Lockdown Protocol

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

The Intel Core i7-14700K brings substantial processing headroom to this pairing, with 20 cores and 28 threads derived from its Raptor Lake-R architecture. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide high single-thread responsiveness, which the benchmark data suggests is not the primary constraint in Lockdown Protocol. The processor's L3 cache of 33 MB (shared) and L2 cache of 2 MB per core help maintain data flow for game logic and physics, but the measured FPS figures reveal that the GPU becomes the decisive factor in most configurations.

The i7-14700K's synthetic scores place it in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70074. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700KF, scores 70104 with a deltaPct of 0, indicating essentially identical compute performance. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X sits slightly above at 70420, showing a -0.5 deltaPct relative to the i7-14700K, while the AMD EPYC 9115 trails by 0.3 deltaPct at 69887. In practical terms, this CPU is not the bottleneck in this game—even at 1080p Low where the frame rate reaches 77 FPS, the processor is capable of far higher output than the Radeon RX 570 can deliver.

The multi-threaded strength is evident in Cinebench R23 multi-core (44534) and Geekbench multi-core (18896), while single-core results (6287 in Cinebench R23, 2932 in Geekbench) show strong per-thread performance. For an FPS title like Lockdown Protocol, which typically relies on a few primary threads for game simulation, the i7-14700K's single-thread capabilities are more than adequate. The data indicates that at no tested resolution or settings does the CPU limit the frame rate; instead, the GPU's rendering capacity defines the ceiling.

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

Across all three resolutions, the Low preset consistently delivers the highest average frame rates, while Ultra produces the lowest. At 1920x1080, Low achieves 77 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that approaches or exceeds the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered playable for a competitive FPS. Medium at 1080p drops to 55 FPS, High to 50.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37.4 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 22 FPS, a 28.6% reduction, while the jump from Medium to High costs only 4.7 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 12.9 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the pattern persists but with lower absolute numbers: Low yields 56.7 FPS, Medium 40.6 FPS, High 36.3 FPS, and Ultra 27.6 FPS. The 1440p Low setting is the only configuration at this resolution that remains above 50 FPS, making it the most viable for responsive gameplay. At 3840x2160, all presets fall below 36 FPS, with Low at 35.5 FPS, Medium at 26.4 FPS, High at 26.1 FPS, and Ultra at a sluggish 15.1 FPS.

The data strongly suggests that the Low preset is the optimal choice for this combo in Lockdown Protocol. The performance gap between Low and Medium is substantial enough that the visual fidelity gains from Medium do not justify the frame rate penalty, particularly given the game's FPS genre demands smooth motion. For users who prioritize visuals over responsiveness, Medium at 1080p (55 FPS) is the highest preset that remains marginally playable, but the measured results indicate that Low is the only preset that delivers consistently fluid frame rates across all resolutions.

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

The resolution scaling behavior reveals a classic GPU-bound profile. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on Low settings reduces the average frame rate from 77 to 56.7 FPS, a drop of 20.3 FPS or approximately 26.4%. The further step to 3840x2160 on Low brings the frame rate down to 35.5 FPS, another 21.2 FPS loss (37.4% relative to 1440p). This monotonic decline with increasing pixel count is the signature of a graphics card operating at its rendering limit, not a CPU that is throttling performance.

On High settings, the scaling is similarly pronounced: 1080p delivers 50.3 FPS, 1440p drops to 36.3 FPS, and 4K falls to 26.1 FPS. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is 27.8%, and from 1440p to 4K is 28.1%. These consistent percentage reductions across settings indicate that the Radeon RX 570's fill rate and shader throughput are the limiting factors. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between resolutions, as the processor's workload would remain relatively constant while the GPU's load increases.

The 4K Ultra result of 15.1 FPS is particularly telling. This configuration demands the maximum pixel count and the highest shading complexity simultaneously, and the GPU simply cannot keep pace. The i7-14700K, with its 20 cores and high boost clock, is not the constraint here—the processor can feed frames faster than the RX 570 can render them. The data suggests that even at 1080p Low (77 FPS), the GPU is likely the primary limiter, as the CPU's single-thread score of 6287 in Cinebench R23 indicates it could support significantly higher frame rates in a less GPU-bound scenario.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 1546 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the pairing in the bottom 5.6% of all tested configurations, which aligns with the measured FPS data showing that even the best-case scenario (1080p Low) only reaches 77 FPS. The rank reflects the severe mismatch between the high-end CPU and the entry-level GPU—the processor is capable of far more, but the graphics card anchors the overall performance.

Within the context of the 1637 total combos, a rank of 1546 means there are only 91 combinations that perform worse. This is a remarkably low position for a CPU that sits in the 96th percentile of all processors. The explanation lies in the GPU's percentile ranking: the Radeon RX 570 is in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, but its absolute performance in this game is constrained by its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 2048 shading units. The combination's rank is thus dominated by the GPU's limitations rather than any CPU deficiency.

The nearest GPU rivals in the database—the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (avgScore 30109, deltaPct 0.2) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (avgScore 30097, deltaPct 0.2)—are within a fraction of a percent of the RX 570's average benchmark score of 30158. This clustering suggests that the RX 570's synthetic benchmarks are competitive with these newer cards, yet in Lockdown Protocol, the measured FPS tells a different story. The game's specific rendering demands likely expose the RX 570's architectural age (GCN 4.0, 14 nm process) more than synthetic tests would indicate.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory operates at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 1168 MHz with a boost of 1244 MHz, and it houses 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are the raw throughput figures that ultimately determine how many pixels the card can fill per second.

The measured FPS data directly reflects these hardware limits. At 1080p Low, the card achieves 77 FPS, which is respectable for a GPU of this class. However, the 4 GB VRAM capacity becomes a liability at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate collapses to 15.1 FPS, likely due to both memory capacity exhaustion and the sheer pixel fill requirements. The 256-bit memory bus provides adequate bandwidth for 1080p gaming, but at 4K, the combination of higher resolution textures and increased draw distance overwhelms the available VRAM.

The RX 570's FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS and FP16 of 5.095 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio) place it firmly in the entry-level segment. Its support for DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3 ensures compatibility with modern game APIs, but the GCN 4.0 architecture lacks the dedicated ray tracing cores found in newer GPUs. For Lockdown Protocol, which is an FPS title, the absence of ray tracing hardware is not a significant concern, but the overall compute throughput is the binding constraint. The GPU's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with an average benchmark score of 30158, confirms its mid-tier status—yet in this game, the measured results show it operating at the lower end of its capability envelope, particularly when paired with a CPU that can never be the bottleneck.