Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a 2024 FPS title that stresses both CPU and GPU depending on resolution and quality preset. For this analysis, the tested configuration pairs the Intel Core i5-14400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, producing a measured dataset across three resolutions and four settings levels. The data shows a system that is strongly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while at 1080p the CPU begins to assert itself, especially at lower settings. The following sections break down the measured FPS, component roles, and how this specific combo ranks among 3,714 tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 161 FPS at 1080p to 118 FPS at 1440p, then to 76 FPS at 4K. This represents a 26.7% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 35.6% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The overall drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 52.8%, which is substantial and indicates that pixel throughput is becoming a major constraint at the highest resolution.

Looking at Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced in absolute terms. At 1080p Low, the system produces 259 FPS, which falls to 190 FPS at 1440p and 122 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 26.6% and 35.8% respectively, nearly identical to the High settings pattern. This similarity suggests that the rendering workload scales consistently with pixel count regardless of quality level, which points toward the GPU being the primary limiting factor across all settings at higher resolutions.

At Medium settings, the measured minimum and maximum FPS values provide additional insight. At 4K Medium, the average is 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 100 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average rises to 135 FPS with a range of 115 to 155 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average reaches 184 FPS, spanning 156 to 211 FPS. The gap between minimum and maximum FPS narrows slightly as resolution decreases, suggesting that frame time consistency improves at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom.

The Ultra preset shows the most severe resolution scaling. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is only 57, which is 52.6% lower than the 120 FPS achieved at 1080p Ultra. The 1440p Ultra result of 88 FPS sits between these extremes. This steep drop-off at 4K Ultra indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti is being pushed to its limits with the highest quality settings at 4K, producing frame rates that may be marginal for competitive play in a fast-paced FPS.

The data suggests that between 1080p and 1440p, the scaling is moderate and the system remains playable across all settings. However, the jump to 4K introduces a more significant penalty, particularly at Ultra where the average drops below 60 FPS. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU's rendering capacity is the dominant constraint, while at 1080p, particularly with Low settings, the CPU's ability to feed frames becomes increasingly relevant.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this CPU and GPU combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest average is 259 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra preset compare to 4K Low in terms of average FPS?

A: The 4K Ultra preset produces 57 FPS average, while 4K Low produces 122 FPS average. This represents a 53.3% reduction in frame rate when moving from Low to Ultra at 4K.

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

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 57, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the frame time range at 1440p Medium?

A: The minimum FPS is 115 and the maximum is 155, giving a spread of 40 FPS around the 135 average.

Q: Does the system produce higher FPS at 1080p Ultra or at 1440p High?

A: The 1080p Ultra preset yields 120 FPS average, while 1440p High yields 118 FPS average. The difference is only 2 FPS, making these two configurations nearly equivalent in performance.

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

A: This combination ranks 936th out of 3,714 tested combos, placing it in the top 25.2% of all configurations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this configuration for Lockdown Protocol. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. This high bandwidth is critical for feeding the 10,240 shading units at high resolutions, where texture and geometry data must be moved rapidly. The GPU's base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, and it operates at a 350 W TDP.

The measured FPS data demonstrates the GPU's influence clearly. At 4K, the system produces 76 FPS at High settings and 57 FPS at Ultra, showing that the additional graphical workload at Ultra settings costs 25% of performance compared to High. This scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering hardware is the bottleneck. The VRAM capacity of 12 GB appears sufficient for this game at 4K, as the system does not exhibit catastrophic frame rate collapses that would indicate memory swapping.

Comparing the RTX 3080 Ti to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database, the GPU's average benchmark score of 41,187 places it slightly above the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40,870, delta of 0.8%) and below the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB (41,707, delta of -1.2%). The RTX 3080 Ti also outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (40,377, delta of 2%) in this aggregate metric. These comparisons suggest that the GPU is competitive with contemporary and slightly newer hardware, though the delta margins are small.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 83 among all GPUs indicates that it sits in the upper tier of graphics cards. In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the system hits 259 FPS, which likely approaches the CPU's frame delivery limit. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, with the 57 FPS result reflecting the raw rendering load rather than any CPU constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers high frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 259 FPS average, Medium produces 184 FPS (minimum 156, maximum 211), High produces 161 FPS, and Ultra produces 120 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with each step up in quality costing approximately 30-40 FPS. The 1080p Medium data shows a frame time consistency where the minimum stays above 150 FPS, which is excellent for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show the expected reduction. Low settings yield 190 FPS, Medium yields 135 FPS (minimum 115, maximum 155), High yields 118 FPS, and Ultra yields 88 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each setting is roughly 27-30%, consistent with the increase in pixel count. The 1440p Medium range of 115 to 155 FPS indicates that even in demanding scenes, the system stays comfortably above 100 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more varied. Low settings produce 122 FPS, Medium produces 87 FPS (minimum 74, maximum 100), High produces 76 FPS, and Ultra produces 57 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 74 FPS is still playable, but the Ultra preset dips below 60 FPS on average. The 4K Low result of 122 FPS demonstrates that the GPU can handle 4K well when graphical effects are minimized, but the Ultra preset imposes a heavy penalty.

