Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a study in contrast: a 20-core, 28-thread Raptor Lake processor with a 5.40 GHz boost clock, tethered to a 4 GB Pascal-era GPU. In Lockdown Protocol, this combination ranks 1630 out of 1637 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 0.4% of all pairings. That ranking is not a reflection of the CPU, which sits in the 94th percentile of all processors, but rather a direct consequence of the graphics card, which lands in the 30th percentile. The data indicates a system where the GPU is the overwhelming bottleneck, and the CPU’s substantial headroom is left largely unused.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The i7-14700F brings 20 cores and 28 threads to the table, running at a 2.10 GHz base clock and boosting up to 5.40 GHz. This is a top-tier desktop part; its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35443 and single-core score of 5003 place it within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X in average benchmark score, and it outperforms the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 1.2% and the AMD EPYC 7313P by 1.7%. With a PassMark single-thread score of 4261, the CPU is well-equipped to handle the per-thread demands of an FPS title.

However, the benchmark results from Lockdown Protocol show that these CPU capabilities are not the deciding factor in this pairing. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 61.8 FPS, which is the highest average recorded across all settings. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see that frame rate remain relatively stable regardless of resolution or settings, as the processor’s workload would stay constant. Instead, the data shows a dramatic collapse as graphical load increases, indicating that the GPU is saturated long before the i7-14700F is pushed to its limits. The CPU’s 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 65 W TDP are simply not stressed in this configuration.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of settings, and the differences between presets are stark. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 61.8 FPS, which is more than double the 27.2 FPS seen at Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium drops the average to 42.3 FPS, a loss of 19.5 FPS, while High further reduces it to 36.1 FPS. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at this resolution, and the same pattern holds at 1440p, where Low produces 42.7 FPS, Medium 33.8 FPS, High 30.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 21.3 FPS.

For a playable experience, the Low preset is the only sensible choice. It is the only setting that approaches or exceeds 60 FPS, and it does so only at 1080p. At 1440p, even Low dips below the 43 FPS mark. The gap between Low and Medium is significant enough that the visual upgrade is not worth the performance penalty. This is a classic case where the GPU’s limited 2.138 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 112.1 GB/s of memory bandwidth force a compromise on fidelity. Users should not expect to run Medium or above with consistent frame rates.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling data is a textbook example of GPU-bound behavior. Starting at 1080p Low with 61.8 FPS, moving to 1440p Low drops performance to 42.7 FPS, a reduction of roughly 31%. At 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 29.1 FPS. The pattern is similar across all settings: High goes from 36.1 FPS at 1080p to 30.2 FPS at 1440p and then 16 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which starts at a meager 27.2 FPS at 1080p, craters to 14.5 FPS at 4K.

This steep, continuous decline with resolution is the signature of a graphics card that is running out of pixel throughput and memory bandwidth. The GTX 1050 Ti’s 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 128-bit bus are simply insufficient for 4K workloads, as evidenced by the fact that even the Low preset at 4K (29.1 FPS) is slower than the Ultra preset at 1080p (27.2 FPS). If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect flat frame rates across resolutions, as the i7-14700F would be able to feed frames at the same rate regardless of output resolution. The data confirms the opposite: the GPU is the sole limiting factor here.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: Is this CPU-GPU combo capable of running Lockdown Protocol at 60 FPS?

A: Only at 1080p with the Low preset, where the measured average is 61.8 FPS. Every other settings and resolution combination falls below 43 FPS, and most are far lower.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in raw benchmark score?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 5316, which is virtually identical to the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (5317, 0% delta) and 0.4% ahead of the GeForce 940M (5297). It also edges out the AMD Radeon R7 240 (5280) by 0.7%.

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this hardware?

A: The data supports 1080p as the only viable option. At 1440p, the highest achievable average is 42.7 FPS on Low, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. 4K is not practical, with the best result being 29.1 FPS on Low.

Q: How much performance is lost by moving from 1080p Low to 4K Low?

A: The average frame rate drops from 61.8 FPS to 29.1 FPS, a reduction of nearly 53%. This indicates that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are severely strained as pixel count increases.

Q: Does the i7-14700F’s high multi-core performance help in this game?

A: No. The CPU is in the 94th percentile of all processors and far outpaces the GPU, which is in the 30th percentile. The measured frame rates are consistently low across all settings, showing that the CPU’s 20 cores and 5.40 GHz boost clock do not translate into higher FPS when the graphics card is this weak.

Q: What is the GPU’s VRAM capacity and how does it affect performance?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory with a 112.1 GB/s bandwidth. This limited capacity and bandwidth are likely contributors to the severe performance drop at higher resolutions and settings, as the card struggles to manage the texture and geometry data required.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a Pascal-architecture part with a base clock of 1291 MHz and a boost of 1392 MHz. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, yielding 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s raw compute is 2.138 TFLOPS of FP32, with a pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 66.82 GTexel/s. These specifications place it at the 30th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 5316 is virtually tied with the GeForce 930A (5317) and just 0.4% ahead of the GeForce 940M (5297).

In Lockdown Protocol, these figures are the primary constraint. The GPU’s DirectX 12 benchmark score is a lowly 26, and its PassMark G3D score is 6340. The measured FPS data shows that the card cannot sustain playable frame rates at any setting above Low at 1080p. The 4 GB VRAM is a critical limitation; at 4K Ultra, the system averages just 14.5 FPS, which is likely due to the card’s inability to hold the necessary frame data in memory. The GPU is end-of-life, and its performance profile in this game reflects that, with the card acting as a hard ceiling on the system’s capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The following averages were recorded for the i7-14700F and GTX 1050 Ti combination in Lockdown Protocol.

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 61.8 FPS — the only setting that breaks 60 FPS.
• Medium: 42.3 FPS — a 19.5 FPS drop from Low, indicating a steep cost for modest visual gains.
• High: 36.1 FPS — loses another 6.2 FPS, pushing the experience below 40 FPS.
• Ultra: 27.2 FPS — barely a slideshow, down 34.6 FPS from Low.

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 42.7 FPS — the best result at this resolution, but still below 45 FPS.
• Medium: 33.8 FPS — a 8.9 FPS reduction from Low.
• High: 30.2 FPS — drops below 32 FPS, making smooth play difficult.
• Ultra: 21.3 FPS — a 21.4 FPS loss from Low, confirming the GPU is overwhelmed.

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 29.1 FPS — the only 4K setting that approaches 30 FPS.
• Medium: 21.1 FPS — nearly half the 1080p Low score.
• High: 16 FPS — drops to 16 FPS, which is not a playable experience.
• Ultra: 14.5 FPS — the worst measured result, showing the GPU is completely out of its depth.

The data across all three resolutions shows a consistent pattern: the GTX 1050 Ti’s performance is the dominant factor, and the i7-14700F’s considerable processing power is left untapped. Users should target 1080p Low for any semblance of playability, and even then, the system is only marginally above the 60 FPS threshold.