Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is an Unreal-based FPS that responds strongly to both CPU and GPU resources, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB produces a wide spread of frame rates depending on how the user balances resolution and visual fidelity. The measured data covers four settings presets across three resolutions, providing a clear picture of where this combination excels and where it begins to strain. The overall combo rank of 1054 out of 2828 tested configurations places this pairing in the upper-middle tier of the database, indicating solid but not top-tier performance for the title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data shows a consistent hierarchy across all three resolutions: Low produces the highest frame rates, followed by High, then Medium, with Ultra delivering the lowest performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 219 FPS, which is dramatically higher than the Ultra preset's 102 FPS. This gap of 117 FPS between the lowest and highest quality settings highlights how demanding the Ultra preset is on the GPU. The High preset at 1080p delivers 136 FPS, which is a more balanced choice for competitive play, offering a substantial improvement over Medium's 155 FPS and Ultra's 102 FPS while still maintaining high visual quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern holds but the margins narrow. Low preset produces 160 FPS, High drops to 99 FPS, Medium sits at 114 FPS, and Ultra falls to 75 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 85 FPS, compared to 117 FPS at 1080p, suggesting the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor as resolution increases. At 3840x2160, the differences compress further: Low yields 104 FPS, High drops to 64 FPS, Medium achieves 74 FPS, and Ultra falls to 48 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 56 FPS, indicating that the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is the primary bottleneck at this resolution regardless of settings.

For users prioritizing frame rate consistency and responsiveness, the High preset at 1080p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, with 136 FPS being well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 1080p provides 155 FPS, which is also excellent, but the visual quality difference between Medium and High is often noticeable in FPS titles where textures and shadows matter. At 1440p, the High preset's 99 FPS is playable, but users with high-refresh-rate monitors may prefer the Low preset at 160 FPS for competitive advantage. At 4K, only the Low preset achieves a playable average above 100 FPS, while Medium and High hover around 74 and 64 FPS respectively, making 4K gaming a trade-off between visual quality and smoothness.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock is 3.50 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, and it features a 24 MB shared L3 cache along with 3 MB L2 cache per core. The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong multi-threaded capability, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32924 and a single-core score of 4648. These numbers place the processor in the 90th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 48995.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. The data shows that at 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 117 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed frames quickly enough to allow the GPU to run at high utilization. The 14 threads handle the game's physics, AI, and game logic without becoming a bottleneck, as evidenced by the fact that the Low preset at 1080p reaches 219 FPS. However, the processor's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, which has an average score of 49196 (0.4% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 at 49228 (0.5% higher), indicating that the Core Ultra 5 245 is competitive but not class-leading in raw compute.

The CPU's single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648, is adequate for the game's primary thread, which typically handles rendering commands and input processing. The Passmark single-thread score of 4394 reinforces this, showing that the processor can maintain high clock speeds under load. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but the processor never appears to hold back the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB in the measured data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with an AD106 chip, featuring 4352 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The GPU has 34 ray tracing cores and 136 tensor cores, with a base clock of 2310 MHz and a boost clock of 2535 MHz. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The GPU's only recorded benchmark is a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2913, which places it in the 19th percentile of all GPUs.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's texture requirements at 1080p and 1440p, but the data suggests it may be limiting at 4K Ultra. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 48 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the drop from 4K High at 64 FPS to 4K Ultra at 48 FPS indicates that the Ultra preset's additional visual effects and texture detail are taxing the GPU heavily. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF with an average score of 2910 (0.1% higher) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB with a score of 2907 (0.2% higher), showing that the 8 GB version performs nearly identically to its 16 GB counterpart in the one recorded benchmark.

The GPU's role in the measured results is clearly dominant at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU can deliver 219 FPS on Low settings, showing it has headroom when the CPU keeps up. However, at 4K, even the Low preset only achieves 104 FPS, which is a 52% reduction from the 1080p Low result. This scaling indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s and its 128-bit bus are constraints at 4K, where the higher pixel count requires more memory transactions per frame. The GPU's pixel rate of 121.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 344.8 GTexel/s provide theoretical limits that align with the observed performance drop at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB combination holds a rank of 1054 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 37th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range position (19th percentile among all GPUs) combined with the CPU's strong performance (90th percentile among all CPUs). The combination is CPU-favorable, meaning the processor has more headroom than the graphics card, which is typical for a pairing where the GPU is the limiting factor in this game.