The settings scaling at each resolution is consistent. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 139 FPS (259 to 120). At 1440p, the difference is 102 FPS (190 to 88). At 4K, the difference is 65 FPS (122 to 57). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU becomes the bottleneck, as the absolute performance ceiling is reached regardless of settings.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing maximum frame rate, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 259 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. Even at 1440p Low, the 190 FPS average provides ample headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. The Low preset at 4K still achieves 122 FPS, making it a viable option for 4K gaming at 120 Hz.

For a balance between visual quality and performance, the Medium preset is the strongest choice across all resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers 184 FPS with a minimum of 156 FPS, ensuring consistent smoothness. At 1440p, the 135 FPS average with a 115 FPS minimum keeps gameplay fluid. At 4K, the 87 FPS average and 74 FPS minimum remain above the 60 FPS threshold, providing a playable experience with moderate visual fidelity.

The High preset is recommended for users with 1440p or 4K displays who want improved visuals without sacrificing playability. At 1440p, High produces 118 FPS, which is suitable for 120 Hz monitors. At 4K, High yields 76 FPS, which is acceptable for 60 Hz displays but may feel less responsive for competitive play. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p or 1440p use, where it delivers 120 FPS and 88 FPS respectively. At 4K, Ultra's 57 FPS average falls below the smoothness threshold and is best avoided for fast-paced gameplay.

The data indicates that the Medium preset offers the most consistent experience, as it is the only setting level with recorded minimum FPS values across all resolutions. This suggests that the developers tuned this preset to maintain frame pacing, and the measured minimums of 156 FPS at 1080p, 115 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K all remain comfortably playable.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides the processing foundation for this system. This CPU features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for game logic and frame preparation. The CPU's 65 W TDP is modest, but its performance is substantial for a mid-range desktop processor.

In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 21,645 in multi-core and 3,055 in single-core tests. The multi-core performance is particularly relevant for Lockdown Protocol, as FPS games often spawn multiple worker threads for physics, AI, and rendering setup. The Geekbench scores of 11,268 multi-core and 2,058 single-core corroborate the CPU's balanced capabilities. The PassMark multi-thread score of 25,470 and single-thread score of 3,701 further reinforce this profile.

Comparing the i5-14400F to its nearest CPU rivals, the average benchmark score is 32,279. This places it nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (32,233, delta of 0.1%) and the Intel Core i9-11900 (32,226, delta of 0.2%). The CPU also edges out the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (32,354, delta of -0.2%) and the Intel Core i7-12800H (32,121, delta of 0.5%). These deltas are all within 0.5%, indicating that the i5-14400F performs on par with these mobile and older desktop chips in aggregate benchmarks.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the 259 FPS result likely approaches the CPU's maximum frame delivery rate. The fact that dropping from 1080p Low to 1080p Medium only reduces FPS by 75 (259 to 184) suggests that the CPU can keep up with the GPU even at high frame rates. However, at 4K Ultra, the 57 FPS result is clearly GPU-limited, as the CPU has ample headroom to process the lower number of frames being rendered.

The CPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that it outperforms the majority of processors on the market. Its 10 cores and 16 threads provide sufficient parallelism for modern game engines, and the 4.70 GHz boost clock ensures strong single-threaded performance for main game loop tasks. The measured data shows no signs of CPU bottlenecking at 1440p or 4K, where the GPU is the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination ranks 936th out of 3,714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the system in the top 25.2% of all configurations, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking reflects the system's ability to produce high frame rates across most settings and resolutions.

The combo's position in the rankings is influenced by both components' strengths. The RTX 3080 Ti's 83rd percentile GPU ranking and the i5-14400F's 83rd percentile CPU ranking are well-matched, with neither component dragging down the overall performance significantly. The GPU's 12 GB VRAM and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for this game, and the CPU's 10 cores provide enough processing power to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at most settings.

The rank of 936 out of 3,714 means that 2,778 other combos perform better in this specific game. This gap is likely due to the presence of newer GPUs or higher-end CPUs in the test pool. However, the measured FPS data shows that this combo still delivers excellent performance in absolute terms, with 1080p Low exceeding 250 FPS and 4K High remaining above 75 FPS.

In the context of the benchmark database, this combo represents a well-balanced pairing that excels at 1080p and 1440p gaming. The 4K performance is acceptable for most titles, though Ultra settings at 4K may require compromises. The ranking percentile suggests that users with this configuration can expect smooth gameplay in Lockdown Protocol across a wide range of settings, with the primary consideration being whether to prioritize visual fidelity or frame rate.