Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol pairs the Intel Core i5-14400F with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB, and the measured frame rates show a system that is clearly GPU-limited at higher settings but capable of high refresh rates when tuned properly. The data indicates a strong 1080p performer that scales predictably across resolutions, with the CPU proving more than sufficient for this FPS title.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB is the primary driver of Lockdown Protocol's visual output, and its specifications directly explain the performance curve seen across the measured rows. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1700 MHz, with a game clock of 2530 MHz and a boost clock of 3130 MHz, making it a high-frequency part that excels when the workload is not memory-bound. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 322.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for this title at the tested settings, though the data suggests that Ultra presets strain the architecture more than the memory subsystem.

The RDNA 4.0 architecture with 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs produces a pixel rate of 200.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 400.6 GTexel/s. These figures translate into real results: at 1080p, the GPU delivers 193 FPS on Low, 136.8 FPS on Medium, 118.4 FPS on High, and 91.3 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 101.7 FPS, a 52.7% reduction, which shows that the shader and ROP throughput is heavily taxed by the higher-quality effects. The RT cores (32 of them) are present but do not appear to be the bottleneck in this non-ray-traced title, as the FP32 performance of 25.64 TFLOPS is the more relevant metric for rasterization.

The 4K results tell a more constrained story. At 3840x2160, the GPU manages 91.8 FPS on Low but falls to 54.6 FPS on High and 44.6 FPS on Ultra. This 47.2 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 4K, compared to the 101.7 FPS gap at 1080p, indicates that the GPU is saturating its execution resources at higher resolutions, making each setting increment more costly. The 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a factor at 4K Ultra, where the data shows the lowest result in the entire set, but the consistent scaling across resolutions points to compute limits rather than memory capacity as the primary constraint.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured average FPS, the Medium preset delivers the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium produces 136.8 FPS, which is 18.4 FPS higher than High (118.4 FPS) and only 4.3 FPS lower than the jump from Low to Medium would suggest. The difference between Medium and High at 1080p is 18.4 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is 27.1 FPS, indicating diminishing returns as settings increase.

For 1440p, the Medium preset at 102.5 FPS is the clear recommendation, as it stays above the 100 FPS threshold while High drops to 89.1 FPS and Ultra falls to 68.5 FPS. The Low preset at 143.5 FPS is viable for competitive play, but Medium offers a substantial visual upgrade for only a 41 FPS drop. At 4K, Medium at 67.7 FPS is the only preset that remains playable above 60 FPS, with High at 54.6 FPS and Ultra at 44.6 FPS falling below that threshold. Low at 91.8 FPS is the alternative for 4K high-refresh play, but the quality compromise is significant.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution on this combo. At 1080p it produces 91.3 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 45.5 FPS penalty over Medium. At 1440p Ultra drops to 68.5 FPS, and at 4K it hits 44.6 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users. The data shows that Medium is the sweet spot for this GPU, providing the best ratio of visual fidelity to frame rate across the board.

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

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its Raptor Lake architecture with 20 MB of shared L3 cache provides ample headroom for Lockdown Protocol's game logic and physics, but the measured frame rates show that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor. The single-thread performance, evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2333 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3093, is strong enough to keep up with the GPU's output at all tested settings.

The multi-threaded capabilities are substantial — a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and a Passmark multithread score of 25783 — but the game's frame rates do not scale with these numbers. At 1080p Low, the GPU produces 193 FPS, and the CPU maintains that without bottlenecking, as the FPS drops are consistent with GPU-side setting changes rather than CPU stalls. Even at 1080p Ultra, where the GPU delivers 91.3 FPS, the CPU is not the constraint, as the 4K results show a further drop that can only be attributed to GPU load.

The processor's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support ensure consistent feeding of the GPU, but the benchmark data indicates that even a lower-clocked CPU would produce similar results in this title. The CPU's percentile rank of 88 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32508, places it slightly above the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, 0.2% delta), confirming that it is not a weak link in this pairing.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured data shows a clear GPU-bound scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the FPS drops from 136.8 at 1080p to 102.5 at 1440p and then to 67.7 at 4K. This represents a 25.1% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 34.0% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The near-linear scaling with pixel count (1080p has 2.07 million pixels, 1440p has 3.69 million, 4K has 8.29 million) confirms that the GPU is the limiting component at every resolution.

