FPS max)
• High: 82 FPS average
• Ultra: 61 FPS average

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly:

• Low: 85 FPS average
• Medium: 60 FPS average (51 FPS min, 69 FPS max)
• High: 53 FPS average
• Ultra: 40 FPS average

The Medium preset consistently shows the only min/max data points, indicating it is the most tested setting. The margins between settings are uniform; for example, at 1440p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 71 FPS, showing the GPU's sensitivity to graphical load. The 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS is the lowest recorded, and it highlights the card's inability to handle the game's highest settings at that resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, reflected in its Passmark single-thread score of 4516. This is crucial for Lockdown Protocol, an FPS where game logic and physics often rely on high single-core clocks.

The CPU's multi-core capabilities, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769, are more than sufficient for this title. The data shows that even at 1080p Low (180 FPS), the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU, as the frame rate is limited by the graphics card's output. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth ensure that data can be fed to the GPU without delays.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 89 places it well above the GPU's 58th percentile, confirming that the processor is not the weak link. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-13900HX, has a nearly identical average score, yet in a gaming context, the Ultra 5 235's desktop-oriented design with 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the GTX 1080 Ti's PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. In this pairing, the CPU's role is to maintain high frame pacing, and the data indicates it does so effectively, as the FPS drops are directly correlated with GPU settings rather than CPU load.