Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a 2024 FPS that stresses the Intel Core i5-14600KF and Intel Arc B390 combination in a way that clearly separates CPU and GPU responsibilities. The measured FPS data, taken across three resolutions and four settings presets, shows a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics side at higher loads, while the processor’s 14 cores and 20 threads provide ample headroom. The Arc B390, operating with system-shared memory and a 3 nm Panther Lake chip, produces playable frame rates only at the lowest settings and lower resolutions, making this pairing a study in bottleneck behavior rather than balanced performance.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component in this combo. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 88 FPS at 1920x1080 to 65 FPS at 2560x1440, a decline of 23 FPS, and then to 42 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a 52% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This pattern is not gradual; it accelerates as resolution climbs, which is typical for a GPU that is running out of fillrate and memory bandwidth. The Arc B390’s 24 ROPs and 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate are modest figures, and the system-shared memory bandwidth, listed as “System Dependent,” cannot keep up with the doubling of pixel count from 1440p to 4K.

At Medium settings, the same trend appears with a tighter spread. The average FPS goes from 63 at 1080p to 46 at 1440p, then drops to 30 at 4K. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 25, which is below the threshold for comfortable play, while the maximum of 34 FPS shows that even the best-case scenario is weak. The High preset shows 55 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. The jump from 1080p to 1440p costs 15 FPS, but the jump from 1440p to 4K costs only 14 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is already so saturated that the additional resolution has diminishing returns on the frame rate difference.

Ultra settings are the most punishing. The average FPS is 41 at 1080p, 30 at 1440p, and 19 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is nearly unplayable, and even the 1080p Ultra average of 41 FPS is below what most FPS players would tolerate. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 54% drop, which is slightly larger than the Low preset’s 52% drop, indicating that the higher settings amplify the GPU’s workload faster than the resolution increase alone. The data suggests that the Arc B390’s 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is simply insufficient for 4K rendering in this title, regardless of the CPU’s capabilities.

The fact that the 1080p Low result of 88 FPS is the only measured value above 60 FPS across the entire table reinforces the idea that resolution scaling is the primary constraint. The CPU, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz and a PassMark single-thread score of 4273, is not the bottleneck here; if it were, we would see smaller FPS differences between resolutions as the GPU workload increased. Instead, the FPS collapses under resolution pressure, which is a clear indicator that the iGPU (the Arc B390 is an integrated graphics part with a bus interface of IGP) is the weak link.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF brings substantial processing power to this pairing, but Lockdown Protocol’s measured results show that the CPU’s role is mostly to avoid becoming a limiting factor. With 14 cores, 20 threads, and a base clock of 3.50 GHz that boosts to 5.30 GHz, this Raptor Lake-R chip has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544 and a single-core score of 4594. Those numbers place it in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49394. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 at 49228 (0.3% ahead) and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 at 49796 (0.8% behind), showing that the 14600KF is competitive with high-end desktop and mobile parts.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache are more than enough for the game’s logic and physics, which do not appear to scale with resolution. The FPS differences across resolutions at the same settings are entirely attributable to the GPU, as the CPU can feed frames far faster than the Arc B390 can render them. For example, at 1080p Low, the combo hits 88 FPS, but at 4K Low it falls to 42 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the 4K result would be closer to the 1080p result, since the CPU workload per frame does not increase with resolution. Instead, the GPU’s fillrate limits the output.

The CPU’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2445 and a PassMark single-thread score of 4273, is relevant for an FPS game where game logic and draw call submission often rely on one or two threads. Lockdown Protocol appears to benefit from this, as the 1080p Low result of 88 FPS is respectable, but the GPU caps it. The CPU’s 20 threads and 14 cores also handle background tasks and the game’s multi-threaded aspects without issue, but there is no measured FPS data that shows the CPU being pushed to its limits. The benchmark results indicate that the 14600KF has a PassMark multithread score of 38697 and a PassMark physics score of 2449, which are strong, but they do not translate into higher frame rates once the GPU is saturated.

