Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, a first-person shooter released on March 11, 2024, presents an interesting case study in hardware balance: can a pairing of Intel's end-of-life Rocket Lake Core i5-11400F with AMD's compact RDNA 3 Radeon RX 7600 deliver a playable experience? The recorded data in our database answers with a qualified yes. At 1080p the combo runs every preset at or above 60 FPS, at 1440p three of four presets clear the bar, and only at 4K does the pairing start to strain, where just the Low preset stays comfortable. What follows is a resolution-by-resolution analysis of the measurements and what they imply about which component is doing the heavy lifting.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling data tells a clear story: Lockdown Protocol on this system is GPU-bound at every tested resolution. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings drops the average from 102.4 FPS to 73.8 FPS, a substantial decline that tracks the increased pixel workload placed on the Radeon RX 7600. Pushing further to 3840x2160 at the same preset collapses the average to 44.9 FPS. If the Core i5-11400F were the limiting factor, raising the resolution would not produce this kind of steep decline, since the CPU's workload stays roughly constant as pixels multiply.

The preset scaling reinforces the point. At 1080p, dropping from Ultra to Low takes the average from 74.6 FPS to 163.1 FPS, more than doubling performance. That spread indicates generous headroom in the CPU and memory subsystem that visual settings unlock. The i5-11400F brings six cores and twelve threads, a single-thread Passmark score of 2981, and a Geekbench single-core result of 1777, and none of the recorded results suggest it is throttling the RX 7600's 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput in this title.

There is a curious detail worth flagging: at 1080p the Low preset averages 163.1 FPS, well beyond what most displays can refresh. Could the frame rate go even higher with a stronger GPU? Probably, since the decline at higher resolutions is so GPU-driven. But the data cannot confirm the CPU's ceiling here, only that it never becomes the visible bottleneck in the measured runs.

The Verdict

Yes, this PC can run Lockdown Protocol, with expectations that depend heavily on resolution. At 1920x1080, the verdict is unambiguous: all four presets, Low through Ultra, clear the 60 FPS playable threshold, with Ultra averaging 74.6 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low (116.3 FPS), Medium (82.4 FPS), and High (73.8 FPS) all qualify as playable, while Ultra falls just short at 56 FPS. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset clears the bar, averaging 78.4 FPS, while Medium (51.8 FPS), High (44.9 FPS), and Ultra (33.8 FPS) sit below the threshold.

For a fast-paced FPS where responsiveness matters, the 1080p Ultra result of 74.6 FPS is the headline number: maximum visual quality at a comfortable frame rate. Competitive players chasing the 163.1 FPS Low-preset average at 1080p are equally well served.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 3714 tested hardware combinations in Lockdown Protocol, the i5-11400F plus RX 7600 pairing ranks 2524th. That places it in the bottom third of the leaderboard, which initially sounds discouraging, but context matters. The leaderboard spans everything from entry-level pairings to flagship hardware, and a bottom-third rank is consistent with a combo that still plays the game at high settings in 1080p and 1440p. Rank position measures relative standing, not playability, and the verdict data shows this configuration comfortably clears the playable threshold at two of three resolutions.

The rank also reflects the nature of the pairing: an end-of-life 14 nm desktop CPU from 2021 mated to an active, mid-tier 6 nm GPU from 2023. It is a pragmatic mix rather than a halo configuration, and its measured results land exactly where that mix would suggest.

Measured FPS Breakdown

All figures below are measured averages from the database; minimum and maximum frame rates were not recorded for these runs.

At 1920x1080:

• Low: 163.1 FPS
• Medium: 114 FPS
• High: 102.4 FPS
• Ultra: 74.6 FPS

The 1080p results show a remarkably flat curve from Low through High, with only a 60.7 FPS gap between the lowest and second-highest presets. The cliff arrives at Ultra, which costs 27.8 FPS relative to High. Even so, Ultra remains above the 60 FPS threshold with room to spare.

