Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX + AMD Radeon 890M

This combination of an Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX processor and AMD Radeon 890M integrated graphics ranks 2675th out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom percentile of systems for this FPS title. The pairing produces playable frame rates only at lower resolutions and settings, with the integrated GPU acting as the primary constraint across all tested configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2675 out of 2828 tested combinations places this system firmly in the lower quartile of performance for Lockdown Protocol. This positioning reflects a substantial gap between this integrated-graphics solution and dedicated GPU configurations that dominate the upper ranks of the database. The data indicates that only 153 tested combos perform worse than this pairing, which is a narrow margin of separation from the bottom of the performance hierarchy.

Benchmark results show the AMD Radeon 890M achieves an average benchmark score of 9210, with a percentile ranking of 45 among all GPUs. This places it just below the midpoint of all tested graphics solutions. The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark rankings include the AMD Radeon Vega 8 with a score of 9221, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 at 9273, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 at 9294. The delta percentages are remarkably tight — the 890M sits 0.1% behind the Vega 8, 0.7% behind the GTX 960, and 0.9% behind the GTX 465. This clustering suggests that the 890M delivers performance roughly equivalent to those older discrete solutions, which contextualizes why the in-game combo rank is low.

On the CPU side, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX posts an average benchmark score of 52073, ranking in the 91st percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 8124P at 52121, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at 51947, the Intel Core i7-14700 at 52301, and the Intel Core i9-13900F at 51730. The delta values range from -0.4% to +0.7%, indicating that the 235HX is competitive with these high-end desktop processors in synthetic benchmarks. This contrast between strong CPU performance and weaker GPU performance clarifies the nature of the bottleneck in Lockdown Protocol.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 890M is an integrated graphics solution based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, 32 raster operation units, and 16 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates with a base clock of 400 MHz and a boost clock of 2900 MHz, which represents a substantial frequency range for an integrated part.

Memory configuration is entirely system-dependent, with the GPU using shared system memory rather than dedicated VRAM. The memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent," meaning performance scales with the host system's DDR5 memory configuration. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, which becomes the effective memory bandwidth available to the integrated GPU.

The GPU's compute capabilities include a pixel rate of 92.80 GPixel/s, a texture rate of 185.6 GTexel/s, and 5.939 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. These figures place the 890M in the range of entry-level discrete graphics cards from several generations ago, which aligns with its PassMark G3D score of 8076. The API support includes DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, ensuring compatibility with modern game engines.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the GPU's performance ceiling is evident from the measured frame rates. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 78 FPS average, which is the highest result across all tested configurations. This suggests that the 890M can handle the game's rendering workload only when graphical demands are minimized. The GPU's PassMark DirectX 12 score of 37 and DirectX 11 score of 73 indicate that its performance under modern graphics APIs is limited, which likely contributes to the FPS drops seen at higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low settings, the system delivers 78 FPS, dropping to 58 FPS at 1440p Low, and further to 37 FPS at 4K Low. This represents a 52.6% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, which indicates that the GPU is heavily stressed by the increased pixel count.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At Medium settings, the frame rates are 56 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings is 53.6%, closely mirroring the Low setting scaling. At High settings, the progression is 49 FPS at 1080p, 36 FPS at 1440p, and 23 FPS at 4K, representing a 53.1% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops across different settings suggests that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate differences between resolutions would be smaller, as the CPU workload does not scale with pixel count. Instead, the nearly uniform 50%+ performance penalty from 1080p to 4K indicates that pixel throughput is the dominant constraint. The 890M's limited fill rate and memory bandwidth are insufficient to maintain higher frame rates as pixel count increases.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the measured frame rates show a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings produce an average of 78 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that exceeds 60 FPS. Medium settings yield 56 FPS with a minimum of 47 FPS and a maximum of 64 FPS, providing a playable experience with occasional dips below 60. High settings average 49 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 36 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 42 FPS, representing a 53.8% performance penalty for the highest quality preset.

