Lockdown Protocol

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is a measured configuration for Lockdown Protocol, placed 727th out of 3,714 tested combos on the benchmark database. This places the setup well ahead of the pack, though it is not the absolute fastest combination available. All performance data below comes from actual measurement, not estimation, so the FPS and score figures reflect what this specific hardware pair delivers in the game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo earns rank 727 out of 3,714 tested configurations, meaning roughly 80% of better-performing combos exist, but also that this pair sits comfortably in the upper fifth of the test pool. The component-level percentiles support this standing: the i7-14700K places in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, and the RTX 5070 sits in the 82nd percentile among GPUs. Those percentiles are based on aggregated synthetic benchmarks, but they align with the measured in-game results.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 69,355, essentially identical to its nearest rivals. The AMD EPYC 9115 scores 69,288 (delta +0.1%), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69,515 (delta -0.2%), the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scores 69,875 (delta -0.7%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F scores 69,996 (delta -0.9%). This means the i7-14700K is within 1% of top desktop processors in composite benchmarks, showing that the CPU is not the bottleneck in most scenarios. The GPU likewise trails its nearest rivals by a similar fraction: the AMD Radeon Pro 580 scores 40,318 (delta +0.1%), the Radeon Pro WX 7100 scores 40,063 (delta +0.8%), the Radeon Pro 5300 scores 40,870 (delta -1.2%), and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile scores 39,568 (delta +2%). These deltas are negligible in real-world FPS.

Ranking 727th out of 3,714 places the combo near the 80th percentile (since the rank number is from the top). That suggests that while dozens of combos outperform it, the majority are slower. In a game like Lockdown Protocol, which is an online FPS, mediocre ranks can still translate to excellent playable performance – the measured FPS data shows that.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 is built on NVIDIA's Blackwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 5nm process by TSMC with 31.1 billion transistors on a 263 mm² die. It has 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, giving 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth – enough for 4K textures and advanced geometry. The memory is clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), while the GPU base and boost are 2325 MHz and 2512 MHz respectively. It has 6,144 shading units, 192 tensor cores, 48 RT cores, and 80 ROPs. The pixel rate is 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate is 482.3 GTexel/s, with FP32 output at 30.87 TFLOPS. It requires a 600W PSU and uses a 16-pin connector. The card is dual-slot, 245 mm long, and was released on March 3, 2025. The launch MSRP is 549 USD, but that detail is only noted once.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5070 scores 5,077 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 172,660 in Geekbench OpenCL, 178,923 in Geekbench Vulkan, and a PassMark G3D score of 29,137. A PassMark compute score of 15,787 reinforces the card's compute capability. These scores put the GPU in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms most discrete graphics solutions. The nearest rival comparisons are not desktop gaming cards but professional lineup – the Radeon Pro 580 and WX 7100 – so the percentages are not indicative of gaming competition, but the absolute numbers are still informative.

The GPU's role in Lockdown Protocol's FPS is decisive. Looking at the measured results, at 1080p Low settings the combo averages 278 FPS; at 1080p High it drops to 172 FPS. The gap between Low and High is large, but even High goes beyond typical 144 Hz monitors. At 1440p, the card still produces 204 FPS on Low and 126 on High, showing that it runs that resolution well above 120 FPS. At 4K, the load is heavier – Low is 132 FPS, but High falls to 82 FPS, and Ultra drops to 61 FPS. The GPU's 12GB VRAM is likely sufficient for this game, as the card fills the buffer easily; the average FPS pattern suggests the GPU is the eventual bottleneck as resolution climbs, but the CPU still holds up.

CPU Role

The i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor from the 14th-generation Core family, built on Raptor Lake with a 10nm process. It runs at a base of 3.40 GHz and boosts to 5.60 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. Its cache consists of 80 KB L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3. The chip supports DDR4 and DDR5 in dual-channel, but the tested system likely used the latter. It uses Intel Socket 1700 and has 16 PCIe Gen5 lanes. With an integrated UHD Graphics 770, the chip can even boot a system without a discrete GPU. Its launch MSRP is $409, which is notable but irrelevant to its performance picture.

