Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i5-14600K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The measured framerates for this combination reveal a system that is dramatically overqualified for the task at hand, yet still exhibits interesting scaling behavior that tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p Low settings, this pairing produces 337.7 FPS, a figure so high that it suggests the CPU is the primary constraint at lower resolutions. The Intel Core i5-14600K, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, boosts to 5.30 GHz, while the RTX 5090 operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost of 2407 MHz. The data shows a system that can push well beyond typical display refresh rates, but the scaling pattern across resolutions and settings reveals nuances worth investigating.

Resolution Scaling

The framerate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but not uniform across all settings. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p (337.7 FPS) to 1440p (277.9 FPS) represents a 17.7% reduction, while moving to 4K (181.6 FPS) costs another 34.7% from the 1440p figure. This progressive decline indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as pixel count rises, which is expected given the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth.

For High settings, the scaling is more aggressive: 236.5 FPS at 1080p drops to 172.8 FPS at 1440p (a 26.9% reduction), then to 111.4 FPS at 4K (another 35.5% cut). The proportional loss from 1440p to 4K is remarkably consistent across Low and High settings, suggesting the GPU's compute throughput is the limiting factor in that resolution range. At Ultra settings, 1080p produces 175.9 FPS, 1440p yields 131.7 FPS, and 4K falls to 82.7 FPS—still very playable, but the 4K figure represents less than half the performance of 1080p Low.

The interesting anomaly appears in Medium settings: 273.8 FPS at 1080p, 201.2 FPS at 1440p, and 129.9 FPS at 4K. The 1440p-to-4K drop is 35.4%, nearly identical to the other settings, but the 1080p-to-1440p decline of 26.5% is steeper than Low's 17.7%. This suggests that at Medium settings, the CPU headroom that allows 1080p to run at 273.8 FPS is not fully exploited at 1440p, hinting that the i5-14600K's single-thread performance—evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642—starts to matter less as GPU load increases.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090's specifications paint a picture of a GPU that should never be the bottleneck in this game, yet the resolution scaling proves otherwise. With 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, the card delivers 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The 32 GB VRAM at 1750 MHz memory clock (28 Gbps effective) across a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. These figures place the GPU in the 94th percentile of all GPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 84,306.

The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system drops to 82.7 FPS, which is the lowest figure in the entire measured set. This indicates that even a GPU with this massive memory bandwidth can be pushed hard by Lockdown Protocol's Ultra preset at 4K. The delta between 4K Low (181.6 FPS) and 4K Ultra (82.7 FPS) is a 54.5% performance penalty, which is substantial. The GPU's nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks is the RTX 5090 D with an average score of 84,241 (0.1% delta), followed by the RTX 5050 Mobile at 84,171 (0.2% delta)—a curious grouping that suggests these benchmark scores may not fully capture gaming performance differences.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 11th out of 1,637 tested combos for Lockdown Protocol. Being in the top 0.7% of all tested configurations is an extraordinary result, but the ranking also implies that there are 10 combinations that perform better in this specific game. The data does not specify what those superior combos are, but given the CPU's percentile ranking of 93 against all CPUs and the GPU's 94th percentile standing, the limiting factor is likely the CPU.

The i5-14600K's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (0.2% higher average score), the Intel Core i5-14600KF (0.4% lower), and the AMD EPYC 4345P (0.9% lower). These very small deltas indicate that the CPU is performing at the expected level for its class. The fact that a 14-core, 20-thread processor with a 5.30 GHz boost clock still cannot push the RTX 5090 to its absolute limits at 1080p Low suggests that Lockdown Protocol may have a single-threaded bottleneck despite being an FPS title.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average framerate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 337.7 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 277.9 FPS at 2560x1440 and 181.6 FPS at 3840x2160 under the same settings.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra experience compare to 1080p Low?

A: The 4K Ultra preset delivers 82.7 FPS, which is 24.5% of the 1080p Low performance. The gap between these two extremes is 255 FPS, indicating a massive range of visual settings to performance trade-offs.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No. The framerates at 1080p (236.5 to 337.7 FPS depending on settings) are so high that the CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads are likely the constraint. The GPU's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are not being fully utilized at this resolution.

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

A: High settings produce 172.8 FPS at 2560x1440, while Ultra produces 131.7 FPS. This represents a 23.8% reduction in average framerate when moving from High to Ultra.

Q: How does this combo rank globally?

A: It ranks 11th out of 1,637 tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 0.7% of all tested configurations.

Q: What does the Medium preset offer at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average framerate is 129.9 FPS. This is 16.6% higher than High settings at the same resolution, which produces 111.4 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and its PCIe Gen 5 implementation provides 16 lanes. The processor's synthetic benchmarks include a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32,881 and a single-core score of 4,642, with a Geekbench multicore result of 15,846.

The CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the 1080p scaling. At Low settings, the system achieves 337.7 FPS, but increasing to Medium only drops to 273.8 FPS—a smaller relative penalty than at higher resolutions. This pattern suggests that the CPU's single-thread performance, represented by the Passmark single-thread score of 4,270, is sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p but begins to show limitations when framerates exceed roughly 200 FPS. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking against all CPUs indicates it is a strong performer, but the 10 combos ranked above this one in Lockdown Protocol likely feature more powerful processors.

The 125 W TDP and Socket 1700 compatibility make this a mainstream desktop part, but the data shows it is not the limiting component at 4K. At 4K Ultra, the system drops to 82.7 FPS, which is a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz provides the single-threaded headroom needed for high framerates, yet the 1080p Low result of 337.7 FPS suggests there is still a ceiling imposed by the processor's architecture.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for different priorities. For maximum framerate, 1080p Low delivers 337.7 FPS, which is far beyond any display's refresh rate. However, this sacrifices visual quality for performance that cannot be perceived. The Medium preset at 1080p (273.8 FPS) offers a better balance, still exceeding 240 FPS while likely providing improved visual fidelity.

For 1440p gaming, High settings at 172.8 FPS are the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors, as they maintain framerates above 165 FPS. Medium at 1440p (201.2 FPS) is also viable for 200 Hz displays, while Ultra (131.7 FPS) remains playable on 120 Hz panels. At 4K, High settings (111.4 FPS) provide the best balance for 120 Hz displays, with Medium (129.9 FPS) offering headroom for variable refresh rate monitors. Ultra at 4K (82.7 FPS) is the only preset that drops below 100 FPS, making it a choice for those prioritizing visual quality over smoothness.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average framerates are: Low 337.7 FPS, Medium 273.8 FPS, High 236.5 FPS, and Ultra 175.9 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 161.8 FPS, representing a 47.9% reduction at the highest preset.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 277.9 FPS, Medium 201.2 FPS, High 172.8 FPS, and Ultra 131.7 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 146.2 FPS, a 52.6% reduction. Compared to 1080p, every setting loses between 17.7% (Low) and 25.1% (Ultra) of its performance.

At 3840x2160, the framerates are: Low 181.6 FPS, Medium 129.9 FPS, High 111.4 FPS, and Ultra 82.7 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 98.9 FPS, a 54.5% reduction. The 4K results show that even at Low settings, the system maintains framerates above 180 FPS, which is exceptional for a game of this type. The progression from 1080p to 4K at each setting shows a consistent GPU-bound pattern, with the RTX 5090's 32 GB GDDR7 memory proving sufficient for all tested configurations.