Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is an early-access FPS that clearly scales with both CPU and GPU headroom, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a frame-rate curve that tells a straightforward story about where the bottleneck lives. At 1080p, the combo is heavily CPU-limited at lower presets, pushing frame rates that exceed what most displays can show, while at 4K the GPU takes over and the frame rates settle into a range that is still highly playable but far less explosive. The data shows a system that is overqualified for 1080p competitive play, capable for 1440p high-refresh gaming, and solidly premium for 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS numbers reveal how this combo behaves as resolution climbs. At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate is 304 FPS, a figure that is almost certainly limited by the CPU’s single-thread performance and the game’s engine overhead rather than the GPU. Dropping to 1440p Low still yields 223 FPS, and 4K Low produces 144 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings costs 81 FPS, while 1440p to 4K costs another 79 FPS. That is a steep drop-off, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at higher resolutions even on Low, though the CPU still has enough headroom to keep 4K Low above the 144 Hz refresh-rate sweet spot.

Moving to Medium settings, the pattern shifts. At 1080p Medium, the average is 216 FPS with a minimum of 183 FPS and a maximum of 248 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 158 FPS with a minimum of 134 FPS and a maximum of 182 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 102 FPS with a minimum of 87 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs 58 FPS, and the step from 1440p to 4K costs 56 FPS. This is a remarkably linear scaling pattern, suggesting that the GPU is the primary constraint across all three resolutions at Medium, with the CPU still keeping pace.

High settings show a similar trend but with slightly different magnitudes. 1080p High averages 188 FPS, 1440p High drops to 138 FPS, and 4K High lands at 89 FPS. The 1080p-to-1440p gap is 50 FPS, and the 1440p-to-4K gap is 49 FPS. Ultra settings compress the frame rates further: 1080p Ultra runs at 141 FPS, 1440p Ultra at 103 FPS, and 4K Ultra at 67 FPS. The gaps here are 38 FPS and 36 FPS, respectively. The diminishing absolute FPS loss as resolution increases is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario; the GPU’s rendering workload grows proportionally with pixel count, but the frame rate floor is still high enough to avoid any stutter issues.

The most telling comparison is the Low preset’s behavior. At 1080p Low, the system produces 304 FPS, which is 116 FPS faster than 1080p Medium and 163 FPS faster than 1080p Ultra. This massive spread at 1080p indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at Low; rather, the GPU is being underutilized because the game’s low-detail settings reduce the pixel shading workload so much that the CPU’s frame generation limit is the cap. At 4K Low, the 144 FPS result is still 42 FPS higher than 4K High, showing that even at 4K, lowering settings unlocks significant headroom. The data suggests that for players targeting maximum frame rates on high-refresh monitors, Low or Medium settings at 1440p are the sweet spot, while 4K Ultra is the only configuration where the GPU is truly maxed out, producing a still-very-playable 67 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows 1440p as the balanced choice. At High settings, 1440p averages 138 FPS, which is 50 FPS lower than 1080p High but 49 FPS higher than 4K High. This resolution offers a substantial visual upgrade over 1080p while maintaining frame rates well above 120 FPS on most presets.

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

A: At 1080p Low, the 304 FPS average indicates the CPU is the limiting component, since the GPU could theoretically render more frames if the CPU could feed it faster. At 4K Ultra, the 67 FPS average is clearly GPU-bound, as the rendering load at 3840x2160 with Ultra details exceeds what the Radeon RX 7900 XTX can handle at high frame rates.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of frame rate cost?

A: Upgrading from High to Ultra costs roughly 25% of the frame rate at every resolution. At 1080p, it drops from 188 FPS to 141 FPS. At 1440p, it drops from 138 FPS to 103 FPS. At 4K, it drops from 89 FPS to 67 FPS. The consistent percentage loss suggests Ultra adds a uniform shading load.

Q: Can this combo hit 144 FPS at 4K?

A: Only with Low settings. The measured 4K Low average is 144 FPS exactly, while 4K Medium averages 102 FPS and 4K High averages 89 FPS. If 144 Hz is the target, 4K requires the Low preset; otherwise, 1440p Medium at 158 FPS or 1440p High at 138 FPS are the more practical options.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings?

