Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a demanding FPS that scales aggressively with both resolution and graphics presets. On the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination, the data shows a wide performance envelope, from a blistering 377 FPS at 1080p Low to a still-playable 83 FPS at 4K Ultra. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to identify the optimal settings, the role of each component, and how the frame rate scales across resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear picture of how each preset impacts performance. For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, particularly for competitive play, the Low preset at 1080p is the standout choice, delivering an average of 377 FPS. This is 143 FPS higher than the Medium preset at the same resolution, representing a 38% increase. The jump is even more pronounced at 1440p, where Low yields 276 FPS compared to Medium's 196 FPS, an 80 FPS difference. This suggests that the Low preset removes significant rendering workloads, allowing the RTX 5090 to push frames at an extraordinary rate.

However, for a balanced experience that maintains high visual fidelity without sacrificing fluidity, the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot. At 1440p, Medium produces an average of 196 FPS with a minimum of 167 FPS and a maximum of 226 FPS. This frame time consistency is crucial for a smooth experience, and the 196 FPS average is well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. At 4K, Medium still manages a respectable 127 FPS average, with a minimum of 108 FPS, ensuring the game remains playable even at the highest resolution. The data indicates that Medium offers a substantial visual upgrade over Low while keeping performance in a very comfortable range.

The High preset offers a significant step up in visual quality but comes with a notable performance cost. At 1080p, High averages 234 FPS, which is 34 FPS lower than Medium. This gap widens at 1440p, where High averages 171 FPS compared to Medium's 196 FPS, a 25 FPS deficit. The trend continues at 4K, with High dropping to 111 FPS. While these numbers are still very high, the diminishing returns from Medium to High are apparent, making High a less optimal choice for those prioritizing frame rate consistency.

The Ultra preset is for those who demand maximum graphical fidelity above all else. The performance cost is severe, particularly at higher resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra averages 175 FPS, which is 93 FPS lower than Medium. At 1440p, the average drops to 128 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 83 FPS. While 83 FPS is technically playable, it represents a massive 44 FPS decrease from the Medium preset at the same resolution. Benchmark results indicate that the Ultra preset is best reserved for scenarios where visual quality trumps raw frame rate, such as taking screenshots or playing slower-paced modes. For most gameplay scenarios, the Medium preset offers the best measured balance of visual quality and performance across all tested resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the undisputed powerhouse in this configuration. Its specifications are formidable: 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a massive 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This is paired with 21,760 shading units and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The sheer amount of memory and bandwidth is critical for Lockdown Protocol, which appears to be highly sensitive to resolution and texture quality, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops when moving from Low to Ultra settings.

The data shows a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p Low, the game hits 377 FPS, but this is likely near the ceiling of what the CPU can feed. As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the FPS drops to 276 and 178 respectively on Low settings, showing a clear GPU limitation. The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is what allows for such high frame rates, and its 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that the 32 GB frame buffer is never a bottleneck, even at 4K with high-resolution textures.

The GPU's performance percentile also confirms its elite status. With a percentile ranking of 92 against all GPUs, it outperforms the vast majority of its peers. Its average benchmark score of 79,842 is only 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, a data-center card, and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT. While these are synthetic benchmarks, they corroborate the gaming data, showing that the RTX 5090 is at the very top of the performance stack. The significant performance gap between Medium and Ultra presets, especially at 4K (127 FPS vs 83 FPS), highlights the immense computational load that the Ultra preset places on the GPU, a load that even the RTX 5090 cannot fully overcome at the highest resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. Its 36 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory are key assets for gaming. While the GPU is the primary driver of high-resolution performance, the CPU's role becomes more critical at lower resolutions where the frame rate is extremely high.

At 1080p Low, the game achieves 377 FPS. This high frame rate places a significant burden on the CPU to process game logic and draw calls. The Ultra 9 290K Plus's strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7,303, is vital here. Its multi-threaded capabilities are also substantial, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51,731, which helps ensure that background tasks don't interfere with game performance.

The CPU's benchmark scores place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 84,003. This is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 1.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 9135. The data suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this configuration, as the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. For instance, at Medium settings, the FPS drops from 268 at 1080p to 196 at 1440p and then to 127 at 4K. This predictable drop as resolution increases is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The CPU is providing enough performance headroom to keep the RTX 5090 fed, even at the extremely high frame rates seen at 1080p. The presence of 24 cores and 24 threads ensures that the game has ample processing resources, preventing any potential CPU-bound stutters.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a competitive edge in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows the Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest average frame rate at 377 FPS. This is significantly higher than the Medium preset's 268 FPS, suggesting that the Low preset minimizes graphical overhead to maximize frame throughput, which is ideal for competitive play.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 powerful enough to run Lockdown Protocol at 4K?