At 2560x1440 resolution, the performance declines noticeably across all settings. Low settings average 58 FPS, which is marginally playable but below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings produce 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS, indicating that frame time consistency suffers at this resolution. High settings average 36 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 27 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs approximately 19-20 FPS at each settings level, which is a substantial penalty for a 77% increase in pixel count.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 37 FPS, Medium settings average 26 FPS with a minimum of 22 FPS and a maximum of 30 FPS, High settings average 23 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 17 FPS. The 4K results are consistently below 40 FPS even at the lowest settings, making this resolution impractical for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 4K produces a frame rate that is barely sufficient for a slideshow, let alone a competitive FPS title.

The Medium settings rows include both minimum and maximum FPS values, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 47 to 64 FPS, a spread of 17 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 35 to 47 FPS, a 12 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range is 22 to 30 FPS, an 8 FPS spread. This narrowing of the frame time range as resolution increases suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated at higher resolutions, reducing both peak and trough performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR5 memory through a dual-channel interface with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s.

Synthetic benchmarks show strong CPU performance. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 34731, and the single-core score is 4903. The PassMark multithread score is 40849, with a single-thread score of 4683. The processor's percentile ranking of 91 among all CPUs confirms that it is a high-performing part in compute workloads. The nearest rival comparisons show deltas within 0.7%, indicating that the 235HX trades blows with desktop-class processors like the Ryzen 9 5950X and Core i7-14700.

Despite this strong CPU performance, the measured FPS in Lockdown Protocol indicates that the processor is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. The consistent frame rate drops with increasing resolution and settings point to GPU saturation rather than CPU bottlenecking. The game's genre as an FPS typically benefits from strong single-thread performance, and the 235HX's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4903 suggests it has ample headroom for game logic and physics calculations.

The CPU's 14 threads may also contribute to background task handling and streaming, but the data does not suggest that core count is a constraint in this title. The PassMark data compression score of 426417 and floating point math score of 129819 indicate strong computational throughput, which could benefit non-graphics workloads running concurrently with the game. However, for Lockdown Protocol specifically, the integrated GPU's 5.939 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the binding constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo can achieve in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 78 FPS at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration that exceeds 60 FPS in the tested data.

Q: How does the Radeon 890M compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The 890M has an average benchmark score of 9210, which is 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon Vega 8, 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, and 0.9% behind the GTX 465. The performance differences are minimal, within a 1% range.

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

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. Frame rate drops of approximately 50% from 1080p to 4K across all settings indicate that pixel throughput is the primary constraint, while the CPU's strong synthetic benchmark scores suggest it is not saturated.

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 4K?

A: Yes, but with significant compromises. At 4K Low settings, the average FPS is 37, which is below the typical 60 FPS target. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 17 FPS, which is not playable for most users.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The difference is 42 FPS. Low settings average 78 FPS, while Ultra settings average 36 FPS, representing a 53.8% performance penalty for the highest quality preset.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235HX scores 52073 on average, placing it 0.1% behind the AMD EPYC 8124P, 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, 0.4% behind the Intel Core i7-14700, and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-13900F.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal configuration for this combo is 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings, which produces an average of 78 FPS. This is the only tested configuration that provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for smooth gameplay in a competitive FPS title.

For users who prefer Medium settings, 1080p Medium delivers 56 FPS with a minimum of 47 FPS, which is playable but may experience occasional dips below 60. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 41 FPS, which is acceptable for casual play but not ideal for competitive scenarios. The 1080p High preset at 49 FPS offers a middle ground between visual quality and performance, though it falls short of the 60 FPS target.

The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution. Even at 1080p, Ultra averages only 36 FPS, which is below the playability threshold for a fast-paced FPS. At higher resolutions, Ultra settings produce frame rates in the teens and twenties, which are unsuitable for gameplay. The data shows that the performance cost of Ultra settings is steep, with a 53.8% reduction from Low at 1080p, without a correspondingly large visual benefit given the GPU's constraints.

For 1440p gameplay, Low settings at 58 FPS is the only viable option, though it sits just below 60 FPS. The 4K resolution is not recommended for this combo, as even Low settings only average 37 FPS. Users seeking higher resolutions should consider reducing the resolution to 1080p and using Medium settings for a balance of visual fidelity and performance, or staying at 1080p Low for maximum frame rate.