Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is heavily GPU-bound for this Core i7-14700KF and RTX 5070 pairing, but the data reveals that the graphics card is the primary limiting factor only at the highest resolutions. The benchmark measurements show a clear pattern: as resolution drops, the performance headroom expands dramatically, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far beyond what 4K Ultra demands. This combo ranks in the top 18% of all tested configurations in this game, sitting at rank 293 out of 1637, which places it firmly in high-end territory for competitive FPS play.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that Lockdown Protocol scales predictably with pixel count. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 281.3 FPS at 1080p to 206.6 FPS at 1440p (a 26.6% reduction), then to 131.3 FPS at 4K (another 36.4% reduction from 1440p). This cascade indicates that the RTX 5070’s rendering pipeline is being saturated by the increasing pixel workload, while the CPU has ample headroom left unused.

At Ultra settings, the same pattern emerges but with a tighter spread: 133.8 FPS at 1080p, 96.6 FPS at 1440p, and 64.4 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 51.9%, which is slightly smaller than the 53.3% drop seen at Low settings. This suggests that at Ultra, the game is pushing both GPU and CPU harder, but the GPU remains the bottleneck. The 1080p Low result of 281.3 FPS is the strongest indicator of CPU capability in this dataset, as it approaches the practical ceiling for high-refresh-rate monitors without any GPU-induced frame cap.

The takeaway is straightforward: for 1080p and 1440p gaming, this combo delivers competitive esports-level frame rates even at High settings, while 4K is only viable at Medium or Low if you demand 90+ FPS. The limiting component at 4K is clearly the RTX 5070, as evidenced by the 131.3 FPS Low result at that resolution being far below the 281.3 FPS the same settings achieve at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium as the optimal balance for this hardware, particularly at 1440p and 4K. At 1440p Medium, the combo produces 147.3 FPS, which is 52.9% higher than the 96.6 FPS at Ultra — a massive quality-to-performance tradeoff that favors responsiveness. At 4K, Medium delivers 94.5 FPS versus 81.7 FPS at High, meaning you gain 15.7% more frame rate by dropping from High to Medium, while the visual difference between these presets in a fast-paced FPS is often negligible during motion.

For 1080p, High at 176.6 FPS is the recommended sweet spot, as it clears the 144Hz refresh rate threshold with room to spare and avoids the unnecessary frame-rate excess of Low (281.3 FPS) that provides no competitive benefit on standard displays. Ultra at 1080p still holds 133.8 FPS, which is playable but leaves performance on the table for a marginal visual uplift. At 1440p, High at 130.4 FPS is also viable for 120Hz displays, but Medium offers a safer margin for frame-time consistency. At 4K, Low at 131.3 FPS is the only preset that exceeds 120 FPS, making it the choice for players who prioritize refresh rate over fidelity on 4K panels.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Lockdown Protocol at 1440p with a 240Hz monitor?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where the measured average is 206.6 FPS. Medium drops to 147.3 FPS, which is below 240Hz, so Low is required for maximum refresh rate.

Q: What is the best 4K preset for this hardware?

A: Medium provides the best experience at 94.5 FPS, as it stays above 90 FPS while High falls to 81.7 FPS and Ultra drops to 64.4 FPS.

Q: How much performance do you lose going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average frame rate falls from 176.6 FPS to 81.7 FPS, a 53.7% reduction that indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K.

Q: Is the Core i7-14700KF limiting performance at 1080p Low?

A: The 281.3 FPS result at 1080p Low is likely near the CPU’s practical limit for this game, but since it exceeds any mainstream monitor’s refresh rate, the CPU is not a practical limitation.

Q: Does Ultra provide any benefit over High at 1440p?

A: The data shows a drop from 130.4 FPS at High to 96.6 FPS at Ultra, a 25.9% reduction, which is a significant cost for the visual upgrade.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K Ultra?

A: The measured average is 64.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard but still playable for slower-paced sections, though not ideal for competitive play.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the full settings ladder is captured: Low runs at 281.3 FPS, Medium at 198.8 FPS, High at 176.6 FPS, and Ultra at 133.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 41.5%, while the gap between High and Ultra is 24.2%, showing diminishing returns as settings increase. This resolution is clearly CPU-bound at Low, as the GPU has minimal pixel workload and the i7-14700KF’s 20 cores and 5.60 GHz boost clock can push frames far beyond the RTX 5070’s limits at higher settings.

