Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i7-12700K + AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

This combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Lockdown Protocol, with the data showing a clear GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions and settings. The measured results place this combo at rank 460 out of 3714 tested configurations, putting it in the top 12.4% of all tested combos — a strong showing for a 1440p and 4K gaming setup. The FPS numbers across all resolutions and settings presets indicate that this pairing is capable of driving competitive frame rates, though the scaling behavior reveals important nuances about where the bottleneck shifts.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are steep and consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting component as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 304 FPS at 1920x1080 to 223 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 26.6% reduction — and then further to 144 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a cumulative 52.6% drop from 1080p to 4K. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a system where the graphics card is doing the heavy lifting, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom even at the lowest settings.

At High settings, the scaling is slightly more pronounced: 188 FPS at 1080p drops to 138 FPS at 1440p (a 26.6% reduction) and then to 89 FPS at 4K (a 52.7% total drop). The Medium preset follows a similar trajectory, with 216 FPS at 1080p falling to 158 FPS at 1440p (26.9% reduction) and 102 FPS at 4K (52.8% total). The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, going from 141 FPS at 1080p to 103 FPS at 1440p (26.9% reduction) and 67 FPS at 4K (52.5% total).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four settings presets is telling. Regardless of whether the game is running at Low or Ultra, the resolution scaling penalty is nearly identical, which strongly suggests that the RX 7900 XTX's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint as pixel count increases. The 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on the GPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution, as even the 4K Ultra preset maintains playable frame rates. The data indicates that for players targeting 4K, the GPU is working near its limits, while at 1080p the frame rates are so high (141-304 FPS depending on settings) that the CPU's role becomes more significant.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the observed performance characteristics. With 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has ample resources for Lockdown Protocol at any resolution. The boost clock of 2498 MHz and game clock of 2365 MHz, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with 6144 shading units, provide the raw compute power needed for the high frame rates seen in the measurements.

The GPU's 64th percentile ranking among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 19410, places it in the upper-middle tier of graphics cards. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB (0.4% higher score), NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (1% lower), AMD FirePro D300 (1.2% lower), and NVIDIA TITAN Xp (1.2% higher) — though these comparisons are based on aggregate benchmark scores, not Lockdown Protocol-specific performance.

In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the GPU's role is clearly demonstrated by the 4K Ultra result of 67 FPS. This is the lowest measured frame rate in the entire dataset, and it represents the only scenario where the system dips below the 90 FPS threshold that many competitive FPS players consider acceptable. The 4K Medium result of 102 FPS with a minimum of 87 FPS and maximum of 117 FPS shows that the GPU can maintain playable frame rates at 4K when settings are moderated. The fact that 4K Low achieves 144 FPS — exactly double the 4K Ultra average — highlights how dramatically the GPU workload changes with settings, with the card having substantial headroom at lower presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K, with its 12 cores (20 threads) and boost clock of 5.00 GHz, provides the computational foundation for this system. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 35287, positions it as a strong performer. Its nearest rivals in the database are the Intel Core i5-13600T (0.1% lower score), Intel Core i7-12700KF (0.2% lower), Intel Core i7-13700T (0.3% lower), and Intel Core 5 213PE (0.4% lower) — showing that the 12700K sits at the top of its immediate performance cluster.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded capabilities, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19784 and a 3DMark max threads score of 9979. Single-threaded performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1850.5 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4013. In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role becomes most apparent at 1080p Low settings, where the system achieves 304 FPS — a frame rate so high that the CPU's ability to feed the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (304 to 223 FPS, a 26.6% drop) is slightly less than the drop from 1440p to 4K (223 to 144 FPS, a 35.4% drop), suggesting that at 1080p the CPU is beginning to constrain performance. At 4K, the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient, as the GPU workload dominates. The L3 cache of 25 MB shared, along with 1.25 MB L2 per core and 80 KB L1 per core, provides the memory hierarchy needed for the game's data access patterns. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the specific memory configuration was not part of the measured data.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX ranks 460th out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 12.4% of all configurations. This ranking is particularly notable because the GPU's individual percentile ranking (64th) is lower than the CPU's (84th), yet the combo still achieves a top-tier position — indicating that the pairing works synergistically in this game.

