Lockdown Protocol

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol with the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and AMD Radeon RX 7900M shows a clear pattern of performance scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 214 average FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 157 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls further to 101 FPS. This represents a 53% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, which is a substantial but expected decline given the fourfold increase in pixel count.

The scaling behavior shifts noticeably when examining higher settings. At Medium, the averages are 152 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p, and 72 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium is 53%, identical to Low. However, at High settings the pattern changes: 133 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 27%, while from 1440p to 4K it is 35%. This suggests that at High settings, the GPU is becoming progressively more stressed as resolution climbs.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. The combo achieves 99 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p, and 47 FPS at 4K. The reduction from 1080p to 4K here is 53%, matching the other presets. The consistency of this 53% drop across all four settings presets indicates that the limiting component scales uniformly with resolution. The data shows that the Radeon RX 7900M is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, as the frame rate declines in near-linear proportion to pixel count increases.

The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is also informative. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 99 FPS versus 214 FPS for Low, a difference of 115 FPS. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 84 FPS (73 vs 157). At 4K, the gap is 54 FPS (47 vs 101). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions reinforces that the GPU is the limiting factor; when pixel count is high, the difference in settings has less absolute impact because the GPU is already saturated.

The 4K Medium row is the only one with min and max FPS values recorded, showing 61 minimum and 83 maximum against a 72 average. At 1440p Medium, the min is 95 and max is 128 against a 111 average. At 1080p Medium, min is 129 and max is 175 against a 152 average. These ranges suggest that frame pacing remains stable across resolutions, with the spread between min and max roughly proportional to the average.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is a 16-core, 22-thread mobile processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture. Its base clock is 3.90 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The CPU's benchmark scores place it in the 85th percentile among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 35670. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350, scores 35719, a delta of -0.1%, meaning the Ultra 9 185H trails by a negligible margin.

In Lockdown Protocol, an FPS title, the CPU's single-thread performance is likely more relevant than its multi-thread capabilities. The processor scores 1810.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 1794 in Geekbench single-core. Its multi-core scores are substantially higher: 17984.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 11657 in Geekbench multi-core. The Passmark single-thread score is 3697, while the multithread score is 29376.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this game at most settings. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 214 FPS, which is high enough that the CPU's per-core performance could begin to matter. However, the consistent 53% drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the constraint, the percentage drop would be smaller at higher resolutions because the GPU would be the bottleneck earlier.

The processor's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 per core provide adequate memory hierarchy for gaming workloads. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the data throughput demands of an FPS title. The 22 threads allow the CPU to handle background tasks and game logic without contention, but the game's frame rates are primarily dictated by the GPU's rendering throughput.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the Ultra 9 185H sits within 0.7% of all four listed competitors. The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X scores 35909, a delta of -0.7%, while the Intel Core 7 250H scores 35728, a delta of -0.2%. These differences are within measurement noise and would not produce perceptible differences in Lockdown Protocol's frame rates. The CPU's role here is to feed the GPU adequately, and the data shows it does so without introducing frame rate limitations at any tested settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience in Lockdown Protocol for this hardware combination. At 1080p, all four presets exceed 99 FPS, meaning any setting is playable on a 60 Hz display. For high-refresh monitors, Low at 214 FPS or Medium at 152 FPS are the options that can drive 144 Hz panels to their limits.

At 1440p, the situation changes. Low delivers 157 FPS, Medium 111 FPS, High 97 FPS, and Ultra 73 FPS. The Medium preset at 111 FPS offers the best balance for 1440p gaming, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while maintaining higher visual fidelity than Low. The High preset at 97 FPS is also viable, but the jump from Medium to High costs 14 FPS for presumably modest visual gains.

At 4K, the choices are more constrained. Low delivers 101 FPS, which is the only preset that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. Medium at 72 FPS is playable, with the recorded min of 61 FPS indicating it stays above the 60 FPS threshold. High at 63 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 47 FPS falls below the 60 FPS target. For 4K gaming, the data suggests Medium is the maximum viable preset, with Low being the safer choice for maintaining higher frame rates.

The Medium preset consistently provides the best compromise across all resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers 152 FPS versus 214 for Low, a difference that is unlikely to be perceptible on most displays. At 1440p, Medium's 111 FPS is 14 FPS higher than High's 97 FPS. At 4K, Medium's 72 FPS is 9 FPS higher than High's 63 FPS. The min FPS values for Medium at all resolutions (129 at 1080p, 95 at 1440p, 61 at 4K) show that frame dips remain manageable.