At 1440p, the results shift to a more GPU-balanced profile: Low at 206.6 FPS, Medium at 147.3 FPS, High at 130.4 FPS, and Ultra at 96.6 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 28.7%, and from High to Ultra is 25.9%. The 1440p High result of 130.4 FPS is notable because it nearly matches the 1080p Ultra result of 133.8 FPS, indicating that the resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p at equivalent visual quality costs roughly 26% performance.

At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck: Low at 131.3 FPS, Medium at 94.5 FPS, High at 81.7 FPS, and Ultra at 64.4 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 50.9%, which is tighter than at lower resolutions, because the GPU is already saturated at Low. The 4K Low result is nearly identical to the 1080p Ultra result (131.3 vs 133.8 FPS), which suggests that 4K Low imposes a similar GPU load to 1080p Ultra, while the CPU has plenty of headroom left.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070’s 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for Lockdown Protocol’s texture streaming at all tested settings. The benchmark results show no signs of memory capacity limitations, as even 4K Ultra maintains 64.4 FPS without stutter-inducing drops that would indicate VRAM swapping. The GPU’s boost clock of 2512 MHz and 6144 shading units deliver 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which drives the 4K Medium result of 94.5 FPS.

The data indicates that the RTX 5070 is the limiting component at 4K, as evidenced by the sharp FPS decline from 1440p to 4K across all settings. At 1080p, however, the GPU has spare capacity, as shown by the 281.3 FPS Low result that exceeds what most displays can show. The GPU’s 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687, places it near the RTX 3090 (41441, 0.6% delta) in synthetic tests, but the real-world Lockdown Protocol results show it is well-optimized for this game’s rendering pipeline.

The 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores suggest that ray tracing and DLSS features are available, though the measured FPS data does not include those modes. The pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed to maintain 131.3 FPS at 4K Low, which is a demanding fill-rate scenario for a 192-bit memory interface.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF brings 20 cores and 28 threads with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, supported by 33 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and single-core score of 6290 indicate strong all-around performance that prevents it from bottlenecking the GPU in Lockdown Protocol. The 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104, places it just 0.4% behind the Ryzen 9 9950X (70420) and 0.3% ahead of the EPYC 9115 (69887).

The measured FPS data confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution, because the frame rates scale down consistently as resolution increases — a hallmark of GPU-bound scenarios. At 1080p Low, the 281.3 FPS result is likely near the CPU’s single-thread ceiling for this game, but it still exceeds the refresh rate of any mainstream monitor, making the CPU a non-issue for practical gameplay. The PassMark single-thread score of 4480 and multithread score of 52425 reinforce that this processor can handle both the game logic and background tasks without contention.

The CPU’s 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier (with a launch MSRP of $384) make it a high-end desktop part, but its role in Lockdown Protocol is to stay out of the way. The 1080p Medium result of 198.8 FPS versus the 1080p High result of 176.6 FPS shows that the CPU can feed the GPU across different settings, with the GPU handling the additional visual load. The 4K Low result of 131.3 FPS proves that even at 4K, the CPU is not struggling, as the frame rate is more than double the 4K Ultra result of 64.4 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This pairing of the Core i7-14700KF and RTX 5070 ranks 293rd out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all configurations. This is a strong result for a mid-to-high-end setup, indicating that the hardware is well-matched for this game’s demands. The rank suggests that most of the 1637 combinations are either using lower-tier CPUs or GPUs, or are configured with less optimal pairings.

The CPU’s 96th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 83rd percentile ranking combine to produce a result that exceeds the GPU’s standalone percentile, demonstrating that the i7-14700KF’s strong single-thread performance compensates for any GPU weaknesses. The combo rank of 293 means there are 292 configurations that outperform it, likely featuring higher-end GPUs like the RTX 5090 or RX 7900 XTX, but the gap is not enormous, as the measured FPS at 1440p High (130.4 FPS) is already competitive for high-refresh-rate gaming.

The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it delivers frame rates well above 130 FPS at High settings. At 4K, it requires settings compromises, but the 4K Medium result of 94.5 FPS is still playable. The rank of 293 out of 1637 reflects a balanced system where neither component is a significant bottleneck, making it a reliable choice for Lockdown Protocol players who prioritize smooth frame rates over maximum visual fidelity at 4K.