Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is an early-access FPS that stresses the CPU-GPU balance in a very specific way. The measured data for the Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT shows a system that is capable of high refresh rates at mainstream resolutions but begins to lose steam as pixel count climbs. This analysis breaks down the performance characteristics across resolutions, settings, and component roles, using only the measured benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are steep and consistent, revealing a system that becomes GPU-bound at higher resolutions but is comparatively free at 1080p. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 104 at 1920x1080 to 76 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 28 frames. Pushing further to 3840x2160 yields an average of 49 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p figure. This pattern is typical of a GPU that has a 128-bit memory bus and a moderate shader count; the 16 GB frame buffer is ample, but the raw throughput of 288.0 GB/s becomes a bottleneck for pixel fill at 4K.

The scaling on Low settings is even more telling. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 167 FPS average. At 1440p Low, it drops to 123 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls to 79 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 1440p Low is 44 FPS, which is a larger absolute drop than the 28 FPS drop seen at High settings across the same resolutions. This indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is capable of feeding more frames, but the GPU's pixel rate of 176.3 GPixel/s becomes the limiting factor sooner. The fact that 4K Low (79 FPS) still beats 4K High (49 FPS) by 30 FPS shows that the game's quality presets have a massive impact on the GPU workload.

The Medium preset provides the only complete frame time data. At 1080p Medium, the average is 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 and a maximum of 136. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 100. At 4K Medium, the average is 56 FPS with a minimum of 48 and a maximum of 65. The minimum frame rates scale proportionally with the averages, suggesting no sudden stutter or CPU-related hitches at higher resolutions; the frame pacing remains consistent even as the GPU load increases. The 4K Medium minimum of 48 FPS is just below the 4K High average of 49 FPS, meaning that High settings at 4K will frequently dip into the 40s, while Medium keeps things more stable.

Ultra settings are the most punishing. The average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 78, at 1440p Ultra it is 57, and at 4K Ultra it is 37. This last figure is barely playable for a fast-paced FPS, and the data shows that the Ultra preset is not viable at 4K for this combination. The gap between 1080p High (104 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (78 FPS) is 26 FPS, which is a significant cost for what is typically a marginal visual improvement in shadows and post-processing. The system is clearly not CPU-limited at any resolution in this title; the consistent frame rate hierarchy across all settings points squarely at the Radeon RX 7600 XT as the component that determines the ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested configurations for Lockdown Protocol, this specific pairing sits at rank 2360 out of 3714 total combos. That places it in the lower half of all tested systems, which is surprising given the individual component specs. The combo's percentile is approximately 63.5% (rank 2360 / 3714), meaning that roughly 36% of tested combinations perform worse. This rank suggests that while the CPU is strong, the GPU holds the overall system back in this specific title.

The CPU itself is in the 90th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49394. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, which scores 49228 (a 0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G at 49196 (0.4% delta). The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 trails slightly at 48995 (0.8% delta). The fact that the CPU is ranked so high while the combo is ranked so low confirms that the graphics card is the limiting factor. The GPU sits in the 60th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17083. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 at 17037 (0.3% delta) and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M at 17019 (0.4% delta). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is 0.7% ahead at 17208, which is a notable comparison given that the RTX 3070 is an older card with less VRAM.

The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's middling rank is the key takeaway. The i5-14600KF is performing as expected for a 14-core, 20-thread part, but the RX 7600 XT is not able to translate that processing power into top-tier frame rates in Lockdown Protocol. The data shows that many combos with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs will outperform this pairing. For a builder prioritizing this game, the ranking implies that the money could have been shifted from the CPU to a higher-tier GPU without sacrificing CPU headroom.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 33 chip, manufactured on a 6 nm process by TSMC. It has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. The boost clock is listed at 2755 MHz, with a game clock of 2470 MHz. The memory subsystem consists of 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. This bandwidth is the critical limitation in Lockdown Protocol at higher resolutions, as the 4K frame rates drop significantly below the 1440p figures.

The GPU's measured performance in standard benchmarks shows a mixed picture. Its Passmark G3D score is 17132, which places it in the 60th percentile. However, its DirectX 12 score is only 65, while its DirectX 11 score is 167 and DirectX 9 is 228. These low DirectX 12 numbers are unusual and suggest that the card's architectural strengths are not being fully utilized in synthetic tests, though the game's real-world results are more relevant. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2348 is a more modern measure and reflects the card's actual gaming capability.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's VRAM capacity is not the issue; 16 GB is more than enough for any current title at 4K. The problem is the 128-bit memory interface. The data shows that at 1080p, the card is able to maintain high frame rates across all settings, with the Low preset hitting 167 FPS. This indicates that the shader cores and clocks are sufficient for the workload. But as resolution increases, the memory bandwidth becomes the wall. The texture rate of 352.6 GTexel/s is respectable, but the pixel rate of 176.3 GPixel/s is what limits 4K output. The fact that 4K Low (79 FPS) is slower than 1080p Ultra (78 FPS) by only 1 FPS is a striking indicator that the pixel fill rate is the dominant constraint, not the settings complexity.

