Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT ranks 1043rd out of 1637 tested combinations for Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This is a workable setup that delivers playable frame rates at most settings, but it is not a top-tier performer for this specific FPS title. The data indicates a system that is heavily balanced toward CPU capability, with the GPU acting as the primary constraint on visual quality and resolution scaling.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1043 out of 1637, this pairing sits just below the median of all tested configurations. That positioning suggests the combination is capable but unremarkable for Lockdown Protocol, which appears to favor systems with stronger graphics hardware. The CPU is a clear standout relative to its peers—the Core i7-13700K sits in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 47282 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-13700KF, which scores 47334 with a delta of -0.1%. The GPU, by contrast, lands in the 63rd percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 20146, placing it just 0.3% ahead of the Radeon RX 460 and 1.9% ahead of the GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. The result is a system where the processor has headroom to spare, but the graphics card caps the overall experience in a frame-rate-sensitive game like Lockdown Protocol.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear progression: lower settings yield dramatically higher frame rates, while higher settings push the system toward the edge of playability. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 168.9 FPS, which is the highest result in the entire dataset. Medium drops to 119.7 FPS, High to 106.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 78.7 FPS. The sweet spot for competitive play is the Medium preset—it maintains a frame rate well above 100 FPS while still providing a noticeable visual upgrade over Low. At 1440p, Medium produces 87.7 FPS, which remains smooth for most players, but High drops to 75.2 FPS and Ultra to 59.9 FPS, the latter being borderline for a fast-paced FPS. For 4K, only Low is truly viable at 79 FPS; Medium falls to 56.7 FPS, High to 49 FPS, and Ultra to 38.9 FPS, which is too low for responsive gameplay. The data suggests that Medium at 1080p or 1440p offers the best balance of fluidity and fidelity.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the system drops from 168.9 FPS at 1080p to 122.4 FPS at 1440p (a 27.5% reduction) and then to 79 FPS at 4K (a 53.2% reduction from 1440p). This steep drop at 4K is a hallmark of GPU limitation—the RX 7600 XT is being pushed to its limits at higher pixel counts. The pattern holds across all settings: High goes from 106.2 FPS at 1080p to 75.2 FPS at 1440p and 49 FPS at 4K, while Ultra falls from 78.7 FPS to 59.9 FPS to 38.9 FPS. The consistent, large declines with each resolution step indicate that the graphics card is the limiting component in this pairing. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 24 threads, is not the constraint—if it were, the frame rates would cluster more tightly across resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of running Lockdown Protocol at 4K?

A: Only at Low settings, where it averages 79 FPS. Medium drops to 56.7 FPS, High to 49 FPS, and Ultra to 38.9 FPS, the last of which is likely too choppy for a competitive FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144Hz monitor at 1080p?

A: Medium at 119.7 FPS or High at 106.2 FPS both approach that refresh rate. Low hits 168.9 FPS but sacrifices visual quality, while Ultra falls to 78.7 FPS, which is below the 144Hz target.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Core i7-13700K scores 47282 on average, which is 0.1% behind the Core i7-13700KF (47334) and 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4364P (47131). It also edges out the Core i9-12900F (47081) by 0.4%.

Q: What does the GPU’s percentile rank tell us about its performance class?

A: The RX 7600 XT sits in the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 20146. This places it near the Radeon RX 7600 (20258, a -0.6% delta) and the GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, a -1.9% delta), indicating mid-range performance.

Q: Does the GPU’s memory capacity help at high resolutions?

A: The RX 7600 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. Despite this large capacity, the 4K results still drop sharply, suggesting that raw memory size is not enough to overcome the GPU’s compute limits in this game.

Q: Is the CPU’s single-thread performance a factor in this game?

A: The CPU scores 4333 in PassMark single-thread and 1136 in 3DMark single-thread, which are strong results. Combined with the high multi-thread scores (45887 PassMark, 39000 Cinebench R23), the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor, as frame rates scale heavily with resolution and settings.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7600 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 33 chip on a 6 nm process from TSMC. It packs 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, along with 32 ray-tracing cores. The card’s boost clock reaches 2755 MHz, with a game clock of 2470 MHz and a base clock of 1980 MHz. Memory is 16 GB of GDDR6 running at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth over a 128-bit bus. The GPU’s FP32 performance is 22.57 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 176.3 GPixel/s. These specifications put it in the mid-range bracket, which aligns with its 63rd percentile ranking. In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU’s role is decisive: the frame rate drops by roughly half when moving from 1080p Low to 4K Low, and the gap between Low and Ultra at any resolution is substantial (e.g., 168.9 vs. 78.7 FPS at 1080p). The 16 GB VRAM is ample for current titles, but the 128-bit bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth limit how much data can be moved at high resolutions, explaining the steep 4K penalties.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor from the Raptor Lake generation, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3. Memory support includes both DDR4 and DDR5 over a dual-channel bus, and the chip offers PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU excels: it scores 39000 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5505 in single-core, plus 45887 in PassMark multi-thread and 4333 in single-thread. Its 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its high-end status. For Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s impact is less visible in the measured FPS data because the GPU saturates first. The frame rates scale uniformly with resolution and settings, which is classic GPU-bound behavior. The CPU’s 16 cores and high boost clock ensure it will not cause stutters or frame dips in this title, but the pairing’s overall rank of 1043 out of 1637 shows that the processor’s strength cannot compensate for the graphics card’s mid-range ceiling. Players seeking higher frame rates would benefit more from a stronger GPU than from upgrading the CPU.