Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i5-14600KF + AMD Radeon RX 7600

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers a mid-range 1080p and 1440p experience in Lockdown Protocol, with 4K available only at reduced settings. The CPU sits in the 90th percentile of all processors tested, while the GPU ranks in the 57th percentile, indicating a system where the graphics card is the primary constraint at higher resolutions. Measured frame rates show a clear scaling pattern from 160 FPS at 1080p Low down to 35 FPS at 4K Ultra, with the combo ranking 2577th out of 3714 tested configurations in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a steep performance curve that shifts the bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU as pixel count increases. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 160 FPS, which drops to 117 FPS at 1440p Low and further to 76 FPS at 4K Low — a 47.5% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 52.5% reduction from 1440p to 4K at the same settings. This pattern indicates that even at Low settings, the RX 7600 becomes the limiting factor as resolution climbs, since the i5-14600KF with its 14 cores and 20 threads has ample headroom for frame generation at lower pixel counts.

Moving to Medium settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 30 FPS (113 to 83), and from 1440p to 4K is 29 FPS (83 to 54). The consistent absolute reduction across resolution steps suggests the GPU's memory bandwidth — 288.0 GB/s over a 128-bit bus — is being saturated progressively. At High settings, the scaling is nearly linear: 99 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p, and 47 FPS at 4K, with each resolution step costing roughly 25-26 FPS. This linearity indicates a purely GPU-bound scenario where the 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer and 2048 shading units are the determining factors.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic degradation: 74 FPS at 1080p drops to 54 FPS at 1440p (−20 FPS) and then to 35 FPS at 4K (−19 FPS). The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered playable, and even 1440p Ultra at 54 FPS is marginal. The scaling data suggests that the RX 7600's 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 169.9 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient for high-fidelity rendering at 4K, while the CPU's strong single-thread performance — evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4594 — keeps 1080p results high across all settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 160 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next-best result is 117 FPS at 2560x1440 Low, indicating that Low settings at lower resolutions provide the highest performance ceiling.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: At 4K, the only setting that exceeds 60 FPS is Low, which averages 76 FPS. Medium averages 54 FPS, High averages 47 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS, so 60 FPS at 4K requires Low settings or a reduction to 1440p.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 7600's average benchmark score is 15171, placing it 0.2% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199) and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon 680M (15270). It is 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 560X (15082) and 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti (15063). The GPU sits in the 57th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-core performance relative to its nearest competitors?

A: The i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49394, which is 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228) and 0.4% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196). It is 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48995) but 0.8% behind the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 (49796).

Q: What is the frame time consistency at Medium settings?

A: The measured FPS range at Medium settings shows a spread of 34 FPS at 1080p (96 to 130), 25 FPS at 1440p (71 to 96), and 16 FPS at 4K (46 to 62). The narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests more consistent frame pacing when the GPU is more heavily loaded.

Q: Does the combo rank favorably among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2577th out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the lower third of all configurations. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range position (57th percentile) dragging down what is otherwise a top-tier CPU (90th percentile).

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium settings as the optimal balance for most users, particularly at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 113 FPS average with a 96-130 FPS range, which comfortably exceeds the refresh rate of standard 60 Hz and 100 Hz monitors while maintaining visual quality above Low. At 1440p Medium, the 83 FPS average with a 71-96 FPS range remains playable on 60 Hz displays and offers a substantial visual upgrade over Low settings, which achieve 117 FPS but with reduced detail.

For competitive play where frame rate is paramount, 1080p Low at 160 FPS is the clear choice, as it maximizes responsiveness and minimizes input latency. The 117 FPS at 1440p Low also provides a strong competitive option for users with higher-resolution monitors who prioritize speed over fidelity. However, the jump from Low to Medium at 1440p costs 34 FPS (117 to 83), which is a significant trade-off that may not be worth it for esports-focused players.

High settings present a less compelling case: 99 FPS at 1080p and 73 FPS at 1440p are playable, but the incremental visual gains over Medium — which costs only 14 FPS at 1080p (113 vs. 99) and 10 FPS at 1440p (83 vs. 73) — may not justify the performance hit for most users. Ultra settings should be avoided at 1440p and 4K, as the 54 FPS and 35 FPS results respectively fall below smooth-playability thresholds. At 1080p Ultra, the 74 FPS average is acceptable for slower-paced play, but the 39 FPS penalty over Medium is substantial.

Based on the measured rows, the recommended configuration is 1440p Medium for a balanced experience, or 1080p Medium for users prioritizing higher frame rates with good visuals. The 4K Low setting at 76 FPS is viable for users with 4K displays who are willing to accept minimum graphical detail.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2577 out of 3714 tested configurations places it in the 30.6th percentile of all tested combos for Lockdown Protocol. This is notably lower than what the CPU's individual standing might suggest — the i5-14600KF is in the 90th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 49394, while the RX 7600 sits in the 57th percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 15171. The discrepancy between the CPU's elite standing and the combo's below-average ranking indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor in determining this system's position in the game's performance hierarchy.

