Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol places the Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 580 pairing at rank 1519 out of 1637 tested combinations. This is a bottom-decile result, and the data suggests the GPU is the primary constraint in nearly every scenario. The RX 580, with its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and a 256-bit bus delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is an end-of-life product from the Polaris generation, and its age shows clearly in this 2024 FPS title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best-performing settings preset for this combo at 1080p?

A: The Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate at 1920x1080, achieving 85.3 FPS. This is 22.0 FPS higher than Medium (63.3 FPS) and 33.0 FPS higher than High (52.3 FPS).

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 49166, placing it just 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which scores 49062. The data shows these two processors are essentially performance equals in aggregate testing.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces an average of 61.8 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 30.1 FPS. This represents a 31.7 FPS penalty for moving to the highest visual quality tier.

Q: Is the RX 580's performance closer to the GTX 570 or the GTX 950?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score is 13559, which is exactly 0.0% different from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564). It is also just 0.1% ahead of the GTX 950 (13549), making all three cards statistically similar in raw compute.

Q: What is the only resolution where this combo exceeds 60 FPS on Medium settings?

A: Only at 1920x1080 does the Medium preset reach above 60 FPS, hitting an average of 63.3 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium falls to 42.0 FPS, and at 3840x2160, it collapses to 27.3 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU's multi-threaded performance suggest it is holding back the GPU?

A: The Core i5-14600K scores 32881 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Given the GPU's percentile rank of 53, the data indicates the processor is not the limiting factor in this pairing.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the decisive bottleneck in Lockdown Protocol. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory operates at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective), feeding a 256-bit bus for 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card's 2304 shading units and 32 ROPs are based on the GCN 4.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The GPU's FP32 throughput is 6.175 TFLOPS, which is modest by modern standards and directly explains the frame rates observed.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 13559 places it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (deltaPct 0.0%) and the GTX 950 (deltaPct 0.1%). This is a mid-pack performer that struggles when pixel count rises. At 1080p Low, the RX 580 manages 85.3 FPS, but this drops to 52.3 FPS at High settings. The decline from Low to Ultra at 1080p is severe: 85.3 to 39.6 FPS, a loss of 45.7 FPS. The card's pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s are simply insufficient for high-detail rendering in Lockdown Protocol. The 8 GB VRAM is not exhausted at these settings, but the raw compute power is lacking, as evidenced by the 27.8 FPS at 4K High.

The RX 580's DirectX 12 support is rated at 12_0, and its PassMark DirectX 12 score is only 43, compared to 124 for DirectX 9. This suggests the architecture is better suited to older APIs, and Lockdown Protocol's modern rendering pipeline likely exacerbates the GPU's weaknesses. The boost clock of 1340 MHz (base 1257 MHz) is fixed, and the card cannot dynamically raise clocks enough to compensate for the workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K presents a stark contrast to the GPU. This 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Raptor Lake-R architecture (10 nm process) has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample headroom for gaming workloads. The CPU's average benchmark score of 49166 puts it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with the nearest rival being the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at a 0.2% delta.

The CPU's single-thread performance is exceptional: Cinebench R23 single-core scores 4642, and Geekbench single-core hits 2803. These numbers indicate the i5-14600K can feed frames rapidly, but the RX 580 cannot keep up. In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is largely to prepare draw calls and physics calculations, and the PassMark physics score of 2473 reinforces that this processor is not the weak link. The data across resolutions shows a GPU-bound pattern: at 1080p Low, the CPU pushes 85.3 FPS, but at 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 40.9 FPS. If the CPU were limiting, the 1080p and 4K numbers would be much closer.