The i7-14700K crushes multi-threaded work: Cinebench R20 multicore score is 18,544 and R23 multicore 33,440.5. Single-thread scores are strong as well: Cinebench R15 singlecore 313.5, R20 singlecore 2,617, R23 singlecore 2,160. In Geekbench, it scores 20,767 multicore and 2,569 singlecore. PassMark multithread score is 52,392, single thread 4,472. Other workloads like data encryption (40,091) and floating point math (134,222) show the chip's versatile compute.

Of interest for gaming, the CPU's performance relative to its rivals is extremely tight. The 14700K's average score of 69,355 matches the EPYC 9115 within 0.1%, and lags the Ryzen 9 7950X by only 0.2%. The Ryzen 9 7940HX and Ryzen 7 9700F lead by 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively. These differences would seldom show up in-game, especially in a title like Lockdown Protocol where the GPU determines the large FPS values.

The CPU's role in Lockdown Protocol is to feed the graphics card. At 1080p Low, the combo exceeds 278 FPS, which indicates the CPU is capable of producing minimal bottleneck for a 280 FPS frame rate. Even at 1440p Low, it hits 108 FPS, showing that the CPU can generate a steady stream of frames. The core count and high boost clock allow the game to allocate work across threads beat matter. The 33 MB L3 cache helps with per-thread data, but the biggest factor is the 5.60 GHz boost frequency that games demand.

When resolution rises, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but the CPU still maintains pace. The drop from Low to High settings at each resolution is a product of GPU load, with the CPU handling the same amount of scene complexity at lower FPS, why the CPU's thread capacity is never saturated, as seen by the fact that 1080p Low goes to 278 FPS without dropping.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS table shows exactly how the i7-14700K + RTX 5070 combination performs in Lockdown Protocol across three resolutions and four quality presets. All entries are average FPS with some presets providing min and max values.

At 3840x2160 (4K): Low preset yields 132 average FPS, Medium 93 average (with min 79, max 107), High 82 average, and Ultra 61 average. This is the only resolution where Ultra drops below the 60 FPS threshold, but it still barely stays above it. The 40 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 4K demonstrates the card's sensitivity to detail settings at this resolution.

At 2560x1440 (1440p): Low presets gives 204 average FPS, Medium delivers 145 (min 123, max 166), High yields 126, and Ultra 95. The gap between Low and Medium is 59 FPS, while from Medium to High it only 19 FPS, and from High to Ultra 31 points. This suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for maximizing FPS while still providing visually appropriate detail.

At 1920x1080 (1080p): Low produces 278 average FPS, Medium 197 (min 168, max 227), High 172, Ultra 129. Even Ultra exceeds a 120 Hz refresh, and the Low setting can push to 278, which speaks to the CPU's ability to manage high frame rates at the lower resolution.

The data reveals consistent scaling: moving from Ultra to High raises FPS by roughly 15-20% at each resolution, while Medium to High adds another 15-20%. The largest jump happens between Ultra and Medium at 4K, where average FPS rises from 61 to 93 – a 32% increase. At 1440p, the jump is 95 to 145 (53%), and at 1080p, it goes from 129 to 197 (68%). Low settings always deliver the highest FPS, but the difference between Medium and Low is about 40% on average, so any user who wants both visual clarity and refresh rate should in most cases choose Medium.

Only the Medium presets across all resolutions have both min and max FPS recorded. Those ranges indicate the frame times vary; for example, 4K medium fluctuates between ~79 and 107 FPS, 1440p Medium between 123-166, and 1080p Medium between 168-227. This variation is typical of an FPS with explosions and multiple actors, but the base card handles the average FPS without crashing below 60.

The data shows that this combo is suitable for high refresh gaming at 1080p and 1440p, and good at 4K for 60-130 FPS depending on settings. With a high-refresh 1080p monitor, the whole Low setting hits 278 FPS, which is ideal for a 280 Hz monitor. At 1440p, the Medium preset gives an average of 145 FPS, which is great for 144 Hz. At 4K, the Ultra preset hits 61 FPS, which is on par with many console experiences, but the Medium preset offers 93 FPS, which is preferable if your display is 120 Hz.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700K + RTX 5070 a good combination for Lockdown Protocol at 4K?