A: Yes. At 4K with the Medium preset, the average frame rate is 127 FPS, with a minimum of 108 FPS. Even the demanding High preset maintains an average of 111 FPS, indicating that 4K is a viable resolution for this game with the RTX 5090.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K?

A: The Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84,003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K's score of 83,807. This indicates a very small performance advantage in synthetic workloads.

Q: What is the impact of the Ultra preset on performance at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset at 1440p yields an average of 128 FPS. This is 68 FPS lower than the Medium preset's 196 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset imposes a substantial performance penalty, reducing the frame rate by over a third compared to Medium.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM provide an advantage in this game?

A: The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that the game's assets are always readily accessible. The data shows no signs of memory-related performance dips, even at 4K with the High preset, suggesting the large frame buffer is more than sufficient for Lockdown Protocol.

Q: How does the performance at 1080p compare to 4K on the Low preset?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 377, while at 4K Low it is 178. This is a 199 FPS difference, or a 53% drop in performance, which is a direct result of the GPU being required to render over four times as many pixels.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear inverse relationship between resolution and frame rate, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound workload. The most dramatic scaling is seen when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and again from 1440p to 4K. For example, with the Medium preset, the average FPS drops from 268 at 1080p to 196 at 1440p, a 72 FPS decrease. Moving from 1440p to 4K lowers the average further to 127 FPS, another 69 FPS decrease.

This consistent drop of roughly 70 FPS for each resolution step-up indicates that the RTX 5090 is the primary limiting factor. The CPU's performance is adequate to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but as the pixel count increases, the GPU's rendering workload grows exponentially, causing the frame rate to scale down accordingly. At the Low preset, the game hits 377 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 276 FPS at 1440p and then to 178 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is still very high, but the 53% reduction from 1080p shows how much more demanding the higher resolution is.

The scaling pattern also shows that the gap between presets widens at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 202 FPS (377 vs 175 FPS). At 4K, this gap narrows to 95 FPS (178 vs 83 FPS). This suggests that at lower resolutions, the Ultra preset's additional effects are less taxing relative to the total render time, while at 4K, the sheer pixel count dominates and the preset differences become less impactful on the final frame rate. The data confirms that Lockdown Protocol is heavily GPU-bound at all tested resolutions, and the RTX 5090's performance is the single largest factor in determining the final frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a detailed breakdown of the average FPS results for each resolution and settings combination.

1920x1080:

• Low: 377 FPS average. This is the highest score in the entire dataset, indicating a CPU-limited scenario where the GPU has ample headroom.
• Medium: 268 FPS average, with a minimum of 227 FPS and a maximum of 308 FPS. This represents a 109 FPS drop from Low, showing the significant cost of enabling medium-quality effects.
• High: 234 FPS average. A further 34 FPS reduction from Medium, offering a visual upgrade at a moderate performance cost.
• Ultra: 175 FPS average. The most demanding preset at 1080p, still delivering a very smooth experience but 93 FPS below the Medium setting.

2560x1440:

• Low: 276 FPS average. A 101 FPS drop from the 1080p Low result, confirming the GPU is now becoming a more significant factor.
• Medium: 196 FPS average, with a minimum of 167 FPS and a maximum of 226 FPS. This is the recommended high-refresh-rate setting at this resolution, providing a consistent and fluid experience.
• High: 171 FPS average. A 25 FPS drop from Medium, showing that the High preset's added visual fidelity is less efficient at this resolution.
• Ultra: 128 FPS average. This is a 68 FPS drop from Medium, making Ultra a less desirable option for high-refresh-rate monitors at 1440p.

3840x2160:

• Low: 178 FPS average. Still a very high frame rate for 4K, demonstrating the raw power of the RTX 5090.
• Medium: 127 FPS average, with a minimum of 108 FPS and a maximum of 146 FPS. This is the best balance of visual quality and performance at 4K.
• High: 111 FPS average. A 16 FPS drop from Medium, providing a marginal visual improvement for a noticeable performance hit.
• Ultra: 83 FPS average. The lowest score in the dataset, but still playable. This setting is reserved for maximum visual fidelity, not for high frame rates.