Lockdown Protocol

# Lockdown Protocol with Intel Core i7-14700KF + AMD Radeon RX 9060

Lockdown Protocol is a 2024 FPS title that stresses both CPU and GPU depending on resolution and settings. The combination of Intel's Core i7-14700KF and AMD's Radeon RX 9060 produces a range of frame rates from 39 FPS at 4K Ultra to 175 FPS at 1080p Low, showing that this pairing is flexible but has clear limits at the high end. The data indicates a system that can handle competitive play at lower settings and resolutions, yet will struggle to drive high-refresh 4K monitors even on medium presets.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals a system increasingly bound by the GPU as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 109 FPS at 1920x1080 to 80 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 51 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 53% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the Radeon RX 9060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p and 1440p but become the limiting factor at 4K.

The scaling pattern across settings tells a similar story. On Low settings, the jump from 175 FPS at 1080p to 128 FPS at 1440p is a 27% drop, and further to 83 FPS at 4K is a 53% drop from the 1080p baseline. This consistent scaling curve suggests that the RX 9060's compute resources—1792 shading units and 64 ROPs—are being saturated at higher resolutions regardless of the quality preset. The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly large: at Medium settings, 91 FPS at 1440p falls to 59 FPS at 4K, a 35% loss. The 4K Medium result also shows a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS, meaning even the average is close to the lower bound of playability.

At 4K Ultra, the system drops to 39 FPS average, which is the lowest measured result in the entire dataset. This is a 52% reduction from 4K High's 51 FPS, meaning the jump from High to Ultra at 4K costs more than half the performance. The 1440p Ultra result of 60 FPS exactly matches the threshold for smooth gameplay, but 4K Ultra is clearly beyond what this combo can deliver. The data suggests that 1080p and 1440p are the intended operating ranges for this pairing, with 4K reserved for lower presets or less demanding scenes.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows make it clear that the best experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, High settings deliver 109 FPS average, which is already above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays and provides a good balance of visual quality and performance. The jump to Ultra at 1080p costs 28 FPS (down to 81 FPS), which is a 26% reduction for what is often marginal visual improvement in a fast-paced FPS. Players with 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors should consider Low settings at 1080p, where the 175 FPS average can fully utilize high refresh rates, though this sacrifices most visual fidelity.

At 1440p, Medium settings are the sweet spot. The 91 FPS average is well above 60 FPS, and the minimum of 77 FPS keeps frame pacing stable during intense combat. High settings at 1440p drop to 80 FPS average, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for dips. Ultra at 1440p lands at exactly 60 FPS average, which means any demanding scene could push it below the threshold. Low settings at 1440p produce 128 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play but visually sparse for a 2024 title.

For 4K, the options are limited. Medium settings at 59 FPS average are borderline, with a minimum of 50 FPS that will be noticeable in fast action. High settings at 51 FPS are playable on consoles but feel sluggish in a competitive FPS. Low settings at 83 FPS are the only 4K option that clears the 60 FPS bar comfortably, but the visual trade-off is significant. The data indicates that 4K should be reserved for single-player or less demanding modes, while 1080p and 1440p are where this combo shines.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role shifts depending on resolution. At 1080p Low, where the GPU has less work per frame, the 175 FPS average shows the CPU can feed frames quickly. The i7-14700KF's high boost clock of 5.60 GHz and 33 MB of shared L3 cache help maintain consistent frame delivery in CPU-bound scenarios.

The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44167 and a single-core score of 6235. In a game like Lockdown Protocol, which is an FPS with likely many simultaneous actors and physics calculations, the 28 threads can handle background tasks while the fast single-core performance drives the main game loop. The PassMark multi-thread score of 52425 and single-thread score of 4480 further confirm this processor is not the bottleneck at most settings.

