Lockdown Protocol

# CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread desktop processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process node. It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, drawing a 65 W TDP. The chip features a three-tier cache hierarchy: 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration places the i5-14400F in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 32,279 across a broad suite of tests.

In synthetic workloads, the i5-14400F demonstrates strong multi-threaded capability. It scores 21,645 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,055 in single-core, while Geekbench returns 11,268 multi-core and 2,058 single-core. PassMark results show 25,470 in multi-thread, 3,701 in single-thread, and a physics score of 1,523. The chip's nearest rivals in aggregate score are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (32,233, +0.1% delta), Intel Core i9-11900 (32,226, +0.2%), AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (32,354, -0.2%), and Intel Core i7-12800H (32,121, +0.5%). These deltas are all within 0.5 percentage points, indicating that the i5-14400F sits in a tightly clustered performance band where no meaningful separation exists in average compute throughput.

For Lockdown Protocol, an FPS title, the CPU's role is primarily about maintaining frame pacing and feeding the GPU with draw calls. The 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample parallel processing headroom for game logic, physics, and AI. The high boost clock of 4.70 GHz on performance cores ensures that single-threaded tasks—often the bottleneck in fast-paced shooters—are handled with minimal latency. The L3 cache at 20 MB shared is sufficient for caching frequently accessed game assets, reducing memory stalls. The i5-14400F's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel bus, allows flexibility in system configuration, though the measured FPS data in this benchmark reflects a specific platform setup.

The measured FPS results across all resolutions and settings suggest that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 200 FPS average, which indicates the CPU can push frames well beyond typical display refresh rates. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 44 FPS, but this is far more likely GPU-bound given the massive pixel throughput required. The CPU's percentile ranking at 83rd overall reinforces that it is a competent mid-range part, and in Lockdown Protocol, its performance aligns with that positioning—capable of high frame rates when the GPU is not saturated.

# FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14400F compare to its nearest CPU rivals in average benchmark scores?

A: The i5-14400F averages 32,279 across all CPU benchmarks. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, scores 32,233 (a 0.1% delta), while the Intel Core i9-11900 scores 32,226 (0.2% delta). The AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS scores slightly higher at 32,354 (-0.2% delta), and the Intel Core i7-12800H scores 32,121 (0.5% delta). All deltas are under one percentage point, meaning performance parity among these four parts.

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 200, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 147 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings, followed by 142 FPS at 1080p Medium and 124 FPS at 1080p High.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo fail to reach 60 FPS on average?

A: Only one configuration falls below 60 FPS: 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which averages 44 FPS. At 4K High, the average is 59 FPS, just barely under the 60 FPS threshold, while 4K Medium averages 67 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark percentile compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 sits in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15,852. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R9 370X, scores 15,862 (-0.1% delta), while the AMD Radeon RX 9060 scores 16,014 (-1% delta). The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15,679 (1.1% delta), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16,129 (-1.7% delta).

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested combos in this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1,275 out of 2,828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the middle of the distribution, reflecting a balanced mid-range pairing.

Q: Does the game show a larger FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p or from 1440p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the drop from 1080p (124 FPS) to 1440p (91 FPS) is 33 FPS (a 26.6% reduction), while the drop from 1440p (91 FPS) to 4K (59 FPS) is 32 FPS (a 35.2% reduction). The absolute drop is similar, but the percentage drop is larger at higher resolutions, indicating growing GPU pressure.

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across three resolutions—1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160—at four settings levels (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 200 at 1080p to 147 at 1440p (a 26.5% reduction) and then to 95 at 4K (a 35.4% reduction from 1440p). This steep decline indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU is the primary limiter as pixel count increases.

The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 142 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 67 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 26.8% and 35.6% respectively, nearly identical to Low settings. This consistency suggests that the GPU's rendering workload scales predictably with resolution, independent of the specific settings level.

At High settings, the pattern continues with 124 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 26.6%, and from 1440p to 4K is 35.2%. The absolute values are lower than Medium, as expected, but the proportional scaling remains consistent.

Ultra settings show the most severe impact: 93 FPS at 1080p, 68 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 26.9% and 35.3%, following the same pattern. The fact that all four settings levels exhibit nearly identical percentage drops across resolutions strongly indicates that the limiting component is the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see diminishing FPS drops at higher resolutions as the GPU work increases—but here, the drops are proportional, meaning the GPU's fill rate and shader throughput are being saturated.

The 4K Ultra result of 44 FPS is the only configuration that falls below playable thresholds for a fast-paced FPS, while 4K High at 59 FPS is borderline. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, users should stick to Medium or lower to maintain fluid frame rates.

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 combination ranks 1,275 out of 2,828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the pairing in the 55th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 45% of combos perform better and 55% perform worse. Given that the CPU ranks in the 83rd percentile and the GPU in the 58th percentile, the combo's overall rank is dragged down by the GPU's more modest standing.

