Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol presents an interesting case study in system balance, pairing a top-tier 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with the older, yet still capable, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER. The measured data reveals a configuration where the CPU has immense headroom, leaving the GPU as the primary arbiter of performance across most settings and resolutions. This analysis will break down the measured FPS to understand where this combination thrives and where it struggles.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for Lockdown Protocol suggests that the Medium preset offers the most compelling balance between visual fidelity and performance for this specific CPU-GPU pairing. At 1920x1080, Medium produces an average of 125 FPS, which is a significant jump from the 109 FPS seen at High, while maintaining a respectable minimum of 106 FPS. This indicates a smooth experience that is well above the threshold for competitive play. While the Low preset pushes the average higher to 175 FPS, the visual compromise is often steep for a marginal gain in smoothness, especially since the Medium preset's minimum frame rate is already robust.

The argument for Medium becomes even stronger at higher resolutions. Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset still delivers a very playable 91 FPS average (with a minimum of 78 FPS), whereas the High preset drops to 80 FPS. The gap between Low (129 FPS) and Medium (91 FPS) at 1440p is larger, but again, the Medium preset provides a more visually stable image. At 3840x2160, Medium is the only preset that keeps the average FPS above 60, hitting 59 FPS. This is a critical threshold, and the slight reduction from High's 51 FPS is worth it for the improved frame pacing that a higher average suggests.

The Ultra preset appears to be designed for future or more powerful hardware. At 1920x1080, it yields 82 FPS, which is solid, but the cost of enabling Ultra settings at 2560x1440 (60 FPS) and 3840x2160 (39 FPS) is too steep for this combination. The data shows a clear trend: the RTX 2070 SUPER struggles to maintain high frame rates with Ultra settings beyond 1080p. Therefore, for the best experience that balances fluidity and image quality, Medium is the recommended starting point, with the option to drop to Low at 4K for a more responsive feel.

FAQ

Q: Is this CPU-GPU combo capable of running Lockdown Protocol at 1440p?

A: Yes, benchmark results indicate it is well-suited for 1440p gaming. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset achieves an average of 91 FPS, and the High preset still manages a solid 80 FPS. This suggests a comfortable experience for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: How does the Ultra preset impact performance at 4K?

A: The impact is severe. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 39. This is a significant decrease from the 59 FPS average seen on the Medium preset, indicating that Ultra is not a viable option for this resolution on this hardware.

Q: What is the maximum FPS achieved by this combination?

A: The highest average FPS recorded in the data is 175, which occurs at 1920x1080 with the Low settings preset. This shows the potential for very high frame rates when the graphical load is minimized.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus a bottleneck for the RTX 2070 SUPER?

A: The data does not suggest a CPU bottleneck. The CPU is a top-tier model with a percentile rank of 96 among all CPUs. The significant FPS drops seen when increasing resolution or settings are characteristic of a GPU limitation, as the render load increases.

Q: How does this combo's overall ranking compare to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 1634 out of 2828 tested combinations for this game. This places it in the lower half of all configurations, which is consistent with the GPU being an older, mid-range part relative to the current generation.

Q: Will lowering settings from High to Medium provide a large FPS boost?

A: Yes, the gains are substantial. At 1080p, the average FPS increases from 109 to 125 (a 16 FPS jump). At 1440p, it goes from 80 to 91 FPS, and at 4K, it moves from 51 to 59 FPS, making the game significantly smoother.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern as resolution increases. The performance drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is steep and consistent across all settings, pointing directly to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER as the limiting factor. The CPU, with its massive 24-core configuration, is not the constraint here; the workload is scaling with pixel count, which is the GPU's domain.

Looking at the Medium settings as a baseline (125 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, 59 FPS at 4K), we see a reduction of approximately 27% when moving to 1440p and a further 35% reduction when moving to 4K. This is a typical curve for a GPU that is being pushed beyond its comfortable range. The High preset shows a similar trend, dropping from 109 FPS (1080p) to 80 FPS (1440p) and then to 51 FPS (4K). The game is clearly rendering more pixels, and the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB of VRAM and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth are being taxed accordingly.