The GPU's boost clock of 2755 MHz is high, and the card maintains it well, as evidenced by the consistent frame times at Medium settings. However, the performance gap between the RX 7600 XT and its nearest rival, the RTX 3070, which is 0.7% faster on average, shows that it is not a top-tier 4K card. It is a capable 1080p and 1440p card that can handle 4K only at lower presets. The 190 W TDP and 450 W suggested PSU are modest, but the performance ceiling is what it is.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the sweet spot. At High settings, it averages 104 FPS, and at Low settings, it reaches 167 FPS. At 2560x1440, the High preset drops to 76 FPS, which is still playable but requires compromises. 3840x2160 is only viable at Low settings, where it averages 79 FPS.

Q: How much VRAM does the RX 7600 XT have, and does it matter for this game?

A: The card has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. In Lockdown Protocol, the data does not suggest any VRAM-related stutters or issues, even at 4K Ultra. The memory capacity is not a limiting factor; the 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is the constraint at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600KF bottlenecking the RX 7600 XT?

A: No. The CPU is in the 90th percentile against all CPUs, and its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, is only 0.3% faster on average. The combo's rank of 2360 out of 3714 is driven by the GPU, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings, which is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 123 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 57 FPS. That is a 66 FPS difference, or more than half the frame rate, for the visual quality bump. The Medium preset sits between them at 87 FPS.

Q: How does this combo compare to one with an RTX 3070?

A: The RX 7600 XT's average benchmark score is 17083, while the RTX 3070 scores 17208, which is 0.7% higher. In practical terms, this means the RTX 3070 is marginally faster on average, but the RX 7600 XT has 16 GB of VRAM compared to the RTX 3070's 8 GB, which could be relevant in other titles.

Q: Can this system run Lockdown Protocol at 4K 60 FPS?

A: At 4K Low, it averages 79 FPS, so yes. At 4K Medium, it averages 56 FPS, which is below 60. At 4K High, it averages 49 FPS, and at Ultra, 37 FPS. To maintain 60 FPS at 4K, you must use the Low preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Raptor Lake Refresh generation, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It has 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's benchmark scores are strong: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544 and a single-core score of 4594. In Geekbench, it scores 17085 multi-core and 2445 single-core. These numbers place it in the 90th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49394.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the system achieves 167 FPS. This is a high frame rate that suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor. If the CPU were struggling, we would expect to see the 1080p Low frame rate to be closer to the 1440p Low frame rate, but the 44 FPS difference between them shows the GPU is still the primary constraint even at the lowest settings. The CPU's high single-thread performance, as evidenced by the 4594 Cinebench R23 single-core score, is likely what keeps the minimum frame rates stable at Medium settings, where the 1080p minimum is 101 FPS and the 1440p minimum is 74 FPS.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier make it a flexible part for overclocking, but the data does not suggest that overclocking would significantly improve Lockdown Protocol performance. The nearest CPU rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, is only 0.3% faster on average, which is within the margin of error. The i5-14600KF is a top-tier gaming CPU, and its performance in this title is more than sufficient. The bottleneck is entirely on the GPU side, and a builder would see far more benefit from upgrading the graphics card than from any CPU tweaks.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of settings for this combo. The goal is to find the preset that maximizes frame rate while maintaining playability, and the choice depends heavily on the target resolution.

For 1920x1080, the High preset is the best balance. It averages 104 FPS, which is smooth for an FPS, and the jump to Ultra only costs 26 FPS (down to 78) for what is often a minor visual gain. The Low preset at 167 FPS is overkill for most monitors and sacrifices visual quality unnecessarily. Medium at 119 FPS is a viable alternative if you want extra headroom, but High is the sweet spot.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 87 FPS is the recommended choice. The High preset drops to 76 FPS, which is still playable, but the Medium preset's minimum of 74 FPS provides a more consistent experience. The Low preset at 123 FPS is excellent for competitive play, but it looks noticeably worse. The Ultra preset at 57 FPS is too close to the edge for a fast-paced game, and the 30 FPS drop from High to Ultra is not justified.

For 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only option that maintains a playable frame rate. It averages 79 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 56 FPS is borderline, and the High preset at 49 FPS is not recommended. The Ultra preset at 37 FPS is effectively unplayable for a shooter. If you must play at 4K, accept the Low preset, as the 30 FPS difference between Low and Medium is not worth the visual upgrade.

In summary, the data suggests using High at 1080p, Medium at 1440p, and Low at 4K. These presets provide the best compromise between visual fidelity and frame rate, based on the measured averages and minimums. The system is not capable of running Ultra at any resolution without dropping below 60 FPS, so that preset should be avoided entirely unless you are playing a slower game mode.