Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i7-14700F + AMD Radeon RX 7600

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 produces a 1080p experience that ranges from 160 FPS at Low settings down to 74 FPS at Ultra, while 4K performance falls to 35 FPS at Ultra, indicating a combination where the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases. This 20-core, 28-thread processor sits at the 91st percentile among all CPUs, while the RX 7600 ranks at the 57th percentile among GPUs, creating a system that is clearly capable in CPU-bound scenarios but increasingly limited by graphics throughput at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 160 FPS at 1080p to 117 FPS at 1440p, then further to 76 FPS at 4K — a total reduction of 52.5% from 1080p to 4K. This scaling behavior is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario, where the pixel throughput demand at 4K (four times the 1080p pixel count) directly impacts frame delivery.

The Medium settings row provides the only complete min/max data across all resolutions, showing average FPS of 113 at 1080p, 83 at 1440p, and 54 at 4K. The frame time consistency, indicated by the min and max values, shows a spread of 34 FPS at 1080p (96–130), 25 FPS at 1440p (71–96), and 16 FPS at 4K (46–62). This narrowing spread at higher resolutions suggests that frame pacing becomes more consistent when the GPU is under heavier load, as the variance from CPU-side frame generation diminishes relative to the longer GPU render times.

High settings show a similar scaling pattern: 99 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p, and 47 FPS at 4K. The transition from High to Ultra at each resolution imposes a substantial penalty — at 1080p, Ultra drops to 74 FPS (a 25.3% reduction from High), while at 4K, Ultra delivers only 35 FPS (a 25.5% reduction from High). This consistent percentage drop across resolutions indicates that the Ultra preset adds a roughly uniform workload increase, likely from additional shading and post-processing effects that scale linearly with pixel count.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (160 to 117 FPS, a 26.9% drop) is shallower than the scaling from 1440p to 4K (117 to 76 FPS, a 35.0% drop). This non-linear degradation suggests that at 1080p and even 1440p, the CPU's 20 cores and 5.40 GHz boost clock still contribute meaningfully to frame generation, but beyond 1440p, the RX 7600's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface become the dominant constraint. The 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 2048 shading units are insufficient to maintain proportional scaling at 4K resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combination at 1080p?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 160, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 113 FPS at Medium settings, followed by 99 FPS at High and 74 FPS at Ultra.

Q: How does the RX 7600 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 7600 has an average benchmark score of 15171, placing it 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 560X and 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti, while sitting 0.2% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon 680M.

Q: Is the Core i7-14700F a high-performing CPU relative to other processors?

A: The Core i7-14700F ranks at the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53620. Its closest rival, the Intel Xeon 6505P, scores 53701 (0.2% higher), while the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X scores 53288 (0.6% lower).

Q: What is the playable frame rate at 1440p on High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the average FPS is 73. This is above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered playable, but notably lower than the 99 FPS achieved at 1080p with the same settings.

Q: Which preset provides the largest performance headroom at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings deliver 76 FPS, which is the only 4K preset exceeding 60 FPS. Medium delivers 54 FPS, High delivers 47 FPS, and Ultra drops to 35 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: In Cinebench R23, the Core i7-14700F scores 4958 in single-core and 35122 in multi-core, a ratio of roughly 7.1:1. Geekbench shows 2429 single-core and 19620 multi-core, a ratio of approximately 8.1:1.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F brings substantial processing resources to Lockdown Protocol, with 20 cores and 28 threads operating from a 2.10 GHz base clock up to a 5.40 GHz boost clock. This Raptor Lake Refresh architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process with a 257 mm² die size, delivers a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 and a single-core score of 4958, placing it at the 91st percentile among all CPUs. The 33 MB of shared L3 cache provides ample capacity for game-level data that benefits from fast access.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role becomes evident in the 1080p results, particularly at Low settings where the 160 FPS average suggests that frame generation is not bottlenecked by the processor. The 20-core configuration — which includes both performance and efficiency cores (though the specific P-core/E-core split is not detailed) — allows the game to distribute its simulation, physics, and AI workloads across multiple threads. The PassMark multi-thread score of 41317 and integer math score of 155808 indicate strong parallel processing capability, which is relevant for a multiplayer FPS where network handling and entity updates can be parallelized.

At higher resolutions, the CPU's contribution diminishes relative to the GPU. The data shows that at 4K High settings (47 FPS) versus 1080p High settings (99 FPS), the frame rate drops by 52.5%, which is nearly proportional to the pixel count increase. This suggests that the processor is not the limiting factor beyond 1080p; rather, the RX 7600's rendering throughput determines performance. However, the single-thread performance — a Geekbench single-core score of 2429 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958 — ensures that game logic and draw call submission are not starved, as evidenced by the 160 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, which scores 0.6% lower on average, and the Intel Xeon 6505P, which scores 0.2% higher. These margins are negligible in real-world gaming scenarios, indicating that the Core i7-14700F is a well-balanced processor for this title, providing enough headroom that the GPU becomes the primary determinant of frame rate at 1440p and above.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RX 7600 delivers its highest performance: Low settings produce an average of 160 FPS, Medium produces 113 FPS (with a range of 96 to 130), High produces 99 FPS, and Ultra produces 74 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 47 FPS (29.4% reduction), from Medium to High costs 14 FPS (12.4% reduction), and from High to Ultra costs 25 FPS (25.3% reduction). This non-uniform scaling suggests that Medium to High transitions add moderate shading complexity, while Ultra introduces disproportionately heavy effects that significantly impact frame time.