A: The only preset with min/max data recorded is Medium. At 1080p Medium, the frame rate ranges from 183 FPS to 248 FPS, a spread of 65 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 134 FPS to 182 FPS, a spread of 48 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range is 87 FPS to 117 FPS, a spread of 30 FPS. The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame pacing when the GPU is fully loaded.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: The combo ranks 460th out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 12.4% of all systems. This is a strong result, though the absolute FPS numbers suggest that many higher-end combos (likely with faster CPUs or dual-GPU setups) achieve even higher frame rates at 1080p.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the dominant component in this pairing for Lockdown Protocol, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This is crucial for a game like Lockdown Protocol, which appears to load large textures and geometry at higher settings, especially at 4K. The 24 GB capacity ensures that even Ultra settings at 3840x2160 will not run into VRAM limits, which is a common bottleneck in other FPS titles with large maps and high-resolution textures.

The GPU’s clock behavior is also relevant. The base clock is 1929 MHz, but the boost clock reaches 2498 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2365 MHz. In practice, the GPU likely sustains clocks near the game clock during extended sessions, which explains why the frame rates scale so predictably with resolution. The 355 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest this is a high-power card that can sustain boost clocks under load, and the data confirms that it does not throttle significantly, as the frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are proportional to pixel count rather than thermal degradation.

The GPU’s benchmark scores provide context for its performance. The Passmark G3D score is 31238, and the Geekbench Vulkan score is 85612, both indicating strong rasterization performance. However, the percentileVsAllGpus rating of 64 suggests that this card, while fast, is not in the absolute top tier of all GPUs tested in the database. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are older or lower-end cards like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB and the NVIDIA TITAN Xp, which have similar average scores but vastly different feature sets. This is a reminder that the RX 7900 XTX’s raw compute is high, but its real-world game performance depends on driver optimization and game-specific workloads.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the GPU’s role becomes clear when comparing Low and Ultra presets. At 1080p Low, the GPU is barely taxed, allowing the CPU to push 304 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is fully saturated, producing 67 FPS. The fact that 4K Low (144 FPS) is more than double 4K Ultra (67 FPS) shows that the game’s ultra settings impose a heavy shading and post-processing load that scales with resolution. The 24 GB VRAM is likely not the constraint here; instead, it is the pixel fill rate and shader complexity. The GPU’s 192 ROPs and 61.39 TFLOPS FP32 performance are sufficient for high frame rates, but Ultra settings at 4K require more than what the architecture can deliver at 100+ FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For players using this combo, the measured data points to a clear hierarchy of presets based on target frame rate. If the goal is maximum competitive performance on a 240 Hz or 360 Hz monitor, 1080p Low at 304 FPS is the only option that fully utilizes the display’s refresh rate. However, most 1080p high-refresh monitors top out at 240 Hz, and the 216 FPS average at 1080p Medium is more than sufficient, offering a significant visual upgrade over Low with a minimal frame rate penalty relative to the display’s capability.

For 1440p users, the Medium preset at 158 FPS is the best balance of visual quality and speed. It is 20 FPS faster than High (138 FPS) and 55 FPS faster than Ultra (103 FPS), while the visual difference between Medium and High is often negligible in fast-paced FPS games. The minimum frame rate of 134 FPS at 1440p Medium ensures that the system stays above the 120 FPS threshold even in demanding scenes, which is critical for smooth gameplay. If a player prefers higher visual fidelity, 1440p High at 138 FPS is still excellent, but the 20 FPS gain from dropping to Medium is worth considering for competitive play.

At 4K, the recommendation depends on the display. For a 60 Hz or 120 Hz 4K monitor, the High preset at 89 FPS is ideal, as it provides strong visuals without exceeding the display’s refresh rate. The Medium preset at 102 FPS is also viable, and it offers a 13 FPS improvement over High with only a modest visual downgrade. The Ultra preset at 67 FPS is only advisable for players with 60 Hz displays who prioritize image quality above all else, as the 22 FPS loss from High to Ultra is substantial. The Low preset at 144 FPS is essentially wasted on a 4K monitor unless it supports 144 Hz, which is rare, but it does prove that the GPU has enough headroom to hit high refresh rates at 4K if the settings are reduced.