The rank of 1,275 indicates that this is a mid-pack configuration. It is not a top-tier enthusiast setup, nor is it a low-end entry point. The CPU's strong single-threaded performance and high core count contribute to solid frame pacing, but the GPU's 58th percentile placement limits the combo's ability to push high frame rates at demanding settings. The nearest GPU rivals—the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15,862 average score and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 at 16,014—are within 1.7% of the RX 7700's score, suggesting that swapping to a slightly stronger GPU would yield modest gains.

The combo rank of 1,275 also implies that many other CPU-GPU pairings achieve higher FPS in this game. However, the measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 200 FPS average, which is well above the needs of most competitive FPS players. The bottleneck at higher resolutions is clearly the GPU, so users with this combo who prioritize 4K gaming would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, the Low preset delivers 200 FPS average, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate competitive play. The Medium preset at 142 FPS still offers excellent responsiveness, while High at 124 FPS remains smooth. Ultra at 93 FPS is playable but may not fully utilize a 144 Hz display. For most 1080p users, Medium or High provides the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, with Medium offering a 14.5% FPS increase over High.

At 1440p, the Low preset achieves 147 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play. Medium at 104 FPS is solid, and High at 91 FPS is still above 60 FPS. Ultra at 68 FPS is the only preset that dips below the 90 FPS mark, but it remains playable. For 1440p, Medium or High are recommended for a good visual-to-performance ratio, with High providing better image quality at a 12.5% FPS cost compared to Medium.

At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. Low at 95 FPS is the only preset that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. Medium at 67 FPS is playable, but High at 59 FPS and Ultra at 44 FPS fall below the 60 FPS threshold. For 4K users, Low or Medium is recommended, with Medium offering a significant visual upgrade over Low at a 29.5% FPS cost. The 4K Ultra preset at 44 FPS is not recommended for a fast-paced FPS, as frame pacing may suffer.

The best overall experience across all resolutions appears to be Medium settings, which delivers 142 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 67 FPS at 4K—all playable, with the 4K result being the only one near the 60 FPS boundary. For users who prioritize maximum frame rates, Low settings at 1080p provides the highest headroom.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 200 FPS, the highest measured in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 142 FPS with a minimum of 121 and maximum of 163 FPS, indicating a stable frame window. High settings average 124 FPS, while Ultra drops to 93 FPS. The full range from Low to Ultra spans 107 FPS, showing a 53.5% performance penalty for maxing out settings.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down proportionally. Low settings average 147 FPS, Medium averages 104 FPS with a minimum of 88 and maximum of 120 FPS, High averages 91 FPS, and Ultra averages 68 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 79 FPS, a 53.7% penalty, nearly identical to the 1080p spread. This consistency reinforces that the GPU handles resolution scaling uniformly.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limits become apparent. Low settings average 95 FPS, Medium averages 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 and maximum of 77 FPS, High averages 59 FPS, and Ultra averages 44 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 51 FPS, a 53.7% penalty, again matching the lower resolutions. The Medium preset's minimum of 57 FPS shows that even at this setting, there are brief dips below 60 FPS, which could be noticeable in a competitive FPS.

Across all resolutions, the percentage penalty from Low to Ultra is consistently around 53-54%, which indicates that the settings scaling is uniform and predictable. The Medium preset's min-max range of 20-26 FPS across resolutions shows reasonable frame stability, with the 4K Medium range being the tightest at 20 FPS.

# GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture, using the Navi 32 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 2438 MHz, or 19.5 Gbps effective. The GPU's base clock is 1900 MHz, with a boost clock of 2459 MHz and a game clock of 2041 MHz. It has 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units, along with 40 ray tracing cores. The GPU's compute power is rated at 25.18 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In benchmark tests, the RX 7700 scores 20,974 in PassMark G3D, 10,963 in PassMark GPU Compute, and 106,028 in Geekbench OpenCL. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2,865. The GPU sits in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15,852. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15,862 (-0.1% delta), AMD Radeon RX 9060 at 16,014 (-1%), AMD Radeon Pro W5500 at 15,679 (1.1%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 16,129 (-1.7%). These close deltas indicate that the RX 7700 is competitively positioned in its performance class.

For Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role is decisive. The measured FPS data shows that resolution scaling follows the GPU's expected performance curve, with 4K Ultra producing 44 FPS and 1080p Low producing 200 FPS. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for this game's texture requirements at any resolution, and the 624.1 GB/s bandwidth ensures high-resolution textures load without stutter. The 40 ray tracing cores provide hardware support for ray-traced effects, though the measured data does not include ray tracing-specific benchmarks.

The GPU's 58th percentile ranking means that it is a mid-range part, and this is reflected in the 4K performance, where even Medium settings only reach 67 FPS. The GPU's 25.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming at high settings, but at 4K, it becomes the clear bottleneck. The combo's overall rank of 1,275 out of 2,828 is consistent with a mid-range GPU paired with a strong mid-range CPU—the CPU provides ample headroom, but the GPU's limits define the gaming experience. Users looking to improve 4K performance would need a GPU with higher throughput, as the RX 7700's data shows it cannot sustain 60 FPS at 4K High or Ultra in this title.