At 2560x1440, the performance tiers compress: Low delivers 117 FPS, Medium delivers 83 FPS (ranging from 71 to 96), High delivers 73 FPS, and Ultra delivers 54 FPS. The percentage drops from 1080p are 26.9% for Low, 26.5% for Medium, 26.3% for High, and 27.0% for Ultra — a remarkably consistent scaling factor of approximately 27% across all presets. This uniformity indicates that the GPU's pixel processing pipeline is the dominant constraint, with the additional resolution overhead affecting each preset proportionally.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops become more severe: Low averages 76 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS (ranging from 46 to 62), High averages 47 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. Compared to 1440p, the reductions are 35.0% for Low, 34.9% for Medium, 35.6% for High, and 35.2% for Ultra. The larger percentage drop from 1440p to 4K versus 1080p to 1440p reflects the GPU's memory bandwidth ceiling — the 288.0 GB/s bandwidth must serve four times the pixels of 1080p, and the 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a limiting factor for texture storage at Ultra settings.

The only preset with complete min/max data across all resolutions is Medium, which shows the frame time variance shrinking as resolution increases: 34 FPS spread at 1080p, 25 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 4K. This indicates that at lower resolutions, CPU-side frame generation introduces more variability, while at 4K, the GPU's consistent render time dominates and produces tighter frame pacing.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600, based on the Navi 33 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, provides the graphics processing for this combination. With 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, the GPU delivers a measured FP32 throughput of 21.75 TFLOPS. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, with clocks running at 1720 MHz base, 2250 MHz game, and 2655 MHz boost. The GPU sits at the 57th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15171.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's limitations become apparent at 4K, where even Low settings only achieve 76 FPS and Ultra drops to 35 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a likely constraint at 4K Ultra, where texture data and frame buffers can exceed this amount, potentially causing texture swapping and reduced performance. The 128-bit memory interface, while providing adequate bandwidth for 1080p, becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions where the pixel fill rate demands more data per frame.

The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks show a tight cluster: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM scores 0.2% higher, the AMD Radeon Pro 560X scores 0.6% lower, the AMD Radeon 680M scores 0.7% higher, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti scores 0.7% lower. These margins are within noise for gaming workloads, but the RX 7600's 57th percentile ranking indicates it is a mid-range part, not a high-end performer.

The GPU's DirectX 12 benchmark score of 58 in PassMark and 2310 in 3DMark Steel Nomad provide context for its graphics API performance. The Vulkan score of 34401 in Geekbench suggests strong low-level API support, which is relevant for a modern FPS title. However, the pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s are the limiting factors at 4K, as evidenced by the 35 FPS at Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, Medium settings (113 FPS) provide an excellent balance, offering a 47 FPS improvement over High (99 FPS) while still delivering a smooth experience. The 96 FPS minimum at Medium ensures no significant frame drops, making it the recommended preset for competitive play where responsiveness matters.

At 2560x1440, High settings (73 FPS) are the most appropriate choice for a smooth experience, as Medium (83 FPS) offers only a 10 FPS improvement while likely reducing visual quality noticeably. The 73 FPS average at High is above the 60 FPS threshold, and the lack of min/max data for High suggests consistent performance. Ultra at 1440p (54 FPS) falls below 60 FPS, making it less desirable for fast-paced FPS gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the choices are more constrained. Low settings (76 FPS) are the only preset that maintains a comfortable frame rate, but the visual compromise may be significant. Medium (54 FPS) provides a playable experience with better visuals, and the min/max range of 46 to 62 FPS indicates occasional dips below 50 FPS. High (47 FPS) and Ultra (35 FPS) are not recommended for 4K gaming, as the frame rates drop below acceptable thresholds for a competitive FPS title.

The data suggests that for most users, 1440p High or 1080p Medium/High provide the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. The 99 FPS at 1080p High and 73 FPS at 1440p High both represent solid experiences, with the choice between them depending on display resolution preference. At 4K, only Low settings are truly viable for smooth gameplay, though Medium may be acceptable for less competitive play.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 2577th out of 3714 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 30.6th percentile among all tested systems. This ranking reflects the mid-range nature of the GPU, which at the 57th percentile among GPUs, limits the overall system performance despite the CPU's strong 91st percentile ranking.

The ranking disparity between the CPU and GPU components is telling: the processor is clearly not the bottleneck, as evidenced by its high percentile and the fact that frame rates scale predictably with resolution. The GPU, however, is the limiting factor, and its 57th percentile ranking pulls the overall combination down in the standings. The 3714 tested combinations include systems with higher-end GPUs that can maintain higher frame rates at 4K, which is where this combination loses significant ground.

In practical terms, this rank means the combination is positioned in the lower-middle tier of tested systems for Lockdown Protocol. The 1080p performance (74–160 FPS depending on settings) is competitive with many mid-range systems, but the 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS places it well behind combinations with more powerful GPUs. The system is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, where the CPU's headroom and the GPU's capabilities align to produce respectable frame rates. For players targeting 4K, the RX 7600 is the clear limiting factor, and the data confirms that the CPU would not be the constraint even with a more powerful GPU installed.