Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination delivers a playable but constrained experience in Lockdown Protocol, a fast-paced FPS. The data shows a pairing where a high-end 20-core processor is consistently held back by a mid-range GPU, particularly at higher resolutions. This analysis breaks down how each component contributes to the measured frame rates and what settings offer the best balance of performance and visual fidelity.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It operates with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, which allows it to scale from power-efficient background tasks to demanding gaming workloads. The processor features a 30 MB shared L3 cache and a dual-channel DDR5 memory interface, with a total memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, ensuring the CPU can feed data to the GPU without becoming a bottleneck in frame-heavy scenarios.

In the broader benchmark landscape, this CPU sits in the 93rd percentile of all processors, indicating strong overall performance. Its average benchmark score of 64640 places it nearly on par with the AMD EPYC 4464P, which scores 64823 (a -0.3% delta), and it is slightly ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, which scores 64438 (a +0.3% delta). The data also shows it outperforms the AMD EPYC 7343 by 0.7% and trails the AMD EPYC 9124 by 0.7%, confirming that the Ultra 7 265 is a capable high-end desktop part.

However, in Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s role appears secondary. Across all measured resolutions and settings, the frame rates are more consistent with GPU-bound scenarios than with CPU limitations. For instance, at 1080p Low settings, the combo produces 159 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate that a weaker CPU might struggle to maintain, but the Ultra 7 265’s strong single-thread performance (evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5960) ensures the game logic and physics calculations are handled with headroom to spare. The processor’s 20 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient for a modern FPS, meaning the measured performance is not a reflection of CPU constraints but rather of the GPU’s ability to render frames.

The data suggests that the CPU is never the limiting factor in this pairing. Even at the lowest resolution and settings, where CPU overhead typically becomes more pronounced, the system still achieves 159 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This indicates that the Core Ultra 7 265 is delivering frames as fast as the RTX 2060 SUPER can process them, and any further gains would require a more powerful graphics card.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the clear performance limiter in this configuration. This Turing-architecture GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its core clocks are set at 1470 MHz base and 1650 MHz boost, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The GPU includes 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, along with 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, which support DirectX 12 Ultimate features.

In the GPU benchmark hierarchy, the RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18093. It is nearly identical in performance to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (18159, -0.4% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189, -0.5% delta). Interestingly, it is also close to the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18373, -1.5% delta) and the Intel Arc A770M (18383, -1.6% delta), though those comparisons highlight that the 2060 SUPER is a mid-range part by modern standards.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for the game’s demands, but the raw compute power dictates frame rates. At 1080p, the GPU can deliver high frame rates, but as resolution increases, the performance drops sharply. The data shows that at 4K Ultra settings, the average FPS falls to 35, which is barely playable. This is not a VRAM capacity issue; rather, it is the GPU’s shader and rasterization throughput being overwhelmed at higher pixel counts. The RTX 2060 SUPER’s boost clock of 1650 MHz is modest, and the 7.181 TFLOPS FP32 performance is simply not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K in a modern FPS.

The GPU’s role is central to the experience. At 1080p, the pairing is well-balanced, but at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck. This is evident from the frame rate scaling, which shows that dropping settings from Ultra to Low at 4K nearly doubles the average FPS from 35 to 75, a clear sign that the GPU is doing all the heavy lifting and that settings have a massive impact on its workload.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates reveal a predictable and steep decline as resolution increases, confirming that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary constraint. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 99 at 1080p to 72 at 1440p, and further to 47 at 4K. This represents a 27% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 53% drop from 1080p to 4K. Such a scaling pattern is typical of GPU-bound scenarios, where the number of pixels rendered directly impacts the workload on the graphics card.

Looking at Low settings, the trend is even more pronounced. The average FPS goes from 159 at 1080p to 117 at 1440p, and then to 75 at 4K. The 4K figure is less than half of the 1080p figure, indicating that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated. The 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p, but at 4K, the demand for texture reads and pixel writes exceeds what the GPU can provide, leading to the observed frame rate collapse.

