Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 occupies the 1116th position out of 1637 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol. This places the combo in the lower-middle tier of the database, indicating that while it can run the game, it does not deliver top-tier performance. The ranking reflects a system that is more aligned with 1080p and 1440p gaming rather than high-refresh-rate 4K. The CPU’s strong synthetic scores, including a 93rd percentile ranking among all processors, suggest that the central processor is not the primary constraint in this pairing. Instead, the GPU’s 63rd percentile ranking among all graphics cards highlights a significant imbalance, with the graphics card likely limiting the overall frame rates in this FPS title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1116 out of 1637 tested configurations places it in the 68th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly a third of tested combos deliver higher performance. This is a mid-pack result for a game like Lockdown Protocol, which benefits from a balanced system. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 49166 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which scores 49062, a delta of just 0.2 percent. This indicates the i5-14600K is performing at the level of a high-end previous-generation processor, providing ample computational headroom. However, the GPU’s average benchmark score of 20258 is only 0.6 percent ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and 1.5 percent behind the Intel Arc B570, showing that the graphics card is a mid-range part that cannot fully exploit the CPU’s capabilities.

The data suggests that in Lockdown Protocol, the combination is CPU-bound at lower resolutions but becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution increases. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32881 and single-core score of 4642 are strong indicators of its ability to handle the game’s physics and AI calculations. Yet, the measured FPS at 1080p Ultra is 77.7, which is far below what the CPU could theoretically support, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor even at lower settings. The combo’s ranking improves relative to other systems when using lower settings, as the GPU’s workload decreases, but it never reaches the top tier due to the RX 7600’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 33 chip, featuring a base clock of 1720 MHz and a boost clock of 2655 MHz. The memory operates at 2250 MHz, translating to 18 Gbps effective speed across an 8 GB GDDR6 interface with a 128-bit bus. This configuration yields a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s, which is a critical factor in Lockdown Protocol’s performance. The GPU’s 2048 shading units and 32 ray accelerators are modest for modern FPS titles, and the 64 ROPs handle pixel output at a rate of 169.9 GPixel/s.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 35.7, which is below the playable threshold for a competitive FPS. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p textures, but at 4K, the memory capacity and bandwidth become limiting factors. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS is adequate for the game’s rendering demands, yet the measured results show that the 7600 cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K, even at Low settings where it averages 75.2 FPS. The card’s performance at 1440p is more reasonable, with High settings yielding 75.2 FPS, but this is still below the 144 Hz refresh rate that many FPS players target.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The combo ranks 1116th out of 1637 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of all tested systems.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 49166, which is 0.2 percent higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X’s score of 49062, indicating nearly identical synthetic performance.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking among all graphics cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks in the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20258, placing it in the mid-range category.

Q: At which resolution does the combo achieve its highest average FPS?

A: The highest average FPS is 158.5 at 1920x1080 with Low settings, while the lowest is 35.7 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the GPU’s performance compare to the RX 7600 XT?

A: The RX 7600 has an average benchmark score of 20258, which is 0.6 percent lower than the RX 7600 XT’s score of 20146, showing the XT variant is slightly faster.

Q: Does the combo perform better at 1080p or 1440p for High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the combo averages 99 FPS, while at 1440p High it averages 75.2 FPS, showing a 24 percent drop when moving to the higher resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol reveals a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results, with Low settings producing an average of 158.5 FPS, Medium at 116 FPS, High at 99 FPS, and Ultra at 77.7 FPS. These numbers indicate that the RX 7600 can handle 1080p gaming comfortably, even at higher settings, though the drop from Low to Ultra is 51 percent, showing the GPU’s sensitivity to graphical load.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS decreases across all settings. Low settings yield 116.6 FPS, Medium drops to 85.3 FPS, High to 75.2 FPS, and Ultra to 56.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 51 percent, similar to 1080p, but the absolute numbers are lower, indicating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are being strained. At 3840x2160, the performance falls off sharply, with Low averaging 75.2 FPS, Medium at 54.6 FPS, High at 50.1 FPS, and Ultra at 35.7 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is below 40 FPS, which is not ideal for a fast-paced FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern where the difference between Low and Medium settings is relatively small at each resolution, but the jump from High to Ultra is more significant. For instance, at 1440p, the difference between Low and Medium is 31.3 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is 18.4 FPS. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that heavily tax the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM, particularly at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K demonstrates how the GPU becomes the bottleneck as pixel count increases. At 1080p High, the combo averages 99 FPS, which drops to 75.2 FPS at 1440p High, a 24 percent reduction. Moving to 4K High, the average FPS falls to 50.1, which is a 49 percent reduction from 1440p and a 49 percent reduction from 1080p. This scaling pattern is typical for a mid-range GPU like the RX 7600, where the increase in pixel count directly impacts the fill rate and memory bandwidth.

At Low settings, the scaling is less severe but still pronounced. The average FPS at 1080p Low is 158.5, dropping to 116.6 at 1440p Low (26 percent reduction) and then to 75.2 at 4K Low (52 percent reduction from 1440p). The fact that the 4K Low result matches the 1440p High result (both at 75.2 FPS) is notable, indicating that resolution has a larger impact than settings on this GPU. This suggests that the 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are the primary limits, as lowering settings reduces compute load but does not alleviate the memory pressure.

For Ultra settings, the scaling is even steeper. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 77.7, dropping to 56.8 at 1440p Ultra (27 percent reduction) and then to 35.7 at 4K Ultra (37 percent reduction from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result is below 40 FPS, which is not suitable for competitive play. The data indicates that the combo is best used at 1080p, where it can achieve over 60 FPS at all settings, or at 1440p with Low or Medium settings. At 4K, the system is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the 75.2 FPS average is borderline for a smooth experience. The CPU’s strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642) ensures that the frame rates are not CPU-limited at any resolution, confirming that the GPU’s VRAM and bandwidth are the limiting factors in this configuration.