Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol presents a demanding workload for this pairing of an Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER. The data indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the definitive bottleneck, with the system struggling to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions. The combination ranks in the 14th percentile overall, placing it at 2425 out of 2828 tested combos, which signals that while playable at lower settings, it is not a high-performance configuration for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and confirms a GPU-limited scenario. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 123 FPS at 1920x1080 to 90 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 33 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average plummets further to 58 FPS, representing a 53% decrease from the 1080p result. This steep decline is a textbook sign that the graphics card’s rendering capabilities are being saturated as pixel count increases.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all quality presets. At High settings, the averages drop from 76 FPS at 1080p to 56 FPS at 1440p, and then to 36 FPS at 4K. This shows that the GTX 1660 SUPER cannot sustain a playable experience at 4K on any preset, with even the Low setting barely breaking 60 FPS. The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly wide, indicating that the memory bandwidth and fill rate of the GPU are insufficient for the demands of 4K rendering in this game.

The data reveals that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this resolution scaling. If the processor were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively flat as resolution increases. Instead, the consistent and substantial drop in FPS at every step from 1080p to 4K demonstrates that the workload is entirely on the GPU. The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, with its high core count and boost clock, has ample headroom, but it is left waiting on the GTX 1660 SUPER to finish each frame.

The most telling comparison is between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K. The average FPS drops from 58 at Low to 27 at Ultra, a 31 FPS difference. This massive gap, coupled with the resolution scaling, confirms that the GPU's compute units and memory subsystem are the primary determinants of performance. For users targeting higher resolutions, the data suggests that even the lowest settings will not provide a smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K, making 1080p the only viable target for this combo.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance is the Medium preset at 1920x1080. This setting delivers an average of 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS, ensuring a consistently smooth experience in fast-paced FPS combat. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 11 FPS on average (from 87 to 76 FPS), which is a significant trade-off for the visual fidelity gained.

For users with a 1440p monitor, the Low preset is the only sensible choice to maintain high frame rates. The data shows an average of 90 FPS at 2560x1440 on Low, which is playable. The Medium preset at this resolution drops the average to 64 FPS with a minimum of 54 FPS, which may feel inconsistent during intense firefights. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with its 42 FPS average, is not recommended for competitive play.

At 4K, the situation is dire. The Low preset yields an average of 58 FPS, which is technically playable but not ideal for a competitive FPS. The Medium preset drops to 41 FPS, and the High preset to 36 FPS. The Ultra preset, at 27 FPS, is unplayable. Therefore, the recommendation is to stick to 1080p with Medium settings for the best experience, or drop to Low settings if a higher resolution is absolutely necessary.

The data indicates that the Ultra preset is a poor choice at any resolution. At 1080p, it delivers 57 FPS, which is only slightly below the High preset's 76 FPS, but the performance cost is not justified by the marginal visual improvements in this test. The jump from High to Ultra at 1440p results in a 14 FPS drop (from 56 to 42 FPS), which is a substantial loss for what is often a subtle increase in shadow and texture detail.

For a stable competitive experience, the Medium preset at 1080p is the sweet spot. The minimum FPS of 74 ensures that the frame rate does not dip below the refresh rate of standard 60Hz monitors, and it provides a significant margin above the 30 FPS threshold for playability. This configuration uses the CPU's capabilities without being entirely hamstrung by the GPU's limitations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER ranks 2425 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the bottom 15% of all configurations, indicating that it is a low-tier performer for this specific game. The rank is a direct consequence of the GPU's age and performance class, as the CPU is a high-end component.

This ranking is significantly lower than the individual component percentiles. The CPU sits in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 53rd percentile. This stark contrast highlights the imbalance of this pairing. The processor is capable of far more than the graphics card can deliver, making the GPU the clear anchor on the system's overall performance in this game.

In terms of the GPU’s direct rivals, the GTX 1660 SUPER's average benchmark score of 12986 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, which scores 12940 (a 0.4% difference), and the AMD Radeon RX 580, which scores 12928 (also a 0.4% difference). This suggests that users can expect similar frame rates in Lockdown Protocol from these GPUs when paired with the same CPU.

The CPU’s performance relative to its rivals is more nuanced. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has an average benchmark score of 93785, which is 0% different from the Intel Xeon 6520P (93786). It is 1.5% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4564P (95183) and 2.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9175F (95615) in terms of average score. These rivals are all server-class processors, indicating the sheer computational strength of the Core Ultra 7, which is wasted in this gaming context.