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 116.3 FPS
• Medium: 82.4 FPS
• High: 73.8 FPS
• Ultra: 56 FPS

The 1440p picture is nearly the mirror of 1080p shifted downward. Low and Medium remain strong, High holds a 13.8 FPS cushion over the threshold, and Ultra misses by 4 FPS. That Ultra result is close enough that a minor change in scene complexity could tip it either way, but the recorded average stands at 56.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 78.4 FPS
• Medium: 51.8 FPS
• High: 44.9 FPS
• Ultra: 33.8 FPS

4K is where the RX 7600's 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus meets its match in this title. Low is genuinely playable at 78.4 FPS, but each subsequent preset sheds roughly 8 to 11 FPS, and Ultra lands at half the threshold. The even spacing between presets suggests a consistent, resolution-driven workload rather than a specific setting causing a sudden cliff.

Across the board, note that only 4 of the 12 recorded configuration points fall below 60 FPS, and all four are confined to 1440p Ultra and the upper presets at 4K.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the database's rival data shows the i5-11400F sitting in a tight cluster. The AMD EPYC 7H12 averages within 0.3 percent of it, the Intel Core i5-12450H within 0.4 percent, the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G within 0.6 percent, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U within 0.6 percent. In practical terms, any of these processors would deliver effectively indistinguishable Lockdown Protocol results when paired with an equivalent GPU, since the game is GPU-bound on this configuration anyway. Interestingly, the cluster spans desktop, mobile, and server-class parts, which says more about how averaged benchmark scores compress across categories than about gaming suitability.

For the GPU, the RX 7600's nearest rivals by average score are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (within 0.2 percent), the AMD Radeon Pro 560X (within 0.6 percent), the AMD Radeon 680M (within 0.7 percent), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti (within 0.7 percent). Based on these aggregate scores, systems built around any of these GPUs would be expected to post broadly similar results in Lockdown Protocol, though per-game variance means the aggregate ranking is a guide, not a guarantee.

FAQ

Q: Can the i5-11400F and RX 7600 run Lockdown Protocol at 60 FPS?

A: Yes. At 1920x1080 every preset from Low to Ultra averages at least 74.6 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low, Medium, and High all exceed 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset clears it, averaging 78.4 FPS.

Q: What is the best setting for 1440p gameplay?

A: High, averaging 73.8 FPS. Medium and Low also stay above 60 FPS, but Ultra drops to 56 FPS and falls below the threshold.

Q: Is 4K viable on this combo?

A: Only at Low settings, which average 78.4 FPS. Medium (51.8), High (44.9), and Ultra (33.8) all fall short of 60 FPS.

Q: Which component is the bottleneck?

A: The GPU. Frame rates drop steeply as resolution rises, from 102.4 FPS at 1080p High to 44.9 FPS at 4K High, which is the signature of a GPU-limited configuration rather than a CPU-limited one.

Q: How does this pairing rank against other tested combos in the game?

A: It ranks 2524th out of 3714 combinations, placing it in the lower portion of the leaderboard while still delivering playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p.

Q: What frame rate can competitive players expect?

A: At 1080p Low, the measured average is 163.1 FPS, the highest result recorded for this configuration.

Best Settings per Resolution

• 1920x1080: Ultra, averaging 74.6 FPS. The most demanding preset still clears 60 FPS, so there is no reason to compromise visually at this resolution.
• 2560x1440: High, averaging 73.8 FPS. Ultra narrowly misses the threshold at 56 FPS, making High the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS.
• 3840x2160: Low, averaging 78.4 FPS. Every preset above Low falls below the threshold, so Low is both the minimum and the maximum viable choice at 4K.

The pattern is consistent: this configuration rewards staying at or below 1440p, where three presets deliver 60-plus FPS, and punishes the jump to 4K, where visual fidelity has to be sacrificed almost entirely. Players wanting maximum settings should stay at 1080p; players wanting higher pixel density should accept High at 1440p and treat 4K as Low-preset territory.