Lockdown Protocol

# FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in Lockdown Protocol?

A: The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT ranks 1094 out of 1637 tested combos in this game. That places it in the lower-mid tier of all configurations measured, suggesting that while this pairing is functional, it does not deliver top-tier performance in Lockdown Protocol.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Core i9-14900K scores an average benchmark of 79824, which is 0.3% behind the AMD EPYC 7413 (80041) and 0.7% ahead of both the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79245) and Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (79240). The closest competitor, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, trails by 0.9% with a score of 79102. The 14900K's percentile of 97 indicates it outperforms 97% of all CPUs in the database.

Q: What is the GPU's synthetic performance standing relative to its peers?

A: The RX 7600 XT posts an average benchmark score of 20146, sitting in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. It is 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 460 (20088) and 1.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (19774), but trails the AMD Radeon RX 7600 by 0.6% (20258) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile by 1.9% (20534).

Q: What is the best measured FPS result for this combination?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 165.2 at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The lowest is 38.9 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This wide spread highlights how settings and resolution dramatically affect performance.

Q: Does the CPU have integrated graphics that could serve as a fallback?

A: Yes, the Intel Core i9-14900K includes UHD Graphics 770. While this integrated solution is not benchmarked for gaming in the data, it provides a basic display output capability should the discrete GPU be unavailable.

Q: How much memory bandwidth does the GPU provide?

A: The RX 7600 XT offers 288.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth via its 128-bit bus and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 18 Gbps effective. This bandwidth figure is notable for a card in this class, though the measured FPS data suggests it is still a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

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How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1094 out of 1637 tested configurations places it in the 33rd percentile of all combos tested for Lockdown Protocol. This is a surprisingly low standing given the individual component strengths — the CPU sits at the 97th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 63rd percentile. The data implies that the GPU is the bottleneck in this pairing, dragging the overall combo performance down to a level far below what the CPU alone would suggest.

Looking at the measured FPS, the combination delivers playable frame rates at 1080p across all settings, with Low hitting 165.2 FPS and Ultra still managing 77.2 FPS. However, at 1440p and especially 4K, the scores drop significantly, with Ultra at 4K falling to 38.9 FPS. This pattern indicates that the RX 7600 XT is unable to keep pace with the i9-14900K's potential, particularly when pixel count rises.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing sits in the lower half, which is notable because the CPU alone ranks near the top. The delta between CPU percentile (97) and combo rank (33rd percentile) suggests that many other configurations with weaker processors but stronger GPUs outperform this setup in Lockdown Protocol. The data questions whether this pairing is balanced for this specific game, as the CPU's headroom appears largely untapped.

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CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, which is the highest boost frequency among its nearest rivals. The CPU includes 36 MB of shared L3 cache, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 80 KB of L1 per core, providing ample on-die storage for game data.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 14900K excels: its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 49872 and single-core score of 7040 indicate strong both-threaded and single-threaded performance. Geekbench results (20370 multicore, 3064 single-core) reinforce this. The PassMark multithread score of 58674 and single-thread score of 4697 further confirm its processing prowess.

For Lockdown Protocol, an FPS title, single-core performance often matters most for game logic and physics. The 14900K's single-core scores are exceptional, yet the measured FPS at 1080p Low (165.2) does not reflect the CPU's top-tier single-thread capability. This suggests that the game is not CPU-limited at these settings; instead, the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The CPU's 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier indicate overclocking potential, but the data does not show whether this was utilized in the measurements.

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Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average FPS: Low 165.2, Medium 117.3, High 104.8, and Ultra 77.2. The jump from Low to Medium is a 47.9 FPS drop (29%), while the drop from Medium to High is only 12.5 FPS (10.7%), and from High to Ultra is 27.6 FPS (26.3%). This non-linear scaling suggests that certain settings (likely shadows and effects) have outsized impacts.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 118.4, Medium 87.2, High 72.6, and Ultra 59.6. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 46.8 FPS (28.3%), while at Ultra it is 17.6 FPS (22.8%). Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 58.8 FPS, compared to 88.0 FPS at 1080p, indicating that settings have a smaller absolute impact at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the averages fall to: Low 78.8, Medium 54.8, High 48.5, and Ultra 38.9. The spread from Low to Ultra is 39.9 FPS, the narrowest of all resolutions. This compression indicates that at 4K, the GPU is fully saturated, and changing settings yields diminishing returns. The 4K Low result (78.8) is still playable, but 4K Ultra (38.9) falls below the 40 FPS threshold many players consider minimum for smooth gameplay.

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GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 33 chip, manufactured on a 6 nm process at TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, with 32 ray tracing cores. Its boost clock reaches 2755 MHz, with a game clock of 2470 MHz and base clock of 1980 MHz.

Synthetic benchmarks show the GPU's PassMark G3D score of 17132 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2348. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 83114 and Vulkan score is 88301. These figures place it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, indicating mid-range performance. The nearest rival, the RX 7600, scores nearly identically (20258 vs 20146), suggesting the "XT" designation adds little in raw compute.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for any settings at 1080p and 1440p, and likely adequate at 4K. However, the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (38.9) reveals that raw compute power, not memory capacity, is the limiting factor. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 22.57 TFLOPS is respectable for its class but insufficient for high-refresh 4K gaming in this title. The texture rate of 352.6 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 176.3 GPixel/s support this analysis, as higher resolutions demand more pixel throughput.

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Settings Recommendations

The data shows that the optimal balance of visual quality and playable frame rates occurs at 1920x1080 with High settings, delivering 104.8 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a 27.6 FPS improvement over Ultra while sacrificing some visual fidelity. For players with 1440p displays, Medium settings at 87.2 FPS offer the best experience, as High drops to 72.6 FPS and Ultra falls to 59.6.

At 4K, no setting achieves 60 FPS; the closest is Low at 78.8 FPS, which is playable but visually sparse. Medium at 54.8 FPS is borderline, while High (48.5) and Ultra (38.9) are likely too choppy for competitive play. The data suggests that 4K users should either accept Low settings or consider a GPU upgrade, as the RX 7600 XT cannot deliver smooth performance at this resolution regardless of settings.

The most efficient settings-to-performance ratio appears at 1440p Medium, where the 87.2 FPS result is only 26.2% below the 1080p Low maximum but offers significantly better visual quality. For competitive players prioritizing frame rate, 1080p Low at 165.2 FPS is the clear choice, but this sacrifices most graphical enhancements.

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Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the bottleneck. At Low settings, performance falls from 165.2 FPS at 1080p to 118.4 at 1440p (a 28.3% drop) and then to 78.8 at 4K (a 33.4% drop from 1440p). At Ultra settings, the drops are 22.8% from 1080p to 1440p (77.2 to 59.6) and 34.7% from 1440p to 4K (59.6 to 38.9).

These percentages indicate that the scaling is roughly linear with pixel count, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The i9-14900K's 6.00 GHz boost clock and 32 threads are more than capable of feeding the GPU at any resolution; the data shows no evidence of CPU limitation, as the FPS drops consistently as resolution increases.

The narrowing gap between settings at higher resolutions (39.9 FPS spread at 4K vs 88.0 at 1080p) further confirms GPU saturation. At 4K, the GPU is the sole bottleneck, and reducing settings from Ultra to Low only yields a 39.9 FPS improvement, whereas at 1080p the same settings change yields 88.0 FPS. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are exhausted, and the 288.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a critical constraint. The data clearly identifies the RX 7600 XT as the limiting component in this pairing for Lockdown Protocol.