Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a robust Lockdown Protocol experience, but the data reveals a nuanced performance curve that shifts from GPU-bound at high resolutions to CPU-bound at lower ones. The measured frame rates show a consistent pattern: as resolution drops, the performance headroom expands dramatically, indicating that the system’s bottleneck moves decisively from the graphics card to the processor. This analysis breaks down the measured rows to explain what each number means for playability and how this specific combination of silicon behaves in the FPS title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear inverse relationship between resolution and performance, but the magnitude of the scaling is more telling than the direction. At 4K (3840x2160) with High settings, the combo produces 97.8 FPS. Dropping to 1440p (2560x1440) raises that to 150.5 FPS, a 53.9% improvement. Moving further down to 1080p (1920x1080) yields 205.4 FPS, which is 36.5% higher than the 1440p result. This pattern indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary limiting factor at 4K, where its raw rendering throughput determines the ceiling, but as pixel count decreases, the CPU begins to assert more influence.

The scaling from 1440p to 1080p is particularly instructive. The jump from 150.5 to 205.4 FPS at High settings suggests that the GPU still has headroom to spare at 1440p, but the 1080p result shows the system is approaching the point where the i7-13700K’s 16 cores and 24 threads start to cap the frame rate. At Low settings, the effect is even more pronounced: 4K delivers 159.3 FPS, 1440p delivers 244.2 FPS, and 1080p delivers 329.1 FPS. The 35% gain from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings is nearly identical to the High-setting gain, which implies that the CPU’s per-core performance, not the GPU’s pixel throughput, is becoming the bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Ultra settings tell a similar story but with lower absolute numbers. The 4K Ultra result of 73.5 FPS is a 24.8% drop from High, while 1440p Ultra hits 112.8 FPS and 1080p Ultra reaches 156.9 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 1080p at Ultra (a 39.1% gain) is the largest of any setting tier, which suggests that the CPU’s ability to feed the GPU becomes more critical as graphical complexity rises and frame times shrink. Overall, the data indicates that this combo is well-balanced for 1440p and 4K gaming, but at 1080p the CPU becomes the limiting component, particularly at Low and Medium settings where the GPU is underutilized.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the star of this pairing, and its specifications align with the measured performance. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory capacity and bandwidth are crucial for Lockdown Protocol’s high-resolution textures and effects, as the 4K results show no signs of a memory bottleneck. The card’s boost clock of 2550 MHz, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, drives its 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which translates directly to the strong 4K frame rates observed.

In the benchmark database, the RTX 4080 SUPER ranks in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53610. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 53489, a delta of just 0.2%, meaning the 4080 SUPER is effectively tied with that competitor in synthetic tests. The data shows the GPU’s strength in rasterization, with a Passmark G3D score of 34245, but its DirectX 12 score of 134 is lower than the DirectX 11 score of 301, which is a quirk of the testing methodology rather than a reflection of real-world gaming performance. In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU’s role is dominant at 4K, where the Ultra setting’s 73.5 FPS and High setting’s 97.8 FPS demonstrate that the card is fully utilized; the 24.8% difference between those two presets shows the cost of higher graphical fidelity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K provides the computational backbone for this combo, and its specifications help explain the performance ceiling at lower resolutions. The CPU has 16 cores (8 performance and 8 efficient) and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache give it ample memory hierarchy for feeding the GPU. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 39000 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5505 in single-core, which places it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 47282.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the database are the Intel Core i7-13700KF (average score 47334, delta -0.1%) and the AMD EPYC 4364P (average score 47131, delta 0.3%), showing that the 13700K is virtually indistinguishable from its direct counterparts in raw compute. In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU’s impact is most visible at 1080p. The Low setting result of 329.1 FPS is the highest measured across all rows, but the gap between Low and Medium at 1080p (329.1 vs 234.2 FPS) is a 28.8% drop, which is larger than the same gap at 1440p (244.2 vs 170.7, a 30.1% drop). This indicates that the CPU’s single-thread performance, not its multi-core capability, is the limiting factor, as Lockdown Protocol is an FPS title that typically relies on one or two threads for game logic and physics. The boost clock of 5.40 GHz is likely the key specification here, as it determines how fast those primary threads can execute.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings. At 1080p, the results are: Low 329.1, Medium 234.2, High 205.4, and Ultra 156.9. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 52.3% reduction in frame rate, which is the largest percentage drop of any resolution, confirming that the CPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution and that the GPU’s workload scaling is the primary driver. At 1440p, the results are: Low 244.2, Medium 170.7, High 150.5, and Ultra 112.8. The drop from Low to Ultra here is 53.8%, similar to 1080p, but the absolute numbers are lower, indicating that the GPU is beginning to feel the load of higher pixel counts.

At 4K, the results are: Low 159.3, Medium 112.8, High 97.8, and Ultra 73.5. The drop from Low to Ultra is 53.9%, which is nearly identical to the other resolutions, but the absolute values are meaningfully lower. This consistency in percentage drop across resolutions suggests that Lockdown Protocol’s settings scaling is linear, and the GPU’s fill rate is the dominant factor. The 4K Ultra result of 73.5 FPS is the lowest measured, but it is still playable, and the 4K Low result of 159.3 FPS shows that the RTX 4080 SUPER can handle high refresh rates even at 4K when settings are reduced. The 1440p High result of 150.5 FPS is a sweet spot, offering a balance of visual quality and speed.

How This Combo Ranks

In the overall database for Lockdown Protocol, this specific combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 96th out of 1637 tested combos. This places it in the top 5.9% of all configurations, which is a strong showing given the breadth of hardware tested. The rank is a composite measure that accounts for performance across all settings and resolutions, and it reflects the combo’s consistency. The 96th percentile ranking means that only 95 other combos outperform this one, and the data shows that those combos likely feature higher-end GPUs or CPUs with better single-thread performance.

The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking and the GPU’s 88th percentile ranking are both high, but the combo’s 96th place out of 1637 (which is roughly the 94th percentile) suggests that the pairing is slightly better than the sum of its parts. This is likely due to the CPU’s strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5505), which prevents it from bottlenecking the GPU at lower resolutions. The nearest rival combos in the database would include those with the RTX 4080 SUPER paired with faster CPUs, but the 13700K’s boost clock of 5.40 GHz keeps it competitive. The 4K Ultra result of 73.5 FPS is the weakest point, but for a 4K high-refresh monitor, the High setting’s 97.8 FPS is more than adequate.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p gamers with a 240Hz monitor, the Low setting at 329.1 FPS is the only preset that fully saturates such a high refresh rate. However, the Medium setting at 234.2 FPS is still above 200 FPS and offers better visual fidelity for a negligible playability cost. For 1440p, the High setting at 150.5 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides a strong visual experience while staying well above the 144Hz refresh rate that is common at this resolution. The Medium setting at 170.7 FPS is also viable for those prioritizing frame rate, but High is a better balance.

For 4K, the data presents a clear trade-off. The Ultra setting at 73.5 FPS is playable but falls below the 90 FPS threshold that many consider smooth. The High setting at 97.8 FPS is the best all-around choice, offering a 33.1% performance improvement over Ultra while maintaining high graphical quality. For gamers who prefer maximum frame rates at 4K, the Low setting at 159.3 FPS is an option, but the visual degradation is significant. The Medium setting at 112.8 FPS is a middle ground, but High is the sweet spot for this resolution. Across all resolutions, the data shows that the step from High to Ultra costs roughly 25% of the frame rate, making Ultra a premium option that is only worthwhile for those with a 60Hz 4K display or who prioritize image quality over speed.