The combo rank of 1054 out of 2828 suggests that approximately 1774 tested configurations perform better in Lockdown Protocol, while 1053 perform worse. This places the pairing in the upper-middle range, which is consistent with the GPU's 19th percentile ranking — most combos that outperform this one likely feature higher-tier GPUs, even if their CPUs are weaker. The data shows that the CPU's strong multi-threaded performance does not compensate for the GPU's mid-range capabilities in this title, as the game appears to be GPU-bound at higher settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 136 at 1080p to 99 at 1440p (a 27% reduction) and then to 64 at 4K (a 53% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is steeper than the pixel count increase alone would suggest, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate are significant constraints at higher resolutions.

At Low settings, the scaling is more pronounced: 219 FPS at 1080p drops to 160 FPS at 1440p (a 27% reduction) and then to 104 FPS at 4K (a 53% reduction from 1080p). This consistent ~27% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~53% drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings presets indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component throughout. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain more constant as resolution increases, since the CPU's workload stays similar regardless of pixel count.

The Medium preset shows the most detailed data, with minimum and maximum FPS recorded alongside averages. At 1080p Medium, the average is 155 FPS with a minimum of 132 and maximum of 179. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 114 FPS with a range of 97 to 131. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 74 FPS with a range of 62 to 85. The frame time consistency, as indicated by the min-max spread, remains relatively stable across resolutions, suggesting the GPU handles varying scene complexity without severe stuttering.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol with this hardware combination is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 219 FPS, making it the only setting at this resolution to exceed 200 FPS. The Medium preset achieves 155 FPS with a minimum of 132 and maximum of 179, providing a smooth experience for high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset produces 136 FPS, which is still well above the 120 FPS threshold for most gaming displays. The Ultra preset falls to 102 FPS, which remains playable but shows a significant drop from High.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 160 FPS, which is still excellent for competitive play. The Medium preset delivers 114 FPS with a range of 97 to 131, placing it just above the 60 FPS threshold for smoothness. The High preset produces 99 FPS, which is acceptable for most users but begins to show the GPU's limitations. The Ultra preset drops to 75 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced FPS action.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 104 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that maintains a triple-digit average. The Medium preset delivers 74 FPS with a range of 62 to 85, with the minimum dipping below the 60 FPS threshold in demanding scenes. The High preset produces 64 FPS, which is just above the playability threshold but with little headroom. The Ultra preset falls to 48 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay and may result in noticeable stuttering in fast-paced action sequences.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080, the Medium preset offers the best balance with 155 FPS average and a minimum of 132 FPS, ensuring consistent frame delivery. The High preset at 136 FPS is also viable, but the Medium preset's higher average and narrower FPS range (132-179) suggest better frame pacing.

Q: Can this hardware handle 4K gaming in Lockdown Protocol?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which achieves 104 FPS average at 3840x2160. The Medium preset drops to 74 FPS with a minimum of 62, and the High preset falls to 64 FPS. The Ultra preset at 48 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB compare to its 16 GB version in this game?

A: The nearest rival data shows the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB has an average benchmark score of 2907, which is 0.2% lower than the 8 GB version's 2913. This indicates negligible performance difference between the two in the recorded benchmark, suggesting VRAM capacity is not a significant factor in the measured results.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 ranks in the 90th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 48995. This places it well above the median processor, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196, 0.4% higher) and AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228, 0.5% higher).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 High, the average FPS is 99, which represents a 27% drop from the 1080p High result of 136 FPS. Since the CPU's workload does not increase proportionally with resolution, this drop indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this setting.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at 1440p Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 Medium, the average FPS is 114 with a minimum of 97 and maximum of 131. This spread of 34 FPS between minimum and maximum is relatively tight, indicating stable frame delivery without severe spikes or drops during gameplay.