The ranking becomes more understandable when examining the GPU's nearest rivals. The RX 7600's average score of 15171 is within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon 680M (15270) and 0.6% of the AMD Radeon Pro 560X (15082), showing that the graphics card is competitive with mid-range options but far from top-tier. In contrast, the CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, scores 49228 — only 0.3% lower — indicating that the processor is operating near the upper echelon of desktop CPUs.

The practical implication is that users of this combo are CPU-rich but GPU-constrained in Lockdown Protocol. The 14-core, 20-thread processor provides more than enough compute headroom, as evidenced by the high 1080p frame rates, but the RX 7600's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface limit performance scaling at higher resolutions. Upgrading the GPU would likely move the combo significantly higher in the rankings, while upgrading the CPU would yield minimal gains in this title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 33 chip, is the primary performance limiter in this configuration. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves insufficient for maintaining high frame rates at 4K Ultra — the measured 35 FPS result is the lowest in the entire dataset. The memory configuration also explains the steep scaling from 1080p to 4K, as the bandwidth requirement increases with resolution and the 128-bit bus becomes a bottleneck.

The GPU's clock speeds — 1720 MHz base, 2250 MHz game, and 2655 MHz boost — allow for strong performance at lower resolutions. The 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 339.8 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, as demonstrated by the 160 FPS and 117 FPS results at Low settings respectively. However, the 64 ROPs and 169.9 GPixel/s pixel rate cap fill-rate performance at higher resolutions, contributing to the dramatic frame rate drops observed at 4K.

The GPU's 57th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15171, places it in the middle of the performance spectrum. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, scores 15199 (0.2% higher), suggesting near-parity with that card, while the integrated AMD Radeon 680M at 15270 (0.7% higher) is surprisingly competitive. The passmark scores further illustrate the GPU's characteristics: a G3D score of 16634, a DirectX 12 score of 58, and a GPU compute score of 8790, indicating solid rasterization performance but less impressive compute throughput.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for 1080p and 1440p at all settings, but 4K Ultra may exceed comfortable memory usage, contributing to the 35 FPS result. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2310 provides a baseline for modern API performance, while the Geekbench Vulkan score of 34401 suggests reasonable driver overhead characteristics for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 160 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 113 FPS with a range of 96 to 130 FPS, while High settings average 99 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 74 FPS average. The progression shows a 47 FPS difference between Low and Medium, a 14 FPS difference between Medium and High, and a 25 FPS difference between High and Ultra, totaling an 86 FPS spread from lowest to highest settings.

At 2560x1440, all settings see significant reductions. Low settings average 117 FPS, a 43 FPS drop from 1080p. Medium settings average 83 FPS (range: 71-96), High settings average 73 FPS, and Ultra settings average 54 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 63 FPS, with the largest single-step drop being 34 FPS between Low and Medium. The 1440p results indicate that the system remains playable at all settings except Ultra, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, performance diminishes substantially. Low settings average 76 FPS, which is the only 4K setting above 60 FPS. Medium settings average 54 FPS (range: 46-62), High settings average 47 FPS, and Ultra settings average 35 FPS. The 4K results show a 41 FPS spread from Low to Ultra, but the absolute values are low enough that only Low settings provide a consistently smooth experience. The Medium setting's minimum of 46 FPS indicates potential frame drops below playability thresholds.

Comparing across resolutions at each setting, the largest proportional drop occurs between 1440p and 4K at Low settings (117 to 76 FPS, a 35% reduction), while the smallest proportional drop is between 1080p and 1440p at Ultra settings (74 to 54 FPS, a 27% reduction). This pattern suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth becomes increasingly constrained as resolution rises, with the effect most pronounced at lower settings where the CPU is less of a factor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF, a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Raptor Lake-R architecture, provides exceptional compute headroom for Lockdown Protocol. With a boost clock of 5.30 GHz and a base clock of 3.50 GHz, the CPU's single-thread performance is outstanding, as reflected in its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4594 and Geekbench single-core score of 2445. This strong single-thread capability is crucial for FPS games, which often rely on one or two primary threads for game logic and physics.

The CPU's multi-core performance is equally impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544, a Geekbench multi-core score of 17085, and a Passmark multithread score of 38697. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample fast storage for game assets and instructions, reducing memory latency. The 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49394, places this processor near the top of the desktop market, just 0.8% behind the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 (49796) and 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228).

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's influence is most evident at 1080p, where the 160 FPS Low result demonstrates that the processor can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them. The 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier allow for sustained performance, though the 10 nm process node and 257 mm² die size indicate a power-hungry design. The CPU's support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory, along with PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes, provides flexible platform options, though the memory bus is dual-channel, which may limit bandwidth in memory-intensive scenes.

The benchmark data shows the CPU's strengths in specific workloads: a Passmark integer math score of 125982, floating-point math of 93048, and data encryption of 27608. These scores suggest that the CPU handles complex game logic and AI computations efficiently, which is relevant for Lockdown Protocol's FPS gameplay. However, the GPU's constraints at 4K mean that the CPU's capabilities are underutilized at higher resolutions, where the RX 7600 becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p, the CPU's performance headroom means that users could potentially upgrade the GPU without experiencing CPU-induced bottlenecks, as the processor's 20 threads and high clock speeds provide substantial margin for higher-end graphics cards.