Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol pairs a 24-core Intel Core i9-14900K with an AMD Radeon RX 580, creating a system where the CPU’s immense processing power is held back by a GPU that was already aging when the game launched in 2024. The benchmark data shows a clear pattern: this is a GPU-limited configuration at every resolution and settings level tested. The measured FPS figures indicate that the RX 580 is the primary bottleneck, with the i9-14900K’s capabilities largely untapped in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a straightforward answer for the best experience: use the Low preset at 1920x1080. This setting delivers an average of 85 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. It is also the only settings/resolution combination that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. At 2560x1440 Low, the average drops to 62 FPS, which is still playable but represents a significant 23 FPS loss from the 1080p figure.

The Medium preset at 1080p yields 60 FPS average, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS. This is a viable alternative if you prefer visual fidelity over raw frame rate, but the data shows it is only 25 FPS slower than Low. The High preset at 1080p drops to 53 FPS, which is a noticeable step down. The Ultra preset at 1080p is the worst choice at 40 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target most players seek in an FPS.

At 1440p, the situation worsens. The Low preset is the only playable option at 62 FPS. Medium drops to 44 FPS, High to 39 FPS, and Ultra to 29 FPS. The 4K data is uniformly poor: Low averages 40 FPS, Medium 29 FPS, High 25 FPS, and Ultra 19 FPS. Given the FPS genre’s demand for smoothness, the data strongly recommends staying at 1080p. Between Low and Medium at 1080p, the choice depends on whether you prioritize the 25 FPS advantage of Low or the slightly better visuals of Medium, which still maintains a 60 FPS average. For competitive play, Low is the clear winner.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Lockdown Protocol at 1080p with a consistent 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings. The measured data shows a 60 FPS average at 1920x1080 Medium, with a minimum of 51 FPS. The Low preset provides a higher average of 85 FPS, while High and Ultra fall below 60 FPS at 53 FPS and 40 FPS, respectively.

Q: How does the i9-14900K’s CPU performance influence the FPS in this game?

A: The data suggests it has minimal impact. The i9-14900K has 24 cores and 32 threads with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, which is far more than enough for most games. The bottleneck is the GPU, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops when resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The CPU’s high benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5, do not translate into higher FPS here.

Q: Is the RX 580 strong enough for 1440p gaming in Lockdown Protocol?

A: Only at the Low preset. The measured data shows 62 FPS at 2560x1440 Low. Moving to Medium drops the average to 44 FPS, and High falls to 39 FPS. Ultra is not recommended at this resolution, as it averages only 29 FPS.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The Low preset averages 85 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. This is a 45 FPS difference, or a 112.5% improvement in favor of Low. This large gap indicates the GPU is heavily taxed by the higher settings.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The data shows this combo ranks 3384 out of 3714 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 9% of all tested combos, indicating that while the CPU is top-tier, the GPU severely limits the overall performance in this specific game.

Q: Does the game use the i9-14900K’s multi-threading capabilities effectively?

A: The benchmark results do not provide direct evidence of CPU core utilization. However, given the large FPS drops at higher resolutions and settings, it is clear that the RX 580 is the limiting factor. The CPU’s performance headroom, indicated by its 95th percentile rank among all CPUs, is not the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and dramatic scaling pattern as resolution increases, which directly points to the GPU as the limiting component. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 85 at 1080p to 62 at 1440p, a reduction of 23 FPS (27%). Moving to 4K, the average falls further to 40 FPS, a 45 FPS (53%) drop from the 1080p figure. This steep decline is a hallmark of a GPU that is running out of pixel-pushing capability.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend. At 1080p, the average is 60 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 44 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 29 FPS. The High preset follows the same pattern: 53 FPS at 1080p, 39 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most punishing, with averages of 40 FPS at 1080p, 29 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K.

