Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, a 2024 FPS title, shows a distinct performance profile on the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination. The measured FPS data reveals how the system scales across resolutions and settings, offering a clear picture of where its strengths and limitations lie.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K in Lockdown Protocol demonstrates the increasing burden placed on the GPU. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 187 FPS, which drops to 135.4 FPS at 1440p and further to 88.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 27.6% performance reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 52.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the system is likely not GPU-bound, allowing the high boost clock of the CPU to push frame rates higher.

When moving to Ultra settings, the scaling becomes more dramatic. The 1080p Ultra score of 86.2 FPS drops to 62.7 FPS at 1440p (a 27.3% decrease) and then to 42.9 FPS at 4K (a 50.2% decrease from 1080p). The consistent percentage drops across settings suggest the RTX 4060’s 8 GB memory capacity and 128-bit bus width become limiting factors as resolution increases, particularly at higher quality presets where texture data demands more bandwidth.

The data implies that 1440p represents a sweet spot for this combination. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is significant but manageable, while the jump to 4K causes a more pronounced performance hit, especially on Ultra where the average FPS falls below 45. This suggests the GPU is the primary scaling bottleneck, not the CPU, which has ample headroom given its 20 cores and 5.40 GHz boost capability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, is the determining factor in Lockdown Protocol’s performance ceiling. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which directly impacts how the game handles high-resolution textures. The measured results show that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 42.9, indicating the memory subsystem is strained by the combination of high resolution and maximum quality settings.

The GPU’s boost clock of 2460 MHz and FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s become more relevant as resolution increases. The RTX 4060’s 3072 shading units and 48 ROPs handle Lockdown Protocol’s rendering demands well at lower presets, but the data shows a clear performance cliff at 4K Ultra where the average FPS drops below the 60 FPS threshold.

The GPU’s percentile ranking of 66 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23181, places it in the mid-range tier. In Lockdown Protocol specifically, the 4K Low score of 88.9 FPS versus the 1080p Low score of 187 FPS highlights how the GPU’s limited memory bandwidth (272.0 GB/s) becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions, even when graphical features are reduced.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 137 FPS, which is only 26.7% lower than Low but 58.9% higher than Ultra. At 1440p Medium, the 100.1 FPS average remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, while 4K Medium at 62.2 FPS is just barely playable but consistent.

For competitive play, Low settings provide the highest frame rates, with 187 FPS at 1080p and 135.4 FPS at 1440p. These numbers suggest that players prioritizing responsiveness should select Low, as the jump from Low to Medium costs 50 FPS at 1080p (187 to 137) but only 35.3 FPS at 1440p (135.4 to 100.1). The diminishing returns at higher resolutions make Medium more attractive as resolution increases.

Ultra settings are only viable at 1080p, where the 86.2 FPS average remains playable. At 1440p Ultra, the 62.7 FPS score is borderline, and 4K Ultra at 42.9 FPS falls below acceptable playability for an FPS title. The data suggests that High settings at 1440p (88.8 FPS) provide a better experience than Ultra at 4K (42.9 FPS), making the former the recommended choice for visual quality without sacrificing smoothness.

FAQ

Q: Does the RTX 4060’s 8 GB VRAM limit Lockdown Protocol at 4K?

A: The data indicates yes. The 4K Ultra average FPS of 42.9 is significantly lower than the 1080p Ultra score of 86.2, with the 8 GB memory capacity and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth appearing to constrain performance at higher resolutions.

Q: How much performance is lost when switching from 1080p to 1440p?

A: At Low settings, the drop is from 187 FPS to 135.4 FPS, a 27.6% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 86.2 FPS to 62.7 FPS, a 27.3% reduction, showing consistent scaling across presets.

Q: Is the Core i7-14700F a bottleneck in this game?

A: The CPU’s high performance metrics (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35443 and single-core score of 5003) suggest it is not the limiting factor. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K tracks GPU limitations, not CPU constraints.

Q: What is the best setting for maintaining 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Medium settings provide 100.1 FPS average, while High delivers 88.8 FPS. Both comfortably exceed 60 FPS, with Ultra being the only preset that dips below at 62.7 FPS.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 971 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the middle of the distribution, which aligns with the GPU’s mid-range positioning.

Q: Can the system handle 4K gaming at all?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it achieves 88.9 FPS. Medium drops to 62.2 FPS, and High falls to 53.3 FPS, making 4K viable only with reduced graphical fidelity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F provides substantial computational headroom for Lockdown Protocol. With 20 cores and 28 threads, the CPU’s multi-threaded performance is strong, as evidenced by its PassMark multi-thread score of 41765 and Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 14886. The single-thread performance, critical for FPS games, is also robust with a Geekbench single-core score of 2711 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5003.

The CPU’s 5.40 GHz boost clock ensures that per-core performance is not a limiting factor when frame rates exceed 100 FPS. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 187 FPS, which is far beyond what the GPU can sustain at higher settings, indicating the CPU is capable of feeding the RTX 4060 effectively. The L3 cache of 33 MB shared across cores provides low-latency access to frequently used game data, supporting consistent frame delivery.

The nearest rivals show the i7-14700F is competitive, with a deltaPct of -0.6% against the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and -1.1% against the Ryzen 9 9900X3D. This small performance gap in synthetic benchmarks suggests the CPU is not the primary differentiator in Lockdown Protocol; the GPU’s role in rendering at higher resolutions is more significant.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the system delivers 187 FPS on Low, 137 FPS on Medium, 116.7 FPS on High, and 86.2 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent degradation, with the largest single-step drop occurring from High to Ultra (30.5 FPS, or 26.1%).

At 1440p, the scores are 135.4 FPS (Low), 100.1 FPS (Medium), 88.8 FPS (High), and 62.7 FPS (Ultra). The drop from Low to Medium is 35.3 FPS (26.1%), while the drop from High to Ultra is 26.1 FPS (29.4%), indicating Ultra is disproportionately demanding at this resolution.

At 4K, performance falls to 88.9 FPS (Low), 62.2 FPS (Medium), 53.3 FPS (High), and 42.9 FPS (Ultra). The gap between Low and Medium is 26.7 FPS (30.0%), and the gap between High and Ultra is 10.4 FPS (19.5%). The 4K results show that only Low settings maintain a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while Medium is borderline and High/Ultra fall below playable thresholds for an FPS title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 971 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, positioning it in the 59th percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking reflects the GPU’s overall position, as the RTX 4060’s percentile of 66 against all GPUs but its performance in this specific game places it lower than its synthetic scores might suggest.

The ranking indicates that while this combo handles 1080p and 1440p gaming well in Lockdown Protocol, it falls behind more powerful configurations at 4K. The GPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (deltaPct of -0.6%) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (deltaPct of -0.7%), show similar synthetic performance levels, but the actual in-game ranking of 971 suggests that Lockdown Protocol’s specific demands favor other architectures. The combo’s position in the lower half of the 1637 tested configurations implies that for this particular FPS title, the RTX 4060’s memory bandwidth and capacity constraints are more impactful than its raw compute capabilities.