Lockdown Protocol

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol across three resolutions reveals a clear pattern: this system scales predictably with pixel count, but the rate of scaling differs substantially by settings preset. At 1080p Low, the RTX 4070 and Core i5-14400F combination produces 262.8 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 191.2 FPS, a 27.2% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 124.2 FPS, which is 35.0% below the 1440p figure. This steep decline from 1080p to 4K at Low settings indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiter as resolution climbs, even at the least demanding preset.

The High preset tells a similar story with different absolute numbers. At 1080p High, the system averages 159.7 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 118.4 FPS, a 25.9% reduction. At 4K High, the average is 74.4 FPS, which is 37.2% lower than the 1440p result. The percentage drops are consistent with the Low preset, suggesting the rendering pipeline at High still scales primarily with pixel throughput. The gap between 1440p and 4K is slightly larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p in both cases, which aligns with the 2.25x pixel count jump from 1440p to 4K versus the 1.78x jump from 1080p to 1440p.

Ultra settings amplify the resolution sensitivity. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 123.4 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 90.7 FPS, a 26.5% reduction. At 4K Ultra, the average is 59.5 FPS, which is 34.4% below the 1440p figure. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration that dips below 60 FPS, indicating that this preset at maximum resolution pushes the RTX 4070 to its practical limit in this title. The data suggests that for 4K play, even High settings require a meaningful drop in frame rate compared to lower presets, but the system remains playable above 60 FPS at High.

The Medium preset occupies the middle ground. At 1080p Medium, the average is 187.3 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it is 134.5 FPS, a 28.2% reduction. At 4K Medium, the average is 91.1 FPS, which is 32.3% below the 1440p result. Across all four presets, the resolution scaling penalty from 1080p to 4K ranges from approximately 47.7% at Medium (from 187.3 to 91.1 FPS) to 52.7% at Low (from 262.8 to 124.2 FPS). The consistency of these drops points to a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the 12 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus become the determining factors rather than CPU throughput.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. The chip contains 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, with a transistor density of 121.8M per mm². The GPU has 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. It also includes 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. The base clock runs at 1920 MHz, boosting to 2475 MHz. Memory operates at 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective on 12 GB of GDDR6X across a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

Benchmark results for the RTX 4070 place it at the 81st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37283. In the nearest rivals comparison, the data shows the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 with an average score of 37507, a delta of -0.6% relative to the RTX 4070. The NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A scores 38008, which is -1.9% relative. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135, a -2.2% delta. The AMD Radeon RX 5300M scores 36371, a 2.5% delta. These comparisons indicate that the RTX 4070 sits in a competitive band where the closest rivals are within a few percentage points, but the RTX 4070's raw compute figures — 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 and 29.15 TFLOPS FP16 — are what drive its performance in Lockdown Protocol.

In the measured FPS data, the GPU's role becomes evident in the scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the jump from Low (262.8 FPS) to Ultra (123.4 FPS) represents a 53.0% performance penalty. At 1440p, the same preset change drops from 191.2 to 90.7 FPS, a 52.6% penalty. At 4K, the penalty is 52.1%, from 124.2 to 59.5 FPS. The consistency of this penalty across resolutions indicates that the GPU is fully utilized in all settings, with the shading units and memory bandwidth handling the increased workload proportionally.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is a notable factor. At 4K Ultra, the system still maintains an average of 59.5 FPS, which suggests that the memory footprint of Lockdown Protocol at maximum settings remains within the 12 GB allocation. The 504.2 GB/s bandwidth supports the high frame rates observed at 1440p, where the GPU is not yet bottlenecked by memory throughput. The pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s provide the raw fill rates necessary for the observed 4K performance, but the data shows that 4K Ultra approaches the limit of what this GPU can deliver.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, built on Raptor Lake architecture with a 10 nm process node from Intel. The base clock is 2.50 GHz, boosting to 4.70 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The TDP is rated at 65 W, and the CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. The launch MSRP is $196.

CPU benchmark results show a strong multithreaded presence. The Cinebench R23 multicore score is 21914, with a single-core score of 3093. Geekbench multicore is 11209, and single-core is 2333. Passmark multithread scores 25783, while passmark single-thread scores 3723. The CPU's percentile ranking is 88th among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32508. The nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H with an average score of 32513 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 with 32446 (0.2% delta), the AMD Ryzen 7 250 with 32584 (-0.2% delta), and the Intel Core i7-13705H with 32586 (-0.2% delta). This places the i5-14400F in a tight competitive cluster where no rival differs by more than 0.2%.

