Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, a 2024 FPS title, exhibits a wide performance envelope with the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination. The measured data spans from a demanding 43.1 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 198.2 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results to identify the best way to configure the game for this specific hardware pairing.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy across the four tested presets, with the gap between Low and Ultra widening as resolution increases. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Ultra costs 105.4 FPS, reducing the average from 198.2 to 92.8 FPS. At 1440p, the same preset change drops performance from 145.4 to 67 FPS, a difference of 78.4 FPS. The most demanding scenario, 4K Ultra, yields only 43.1 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay on most displays.

For competitive play where frame rate is paramount, the Low preset at 1080p delivers the highest measured average of 198.2 FPS. This provides a substantial margin above 144Hz displays and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. At 1440p, the Low preset still produces a strong 145.4 FPS, which is suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset offers a balanced alternative, providing 139.4 FPS at 1080p and 105.8 FPS at 1440p, likely with improved visual fidelity over Low without a drastic performance penalty.

For visually oriented players, the High preset at 1440p is the most compelling choice, delivering 90.7 FPS while presumably offering significantly better image quality than Low. This frame rate is playable on 90Hz or 100Hz displays and represents a good compromise. At 1080p, High achieves 124.7 FPS, which remains smooth on standard 120Hz monitors. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it produces 92.8 FPS; at higher resolutions, the performance drop to 67 FPS at 1440p and 43.1 FPS at 4K makes it unsuitable for consistent play. The data suggests that High settings at 1440p provide the best overall experience for this combo, balancing visual quality with a playable frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Raptor Lake refresh architecture, running on the Intel Socket 1700 platform. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, and it features 20 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 21,914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,093 in single-core, placing it in the 88th percentile among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 32,508 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H, which scores 32,513, a delta of 0%. It also closely matches the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645, which scores 32,446, a delta of 0.2%.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's influence is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is less burdened. At 1080p, the frame rates are high across all settings, from 198.2 FPS on Low to 92.8 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Medium to High at 1080p (198.2 to 139.4 to 124.7 FPS) shows a significant drop, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU enough data to reach these high frame rates. The 10-core configuration with 16 threads provides ample parallelism for the game's logic and physics, likely preventing the CPU from becoming a bottleneck at these settings. The 4.70 GHz boost clock ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is often critical for game simulation and draw call submission.

The data implies that the i5-14400F is well-matched to the RTX 5060 for this title. The performance drop from 1080p Low to 1080p Ultra is 105.4 FPS, which is a substantial reduction, but the absolute numbers remain high. This suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p, as the GPU is still able to render frames at near or above 100 FPS on most presets. The processor's strong multi-threaded score (21,914 in Cinebench R23) and high percentile ranking (88th) indicate that it has sufficient headroom for the game's computational demands.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process, featuring 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus. Its memory bandwidth is 448.0 GB/s, and it operates at a base clock of 2280 MHz with a boost clock of 2497 MHz. The GPU's compute capability is rated at 19.18 TFLOPS for FP32, and it includes 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 20,891 in Passmark G3D and 120,785 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 73rd percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 30,109 is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, which scores 30,097, a delta of 0%.

The GPU's role in Lockdown Protocol becomes dominant as resolution increases. The frame rate at 4K High is 60.1 FPS, which is a 48% reduction compared to the 1440p High score of 90.7 FPS. This significant drop indicates that the 8 GB VRAM buffer and the 128-bit memory interface are under heavy strain at 4K. The Ultra preset at 4K further illustrates this, with a score of 43.1 FPS, making it the most demanding configuration in the dataset. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is a critical factor here, as higher resolutions require more data to be transferred to fill the frame buffer.

At 1080p, the GPU's performance is less constrained. The Low preset achieves 198.2 FPS, and even the Ultra preset manages 92.8 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings shows a drop from 198.2 to 145.4 FPS, a 26.6% decrease. This suggests that the GPU is still the primary driver of performance even at lower resolutions, but the CPU is capable of keeping up. The 8 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but the 4K results indicate that the memory capacity or bandwidth becomes a limiting factor, as the frame rates drop disproportionately compared to the resolution increase.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 ranks 853rd out of 1,637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places it in the upper half of all configurations, specifically at the 52.1st percentile of tested systems. The rank indicates that while this is not a top-tier setup, it outperforms a majority of the combinations in the database for this specific game.

The ranking reflects the balanced nature of the pairing. The CPU's 88th percentile overall ranking and the GPU's 73rd percentile ranking combine to produce a system that is competitive but not exceptional. The data shows that the combo is capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but it struggles at 4K Ultra. The rank of 853 out of 1,637 suggests that many other combinations can achieve higher frame rates, likely due to more powerful GPUs with greater VRAM or bandwidth. However, the fact that this combo sits above the median indicates that it provides a solid gaming experience for most users, particularly those targeting 1080p or 1440p resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K provides insight into the system's bottleneck. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 124.7 at 1080p to 90.7 at 1440p, and then to 60.1 at 4K. This represents a 27.3% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 33.7% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The progressive decline indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly stressed as the pixel count rises.

At Low settings, the scaling is more pronounced. The frame rate falls from 198.2 at 1080p to 145.4 at 1440p (a 26.6% drop) and then to 93.7 at 4K (a 35.6% drop from 1440p). This pattern suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is able to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but the GPU's limitations become more apparent at higher resolutions. The 4K Low score of 93.7 FPS is still respectable, but the scaling shows that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints.

The data reveals that the system is balanced at 1080p and 1440p, where both the CPU and GPU contribute to performance. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. The 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface are likely insufficient for the highest settings at this resolution, as evidenced by the Ultra preset falling to 43.1 FPS. The scaling analysis suggests that for this combo, 1440p is the sweet spot, providing a good balance between visual quality and frame rate, while 4K is only viable at lower settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average FPS at 1080p is 198.2, achieved with the Low preset. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 92.8 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 5060 a bottleneck at 4K with this CPU?

A: Yes, the data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. The average FPS at 4K High is 60.1, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 43.1. This is a significant reduction compared to 1440p High, which achieves 90.7 FPS.

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

A: The combo ranks 853rd out of 1,637 tested combinations, placing it in the upper half of all configurations.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset achieves 145.4 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 67 FPS. This represents a 78.4 FPS difference between the two settings.

Q: How does the i5-14400F compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32,508, which is virtually identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H's score of 32,513, a delta of 0%.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The RTX 5060 features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s.