Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB lands at rank 2492 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the lower 12% of all configurations. The pairing delivers playable frame rates at 1080p with medium settings, but the 4 GB VRAM becomes a decisive bottleneck at higher resolutions and quality presets. Benchmark results show a system that is CPU-capable but GPU-limited across nearly every test scenario.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in Lockdown Protocol?

A: This combo ranks 2492 out of 2828 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 12% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and why does it matter?

A: The RTX 3050 4 GB has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. This limited VRAM capacity directly impacts performance at 1440p and 4K resolutions, where higher settings exceed the available memory.

Q: What is the best performance this combo achieves?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 112 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Medium settings, the combo still delivers 80 FPS average at 1080p.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062, which is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030) and 0.1% behind the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098). It also sits 0.2% above both the AMD EPYC 4364P and EPYC 7303.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU's multi-threaded performance is strong (14769 in Cinebench R23 multi-core), but frame rates drop sharply with resolution increases, a pattern consistent with GPU limitation.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all processors?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 sits at the 89th percentile among all CPUs tested, indicating it outperforms the vast majority of processors in general benchmark workloads.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is the decisive component in this combo's Lockdown Protocol performance. Built on the Ampere architecture with a GA107 chip on Samsung's 8 nm process, this GPU features 2048 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. The card operates at a base clock of 1545 MHz with a boost clock of 1740 MHz, paired with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective).

The memory configuration is the critical limitation. With a 128-bit bus and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth, the 4 GB VRAM capacity proves insufficient for higher quality settings at elevated resolutions. The GPU's 7.127 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 111.4 GTexel/s texture rate provide adequate raw compute for 1080p gaming, but the memory constraint manifests clearly in the measured frame rates.

At 1920x1080, the GPU delivers 112 FPS at Low settings, 80 FPS at Medium, 70 FPS at High, and 52 FPS at Ultra. These numbers show a steady decline as settings increase, with the Ultra preset costing nearly 54% of the Low-setting performance. The pattern suggests that while the GPU has enough compute throughput for medium presets, the 4 GB frame buffer becomes saturated at higher quality levels.

The RTX 3050's 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores provide hardware support for ray tracing and DLSS, though the measured data does not include results with those features enabled. The card's 90 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a modest power footprint, but performance remains constrained by memory capacity rather than clock speeds or thermal headroom.

Resolution Scaling

Frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a GPU-bound system with sharp performance degradation as pixel count increases. At Medium settings, average FPS drops from 80 at 1920x1080 to 59 at 2560x1440 (a 26% reduction), then to 38 at 3840x2160 (a 53% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU that exhausts its memory bandwidth and capacity at higher resolutions.

At High settings, the progression is 70 FPS at 1080p, 51 FPS at 1440p, and 33 FPS at 4K. The 1440p result represents a 27% drop from 1080p, while the 4K result is a 53% drop from 1080p. These consistent percentage drops across settings indicate the GPU's compute and memory resources scale linearly with pixel count, with no evidence of CPU bottlenecking.

Low settings show the most dramatic resolution scaling: 112 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K. Even at the lowest quality preset, 4K performance falls below 60 FPS, confirming that the 4 GB VRAM and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain playable frame rates at 4K regardless of settings.

Ultra settings produce the lowest absolute numbers: 52 FPS at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 25 FPS is below playable thresholds for most users, and even 1440p Ultra falls short of 60 FPS. The data suggests that this combo's sweet spot is 1080p with Medium to High settings, where it delivers between 70 and 80 FPS.

The resolution scaling analysis points clearly to the GPU as the limiting component. The CPU's performance does not vary with resolution, yet frame rates drop consistently as resolution increases, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 2492 out of 2828, this configuration sits in the bottom 12% of all tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This ranking reflects the GPU's limitations more than the CPU's capabilities, as the Core Ultra 5 235 demonstrates strong benchmark performance in isolation.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 46062 places it at the 89th percentile among all processors, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, 0.1% slower), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, 0.1% faster), AMD EPYC 4364P (45970, 0.2% slower), and AMD EPYC 7303 (45960, 0.2% slower). These tightly clustered scores indicate the CPU is competitive with high-end processors from both Intel and AMD.