The low combo rank is not a reflection of the CPU's ability but rather the GPU's. The data strongly suggests that if this processor were paired with a more powerful graphics card, the rank would improve dramatically. As it stands, the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB of VRAM and 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are simply insufficient for the demands of Lockdown Protocol at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope is defined by the settings preset. The Low preset achieves the highest average of 123 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 87 FPS on average, with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 100 FPS. The High preset drops to 76 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 57 FPS. This shows a clear linear progression where each step up in quality costs roughly 10-35 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are significantly lower. The Low preset produces 90 FPS, making it the only setting that remains comfortably above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 64 FPS with a minimum of 54 FPS. The High preset drops to 56 FPS, and the Ultra preset is at 42 FPS. This resolution is playable only on the Low preset for a smooth experience.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is overwhelmed. The Low preset averages 58 FPS, which is the only setting that approaches playability. The Medium preset averages 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS. The High preset falls to 36 FPS, and the Ultra preset bottoms out at 27 FPS. None of these 4K results provide a consistently smooth experience for a competitive FPS.

The data shows that the gap between Medium and High is consistent across resolutions. At 1080p, the difference is 11 FPS (87 vs 76). At 1440p, it is 8 FPS (64 vs 56). At 4K, it is 5 FPS (41 vs 36). This consistent delta suggests that the High preset introduces a specific level of additional GPU workload, such as more complex lighting or shadow calculations, that scales with resolution.

The Ultra preset is consistently the worst performer, with the largest drops from High. At 1080p, the drop from High to Ultra is 19 FPS (76 to 57). At 1440p, it is 14 FPS (56 to 42). At 4K, it is 9 FPS (36 to 27). This indicates that the Ultra preset includes features that are particularly taxing on the GTX 1660 SUPER's limited VRAM and memory bandwidth.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is the primary determinant of performance in this configuration. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s, which is insufficient for the high-resolution textures and effects in Lockdown Protocol. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's memory subsystem is a major bottleneck, especially at 4K where the frame rate craters.

The GPU's architecture, based on the Turing chip with 1408 shading units, delivers a peak FP32 performance of 5.027 TFLOPS. This compute throughput is the reason why the game struggles to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions. The data shows that even at 1080p, the Ultra preset only achieves 57 FPS, indicating that the GPU's raw compute power is not enough to handle the game's most demanding settings.

The boost clock of 1785 MHz is standard for this card, but it does not compensate for the lack of modern features like hardware ray tracing cores or tensor cores, which are absent from this GPU. The game's benchmark results reflect this, as the card's Passmark G3D score of 12699 places it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, showing it is a mid-range performer from its generation.

The VRAM capacity of 6 GB is a critical limitation. The data shows a significant performance drop when moving from Medium to High settings, which likely corresponds to the game attempting to load higher-resolution textures that exceed the available memory. This causes the GPU to rely on slower system memory or to reduce texture quality, leading to the observed frame rate dips.

In comparison to its nearest rivals, the GTX 1660 SUPER's average benchmark score of 12986 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 580 (12928) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940). This confirms that the GTX 1660 SUPER is a solid but unremarkable performer for its class, and users should not expect it to outperform these other cards by a significant margin in this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus plays a secondary role in this game's performance, as the data shows it is not the limiting factor. With 24 cores and 24 threads, it provides substantial multi-threaded capacity, but Lockdown Protocol appears to be primarily GPU-bound in this configuration. The CPU's high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks, which are common in game logic, are handled with minimal delay.

The CPU's benchmark scores are exceptionally high, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44253 and a single-core score of 2439. This places the CPU in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, indicating that it has far more processing power than is being utilized by the game. The data suggests that the CPU is waiting for the GPU to render frames, as evidenced by the consistent FPS drops when resolution increases.

The processor’s 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample storage for game assets and instructions. However, the bottleneck is the GPU's rendering pipeline, not the CPU's ability to feed it data. The memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s for the dual-channel DDR5 memory is also more than sufficient for the game's requirements.

In terms of its rivals, the CPU's average benchmark score of 93785 puts it in the same league as server processors like the Intel Xeon 6520P (93786) and the AMD EPYC 4564P (95183), with a delta of 0% and -1.5% respectively. This underscores the CPU's capability, but it is a capability that is entirely wasted in this pairing with the GTX 1660 SUPER.

The data indicates that if the graphics card were upgraded, the CPU would be able to support significantly higher frame rates. The low combo rank of 2425 out of 2828 is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's performance ceiling. The CPU's role is to provide a stable foundation, which it does admirably, but it cannot overcome the graphics card's limitations.