Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Lockdown Protocol, but the data reveals a significant shift in system bottleneck behavior as resolution and settings change. This combination ranks 93rd out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the top percentile of systems for this title. The measured frames per second across four presets and three resolutions show a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher settings, yet exhibits surprising headroom when the graphics load is reduced.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and clearly attributable to the graphics card. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 206.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 152.3 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 53.8 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160 yields 95.8 FPS, which is 110.3 FPS lower than the 1080p result. This pattern indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the limiting component at High settings, as the scaling penalty is consistent with pixel-count increases rather than CPU constraints.

The Ultra preset demonstrates an even more pronounced GPU-bound behavior. The average frame rate at 1080p Ultra is 152.7 FPS, which drops to 113.3 FPS at 1440p and further to 75.7 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is substantial — the 4K result is less than half of the 1080p figure. This is typical of a title where the Ultra preset introduces heavy shading and post-processing effects that saturate the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth.

Low settings tell a different story, revealing the CPU's capability ceiling. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 331.6 FPS, which is dramatically higher than any other preset at that resolution. However, scaling to 1440p Low only reduces the average to 240.9 FPS, and 4K Low still manages 156.3 FPS. The relatively smaller drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (90.7 FPS) compared to the drop from 1440p to 4K (84.6 FPS) suggests that at lower resolutions, the Core Ultra 7 265K's 20 cores begin to matter, but the RTX 4080 SUPER still dominates the frame rate equation.

The Medium preset sits predictably between Low and High. The 1080p Medium average of 234.5 FPS falls to 175.2 FPS at 1440p and 114.5 FPS at 4K. This scaling curve is nearly linear, indicating a balanced load where neither the CPU nor GPU is fully saturated at any single resolution. For a competitive FPS title, this means that players targeting 4K should expect to use Medium or High settings to stay above 100 FPS, while 1080p users have massive headroom to enable Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K brings 20 cores and 20 threads to the table, running at a base clock of 3.90 GHz with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The architecture is Arrow Lake-S on a 3 nm process, and its benchmark scores confirm strong multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, the chip scores 50009 in multi-core and 7060 in single-core. The single-core result is particularly relevant for Lockdown Protocol, as the game's frame generation at high FPS often depends on per-thread performance.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 97 versus all CPUs places it among the top processors available. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, which is 0.2% slower in average benchmark score, and the Intel Core i9-14900KF, also 0.2% slower. The i9-14900K is 0.9% slower, and the AMD EPYC 7413 is 1.2% slower. These small deltas indicate that the 265K is not leaving performance on the table relative to its closest competitors.

In game-specific data, the CPU's role becomes evident at Low settings. The 331.6 FPS at 1080p Low is likely near the practical limit for the engine's draw call processing, and any further FPS gains would require a faster processor. However, the fact that the 265K can sustain over 300 FPS at 1080p Low suggests it is not a bottleneck for most gaming scenarios. The PassMark single-thread score of 4904 and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7060 indicate that the boost clock of 5.50 GHz is effective for lightly threaded workloads.

The memory configuration also plays a role. The CPU supports DDR5 with dual-channel memory and a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, which is sufficient to feed the RTX 4080 SUPER's 736.3 GB/s memory bandwidth without creating a data starvation issue. The L3 cache is 30 MB shared, which is moderate but adequate for a game like Lockdown Protocol that likely has a working set fitting within this capacity.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves?

A: The highest measured average is 331.6 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is significantly higher than any other preset at that resolution, indicating the GPU is not the primary constraint when graphics quality is reduced.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate is 75.7 FPS, which is 77 FPS lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 152.7 FPS. This shows a 50.4% reduction in performance when moving from 1080p to 4K at the highest preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1440p High?

A: At 1440p High, the system produces 152.3 FPS. Given that the 1080p High result is 206.1 FPS, the 53.8 FPS drop suggests the GPU is the limiting factor, as a CPU bottleneck would show a smaller difference between these resolutions.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations?

A: This specific combo ranks 93rd out of 1637 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the top 5.7% of all tested systems.

Q: How much faster is this CPU than its nearest rival?

A: The Core Ultra 7 265K is 0.2% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF and the Intel Core i9-14900KF in average benchmark scores. It is 0.9% faster than the i9-14900K and 1.2% faster than the AMD EPYC 7413.

Q: Does the system maintain high frame rates at 4K across all presets?

A: No. While 4K Low achieves 156.3 FPS and 4K Medium reaches 114.5 FPS, 4K High drops to 95.8 FPS and 4K Ultra falls to 75.7 FPS. Only the Low and Medium presets stay above 100 FPS at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a rank of 93 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This top-tier placement is consistent with the hardware's individual benchmark standings. The CPU's 97th percentile ranking and the GPU's 88th percentile ranking among their respective categories combine to produce a system that is near the top of the database.

The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, has an average score only 0.2% lower, which suggests that in pure compute terms the RTX 4080 SUPER has a slim edge. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is 2.9% slower, and the AMD Radeon RX 7700S is 2.1% slower. These small deltas in overall GPU benchmarks do not necessarily translate to identical performance in Lockdown Protocol, but they do place the RTX 4080 SUPER in a competitive position.

The CPU's ranking relative to its rivals is equally tight. The 265K is 0.2% faster than the 265KF and the i9-14900KF, but 0.9% slower than the i9-14900K and 1.2% slower than the EPYC 7413. These differences are within measurement noise for most gaming workloads, and the game-specific data confirms that the 265K is more than adequate to avoid CPU bottlenecks at standard gaming resolutions.

For players seeking a high-refresh-rate experience, this combo's 93rd rank out of 1637 means there are only 92 configurations that perform better in this specific title. Given the data, the limiting factor for higher ranks would likely be a GPU upgrade rather than a CPU change, as the 4080 SUPER is the component that drives the largest performance swings between presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings based on resolution and refresh-rate targets. For 1080p displays with a 240 Hz refresh rate, the Medium preset at 234.5 FPS is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it exceeds the refresh rate while offering better image quality than Low. The High preset at 206.1 FPS also comfortably drives a 240 Hz panel, though Medium provides a higher frame rate buffer for demanding scenes.

For 1440p, the High preset at 152.3 FPS is the strongest recommendation for 144 Hz monitors, as it stays above the refresh rate with headroom. The Medium preset at 175.2 FPS is even safer for 144 Hz displays and could support 165 Hz monitors in less demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 113.3 FPS is borderline for 120 Hz displays, but the visual quality improvement may justify the lower frame rate for single-player or slower-paced modes.

At 4K, the situation changes considerably. The Low preset at 156.3 FPS is ideal for players prioritizing competitive frame rates on a 144 Hz display, while the Medium preset at 114.5 FPS is suitable for 120 Hz panels. The High preset at 95.8 FPS and Ultra preset at 75.7 FPS are best reserved for players who prioritize image quality over smoothness and have displays with variable refresh rate support.

The data shows that the Ultra preset is consistently the most demanding, costing roughly 54 FPS to 77 FPS compared to High across all resolutions. For most users, the Medium preset offers the best frame-rate-per-visual-fidelity trade-off, as it maintains over 100 FPS at 4K and over 230 FPS at 1080p. Players with 1440p 165 Hz monitors should consider Medium, while 1080p 240 Hz users can comfortably choose High or even Ultra if they accept a 152.7 FPS average.