The i5-14600K's 20 threads (14 cores, 6 of which are likely performance cores) are more than sufficient for Lockdown Protocol. The Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 13810 and R15 multi-core of 3314 confirm strong multi-threaded capability. The processor's launch MSRP is $319, and its 125 W TDP is modest. The data implies the CPU is idle waiting for the GPU in most scenes, leaving performance on the table.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo shows a wide spread across presets. Low settings yield 85.3 FPS, which is playable. Medium drops to 63.3 FPS, High to 52.3 FPS, and Ultra to 39.6 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 22.0 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs 12.7 FPS. The 1080p Low result is the only measured row that exceeds 60 FPS at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance degrades predictably. Low settings produce 61.8 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium falls to 42.0 FPS, High to 41.9 FPS, and Ultra to 30.1 FPS. The difference between Medium and High at 1440p is negligible (0.1 FPS), suggesting a rendering bottleneck independent of those preset changes. At 3840x2160, the numbers are grim: Low achieves 40.9 FPS, Medium 27.3 FPS, High 27.8 FPS, and Ultra 18.2 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest in the entire dataset, confirming the GPU cannot handle 8.3 million pixels.

The patterns reveal that settings matter more than resolution scaling in some cases. For example, 1080p Ultra (39.6 FPS) is nearly identical to 4K Low (40.9 FPS), indicating the GPU is saturated by either high detail or high pixel count. The data shows no min or max FPS values, so the average FPS represents the sustained performance, but the lack of variance data prevents analysis of frame pacing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1519 out of 1637 tested combinations places it in the bottom 7.2% of all CPU-GPU pairings for Lockdown Protocol. This is a poor result, driven almost entirely by the GPU's age. The i5-14600K is a top-tier CPU (93rd percentile), but the RX 580 is a mid-pack GPU (53rd percentile), and the pairing squanders the processor's potential.

Given the GPU's nearest rivals (GTX 570, GTX 950, Radeon Pro 455), the RX 580 is not merely old; it is competing with cards from a previous era. The combo's rank suggests that most other tested configurations in the database use newer GPUs with higher memory bandwidth or more shading units. The 4K Ultra result of 18.2 FPS is particularly damning, as it falls below the threshold for comfortable viewing. The rank also implies that upgrading the GPU alone would yield a massive improvement, while swapping the CPU would produce minimal gains, as the processor is not the constraint.

Settings Recommendations

For a playable experience, the Low preset is the only viable choice at most resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 85.3 FPS, which is smooth. At 1440p Low, 61.8 FPS is still acceptable, but any higher preset pushes the frame rate below 42 FPS. At 4K, even Low (40.9 FPS) is borderline, and Medium (27.3 FPS) is not recommended for fast-paced FPS action.

The Medium preset at 1080p (63.3 FPS) offers a balance between visual fidelity and performance, but the jump from Low to Medium costs 22 FPS, which may not justify the graphical improvements. High settings at 1080p (52.3 FPS) are playable but not ideal. Ultra should be avoided entirely, as it only achieves 39.6 FPS at 1080p and drops to 18.2 FPS at 4K. The data suggests the best experience is 1080p Low or Medium, depending on whether the user prioritizes frame rate or visuals. For competitive play, 1080p Low is the clear winner.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-limited nature of this combo. At Low settings, 1080p produces 85.3 FPS, 1440p produces 61.8 FPS, and 4K produces 40.9 FPS. This is a 44.4 FPS drop from 1080p to 4K, or a 52% reduction. At Medium settings, the decline is from 63.3 FPS (1080p) to 27.3 FPS (4K), a 36.0 FPS drop. At High settings, 1080p is 52.3 FPS and 4K is 27.8 FPS, a 24.5 FPS loss. At Ultra, the drop is from 39.6 FPS to 18.2 FPS, a 21.4 FPS decrease.

The scaling is not linear. The 1080p to 1440p transition costs roughly 23 FPS at Low (85.3 to 61.8), while the 1440p to 4K transition costs 20.9 FPS (61.8 to 40.9). This indicates the GPU's fill rate is exhausted early, and the diminishing returns at higher resolutions suggest the card is hitting a hard compute limit. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain flat across resolutions, but the data shows a steep decline. The RX 580's 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate is the likely culprit, as 4K requires 4 times the pixels of 1080p, and the card simply cannot rasterize fast enough. The 8 GB VRAM is not exceeded, but the bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s becomes insufficient at 4K, causing the frame rate to collapse.