Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol, a 2024 FPS, presents a demanding workload that scales heavily with both resolution and quality settings. The pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT demonstrates a clear shift in system bottleneck as graphical load increases, moving from a CPU-bound scenario at 1080p to a GPU-bound one at 4K. The measured frame rates across the three resolutions provide a detailed picture of this behavior.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a significant performance drop when moving from 1080p to 4K, which is typical for a graphically intensive title. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average of 112.9 FPS. Scaling up to 1440p on the same settings yields 80.5 FPS, a reduction of 32.4 FPS. The jump to 4K Ultra is more punishing, with the average falling to 51.6 FPS. This progression from 112.9 to 80.5 to 51.6 FPS indicates that the GPU is increasingly the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

However, the scaling pattern shifts dramatically when looking at lower quality presets. At Low settings, the average frame rate at 1080p is 241.8 FPS. This drops to 177.3 FPS at 1440p and further to 115.5 FPS at 4K. The fact that even at 4K Low the system still achieves over 115 FPS suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to maintain high performance when the graphical workload is light enough. The spread between the highest and lowest frame rates at a given resolution also changes with settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low (241.8 FPS) and Ultra (112.9 FPS) is a massive 128.9 FPS, showing just how much the visual quality settings impact the GPU load. At 4K, the gap between Low (115.5 FPS) and Ultra (51.6 FPS) narrows to 63.9 FPS, but the absolute performance is much lower.

This reveals a dual-bottleneck nature. At 1080p, the system is likely CPU-bound, as the 20-core, 28-thread processor's capabilities are being taxed to generate the high frame rates. The performance difference between Medium (172.6 FPS) and High (152.2 FPS) at 1080p is only 20.4 FPS, which is relatively small. This hints that the graphics card is not the primary constraint at this resolution. Moving to 1440p, the frame rates become more moderate, with High settings producing 113.1 FPS. This is a more balanced point where both components are under significant load. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The difference between High (70.9 FPS) and Medium (81.1 FPS) is just 10.2 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 51.6 FPS, indicating that the Radeon RX 6800 XT is saturated by the pixel throughput demands of 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is a high-end card from the Radeon RX 6000 series, built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a substantial 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is crucial for Lockdown Protocol, especially at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K, the card's performance is heavily taxed, with Ultra settings yielding an average of 51.6 FPS. The card's boost clock of 2250 MHz and game clock of 2015 MHz are key to its performance. The benchmark results for the GPU place it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49982. This is a strong showing, but its nearest rivals demonstrate the competitive landscape.

The GPU's nearest rival is the Intel Arc A550M, which has an average score of 49737, a 0.5% difference. This is a negligible margin, showing that the RX 6800 XT and the Arc A550M are statistically tied in synthetic benchmarks. However, the RX 6800 XT performs better than the NVIDIA RTX A1000, which has an average score of 50826, meaning the RX 6800 XT trails by 1.7% in this comparison. It also outperforms the NVIDIA CMP 50HX, which has a score of 49071, a 1.9% difference in favor of the AMD card. The most notable rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, which has an average score of 48704. The RX 6800 XT is 2.6% ahead of this card in average benchmark score. These results show that while the RX 6800 XT is a capable GPU, it is not at the very top of the performance stack, which is reflected in its 4K Ultra performance. The card's 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is substantial, but Lockdown Protocol's demands at 4K Ultra prove to be a significant challenge, limiting the average to just above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, built on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This high boost clock is instrumental in driving high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. The CPU's performance is reflected in its 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104. In game, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where the frame rates are exceptionally high. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 241.8 FPS, which is a clear indicator that the CPU is capable of processing the game's logic and draw calls at a very high rate. The CPU's large 33 MB of shared L3 cache also helps in this regard, reducing memory latency for frequently accessed data.

The CPU's nearest rival is the Intel Core i7-14700K, which has an average score of 70074, a 0% difference. This is expected, as the "F" suffix simply denotes a lack of integrated graphics. It also trades blows with the AMD EPYC 9115, which has a score of 69887, a 0.3% difference in favor of the i7-14700KF. The data shows the i7-14700KF is slightly behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, which has a score of 70420, a -0.4% delta. It is also behind the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270, which scores 71056, a -1.3% delta. These results show that the i7-14700KF is a top-tier consumer processor, but not the absolute fastest in every metric. The measured FPS data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 4K, as the frame rates are primarily dictated by the GPU's rendering capabilities. At 1440p, the CPU still plays a significant role, as the frame rates are high enough to suggest the processor is keeping up with the GPU's output. The combination of high core count and high clock speed makes the i7-14700KF a strong match for this game, ensuring that it does not become a bottleneck until very high frame rates are reached.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined performance of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT in Lockdown Protocol is tracked by a combo rank. The data indicates that this specific pairing ranks 559th out of 1637 tested combinations. This places it in the upper third of all possible configurations, which is a solid result given the components' individual strengths. The ranking is a holistic measure that considers the performance of the CPU and GPU together across various resolutions and settings.

A rank of 559 out of 1637 means that approximately 34% of the tested combos perform better. This suggests that while the i7-14700KF and RX 6800 XT are both high-end parts, their combination is not at the absolute advanced of performance. This is likely because the RX 6800 XT, while powerful, is not the newest or fastest GPU available, and its 4K Ultra performance of 51.6 FPS is a limiting factor for the combo's overall standing. The CPU's high performance allows the combo to excel at 1080p and 1440p, where it can achieve very high frame rates, but the GPU's 4K performance holds it back from ranking higher. For context, the CPU alone is in the 96th percentile, and the GPU is in the 87th percentile, which would suggest a higher combo rank. The game's specific demands, particularly its heavy reliance on GPU compute at high resolutions, mean that the combo's overall rank is more heavily influenced by the GPU's performance ceiling than the CPU's capabilities.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate for this combo at 1440p with High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 113.1 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-14700KF compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K?

A: The two processors have nearly identical average benchmark scores, with the i7-14700KF scoring 70104 and the i7-14700K scoring 70074, a 0% difference.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 112.9 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 51.6 FPS, a significant reduction of 61.3 FPS.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the primary bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. The average frame rate at 4K High is 70.9 FPS, which is much lower than the 113.1 FPS seen at 1440p High, indicating the graphics card is saturated by the higher pixel count.

Q: What are the core and thread counts of the Intel Core i7-14700KF?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF has 20 cores and 28 threads, with a boost clock of up to 5.60 GHz.

Q: How does the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT's benchmark score compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER?

A: The RX 6800 XT has an average benchmark score of 49982, which is 2.6% higher than the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's score of 48704.