Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a remarkably consistent experience across Lockdown Protocol's four quality presets, with the measured frame rates revealing a system that scales predictably from 1080p to 4K. The data shows a combo that ranks 582nd out of 3714 tested configurations, placing it comfortably in the upper tier of tested systems, and the pattern of results suggests this pairing is well-balanced for a fast-paced FPS where smoothness matters more than absolute visual fidelity.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to Medium as the optimal preset for this combination, striking the best balance between visual quality and frame rate headroom. At 1080p, Medium delivers 206 FPS average, which is only 84 FPS below Low but 71 FPS above High, while at 1440p it produces 151 FPS average—a figure that remains well above the 128 FPS minimum recorded. Even at 4K, Medium sustains 97 FPS average with a minimum of 83 FPS, meaning the preset never dips below the 60 FPS threshold that competitive players typically consider the floor for a shooter.

High settings offer an alternative for those prioritizing visual detail, with 180 FPS at 1080p and 132 FPS at 1440p, but the 4K result of 85 FPS shows less headroom. Ultra, while visually impressive, drops to 135 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K—the latter being borderline for a genre where reaction time is paramount. Low settings push frame rates to 290 FPS at 1080p and 212 FPS at 1440p, but the visual compromises are likely unnecessary given that Medium maintains triple-digit averages even at the highest resolution.

The min FPS data, recorded only for Medium, reinforces this recommendation: 175 FPS at 1080p, 128 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K. These minimums indicate that the Medium preset does not suffer from severe frame-time spikes, which is critical in a multiplayer FPS where a single stutter can mean a lost engagement. The data suggests that players with high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p monitors should select Medium for the best competitive experience, while those on 4K displays can still enjoy smooth gameplay without dropping to Low.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, appears well-suited to Lockdown Protocol's demands across all tested resolutions. The GPU's 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 7168 shading units drive the frame rates observed, with the boost clock of 2475 MHz ensuring sustained performance under load. The card's 80 ROPs and 224 TMUs handle pixel and texture throughput efficiently, as evidenced by the smooth scaling from 1080p to 4K.

The data reveals that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 290 FPS, suggesting the GPU is not the primary bottleneck at lower settings and resolutions. However, as resolution increases to 4K, the frame rate drops to 137 FPS on Low—a 53% reduction—indicating that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become more critical at higher pixel counts. The RTX 4070 SUPER's position in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 43223, places it just 0.1% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB and 1% behind the RTX 4090 Mobile, showing it competes with higher-tier mobile parts.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity proves sufficient for Lockdown Protocol, as no texture-related performance anomalies appear in the measured data. The card's 504.2 GB/s bandwidth supports the 192-bit interface effectively, and the transition from Medium to High at 4K (97 to 85 FPS) suggests memory bandwidth is not a limiting factor at these settings. The GPU's Ada Lovelace architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process with 35,800 million transistors, delivers efficiency that keeps the 220 W TDP reasonable for the performance on offer.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1440p Medium provides the best overall experience with 151 FPS average and 128 FPS minimum, balancing visual quality with frame rate headroom. 1080p Medium offers higher frame rates at 206 FPS average, but 1440p represents the sweet spot for image clarity and performance.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 43223 places it 0.1% behind both the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB and RTX 5050 Mobile, and 1% behind the RTX 4090 Mobile. This indicates the 4070 SUPER performs nearly identically to these alternatives in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The data suggests no significant CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 290 FPS average, which is a high frame rate that would typically expose CPU limitations. The Intel Core i7-12700K's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with a max-thread score of 9979 in 3DMark, indicates sufficient processing power.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, Low averages 290 FPS while Ultra averages 135 FPS—a difference of 155 FPS. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 113 FPS (212 vs 99), and at 4K it further reduces to 73 FPS (137 vs 64), showing that resolution scaling reduces the performance gap between presets.

Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K gameplay?