The practical advice is to use Medium settings at 1080p or 1440p for competitive play, and High settings at 4K for a balanced experience. The Ultra preset offers diminishing returns in visual quality for a disproportionate frame rate cost, and the Low preset is only useful for extreme frame rate chasing. The data also shows that the Medium preset has the most consistent frame times (as evidenced by the recorded min/max values), which is a strong argument for its use in any scenario where smoothness is prioritized over absolute frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 460th out of 3714 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 12.4% of all systems. This is a strong showing, but the rank is influenced heavily by the CPU’s performance in the database’s benchmark suite. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995 and a percentileVsAllCpus rating of 90, meaning it outperforms 90% of all CPUs tested. Its nearest rivals in the CPU database are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (deltaPct of -0.4), AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (deltaPct of -0.5), Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (deltaPct of 0.6), and Intel Core i5-14600K (deltaPct of 0.8). These rival CPUs are all within 1% of the Ultra 5 245 in average score, indicating that the CPU is not the differentiator in this combo’s rank.

The GPU, on the other hand, has a percentileVsAllGpus rating of 64, which is notably lower than the CPU’s 90. This suggests that the RX 7900 XTX, while fast, is not as exceptional relative to other GPUs as the CPU is relative to other CPUs. The GPU’s nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB (deltaPct of 0.4), NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (deltaPct of -1), AMD FirePro D300 (deltaPct of -1.2), and NVIDIA TITAN Xp (deltaPct of 1.2). These are all older or lower-tier cards, which is surprising given the RX 7900 XTX’s 24 GB VRAM and high compute throughput. This indicates that the database’s GPU benchmark suite may not fully capture the RX 7900 XTX’s gaming potential, or that the card’s performance in synthetic tests is not as dominant as its specifications suggest.

In the context of Lockdown Protocol, the combo’s 460th rank out of 3714 is respectable but not top-tier. The measured FPS numbers show that the system can exceed 300 FPS at 1080p Low, which is likely competitive with many higher-ranked combos. However, the rank is aggregate across all resolutions and settings, and it is likely that combos with faster GPUs (such as the RTX 4090 or RX 7900 XTX’s successors) achieve better results at 4K Ultra. The rank of 460 means that 459 other combos tested faster in this game, but given the CPU’s high percentile, the bottleneck is clearly the GPU in GPU-bound scenarios. For a player with a high-refresh 1440p monitor, this combo’s rank would feel much higher than 460th, as the practical frame rates are excellent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full measured FPS dataset for this combo is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 304 FPS average
• Medium: 216 FPS average, 183 FPS minimum, 248 FPS maximum
• High: 188 FPS average
• Ultra: 141 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 223 FPS average
• Medium: 158 FPS average, 134 FPS minimum, 182 FPS maximum
• High: 138 FPS average
• Ultra: 103 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 144 FPS average
• Medium: 102 FPS average, 87 FPS minimum, 117 FPS maximum
• High: 89 FPS average
• Ultra: 67 FPS average

These numbers reveal several key patterns. First, the Low preset is the only setting that allows the CPU to become the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 304 FPS at 1080p. Second, the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values, suggesting that it is the most stable preset in terms of frame pacing. Third, the frame rate drops from Low to Ultra are consistent across resolutions: at 1080p, the drop is 163 FPS (from 304 to 141); at 1440p, the drop is 120 FPS (from 223 to 103); at 4K, the drop is 77 FPS (from 144 to 67). The decreasing absolute drop as resolution increases confirms that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

The data also shows that the difference between Medium and High is smaller than the difference between High and Ultra. At 1080p, Medium is 216 FPS and High is 188 FPS, a gap of 28 FPS, while High to Ultra is a gap of 47 FPS. At 1440p, the Medium-to-High gap is 20 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra gap is 35 FPS. At 4K, the Medium-to-High gap is 13 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra gap is 22 FPS. This indicates that the Ultra preset adds a disproportionately heavy load compared to the step from Medium to High, making Ultra the least efficient setting in terms of frame rate per visual quality.

For players with variable refresh rate monitors, the Medium preset’s minimum frame rates are the most relevant. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 183 FPS, which is above most high-refresh thresholds. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 134 FPS, which is above 120 Hz but below 144 Hz. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 87 FPS, which is above 60 Hz but below 90 Hz. These minimums indicate that the combo will not experience major frame drops at Medium settings, even in demanding scenes, making it a reliable choice for competitive and immersive play alike.