Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 7th out of 1,637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the configuration in the top 0.4% of all systems tested, a position driven by the combination of a high-end 16-core CPU and a flagship 32 GB GPU. The data indicates this combo is positioned for extreme frame rates across all settings, with the CPU providing sufficient throughput to prevent bottlenecking the GPU at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 7 out of 1,637 represents the top tier of performance for this FPS title. Benchmark results indicate that the i7-13700K holds a 93rd percentile ranking against all CPUs, while the RTX 5090 sits in the 94th percentile against all GPUs. When combined, these two components produce a system that outperforms the vast majority of tested configurations. The nearest CPU rivals show a tight cluster: the i7-13700KF scores 0.1% higher, while the AMD EPYC 4364P and Intel Core i9-12900F score 0.3% and 0.4% lower, respectively. On the GPU side, the RTX 5090 D is 0.1% ahead, the RTX 5050 Mobile is 0.2% ahead, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3%. These narrow deltas suggest that the combo’s high rank is not due to a single component but rather the synergy between a top-tier CPU and GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process and features a 92,200 million transistor count on a 750 mm² die. Its memory subsystem is substantial: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specs translate to a PassMark G3D score of 39,650 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 379,571. In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU’s role becomes increasingly dominant at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 87.1 FPS, which is still playable but shows the GPU being fully utilized. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what this game requires, but the bandwidth and raw compute—104.8 TFLOPS FP32—allow the card to maintain high averages even at 4K High settings, where it hits 111 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on Raptor Lake-S architecture, manufactured on a 10 nm process. It has 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 L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 30 MB shared L3. Its benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 39,000, and single-core reaches 5,505. PassMark multi-thread score is 45,887, with a single-thread score of 4,333. In this game, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 300 FPS at Low settings. The 5.40 GHz boost clock and 30 MB L3 cache help sustain high averages without stutter, as evidenced by the 342.6 FPS result at 1080p Low. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking against all CPUs ensures it does not bottleneck the RTX 5090, even in CPU-bound scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 342.6 FPS on Low, 271 FPS on Medium, 234.7 FPS on High, and 179.9 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, results are 283.1 FPS on Low, 199.8 FPS on Medium, 172.6 FPS on High, and 131.3 FPS on Ultra. At 3840x2160, the averages are 181.2 FPS on Low, 130.3 FPS on Medium, 111 FPS on High, and 87.1 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a clear pattern: the RTX 5090 can push well beyond 240 Hz at 1080p on lower settings, but even at 4K Ultra, it maintains above 85 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution is substantial—at 1080p, the difference is 162.7 FPS (342.6 vs 179.9), while at 4K, the difference narrows to 94.1 FPS (181.2 vs 87.1). This narrowing suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, reducing the impact of setting changes.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution scaling reveals the balance between CPU and GPU limits. From 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average FPS drops from 234.7 to 172.6, a decrease of 26.5%. From 1440p to 4K at High, it drops from 172.6 to 111, a further 35.7% decrease. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 52.7% (from 234.7 to 111). At Low settings, the drop is more severe: from 342.6 FPS at 1080p to 181.2 FPS at 4K, a 47.1% decrease. This indicates that at 1080p Low, the CPU is the primary limiter, as the frame rate is extremely high but the GPU has headroom. As resolution increases, the GPU takes over as the bottleneck. The scaling factor from 1080p to 4K is roughly 1.9x for Low settings (342.6 to 181.2) and 2.1x for High settings (234.7 to 111), showing that the GPU’s workload scales more than the pixel count alone would suggest, likely due to increased shading and memory pressure.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The Intel Core i7-13700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combo ranks 7th out of 1,637 tested combos.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 47,282. The i7-13700KF is 0.1% higher, the AMD EPYC 4364P is 0.3% lower, and the Intel Core i9-12900F is 0.4% lower.

Q: What is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 342.6, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 87.1, recorded at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 5090 have and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What is the CPU’s boost clock and Cinebench R23 multi-core score?

A: The i7-13700K has a boost clock of 5.40 GHz and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39,000.