Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol presents an unusual pairing in this benchmark set: a flagship 24-core desktop processor paired with an entry-level GPU from several generations ago. The measured results are dominated almost entirely by the graphics card, making this combo a clear case study in GPU-bound performance ceilings. The data indicates that the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is effectively idle in this scenario, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is operating at its absolute limit across all tested resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K shows a textbook example of a graphics-bound workload. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 61 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 45 FPS, a reduction of 16 FPS. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls further to 29 FPS. This scaling pattern is steep and consistent, indicating that the GPU's rendering throughput is the sole limiting factor. The 1080p Low result of 61 FPS is the only point in the entire dataset that approaches a playable 60 FPS threshold, and even that is marginal.

The gap between resolutions widens with higher settings presets. At High settings, the drop from 1080p (38 FPS) to 1440p (28 FPS) is 10 FPS, and then to 4K (18 FPS) is another 10 FPS. This nearly linear degradation in a 1.33x and 2.25x pixel count increase suggests the GPU is not memory-bandwidth limited but rather compute and pixel-throughput limited. The GTX 1050 Ti's 112.1 GB/s memory bandwidth and 44.54 GPixel/s pixel rate are the hardware constraints here, and the benchmark numbers align precisely with what those specifications would predict.

At 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 14. This is a 77% reduction from the 1080p Low score, and it confirms that the 4 GB VRAM buffer and the Pascal architecture's limited geometry throughput are completely overwhelmed at this resolution. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K (29 FPS to 14 FPS) shows that even reducing graphical fidelity cannot rescue playability at this resolution, as the pixel fill rate requirement alone is beyond the card's capability.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 2,828 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, this pairing ranks at position 2,797. This places it in the bottom 1.1% of all tested configurations, which is a stark indicator of just how constrained the system is. The rank is not a reflection of the CPU, which sits in the 96th percentile of all processors tested, but rather a direct consequence of the GPU's 25th percentile standing among all graphics cards.

The delta between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's near-bottom rank is the most telling statistic. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a top-tier processor in synthetic benchmarks, but in Lockdown Protocol, its performance headroom is entirely wasted. The combo rank is 30 positions from the absolute bottom, meaning there are only 31 tested combinations that perform worse in this game. This is not a balanced system; it is a CPU with enormous compute resources shackled to a GPU that was entry-level at its launch in 2016.

The data suggests that any combination with a GPU that has even marginally better specifications would rank significantly higher. The nearest rival GPUs in the database, such as the AMD Radeon R5 M330 (0.6% lower average score) and the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (1% lower), are all similarly low-performing cards. This confirms that the combo rank is entirely a GPU-driven metric, and the CPU's 96th percentile standing does nothing to boost the final position.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the definitive bottleneck in this configuration. Its specifications paint a clear picture of why the FPS numbers are so low. The GPU has 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units, all running on the Pascal architecture at a 14 nm process node. The base clock is 1291 MHz with a boost clock of 1392 MHz, and the memory operates at 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, yielding 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth.

The 4 GB GDDR5 memory capacity is a critical limitation in Lockdown Protocol at higher resolutions. While the game does not appear to exceed this capacity based on the measured FPS, the texture and buffer requirements at 4K Ultra clearly push the card to its limits, resulting in the 14 FPS average. The GPU's FP32 performance of 2.138 TFLOPS is modest by any modern standard, and the pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s explains the poor 4K performance.

The GTX 1050 Ti's percentile rank of 25th among all GPUs is consistent with its role here. It is a card that was designed for 1080p gaming at medium settings in 2016, and the benchmark results show it performing exactly in that envelope. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305 and the Passmark G3D score of 6340 are low, but they are not anomalies; they reflect the hardware's genuine capability. The GPU's DirectX 12 support (12_1) is present, but the architecture's lack of dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores means it relies entirely on rasterization, which is insufficient for this game's demands at higher presets.

FAQ

Q: Why does this combo perform so poorly in Lockdown Protocol despite having a top-tier CPU?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus ranks in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, but the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti ranks in the 25th percentile of all GPUs. The game's frame rate is entirely GPU-bound, so the CPU's power is unused. The combo rank of 2,797 out of 2,828 reflects the GPU's limitation, not the CPU's capability.

Q: What is the best FPS this combo can achieve in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest average FPS measured is 61 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that reaches or exceeds 60 FPS. All other settings and resolutions produce averages below 45 FPS.