The data suggests that this CPU is overqualified for the Arc B390. The combo rank of 2512 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol is poor, but that ranking is dragged down by the GPU, not the CPU. The 14600KF’s nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks are all within 0.8% of its average score, meaning that swapping to any of those chips would likely produce nearly identical FPS results in this game, since the Arc B390 would still be the limiting factor. The CPU’s role here is to ensure that there is no additional penalty on top of the GPU’s limitations, and it succeeds in that regard.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the only setting preset that delivers a consistently playable experience is Low, and only at 1080p or 1440p. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 88, which is smooth and leaves headroom for competitive play. At 1440p Low, the average drops to 65 FPS, which is still acceptable for most FPS players, though it is less ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS, which is playable but with occasional dips. At 1440p Medium, the average falls to 46 FPS, and the minimum of 39 FPS is borderline. For a game like Lockdown Protocol, where reaction time matters, the Low preset at 1080p is the clear recommendation.

The High preset at 1080p averages 55 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and will be noticeable in fast-paced scenes. At 1440p High, the average drops to 40 FPS, and at 4K High, it falls to 26 FPS, which is not viable. The Ultra preset is the worst option: 41 FPS at 1080p, 30 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS values are only recorded for the Medium preset, with 53 FPS at 1080p, 39 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K. These minima suggest that Medium has frame-time spikes, but the Low preset, which lacks recorded minima, likely has more stable performance given its higher averages.

The data shows a clear trade-off: moving from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 25 FPS on average (88 to 63), while moving from Medium to High costs only 8 FPS (63 to 55). The jump from High to Ultra costs 14 FPS (55 to 41). This non-linear scaling means that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate for those who want more than Low, but only at 1080p. At 1440p, the Low preset is the only one that stays above 60 FPS, and at 4K, no preset reaches 45 FPS, with Low being the only one above 30 FPS at 42 FPS. Therefore, the recommendation is to run Low at 1080p for competitive play, or Low at 1440p if the user prioritizes resolution over frame rate. The Medium preset at 1080p is a secondary option for those who want better visuals and can tolerate a 63 FPS average.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600KF and Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 2512 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the bottom 11% of all pairings. This rank is a direct reflection of the Arc B390’s performance, as the CPU is in the 90th percentile of all processors. The combo’s poor standing is driven by the GPU’s 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482. The Arc B390’s nearest GPU rivals are all older, low-end parts: the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX at 1463 (1.3% higher score), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M at 1460 (1.5% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1446 (2.5% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 at 1443 (2.7% higher). This means the Arc B390 is roughly on par with a decade-old entry-level discrete GPU, which explains why the combo ranks so low.

The combo rank of 2512 is not a measure of CPU quality; it is a measure of the system’s overall gaming capability. In Lockdown Protocol, the measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low, the combo only achieves 88 FPS, which is far below what a high-end CPU like the 14600KF could support if paired with a stronger GPU. The CPU’s Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 13668 and single-core score of 1929 are excellent, but they have no bearing on the combo rank when the GPU is the bottleneck. The rank suggests that 2817 other combos in the database deliver better performance in this game, and the vast majority of those likely have more powerful graphics solutions.

The deltaPct values for the GPU’s nearest rivals show that the Arc B390 is not alone in its performance tier, but those rivals are all ancient parts. The 14600KF’s nearest CPU rivals, by contrast, are modern chips like the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and Intel Core Ultra 5 245, with deltaPct values of 0.3% and 0.8% respectively. This contrast highlights the mismatch in this combo: a top-tier CPU paired with a bottom-tier GPU. The combo rank of 2512 is a warning to users that this pairing will not deliver competitive frame rates in Lockdown Protocol, regardless of the CPU’s capabilities. The data is measured, not estimated, so the 26 FPS average at 4K High and 19 FPS at 4K Ultra are concrete evidence of the GPU’s limitations.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the dominant factor in this combo’s performance, and its specifications explain why. This is an integrated graphics part with a bus interface of IGP, using a Panther Lake chip on a 3 nm process. It has 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, with 12 ray tracing cores. The base clock is 300 MHz, boosting to 2500 MHz, which yields a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, and the memory is system-shared, meaning there is no dedicated VRAM; the bandwidth is “System Dependent.” This is a critical weakness for Lockdown Protocol, as the game’s textures and framebuffer must compete with the CPU for system memory bandwidth.