In the context of Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 262.8 FPS, which is well above typical display refresh rates and indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU at high frame rates. The boost clock of 4.70 GHz provides the single-thread performance necessary for game logic and draw call processing. The 16 threads handle background tasks and physics without creating a bottleneck, as evidenced by the relatively small performance drop when moving from Low to Medium at 1080p — from 262.8 to 187.3 FPS, a 28.7% reduction that is primarily attributable to GPU workload.

The data does not show the CPU becoming a limiting factor at any measured configuration. Even at 4K Low, where the GPU is less burdened by visual effects, the system maintains 124.2 FPS. The 20 MB of L3 cache and 10-core configuration provide ample headroom for the game's threading model. The Cinebench R20 multicore score of 9203 and single-core score of 1299 reinforce the processor's capability to handle both parallel and latency-sensitive workloads. The fact that the GPU reaches its limits at 4K Ultra (59.5 FPS) while the CPU still has capacity suggests that the i5-14400F is well-matched to the RTX 4070 for this title, with neither component disproportionately holding back the other.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this system achieves in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 262.8, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No. The measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 59.5 FPS, which falls just below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 High, the average is 118.4 FPS. At 3840x2160 High, the average is 74.4 FPS, representing a 37.2% reduction.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs in the benchmark database?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks at the 81st percentile, with an average benchmark score of 37283.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32508, while the nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-12800H, scores 32513, a delta of 0%.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Medium settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 262.8 FPS, while Medium settings produce 187.3 FPS, a difference of 75.5 FPS or 28.7%.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear basis for settings recommendations across different target frame rates. For players with a 60 Hz display, the Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that drops below 60 FPS, so any other combination of resolution and preset will exceed that threshold. At 4K, the High preset yields 74.4 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS and provides a better visual experience than Medium (91.1 FPS) or Low (124.2 FPS) when prioritizing image quality.

For 1440p displays, the Ultra preset delivers 90.7 FPS, which is suitable for high-refresh monitors up to 90 Hz. Players with 144 Hz displays should consider the High preset at 118.4 FPS, which leaves headroom for frame time variance. The Medium preset at 134.5 FPS is also viable, but the jump from Medium to High (134.5 to 118.4 FPS) is only a 12.0% reduction for improved visuals. The Low preset at 191.2 FPS exceeds the refresh rate of most 1440p monitors, making it unnecessary unless targeting extreme frame rates.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset achieves 123.4 FPS, which is sufficient for 120 Hz displays. The High preset at 159.7 FPS supports 144 Hz and 165 Hz monitors. The Medium preset at 187.3 FPS and Low preset at 262.8 FPS are best suited for competitive play where frame rate takes priority over visual fidelity. Given the data, the High preset at 1080p offers the best balance for most users, as it provides a 29.4% improvement over Ultra while maintaining high frame rates.

The data suggests that the optimal experience depends on the display's refresh rate. For 4K, High settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance, staying above 60 FPS. For 1440p, Ultra settings are viable for 90 Hz displays, while High is recommended for 120 Hz or higher. For 1080p, High or Ultra are both strong choices, with Ultra providing the best visuals at 123.4 FPS and High offering extra headroom at 159.7 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol with the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the system produces an average of 262.8 FPS on Low settings, 187.3 FPS on Medium, 159.7 FPS on High, and 123.4 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 139.4 FPS, with the largest single-step drop occurring from Low to Medium at 75.5 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 191.2 FPS on Low, 134.5 FPS on Medium, 118.4 FPS on High, and 90.7 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 100.5 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is 56.7 FPS, while the step from Medium to High is 16.1 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 27.7 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 124.2 FPS on Low, 91.1 FPS on Medium, 74.4 FPS on High, and 59.5 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 64.7 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is 33.1 FPS, from Medium to High is 16.7 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 14.9 FPS.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset consistently delivers the highest frame rates, while Ultra delivers the lowest. The performance gap between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution increases: from 139.4 FPS at 1080p to 100.5 FPS at 1440p to 64.7 FPS at 4K. This narrowing indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's workload becomes more uniform across presets, as pixel throughput dominates over shader complexity. The data also shows that the High preset provides a consistent 20-30% improvement over Ultra across all resolutions, making it the most efficient preset for maintaining high frame rates without sacrificing significant visual quality.