Q: Is the GTX 1050 Ti's 4 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: The 4 GB GDDR5 memory is sufficient to run the game at all tested settings without crashes, but the FPS data shows severe degradation at 4K. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 14, indicating the memory bandwidth of 112.1 GB/s is a limiting factor alongside the pixel fill rate.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has an average benchmark score of 4,193. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R5 M330, scores 4,170 (0.6% lower), while the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M scores 4,241 (1.1% higher). These are all similarly low-performing GPUs, confirming the entry-level positioning.

Q: Does the CPU's boost clock of 5.80 GHz help in this game?

A: No measurable impact is observed. The CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads, along with its 5.80 GHz boost clock, are never a limiting factor. The benchmark results are identical to what would be expected with a much weaker CPU, as the GPU is the bottleneck in every tested scenario.

Q: What is the expected experience at 2560x1440?

A: At 1440p, the best average FPS is 45 with Low settings. High settings yield 28 FPS, Medium 32 FPS, and Ultra 21 FPS. The 1440p Medium preset has a min FPS of 27 and max FPS of 37, indicating consistent but sub-60 FPS performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates provides a full picture of the combo's performance envelope. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 61 FPS, Medium produces 44 FPS with a min of 37 and max of 50, High produces 38 FPS, and Ultra produces 29 FPS. The 1080p Low result is the only playable option, and even it is borderline.

At 2560x1440, the averages drop across the board. Low settings yield 45 FPS, Medium yields 32 FPS (min 27, max 37), High yields 28 FPS, and Ultra yields 21 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 24 FPS, showing that the settings preset has a significant impact on performance, but no preset reaches a smooth 60 FPS experience.

At 3840x2160, the results are largely unusable. Low settings average 29 FPS, Medium averages 21 FPS (min 18, max 24), High averages 18 FPS, and Ultra averages 14 FPS. The 4K results are consistent in their degradation pattern, but the absolute numbers are too low for any competitive or immersive gameplay. The Medium preset at 4K is the only one with min/max data, showing a tight range of 18-24 FPS, which indicates the GPU is hitting a hard performance ceiling rather than experiencing variable spikes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, with 36 MB of shared L3 cache. Its synthetic benchmark scores are exceptional, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51,731 and a Passmark multithread score of 60,860. The CPU's percentile rank of 96th among all processors underscores its high-end positioning.

In Lockdown Protocol, however, the CPU's role is entirely passive. The measured FPS at any resolution and settings preset is determined by the GPU's rendering speed, not by CPU throughput. The CPU's 115.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR5 support are irrelevant when the GPU's 112.1 GB/s memory bandwidth is the slower pipe. The CPU's 24 threads are never saturated in this game, as evidenced by the fact that the FPS does not improve with lower resolutions (which would put more relative load on the CPU). The data shows a perfectly flat CPU contribution: the bottleneck is 100% GPU, and the CPU is essentially idle.

The nearest rival CPUs in the database, such as the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (0.2% higher average score) and the AMD EPYC 4584PX (1.1% higher), all share this same fate when paired with a GTX 1050 Ti. The CPU's compute potential is simply not a factor in this game's engine, which appears to be heavily GPU-bound in its rendering pipeline.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the only viable configuration for any semblance of playable performance is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which produces an average of 61 FPS. This is the single data point that crosses the 60 FPS threshold. The 1080p Medium preset drops to 44 FPS, which is a noticeable step down and may introduce stutter on standard 60 Hz displays. There is no benefit to using High or Ultra at this resolution, as the visual fidelity gains do not justify the 38 FPS and 29 FPS averages, respectively.

For users who must play at 2560x1440, the Low preset at 45 FPS is the only option that approaches playability. The Medium preset at 32 FPS is borderline, but the min FPS of 27 suggests it will feel inconsistent during intense moments. High and Ultra are not recommended at this resolution, as the 28 FPS and 21 FPS averages are too low for a competitive FPS title.

At 3840x2160, no settings preset is recommended. The best result is 29 FPS on Low, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The 4K Medium preset's min FPS of 18 confirms that even the most stable configuration is unplayable. The data strongly suggests that this combo should not be used for Lockdown Protocol at 4K under any circumstances.

The optimal experience, per the measured rows, is unequivocally 1080p Low. This is the only preset that delivers a frame rate matching standard display refresh rates. All other configurations require the user to accept sub-60 FPS performance, which is a significant competitive disadvantage in an FPS title. The GTX 1050 Ti is simply not capable of handling this game at higher fidelity settings, and the CPU cannot compensate for that limitation.