The GPU’s benchmark score is a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result of 1482, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all discrete GPUs from the early 2010s, such as the GeForce GT 710 and GT 520MX, which have similar scores. The 80 W TDP and lack of power connectors confirm that this is a low-power, efficiency-focused part, not a performance part. In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU’s role is to render frames, and it clearly cannot do so at high resolutions or settings. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 88, but at 1080p Ultra it drops to 41, showing that the shading units and ROPs are overwhelmed by higher quality presets.

The memory situation is particularly telling. With system-shared memory, the Arc B390 has no dedicated bandwidth figure, and the “System Dependent” label means that the FPS can vary based on the CPU’s memory controller and system RAM configuration. In this test with the 14600KF, which supports dual-channel DDR4 or DDR5, the memory bandwidth is likely sufficient for 1080p Low, but it becomes a bottleneck at 4K. The 4K Low average of 42 FPS versus the 1080p Low average of 88 FPS is a 46 FPS difference, which is largely due to the shared memory struggling to feed the GPU’s 24 ROPs at higher pixel counts. The GPU’s 12 ray tracing cores are not reflected in any measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol, suggesting that ray tracing is either not enabled or not a factor in these results.

The GPU’s boost clock of 2500 MHz is high for an integrated part, but the low ROP count and limited memory bandwidth cap its real-world performance. The 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 figure is comparable to a low-end discrete GPU, but the lack of dedicated VRAM means that texture loading and frame buffering are slower. The data shows that the GPU is the sole reason for the combo’s low rank and poor FPS at higher settings. If the GPU were replaced with a stronger part, the CPU could likely push much higher frame rates, but with the Arc B390, the system is firmly entry-level.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS values provides a detailed picture of this combo’s performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 41 at Ultra to 88 at Low. The Medium preset averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS, while the High preset averages 55 FPS with no recorded minimum or maximum. The Low preset at 88 FPS is the only result above 80 FPS in the entire dataset. At 2560x1440, the averages are 65 FPS for Low, 46 FPS for Medium (with a minimum of 39 and maximum of 53), 40 FPS for High, and 30 FPS for Ultra. The 1440p Low result of 65 FPS is the second-highest average in the table, but it is 23 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result, showing the resolution penalty.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 42 FPS for Low, 30 FPS for Medium (with a minimum of 25 and maximum of 34), 26 FPS for High, and 19 FPS for Ultra. The 4K Medium minimum of 25 FPS is the lowest recorded value in the entire dataset, and it is barely above stutter territory. The 4K Ultra average of 19 FPS is effectively unplayable, and even the 4K Low average of 42 FPS is below the 60 FPS target for competitive FPS play. The data shows a consistent pattern: every settings preset loses roughly 20-30 FPS when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 15-20 FPS when moving from 1440p to 4K. The only exception is the Low preset, which loses 23 FPS from 1080p to 1440p and 23 FPS from 1440p to 4K, showing a linear decline that suggests the GPU is equally stressed at each resolution step.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data, and it shows that the FPS range narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p Medium, the range is 53-72 FPS (a 19 FPS spread), at 1440p Medium it is 39-53 FPS (a 14 FPS spread), and at 4K Medium it is 25-34 FPS (a 9 FPS spread). This narrowing indicates that the GPU becomes more consistently bottlenecked at higher resolutions, leaving less variance for the CPU to influence. The High and Ultra presets lack min/max data, but their averages suggest similar behavior. The 1080p High average of 55 FPS is close to the 1440p Low average of 65 FPS, meaning that users can trade resolution and settings to achieve similar frame rates. The data supports the conclusion that this combo is best used at 1080p Low, with 1440p Low as a viable alternative for those who prefer higher resolution over frame rate.