What is most telling is the behavior at the Low preset. At 1080p, it hits 175 FPS, suggesting the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU data extremely quickly. However, even at Low settings, the 4K resolution drags the average down to 83 FPS. This indicates that even with minimal graphical features, the sheer pixel throughput required at 4K is a monumental task for this GPU. The scaling suggests that for a consistently high refresh rate experience, 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo, and 1080p is where it can truly stretch its legs.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested configurations for Lockdown Protocol, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER holds a rank of 1634 out of 2828 combos. This placement in the lower half of the rankings is a direct consequence of the GPU's age and performance tier, rather than a fault of the CPU. The RTX 2070 SUPER, while a solid performer in its day, is now outclassed by many newer and more powerful graphics cards.

The combo's rank demonstrates the importance of GPU selection in modern gaming. The Ultra 9 290K Plus is a top-5 percentile CPU, but its performance potential is capped by the GPU it is paired with. The data shows that this is not a balanced pairing for high-end gaming, as the CPU is far more capable than the GPU can utilize. It is a configuration that would likely perform admirably in CPU-intensive tasks but leaves performance on the table in a GPU-bound game like Lockdown Protocol.

The ranking of 1634 suggests that there are many other combinations that can achieve higher frame rates in this game, likely those pairing the same or similar CPUs with more modern GPUs, or even pairing the RTX 2070 SUPER with a less powerful CPU to create a more balanced system. In this case, the data indicates a system where the CPU's potential is largely unrealized in this gaming context, holding the combo back from a higher standing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a monstrous processor, featuring 24 cores and 24 threads. Its benchmark scores are exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and a single-core score of 7303. This raw compute power is reflected in its 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs. In the context of Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and frame preparation, tasks it performs with immense ease.

The data strongly suggests that the CPU is not the performance bottleneck in this pairing. The FPS scaling with resolution and settings is a hallmark of a GPU-limited scenario. The CPU's high single-thread performance (4823 in Passmark) is crucial for gaming, as most game engines rely heavily on a few primary threads. With a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, the Ultra 9 290K is more than capable of feeding the RTX 2070 SUPER with draw calls and game state information.

The immense multi-core potential (60860 in Passmark multithread) is not directly relevant for Lockdown Protocol's typical load, but it does ensure there is zero risk of a CPU bottleneck, even with background tasks running. The data shows that the CPU has significant headroom; at 1080p Low, the combo hits 175 FPS, which is likely near the game engine's limit or the GPU's maximum output, not a CPU limitation. The CPU is a future-proof powerhouse, but in this specific configuration, its performance is simply waiting on the GPU to catch up.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the system's performance across different resolutions and settings.

At 1920x1080, the system shows its strength. With the Low preset, it achieves an average of 175 FPS, indicating a very high level of performance. The Medium preset is also excellent, with an average of 125 FPS and a minimum of 106 FPS. The High preset drops to an average of 109 FPS, which is still very smooth. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, yielding an average of 82 FPS, which is playable but shows the GPU's strain.

At 2560x1440, we see a clear step down. The Low preset still delivers a high average of 129 FPS. The Medium preset provides a good experience with an average of 91 FPS (minimum 78 FPS). The High preset falls to an 80 FPS average. The Ultra preset is where performance starts to struggle, with the average dropping to 60 FPS, which is right on the edge of playability for many.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overburdened. The Low preset is the only one that maintains a high frame rate, with an average of 83 FPS. The Medium preset manages to stay playable with an average of 59 FPS and a minimum of 50 FPS. The High preset drops to 51 FPS, and the Ultra preset is nearly unplayable, with an average of just 39 FPS. The data clearly shows that 4K is only viable on the Low or Medium presets for this hardware.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the defining component in this gaming setup. Based on the older Turing architecture and featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, it provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 18169, place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, confirming its position as a solid mid-range part that is now a few generations old.

The GPU's role in Lockdown Protocol is the primary determinant of frame rate. The measured FPS data shows a direct correlation between the graphical workload (resolution and settings) and performance, which is the definition of a GPU-bound scenario. The RTX 2070 SUPER's 2560 shading units are responsible for all the pixel shading, and the data shows they are being fully utilized. The significant FPS drops when moving from 1080p to 4K are a direct result of the GPU's finite processing power.

The fact that the GPU is the bottleneck is further confirmed by the modest FPS gains when lowering settings from Ultra to Low. For example, at 1080p, the difference between Ultra and Low is 93 FPS (from 82 to 175). While this is a large jump, it is not as large as one might expect if the CPU were a factor. The GPU's 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, while present, are not the primary focus in this non-ray-traced scenario. The data indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a competent 1080p and 1440p card, but its limitations become apparent at 4K, where it cannot consistently maintain high frame rates.