The High preset shows a similar pattern: 118.4 FPS at 1080p, 89.1 FPS at 1440p, and 54.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 63.8 FPS, a 53.9% reduction, which is slightly steeper than the pixel count increase of 300%. This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth (322.3 GB/s) begins to constrain performance at higher resolutions, where the larger framebuffer and texture fetches require more data movement.

In contrast, the Low preset shows the least scaling impact: 193 FPS at 1080p, 143.5 FPS at 1440p, and 91.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is 47.5% of the 1080p result, which is closer to the theoretical pixel-count ratio. This indicates that at Low settings, the GPU is more efficiently utilized, and the memory subsystem is less stressed. The data strongly suggests that any attempt to improve frame rates at 1440p or 4K should focus on GPU-side adjustments (lowering settings) rather than CPU upgrades.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i5-14400F + AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB combination ranks 901 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the 55th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning it outperforms 736 combos but falls behind 901 others. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-tier positioning (50th percentile vs all GPUs) combined with the CPU's strong showing (88th percentile vs all CPUs), resulting in a system that is held back by its graphics card in this specific title.

The rank of 901 out of 1637 is consistent with the measured frame rates, which show solid 1080p performance but weaker 4K results. Combos ranked higher likely pair the RX 9060 XT with faster CPUs or pair stronger GPUs with similar CPUs. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor, as its benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core 21914, Geekbench multi-core 11209) are competitive with systems that rank higher. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are the likely differentiators against higher-ranked combos.

Within the context of the i5-14400F's nearest rivals, the CPU's average benchmark score of 32508 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32584, -0.2% delta). This means that swapping the CPU for a close rival would not meaningfully change the combo's ranking, further confirming that the GPU determines the overall position in Lockdown Protocol's benchmark hierarchy.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The measured data shows 1080p as the strongest resolution, with 193 FPS on Low and 136.8 FPS on Medium. At 1440p, Medium produces 102.5 FPS, while 4K Medium drops to 67.7 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14400F bottlenecking the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 single-core 3093, multi-core 21914) are sufficient, and the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K follows GPU-bound patterns, indicating the GPU is the limiting component.

Q: How much FPS does the Ultra preset cost compared to Medium?

A: At 1080p, Ultra (91.3 FPS) is 45.5 FPS lower than Medium (136.8 FPS). At 1440p, the gap is 34 FPS (68.5 vs 102.5), and at 4K, Ultra (44.6 FPS) is 23.1 FPS lower than Medium (67.7 FPS).

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which produce 91.8 FPS. Medium at 4K yields 67.7 FPS, while High (54.6 FPS) and Ultra (44.6 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 901 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the middle of the pack. The GPU's 50th percentile ranking vs all GPUs is the primary factor.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance relative to its rivals?

A: The i5-14400F scores 3093 in Cinebench R23 single-core, and its average benchmark score of 32508 is within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 and AMD Ryzen 7 250.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 193 FPS on Low settings, 136.8 FPS on Medium, 118.4 FPS on High, and 91.3 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 101.7 FPS, with the largest single step down occurring between High and Ultra (27.1 FPS). The Low-to-Medium step is 56.2 FPS, which is the largest jump, indicating that Low settings remove significant rendering load.

At 2560x1440, the measured results are 143.5 FPS on Low, 102.5 FPS on Medium, 89.1 FPS on High, and 68.5 FPS on Ultra. The reduction from 1080p is 49.5 FPS on Low (from 193 to 143.5), 34.3 FPS on Medium (from 136.8 to 102.5), 29.3 FPS on High (from 118.4 to 89.1), and 22.8 FPS on Ultra (from 91.3 to 68.5). The smaller absolute drops at higher settings confirm that the GPU is nearing its limit at 1440p Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the data shows 91.8 FPS on Low, 67.7 FPS on Medium, 54.6 FPS on High, and 44.6 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results represent 47.5% of the 1080p Low score, 49.5% of the 1080p Medium score, 46.1% of the 1080p High score, and 48.8% of the 1080p Ultra score. The consistency of these ratios (all between 46% and 50%) indicates that the GPU is scaling uniformly with pixel count, with no single setting causing a disproportionate 4K penalty. The lowest absolute result in the entire dataset is 4K Ultra at 44.6 FPS, while the highest is 1080p Low at 193 FPS.