Despite the CPU's strong showing in synthetic benchmarks, the combo's in-game ranking suffers because the RTX 3050 4 GB cannot translate that processing power into high frame rates. The GPU's 50th percentile ranking among all GPUs (with no nearest rivals listed) suggests it is an average performer, and the 4 GB memory capacity puts it at a disadvantage in modern games that increasingly require more VRAM.

The combination of an 89th-percentile CPU with a 50th-percentile GPU creates a significant imbalance. In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU becomes the limiting factor at all resolutions above 1080p, and even at 1080p, the GPU prevents the CPU from delivering its full potential. The rank of 2492 reflects this bottleneck, as combos with more balanced pairings or more capable GPUs achieve higher in-game performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235, part of the Core Ultra Series 2 based on Arrow Lake architecture, provides substantial processing capability for this combo. With 14 cores and 14 threads, the CPU operates at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration, built on TSMC's 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die, delivers strong multi-threaded performance.

Cinebench results show a multi-core score of 14769 in R23 and 6202 in R20, with single-core scores of 2085 and 875 respectively. PassMark testing yields a multi-thread score of 37816 and single-thread score of 4516. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 cache per core provide adequate memory hierarchy for gaming workloads.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensure it does not starve the GPU for data. The 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that this processor is well above average for general compute tasks, and its nearest rivals — all within 0.2% performance delta — demonstrate that it competes directly with premium processors.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The measured frame rates show no evidence of CPU limitation: at 1080p Low, the system delivers 112 FPS, which is well within the CPU's capability to feed the GPU. The consistent frame rate drops with resolution increases (rather than with scene complexity) indicate that the CPU is not the bottleneck.

The CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads (with no hyper-threading) are sufficient for modern game engines, and the 5.00 GHz boost clock ensures strong single-threaded performance where games typically spend most of their time. However, the combination of this powerful CPU with a 4 GB GPU creates an unbalanced system where the CPU's potential is largely unrealized in gaming scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a comprehensive picture of this combo's performance across resolutions and settings. All data points are average FPS unless otherwise noted.

1920x1080:

• Low: 112 FPS average
• Medium: 80 FPS average, with a minimum of 68 FPS and maximum of 92 FPS
• High: 70 FPS average
• Ultra: 52 FPS average

At 1080p, the combo achieves playable frame rates across all settings. Low settings deliver over 100 FPS, making this configuration suitable for competitive play. Medium settings provide a smooth 80 FPS experience with frame times ranging from 68 to 92 FPS. High settings maintain 70 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings drop to 52 FPS, which is playable but may show stutter in fast-paced scenes.

2560x1440:

• Low: 82 FPS average
• Medium: 59 FPS average, with a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 67 FPS
• High: 51 FPS average
• Ultra: 38 FPS average

At 1440p, performance degrades noticeably. Low settings maintain 82 FPS, which remains playable. Medium settings drop to 59 FPS, barely hitting the 60 FPS target but with a minimum of 50 FPS that could cause noticeable dips. High settings fall to 51 FPS, and Ultra settings produce only 38 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most gamers.

3840x2160:

• Low: 53 FPS average
• Medium: 38 FPS average, with a minimum of 32 FPS and maximum of 43 FPS
• High: 33 FPS average
• Ultra: 25 FPS average

At 4K, none of the settings achieve 60 FPS. Low settings deliver 53 FPS, which is borderline playable but inconsistent. Medium settings drop to 38 FPS with a minimum of 32 FPS, creating noticeable stutter. High settings produce 33 FPS, and Ultra settings yield only 25 FPS, making 4K gaming impractical with this combo.

The complete data set shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p is the only resolution where this combo can deliver consistently smooth gameplay across all settings, and even then, Ultra settings fall short of 60 FPS. The 4 GB VRAM limitation becomes increasingly apparent at 1440p and 4K, where the GPU cannot maintain adequate performance regardless of quality settings.