This scaling behavior indicates that the RX 580’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus are being saturated. The GPU’s compute power, rated at 6.175 TFLOPS, is insufficient for higher resolutions in this title. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU’s workload does not increase with resolution. Instead, the FPS drops proportionally with the increase in pixel count, confirming that the i9-14900K is idle waiting for the GPU to finish its work. For example, going from 1080p to 4K Low involves rendering four times the pixels, and the FPS drops from 85 to 40, which is roughly a 2.1x reduction—close to the theoretical 4x increase in workload, but not exact due to other bottlenecks.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank in Lockdown Protocol is 3384 out of 3714 tested combinations. This places it in the 9th percentile, meaning that 91% of tested combos perform better in this game. This is a low ranking that reflects the severe imbalance between the high-end CPU and the mid-range GPU. The i9-14900K alone ranks in the 95th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097. It is nearly tied with the Intel Core i9-14900KF, which scores 79371, a delta of -0.3%. It is also close to the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, which scores 79574, a delta of -0.6%.

The GPU, on the other hand, ranks in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12928. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, which scores 12940, a delta of -0.1%. This shows that the RX 580 is a mid-pack GPU that is simply outclassed by the CPU’s potential. The discrepancy between the CPU’s high percentile rank and the combo’s low rank in-game is the clearest evidence that the pairing is poorly matched for this title. The data suggests that a more balanced setup, with a weaker CPU and a stronger GPU, would likely achieve a much higher rank in Lockdown Protocol.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. This is a top-tier desktop CPU, and its benchmark results confirm its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5, a Geekbench multi-core score of 21697, and a Passmark multi-thread score of 58674. It ranks in the 95th percentile of all CPUs.

However, in Lockdown Protocol, the data shows that this CPU power is largely irrelevant to the FPS. The measured FPS figures are far more consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. For example, the FPS drops from 85 to 40 when moving from 1080p Low to 4K Low, a change that is entirely driven by the GPU’s ability to render pixels. The CPU’s job is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and with 24 cores at up to 6.00 GHz, it has an enormous amount of headroom for this task.

The CPU’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2262.5 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4697, should be more than sufficient for any game’s main thread. The data suggests that the i9-14900K is not the limiting factor at any resolution or settings level. The GPU is the clear bottleneck, as its performance caps the FPS well below what the CPU could potentially support. This is a classic case of a CPU being overqualified for the GPU it is paired with in a specific game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the complete measured FPS data for Lockdown Protocol with the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 580.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: Average FPS 85, no min/max reported.
• Medium: Average FPS 60, minimum 51, maximum 69.
• High: Average FPS 53, no min/max reported.
• Ultra: Average FPS 40, no min/max reported.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: Average FPS 62, no min/max reported.
• Medium: Average FPS 44, minimum 38, maximum 51.
• High: Average FPS 39, no min/max reported.
• Ultra: Average FPS 29, no min/max reported.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: Average FPS 40, no min/max reported.
• Medium: Average FPS 29, minimum 24, maximum 33.
• High: Average FPS 25, no min/max reported.
• Ultra: Average FPS 19, no min/max reported.

The data shows a consistent pattern: at every resolution, the Low preset offers the highest average FPS, followed by Medium, then High, and finally Ultra. The gaps between presets are substantial. At 1080p, there is a 25 FPS difference between Low and Medium, and another 20 FPS difference between High and Ultra. At 1440p, the gap between Low and Medium is 18 FPS, and at 4K, it is 11 FPS. The minimum FPS values, where reported, show that the Medium preset at 1080p can dip to 51 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS average but may cause minor stutters. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 38 FPS indicates that the experience will not be smooth. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 24 FPS makes it nearly unplayable for an FPS. The maximum FPS values are also telling: at 1080p Medium, the max is 69 FPS, showing that the GPU is not capable of pushing much beyond 60 FPS even on a good frame. At 1440p Medium, the max is 51 FPS, and at 4K Medium, the max is 33 FPS. These figures reinforce the conclusion that the RX 580 is the limiting factor, and the i9-14900K is not being challenged by this workload.