Lockdown Protocol

# Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core i7-14700K sits in a tightly contested performance band among recent desktop and mobile flagship processors. Benchmark data places it at the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69,355. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 9115, scores 69,288 — a negligible 0.1% difference, meaning workloads that saturate the i7-14700K would produce nearly identical throughput on that server-class part. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X trails by just 0.2% at 69,515, while the Ryzen 9 7940HX and Ryzen 7 9700F sit 0.7% and 0.9% behind, respectively. In practical terms, any of these four CPUs would deliver indistinguishable frame pacing in Lockdown Protocol, since the game's engine rarely stresses more than a handful of cores at 1080p.

On the graphics side, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 occupies the 69th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23,877. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, scores 23,736 (0.6% lower), while the AMD Radeon RX 6800S leads by 0.8% at 24,063. The RTX 3080 Mobile is 1.1% behind, and the RTX 2080 SUPER trails by 1.2%. These deltas are all within measurement noise, so a system swapping the RX 9070 for any of these cards would see essentially identical average frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, provided the CPU remains unchanged. Note that the RX 9070's nearest rivals span very different market segments — a dual-GPU enthusiast card from 2014, a laptop GPU, and a previous-generation desktop flagship — which underscores how generational shifts in GPU architecture have flattened raw benchmark scores across product tiers.

# CPU and GPU Roles

The measured FPS data across resolutions and settings reveals a clear division of labor between the i7-14700K and the RX 9070. At 1920x1080, the CPU's single-threaded strength (2,160 in Cinebench R23 single-core, 2,569 in Geekbench single-core) keeps the frame pipeline fed even at Ultra settings, where the GPU still manages 117.3 FPS. Dropping to Low settings at 1080p pushes the average to 246.4 FPS — a 110% increase over Ultra. This massive scaling indicates that at Low settings, the RX 9070's rendering workload collapses (fewer shaders active, simpler lighting), and the frame rate becomes increasingly CPU-bound. The i7-14700K's 20 cores and 28 threads, with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, are sufficient to hold frame rates well above 200 FPS in this scenario.

As resolution climbs to 2560x1440, the GPU's role expands. The gap between Low (181.1 FPS) and Ultra (81.6 FPS) narrows in relative terms — Ultra is 55% slower than Low, compared to 52% slower at 1080p. At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint: Ultra drops to 52.2 FPS, while Low maintains 113.5 FPS. The RX 9070's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to avoid VRAM bottlenecks even at 4K Ultra, but the 2520 MHz boost clock and 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput simply cannot keep pace with the pixel count. The data shows that at 4K, the i7-14700K is never the limiting factor — even the most CPU-heavy scenarios at 1080p Low (246.4 FPS) rely on the CPU's multi-threaded score of 33,440.5 in Cinebench R23, which is far above what Lockdown Protocol demands.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: The data shows a monotonic scaling from Low to Ultra. Low settings average 246.4 FPS, Medium drops to 174.3 FPS, High settles at 154.9 FPS, and Ultra produces 117.3 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is the largest single-preset drop (72.1 FPS), indicating that Medium settings activate a substantial set of rendering features that load the GPU's 3,584 shading units. From Medium to High the cost is 19.4 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 37.6 FPS. All four presets clear the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin, with Ultra still delivering nearly double the playable threshold.

2560x1440: The pattern repeats with lower absolute values. Low averages 181.1 FPS, Medium 128.5 FPS, High 115.1 FPS, and Ultra 81.6 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop is 52.6 FPS, Medium-to-High is 13.4 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 33.5 FPS. Ultra remains comfortably above 60 FPS, so 1440p users can enable maximum settings without compromise.

3840x2160: At 4K, the GPU's limits become apparent. Low averages 113.5 FPS, Medium 85.3 FPS, High 69.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 52.2 FPS — the only preset across all resolutions that fails to reach 60 FPS. The High-to-Ultra drop of 17.6 FPS represents a 25% performance penalty for the final quality step, which is consistent with the RX 9070's RDNA 4.0 architecture being pushed past its pixel-rate ceiling. The 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate is simply insufficient for 4K Ultra in this title.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combined i7-14700K + RX 9070 configuration ranks 1,081st out of 3,714 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 29% of all systems. This rank reflects the balanced nature of the pairing: the CPU is in the 94th percentile among all processors, while the GPU sits at the 69th percentile among all graphics cards. The rank disparity suggests that the RX 9070 is the more limiting component for this game — a faster GPU would move the combo higher, but a faster CPU would yield diminishing returns given the frame rates observed. The rank also indicates that roughly 2,633 other combos tested faster, which is expected given that the RX 9070's nearest rivals are older or mobile parts, while the CPU's rivals are all within 1% of its score. For a 2025 GPU paired with a 2023 flagship CPU, the combination is appropriately matched for 1440p gaming, where the 81.6 FPS Ultra result confirms the GPU is doing the heavy lifting.

# FAQ

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 52.2, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The highest playable preset at 4K is High, averaging 69.8 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: At 2560x1440, Ultra settings average 81.6 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold. This is the most demanding preset that remains playable at this resolution.

Q: How does the RX 9070 compare to its closest GPU rival in raw benchmarks?

A: The RX 9070's average benchmark score is 23,877, which is 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GTX TITAN Z (23,736) and 1.1% higher than the RTX 3080 Mobile (23,628). It trails the RX 6800S by 0.8% and the RTX 2080 SUPER by 1.2%.

Q: Is the i7-14700K a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The data suggests no. At 1920x1080 Low, the system averages 246.4 FPS, which is far above the CPU's practical limit for this game. The CPU's 94th-percentile ranking and 33,440.5 Cinebench R23 multi-core score indicate ample headroom.

Q: What is the largest performance drop between consecutive presets?

A: At every resolution, the Low-to-Medium transition is the largest single-step drop. At 1080p it costs 72.1 FPS, at 1440p it costs 52.6 FPS, and at 4K it costs 28.2 FPS.

Q: How many tested combinations does this system outperform?

A: This combo ranks 1,081st out of 3,714, meaning it outperforms 2,633 other tested CPU-GPU combinations for Lockdown Protocol.

# Best Settings per Resolution

1920x1080: The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 117.3 FPS. This is the maximum quality setting, and the system still delivers nearly double the playable threshold.

2560x1440: Ultra is also the best playable preset here, averaging 81.6 FPS. The 60 FPS threshold is cleared with 21.6 FPS to spare, so there is no need to compromise on visual quality.

3840x2160: High is the most demanding playable preset, averaging 69.8 FPS. Ultra fails at 52.2 FPS, so 4K users must step down one quality tier to stay above 60 FPS. Medium (85.3 FPS) and Low (113.5 FPS) are also viable options with progressively higher frame rates.

# The Verdict

The Intel Core i7-14700K + AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination is fully capable of running Lockdown Protocol at playable frame rates across all tested resolutions, with one exception. At 1920x1080, every preset — Low (246.4 FPS), Medium (174.3), High (154.9), and Ultra (117.3) — clears the 60 FPS threshold, making this resolution entirely flexible for competitive or visual priorities. At 2560x1440, the same is true: Ultra averages 81.6 FPS, so users can max out settings without concern. At 3840x2160, the picture changes: the Ultra preset falls to 52.2 FPS, below the playable threshold, but High settings average 69.8 FPS, which is comfortably playable. The verdict is straightforward: this system runs Lockdown Protocol at 60+ FPS on Ultra at 1080p and 1440p, and on High at 4K. The GPU is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, but the overall combination is well-balanced for high-refresh 1440p gaming, which is where it delivers its best quality-to-performance ratio.