The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the 39 FPS result is almost certainly GPU-bound, as the CPU has more than enough headroom. The i7-14700KF sits in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (0.2% ahead), AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.4% ahead), and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.9% ahead). The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is 1% behind. This places the i7-14700KF in the top tier of gaming CPUs, meaning it will not limit the RX 9060 in most scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1647 out of 2828 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. That places it in the 42nd percentile of all system pairings, meaning roughly 58% of tested combos perform better in this game. This ranking reflects the GPU's position as a mid-range part (59th percentile among all GPUs) paired with a high-end CPU (94th percentile among all CPUs). The combination is CPU-heavy, which helps at lower resolutions but doesn't overcome the GPU's limitations at 4K.

The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (0.7% ahead), AMD Radeon R9 370X (1% behind), AMD Radeon RX 7700 (1% behind), and AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (2.1% behind). This positions the RX 9060 as roughly equivalent to an RTX 3060 Ti in raw compute, which is a solid mid-range card. In Lockdown Protocol, the combo ranking of 1647 out of 2828 means there are many faster systems, but also many slower ones. The rank suggests this is a workable 1080p and 1440p gaming rig, not a 4K powerhouse.

The data shows a clear pattern: the CPU ranking is excellent, but the GPU ranking is merely average. This disparity explains why the combo rank is not higher. In games that are more CPU-intensive, this pairing would likely rank better, but Lockdown Protocol's FPS results indicate a balanced load that favors the GPU at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 44 chip, featuring 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock of 2990 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz help it achieve a FP32 performance of 21.43 TFLOPS. These specs place it in the mid-range tier, and the benchmark results confirm this positioning.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role is dominant at 4K and significant at 1440p. The measured FPS drops from 175 at 1080p Low to 83 at 4K Low, a 53% reduction, showing that even at Low settings, the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but 4K textures and effects could strain it, potentially causing the lower minimum FPS observed at 4K Medium (50 FPS).

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and PassMark G3D score of 17631 indicate solid DirectX 12 performance. The DirectX 12 API score of 44 in PassMark is notably low, but this may be a test-specific artifact. The RX 9060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, which are the modern APIs that Lockdown Protocol likely uses. The texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming at high settings.

The GPU's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms most cards, but the nearest rivals show it is barely ahead of the RTX 3060 Ti. In practice, this means the RX 9060 can handle 1080p Ultra at 81 FPS and 1440p High at 80 FPS, which are both playable. The 4K numbers are less impressive, with only Low settings breaking 60 FPS. The GPU is the clear bottleneck at 4K, and the data suggests users should stay at 1440p or below for the best experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset provides a detailed picture of performance across all resolution and settings combinations:

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 175 FPS average
• Medium: 124 FPS average (minimum 106, maximum 143)
• High: 109 FPS average
• Ultra: 81 FPS average

At 1080p, the system delivers excellent frame rates even at Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 94 FPS, showing the GPU has headroom at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 106 FPS ensures smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 128 FPS average
• Medium: 91 FPS average (minimum 77, maximum 105)
• High: 80 FPS average
• Ultra: 60 FPS average

1440p is where the RX 9060 starts to show its limits. Low settings provide a strong 128 FPS, but Ultra drops to exactly 60 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 77 FPS is still comfortable, but High and Ultra have less headroom for frame drops.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 83 FPS average
• Medium: 59 FPS average (minimum 50, maximum 68)
• High: 51 FPS average
• Ultra: 39 FPS average

4K performance is marginal at best. Only Low settings break 60 FPS, and Ultra falls to 39 FPS, which is nearly unplayable for a fast-paced FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 50 FPS means noticeable stuttering during intense action.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows consistent GPU-bound behavior: at 1080p, the drop from Low to Ultra is 54%; at 1440p, it is 53%; at 4K, it is 53%. This uniform scaling indicates the GPU's compute resources are the primary constraint across all settings, with the CPU providing ample support. The i7-14700KF's high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6235) ensures it never becomes the bottleneck, even at 1080p Low where frame rates are highest.

For practical purposes, the data suggests this combo is best used at 1080p with High or Ultra settings, or at 1440p with Medium or High settings. The 4K results are only suitable for Low settings or less demanding game modes. The combination ranks 1647 out of 2828, which is a mid-pack result, but the CPU's 94th percentile ranking means users upgrading the GPU later could see significant improvements without changing the processor.