The combo's rank suggests that it outperforms many combinations featuring individually higher-ranked components, likely due to the balanced nature of this pairing. The CPU's strong single-threaded performance (Passmark single-thread score of 4013) complements the GPU's high memory bandwidth (960.0 GB/s), allowing the system to maintain high frame rates even at lower resolutions where CPU overhead matters more. At 1440p High settings, the combo achieves 138 FPS, which places it well above the average for all tested combos. The 4K Ultra result of 67 FPS, while the lowest in the dataset, still demonstrates that this combo can handle the most demanding settings at the highest resolution, albeit with frame rates that competitive players might find limiting.

The fact that this combo ranks 460th out of 3714 means that roughly 3254 other combinations performed worse in Lockdown Protocol, while only 459 produced higher frame rates. Given that the GPU is end-of-life in production status and the CPU remains active, this combo represents a mature pairing that has been well-optimized for this game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 188 FPS offers a strong balance of visual quality and performance, though the Low preset at 304 FPS provides a significant competitive advantage for esports-style play. The Medium preset at 216 FPS (with a minimum of 183 FPS and maximum of 248 FPS) is arguably the sweet spot for 1080p, delivering frame rates well above the 144 Hz refresh rate threshold while maintaining better visual fidelity than Low.

At 1440p, the High preset at 138 FPS is the recommended choice for most players, as it provides smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 158 FPS (with a minimum of 134 FPS and maximum of 182 FPS) offers even higher frame rates with only a modest visual quality reduction, making it the best option for competitive play at this resolution. The Ultra preset at 103 FPS is still playable and delivers the best visual experience, but the frame rate drop to just above 100 FPS might be noticeable to players accustomed to higher refresh rates.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset at 102 FPS is the recommended setting, as it maintains playable frame rates while preserving reasonable visual quality. The High preset at 89 FPS is acceptable for less demanding players, while the Ultra preset at 67 FPS should be avoided for competitive play. The Low preset at 144 FPS demonstrates that this system can achieve high frame rates at 4K when visual settings are minimized, making it a viable option for players who prioritize performance over graphics.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 304 FPS, Medium settings produce 216 FPS (with a minimum of 183 FPS and maximum of 248 FPS), High settings produce 188 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 141 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 163 FPS, representing a 53.6% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest settings preset.

At 2560x1440, the measured average frame rates are: Low settings produce 223 FPS, Medium settings produce 158 FPS (with a minimum of 134 FPS and maximum of 182 FPS), High settings produce 138 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 103 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 120 FPS, a 53.8% reduction. The consistency of this percentage with the 1080p results further confirms the GPU-bound nature of the system at these settings.

At 3840x2160, the measured average frame rates are: Low settings produce 144 FPS, Medium settings produce 102 FPS (with a minimum of 87 FPS and maximum of 117 FPS), High settings produce 89 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 67 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 77 FPS, a 53.5% reduction. This uniform scaling pattern across all three resolutions — with the settings preset penalty remaining at approximately 53-54% regardless of resolution — indicates that the RX 7900 XTX's performance scaling is consistent and predictable.

The minimum and maximum FPS data is only available for the Medium preset at each resolution: at 1080p the range is 183-248 FPS, at 1440p it is 134-182 FPS, and at 4K it is 87-117 FPS. These ranges show that the Medium preset maintains reasonably stable frame delivery, with the spread between minimum and maximum increasing as resolution decreases (65 FPS at 1080p, 48 FPS at 1440p, 30 FPS at 4K). This suggests that at lower resolutions, CPU-related frame time variance becomes more apparent, while at 4K the GPU workload smooths out frame delivery.