A: It depends on the preset. On Ultra, the average FPS is 82 at 4K, which is playable but not extremely smooth. At Medium, it goes to 93 average with a min of 79 and max of 107, providing a much better experience. At Low, it hits 132 FPS. The card is capable of high FPS at 4K, but only at lower settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to near-identical desktop processors?

A: The i7-14700K scores 69,555 average in synthetic benchmarks. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 9115, scores 69,288 (0.1% lower). The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 0.2% slower, the Ryzen 9 7940HX is 0.7% faster, and the Ryzen 7 9700F is 0.9% faster. These differences are negligible in the game, which is why the CPU's performance is consistent across the tested frames.

Q: What resolution gives the best balance between fluidity and visual quality?

A: Based on measured results, 1440p Medium offers an average of 145 FPS with a low of 123 and max of 165. This gives a very smooth experience above 120 FPS while still doing higher detail. At 1080p Medium is even faster at 197 FPS, but 1440p is a more modern target for most gamers.

Q: Does the 12 GB VRAM limit performance in this game?

A: The RTX 5070 has 12 GB of GDDR7 memory with a 672.0 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K High, the average FPS is 82, and there is no data showing a memory-bottleneck drop-off (min/max only given at Medium, where min is 79). The findings indicate the card runs within its memory capacity, even at 4K Ultra, where FPS stays at 61. 12 GB is sufficient for this title's current graphics load.

Q: How do the GPU's synthetic scores relate to actual gaming?

A: The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad score is 5077, and PassMark G3D is 29137. Its Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 172660 and 178923 respectively. While these are not game benchmarks, the FPS data we have shows the same performance level: at 1080p the card presses near 300 FPS in low, and at 4K it stays over 60 FPS except at Ultra, which is 61. So there's a strong correlation.

Q: Should I use this combo for competitive FPS games?

A: Yes. Specifically in Lockdown Protocol, the average FPS exceeds 125 at 1440p High and 170 at 1080p High. At lower presets those numbers jump significantly. 206 FPS at 2560x1440 Low and 278 at 1080p Low give you headroom for 144Hz or even 240Hz monitors. Even at 4K with Medium, 93 FPS is above 60, allowing for a smoother experience with reduced latency.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured FPS, the strongest choice depends on the display's capability. For a 1080p monitor with a 120-240 Hz refresh rate, using Medium or High is optimal: 1080p Medium yields 197 FPS (168-227), which is great for 165Hz-180Hz screens. High at 1080p still gives 172 FPS, so High is fine.

For a 1440p display with a 144 Hz or 170 Hz refresh, Medium at 145 FPS is the sweet spot. It stays above 123 minimum FPS, which ensures no significant dips below the refresh rate. High at 1440p gives 126 FPS, also acceptable, but Medium shows a 19 FPS increase and only a good quality difference.

For a 4K monitor at 60 Hz, the Medium preset provides 93 FPS average, which is more than enough but also allows adaptive sync controls. High at 82 FPS is also fine, but the 11 FPS difference from Medium might be noticeable. If the monitor is 120 Hz, choose Low (132 total FPS) or Medium (93 FPS) – Low provides headroom beyond 120 while Medium stays just under. Ultra at 61 FPS is playable but not ideal for high-time gameplay.

When aiming for the best playable experience with the fewest frame drop, Medium is the balanced option across all resolutions. At 1080p it yields 197 FPS, at 1440p 145 FPS, and at 4K 93 FPS, each moving above the refresh of a standard 60 Hz screen and many high-refresh panels. The overall dataset suggests that this combo is strong enough to never dip below playable thresholds in this game, even at Ultra 4K (61 FPS). The safe recommendation is to enable Medium (first choice) or High (second) to keep average frame rates comfortably high while preserving visual fidelity.