Lockdown Protocol

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX ranks 189th out of 1,637 tested combinations in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 12% of all tested configs. This is a strong result, though not elite-tier — the data shows a combo that consistently delivers high frame rates across all resolutions, but one that leaves some performance on the table at 1080p where the CPU becomes the limiting factor. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing: the CPU sits at the 96th percentile against all processors, while the GPU lands at the 85th percentile against all graphics cards. The combo's position in the broader database is driven more by GPU-bound scenarios at higher resolutions, where the RX 7900 XTX's capabilities shine, than by CPU-limited scenarios at lower resolutions.

# FAQ

Q: How does the Core i7-14700KF compare to its nearest CPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The i7-14700KF's average benchmark score is 70,104. It trails the Intel Core i7-14700K by 0% (score 70,074), sits 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9115 (69,887), is 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70,420), and leads the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 by 1.3% (71,056). These are essentially statistical ties, indicating the CPU is well-matched against its direct competition.

Q: What is the GPU's competitive position relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has an average benchmark score of 44,019. It is 0.4% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (44,195), 0.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile (43,667), 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (43,313), and 2% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (44,900). The deltas are small, placing the card in a tightly contested performance band.

Q: What is the best 1080p result for this combo?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 301 FPS average. This is the highest measured frame rate across all tested configurations, followed by 216.2 FPS at Medium, 188.9 FPS at High, and 141.7 FPS at Ultra.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 65.6. This is the lowest measured result in the dataset, but still above 60 FPS, indicating playable performance at the most demanding preset and resolution combination.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data indicates CPU limitation at 1080p. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo reaches 301 FPS; at 2560x1440 Low, it hits 223.4 FPS; and at 3840x2160 Low, it drops to 143.6 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 1080p is only a 34.8% increase in FPS despite a 44.4% increase in pixel count reduction, suggesting the CPU cannot feed the GPU fast enough at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the GPU's raw compute capability?

A: The RX 7900 XTX delivers 61.39 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 122.8 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). It has 96 ray-tracing cores, 6,144 shading units, and 24 GB of GDDR6 memory with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth.

# Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution drops. Moving from 3840x2160 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average FPS increases from 86.5 to 136.5 — a 57.8% jump. Dropping further to 1920x1080 at High yields 188.9 FPS, a 38.4% increase over 1440p. This scaling curve is typical of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the RX 7900 XTX's 24 GB memory buffer and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are fully utilized.

However, at Low settings, the scaling pattern shifts. From 4K Low (143.6 FPS) to 1440p Low (223.4 FPS), the gain is 55.6%. From 1440p Low to 1080p Low (301 FPS), the gain is 34.7%. The compression of gains at the lowest resolution suggests the CPU's 28 threads and 5.60 GHz boost clock become the constraint. The i7-14700KF's 20 cores can push high frame rates, but at 1080p Low, the rendering pipeline is so light that the CPU's per-thread performance — evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2,972 — becomes the ceiling.

The gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the spread from Low (301 FPS) to Ultra (141.7 FPS) is 159.3 FPS. At 1440p, the spread is 118 FPS (223.4 to 105.4). At 4K, the spread narrows to 78 FPS (143.6 to 65.6). This narrowing at 4K indicates that the GPU is increasingly the bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU has more headroom while the GPU works harder on pixel shading and memory bandwidth.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 301 FPS average
• Medium: 216.2 FPS average
• High: 188.9 FPS average
• Ultra: 141.7 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 223.4 FPS average
• Medium: 160.2 FPS average
• High: 136.5 FPS average
• Ultra: 105.4 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 143.6 FPS average
• Medium: 102.3 FPS average
• High: 86.5 FPS average
• Ultra: 65.6 FPS average

The data shows a consistent hierarchy: Low settings always deliver the highest FPS, followed by Medium, High, and Ultra in that order. The percentage drop from Low to Ultra is 52.9% at 1080p, 52.8% at 1440p, and 54.3% at 4K. This consistency indicates the setting presets scale uniformly across resolutions, with the GPU's 192 ROPs and 384 TMUs handling the increased texture and pixel work predictably.

At 4K Ultra, the 65.6 FPS average is the only measured result below 70 FPS, while 4K High (86.5 FPS) and 4K Medium (102.3 FPS) remain comfortably above 60 FPS. For competitive play, the 1080p Medium result of 216.2 FPS and 1440p Medium result of 160.2 FPS both exceed typical high-refresh-rate display capabilities.

# Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings depend on the target frame rate and resolution. For 4K displays, High settings (86.5 FPS) provide the best balance between visual fidelity and smoothness, as Ultra (65.6 FPS) barely exceeds 60 FPS and Medium (102.3 FPS) offers only a marginal visual downgrade for a 18.3% FPS gain. At 1440p, Medium (160.2 FPS) is the recommended preset — it delivers a frame rate that exceeds 144 Hz displays while retaining reasonable visual quality, and it sits 17.4% above High (136.5 FPS) and 52% above Ultra (105.4 FPS).

For 1080p, High settings (188.9 FPS) are the sweet spot for most users, as they provide near-Ultra visuals (141.7 FPS) with a 33.3% FPS advantage. Competitive players seeking maximum frame rates should use Low (301 FPS), which offers a 59.3% improvement over High, though this sacrifices visual detail. Medium (216.2 FPS) is a strong middle ground for 1080p users with 144 Hz monitors, offering a 14.5% FPS margin over High.

The data suggests that the Ultra preset is rarely worth the FPS cost. At every resolution, Ultra delivers the lowest frame rate, and the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically less impactful than the frame rate penalty. For a fast-paced FPS like Lockdown Protocol, prioritizing frame rate over maximum visual fidelity is the data-backed choice.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF brings 20 cores and 28 threads from the Raptor Lake-R architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This configuration places it at the 96th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70,104. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K, scores 70,074 (0% delta), confirming the KF variant's performance parity without integrated graphics.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low settings, where the combo hits 301 FPS. This result, the highest in the dataset, indicates that the CPU can drive extremely high frame rates when the GPU is not heavily loaded. The Geekbench multi-core score of 19,287 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,557 demonstrate substantial threading capabilities, but the game's frame rate ceiling at 1080p Low suggests it may not fully utilize all 20 cores.

The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 per core provide ample data locality for game logic. At 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes — the FPS differences between settings presets at 4K (78 FPS spread from Low to Ultra) closely mirror the GPU's workload scaling, indicating the CPU is not the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,480 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,972 show strong per-core performance, which is critical for the game's main thread and physics calculations.

# GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX uses the Navi 31 chip on a 5 nm process with 57,700 million transistors. It features 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU's 6,144 shading units, 384 TMUs, and 192 ROPs power its 61.39 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. Clock speeds include a base of 1929 MHz, a boost of 2498 MHz, and a game clock of 2365 MHz.

The GPU's 85th percentile ranking against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44,019, places it in the upper tier. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, scores 44,900 (2% higher), while the RTX 4090 Mobile scores 43,667 (0.8% lower). The PassMark G3D score of 31,238 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,841 reflect strong rasterization performance.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's impact is most pronounced at 4K. The transition from Low (143.6 FPS) to Ultra (65.6 FPS) at 4K represents a 54.3% FPS drop, which aligns with the increased pixel shading and memory bandwidth demands. The 24 GB VRAM capacity exceeds the game's requirements at all tested settings, preventing any memory capacity bottlenecks. The GPU's 96 ray-tracing cores support DirectX 12 Ultimate features, though the measured FPS data does not isolate ray-tracing effects. The 960.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures texture streaming remains fluid even at 4K Ultra, evidenced by the consistent frame rates across all settings presets.