A: The measured data shows playable frame rates at 4K across all presets, from 64 FPS on Ultra to 137 FPS on Low. No VRAM-related issues such as texture pop-in or stuttering are indicated in the results, suggesting 12 GB is adequate for Lockdown Protocol's requirements.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This configuration ranks 582nd out of 3714 tested combos, placing it in the top 15.7% of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the balanced performance of the i7-12700K and RTX 4070 SUPER combination in this specific game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the system demonstrates its peak performance capabilities. Low settings produce 290 FPS average, while Medium achieves 206 FPS with a minimum of 175 FPS and maximum of 237 FPS. High settings deliver 180 FPS, and Ultra drops to 135 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent 55 FPS average decrease between each successive preset, indicating predictable scaling.

Moving to 1440p, the frame rates remain strong. Low averages 212 FPS, Medium records 151 FPS with bounds of 128 to 173 FPS, High delivers 132 FPS, and Ultra drops to 99 FPS. The difference between 1080p and 1440p at each preset ranges from 61 FPS at Low to 36 FPS at Ultra, showing that higher settings reduce the resolution penalty.

At 4K, the system still delivers playable performance. Low averages 137 FPS, Medium achieves 97 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS, High produces 85 FPS, and Ultra drops to 64 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steeper, with reductions of 75 FPS at Low, 54 FPS at Medium, 47 FPS at High, and 35 FPS at Ultra. This pattern indicates that at lower settings, resolution scaling has a larger impact, while at higher settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor more consistently.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER achieves a rank of 582 out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 84th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects the system's ability to maintain high frame rates across all resolution and settings combinations, with even the most demanding 4K Ultra preset producing an average of 64 FPS.

The CPU's individual ranking of 84th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 35287, places it nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-13600T, which scores 35305 with a delta of -0.1%. The i7-12700KF scores 35365 (delta -0.2%), and the i7-13700T scores 35403 (delta -0.3%). This tight grouping suggests the i7-12700K is performing at the expected level for its class, with no anomalies in the Lockdown Protocol results.

The GPU's 83rd percentile ranking, with an average score of 43223, places it 0.1% behind the Quadro M6000 24 GB and RTX 5050 Mobile, and 1% behind the RTX 4090 Mobile. The combo's overall rank of 582 suggests that the pairing works harmoniously, with neither component significantly underperforming relative to its individual benchmarks.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K features 12 cores and 20 threads across its Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The 25 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 provide the memory bandwidth necessary for feeding the GPU in a fast-paced FPS. The processor's 10 nm process node and 125 W TDP make it a capable desktop part for gaming workloads.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's performance is evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low, where the system achieves 290 FPS average. This suggests the i7-12700K can handle the game's physics and game logic without becoming a bottleneck, even when the GPU is not heavily stressed. The 3DMark scores support this: 9979 for max threads and 9276 for 16 threads show strong multi-core performance, while the single-thread score of 1043 indicates adequate per-core performance for game engine tasks.

The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 35287, places it in the upper tier of desktop CPUs. The nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all within 0.4% of its score, including the i5-13600T (35305, -0.1%), i7-12700KF (35365, -0.2%), i7-13700T (35403, -0.3%), and Core 5 213PE (35428, -0.4%). This grouping suggests the i7-12700K delivers performance consistent with its position in Intel's lineup.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals clear patterns in how this combo scales. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 206 FPS at 1080p to 151 FPS at 1440p (a 27% reduction) and then to 97 FPS at 4K (a 36% reduction from 1440p). This progressive decline indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as the pixel count rises, with the CPU's role diminishing at higher resolutions.

For Low settings, the scaling is more dramatic: 290 FPS at 1080p drops to 212 FPS at 1440p (27% reduction) and then to 137 FPS at 4K (35% reduction from 1440p). The larger absolute drops at lower settings suggest that when the GPU is less stressed, other factors such as draw call overhead and game logic limit performance, but the CPU handles these efficiently given the high absolute frame rates.

Ultra settings show the smallest percentage drops: 135 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p (27% reduction), and 64 FPS at 4K (35% reduction). This consistency across all presets—roughly 27% from 1080p to 1440p and 35% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the system's scaling behavior is predictable and primarily GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 64 FPS, while playable, shows the limits of this combo, and players seeking higher frame rates at 4K would need to reduce settings to Medium for a 97 FPS average.