This scaling behavior strongly implies that the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is not a limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would not scale so dramatically with resolution. Instead, the data shows that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data at all resolutions, and the GPU’s performance is what dictates the final output. At 1080p, the system can reach 159 FPS, which is a high enough ceiling that the CPU’s 5.30 GHz boost clock is rarely stressed. At 4K, the CPU is likely idle waiting for the GPU to finish rendering each frame, making the graphics card the unequivocal performance anchor.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the database of tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 2014 out of 2828 combinations. This places it in the bottom 29% of all tested systems, which is a surprisingly low rank given the CPU’s high-end credentials. The rank is almost entirely dragged down by the GPU’s mid-range standing, as the RTX 2060 SUPER’s 62nd percentile performance among all GPUs limits the system to frame rates that are competitive with much older or lower-tier processors paired with similar graphics cards.

The combo’s rank of 2014 suggests that many other combinations offer better performance in Lockdown Protocol, likely those with more powerful GPUs even if they have weaker CPUs. For example, a system with a mid-range CPU but a high-end GPU would easily outperform this pairing at 1440p and 4K, where the GPU is the deciding factor. The data implies that the Core Ultra 7 265 is overqualified for the RTX 2060 SUPER, and the system’s rank reflects the GPU’s inability to leverage the CPU’s full potential.

This ranking also indicates that the pairing is not optimized for high-resolution gaming. At 1080p, the system performs well, but the rank suggests that many other combos can match or exceed its 1080p performance with less expensive processors. The combination’s overall score is, therefore, a reflection of the GPU’s limits rather than a holistic measure of the components’ individual capabilities.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution. For 1080p, the High preset offers an excellent balance, delivering an average of 99 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play and provides better visual fidelity than Low settings, which only offer a 60% FPS increase (159 FPS) at the cost of significant visual quality. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 113 FPS, which is also viable, but High is the better choice for a more immersive experience without sacrificing playability.

At 1440p, the High preset drops to 72 FPS, which is still playable but less fluid. For a more consistent experience, the Medium preset at 83 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains a higher frame rate while still providing decent visuals. The Low preset at 1440p offers 117 FPS, which is smooth, but the visual compromise is substantial. The Ultra preset at 54 FPS is borderline, and the data suggests avoiding it unless the user prioritizes visuals over frame rate.

At 4K, the situation is more challenging. The High preset averages only 47 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for a fast-paced FPS. The Medium preset at 53 FPS is marginally better, but the Low preset at 75 FPS is the only option that provides a comfortable gaming experience. Therefore, for 4K, the Low preset is the recommended setting, as it is the only one that consistently stays above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 35 FPS is not recommended for any scenario.

Overall, the best experience per the measured rows is achieved at 1080p High settings, where the system delivers near-100 FPS with good visual quality. For users willing to drop to 1440p, Medium is the sweet spot. At 4K, the system is not well-suited for high settings, and Low is the only practical choice.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The following data provides the exact measured average frame rates for each resolution and settings preset combination. Minimum and maximum FPS values are included where available.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 159 FPS average
• Medium: 113 FPS average, with a minimum of 96 FPS and a maximum of 130 FPS
• High: 99 FPS average
• Ultra: 74 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 117 FPS average
• Medium: 83 FPS average, with a minimum of 70 FPS and a maximum of 95 FPS
• High: 72 FPS average
• Ultra: 54 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 75 FPS average
• Medium: 53 FPS average, with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 62 FPS
• High: 47 FPS average
• Ultra: 35 FPS average

The data clearly shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER’s performance degrades by roughly 50% when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings. At 1080p, the system is capable of exceeding 100 FPS on Medium and High presets, making it suitable for competitive play. At 1440p, the Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS, while at 4K, even High settings struggle to maintain a playable frame rate. The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum FPS of 45, which can cause noticeable stuttering in a fast-paced FPS, reinforcing that Low is the only viable 4K setting.