For players prioritizing frame rate above all else, Low at 1080p or 1440p is the choice, delivering 214 and 157 FPS respectively. For those wanting visual quality without sacrificing smoothness, Medium is the recommended preset. Ultra should only be considered at 1080p, where it maintains 99 FPS, but the visual improvement over High is likely marginal for the 34 FPS cost.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900M ranks 1183 out of 2828 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places the combo in the 58th percentile of all tested systems, meaning approximately 42% of combinations perform better. Given that the GPU sits in the 94th percentile among all GPUs and the CPU in the 85th percentile, the combo's ranking is lower than either component's individual percentile would suggest.

This discrepancy indicates that Lockdown Protocol is particularly demanding on the specific combination of these components, or that other factors such as thermal constraints in the mobile platform limit sustained performance. The GPU's nearest rivals show it performs close to the AMD Radeon Pro VII (delta 0.4%) and is 4.3% behind the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000. The CPU is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with all deltas within 0.7%.

The combo rank of 1183 out of 2828 means there are 1645 combinations that rank lower. This suggests the combo is solidly mid-pack for this game, despite the strong individual component benchmarks. The 4K Medium result of 72 FPS and 1080p High result of 133 FPS are respectable, but not top-tier. The data implies that other combinations, likely with desktop-class components, achieve higher frame rates in this title.

It is importantly this is a mobile CPU (45 W TDP) paired with a mobile GPU (180 W TDP), so the ranking reflects what is achievable in a portable platform. The combo's position in the lower half of the top 50% is consistent with mobile hardware facing thermal and power constraints that desktop components do not encounter.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The maximum average FPS at 1080p is 214, achieved with Low settings. Medium delivers 152 FPS, High delivers 133 FPS, and Ultra delivers 99 FPS.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K with any settings?

A: Yes. Low settings deliver 101 FPS, Medium delivers 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, and High delivers 63 FPS. Only Ultra falls below 60 FPS at 47 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H has an average benchmark score of 35670, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350's 35719. It trails the Intel Core 7 250H by 0.2% and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 by 0.4%.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900M is in the 94th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 97487. This places it ahead of 94% of tested GPUs.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Low delivers 157 FPS while Ultra delivers 73 FPS, a difference of 84 FPS. Medium delivers 111 FPS and High delivers 97 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's rank in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The combo ranks 1183 out of 2828 tested combinations, placing it in the 58th percentile of all tested combos for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol with the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and AMD Radeon RX 7900M is as follows:

At 3840x2160 (4K), High settings produce an average of 63 FPS. Low settings produce an average of 101 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS and maximum of 83 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 47 FPS.

At 2560x1440, High settings produce an average of 97 FPS. Low settings produce an average of 157 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 111 FPS, with a minimum of 95 FPS and maximum of 128 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 73 FPS.

At 1920x1080, High settings produce an average of 133 FPS. Low settings produce an average of 214 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 152 FPS, with a minimum of 129 FPS and maximum of 175 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 99 FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern: at each resolution, Low is the fastest preset, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the slowest. The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values across all three resolutions, indicating the data collection focused on this preset for frame time analysis.

The spread between Low and Ultra widens at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the gap is 115 FPS (214 vs 99). At 1440p, the gap is 84 FPS (157 vs 73). At 4K, the gap is 54 FPS (101 vs 47). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions confirms the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck when pixel count is high.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900M is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 31 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 4608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 192 render output units. The GPU has 72 ray tracing cores and operates at a base clock of 1825 MHz with a boost clock of 2090 MHz. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, delivering 576.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

The GPU's benchmark results place it in the 94th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 97487. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4201. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 129499, and its Vulkan score is 158760. These figures indicate strong compute and graphics performance for a mobile GPU.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role is clearly the dominant factor in determining frame rates. The 53% reduction in FPS from 1080p to 4K across all settings presets is consistent with GPU-bound performance. The GPU's 16 GB VRAM is ample for this game at all tested resolutions and settings, as no VRAM-related stuttering or crashes are indicated in the data.

The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro VII, scores 97131, a delta of 0.4% in favor of the RX 7900M. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 scores 101872, which is 4.3% higher. The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 scores 92466 (5.4% lower), and the NVIDIA RTX A4500 scores 91671 (6.3% lower). These comparisons show the RX 7900M performs competitively against workstation-class GPUs.

The GPU's 180 W TDP and IGP slot width indicate it is designed for high-performance mobile systems. The 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die with a density of 109.1M per mm² highlight the architectural complexity. The 38.52 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 77.05 TFLOPS FP16 performance provide the raw compute needed for high frame rates in an FPS title like Lockdown Protocol.

The data shows that at 1080p, the GPU is not fully utilized at Low settings, as the CPU and memory subsystem likely cap the frame rate at 214 FPS. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly saturated at 47 FPS, with the rendering workload overwhelming the available compute. The Medium preset at 4K (72 FPS) represents a reasonable balance where the GPU's capabilities are exercised without exceeding its limits.