Lockdown Protocol

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data makes a clear case for Medium settings as the optimal balance in Lockdown Protocol for this Intel Core i9-14900K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 111.2 FPS, which is only 12% below the Low preset's 156.5 FPS but comes with substantially improved visual fidelity. The High preset drops to 99.2 FPS at the same resolution, a meaningful 11% reduction from Medium, while Ultra falls to 75.2 FPS, a 32% penalty that most players will not find justified.

At 2560x1440, the pattern holds firm. Medium produces 85.3 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while High manages 70.1 FPS and Ultra dips to 54.2 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 117.4 FPS, but the visual downgrade from Medium is considerable for a gain of 32.1 FPS. For players prioritizing competitive responsiveness, Low at 1080p offers the highest headroom, but the data suggests Medium is the sweet spot across all resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the choice becomes more constrained. Medium delivers 57 FPS, just shy of a locked 60, and High drops to 45.5 FPS. Low at 78 FPS remains viable, but the resolution's pixel density already compensates for lower detail settings. For 4K play, Medium is the recommended preset, as it keeps average FPS within striking distance of 60 while retaining enough detail to justify the resolution. Ultra at 4K, at 37.8 FPS, is effectively unplayable for a fast-paced FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for competitive play at 1080p?

A: Low settings at 1920x1080 deliver 156.5 FPS, the highest measured average in the data set. This provides the maximum frame rate headroom for a competitive FPS, though Medium at 111.2 FPS is a strong alternative if visual clarity matters more.

Q: Can this combo handle 1440p gaming smoothly?

A: Yes. Medium settings at 2560x1440 produce 85.3 FPS, and High settings maintain 70.1 FPS. Both exceed the 60 FPS threshold, making 1440p a viable resolution for this hardware pairing.

Q: Is 4K gaming feasible with the RTX 2060 SUPER and i9-14900K?

A: Partially. At 3840x2160, Medium settings yield 57 FPS, which is playable but not locked to 60. Low settings reach 78 FPS, but High and Ultra fall to 45.5 and 37.8 FPS respectively, making those presets impractical at 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU posts an average benchmark score of 19774, sitting 0.3% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (19706) and 0.5% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (19680). Its percentile rank of 63 versus all GPUs places it in the upper-mid range.

Q: What is the CPU's synthetic benchmark standing relative to competing processors?

A: The i9-14900K scores 79824 on average, which is 0.3% below the AMD EPYC 7413 (80041) and 0.7% above both the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79245) and Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (79240). It sits in the 97th percentile versus all CPUs.

Q: Does the data suggest the CPU or GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions?

A: The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The CPU's 24 cores and 32 threads provide ample processing headroom, while the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM and 448 GB/s bandwidth struggle to maintain frame rates as pixel count rises.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K brings substantial processing power to Lockdown Protocol, a game that benefits from high single-thread performance and robust multi-threading. With 24 cores and 32 threads, the CPU handles background tasks and game logic without becoming a bottleneck in most scenarios. Its base clock of 3.20 GHz and boost clock of 6.00 GHz provide exceptional per-core performance, which is critical for FPS titles where frame times depend on rapid sequential processing.

The CPU's Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, includes 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. This cache hierarchy reduces memory latency, helping maintain consistent frame pacing in combat-heavy scenes. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 49872 and single-core score of 7040 demonstrate the processor's capability to handle both heavily threaded workloads and latency-sensitive tasks.

In the context of this game's measured FPS, the CPU's contribution is most evident at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo reaches 156.5 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed frames fast enough to exploit the GPU's headroom. However, as resolution increases to 3840x2160, the FPS drops to 78 at Low settings, suggesting the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's percentile rank of 97 versus all CPUs confirms its position as a top-tier processor, and its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7413, is only 0.3% ahead in average benchmark score.

The 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier allow for sustained performance, though the data does not include overclocking results. The CPU's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, along with dual-channel memory bus, provides flexibility for system builders. For Lockdown Protocol specifically, the i9-14900K's combination of high clock speeds and ample cache ensures that it will not hold back the RTX 2060 SUPER in most gaming scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1176 out of 1637 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol. This places the pairing in the 28th percentile of all combinations, indicating that while it is functional, many other hardware pairings achieve higher frame rates in this specific title. The rank reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than the CPU's high-end capabilities.

The CPU alone sits in the 97th percentile versus all CPUs, while the GPU only reaches the 63rd percentile versus all GPUs. This disparity highlights that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the constraining component in this pairing. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 156.5 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 37.8 FPS. The GPU's average benchmark score of 19774 is nearly tied with the GTX TITAN (19706) and RTX 2070 (19680), showing that it competes with older high-end cards but not modern mid-range offerings.

The combo's rank suggests that players with this hardware should not expect top-tier performance in Lockdown Protocol at high resolutions. However, the data shows that at 1080p and 1440p with Medium or High settings, the experience remains solid. The rank of 1176 out of 1637 should be interpreted with context: the CPU is overkill for the GPU, and upgrading the graphics card would dramatically improve the combo's standing. The CPU's nearest rivals, including the Core i9-14900KF and Core Ultra 7 265KF, are within 0.9% in synthetic scores, so the CPU itself is not the reason for the low rank.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals the classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 111.2 at 1080p to 85.3 at 1440p (a 23% drop) and then to 57 at 4K (a 33% drop from 1440p). This steep decline indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER's rendering throughput is the primary constraint as pixel count increases.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 156.5 FPS at 1080p falls to 117.4 at 1440p (25% drop) and then to 78 at 4K (34% drop from 1440p). The consistent pattern across presets suggests that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors. The GPU's 448 GB/s memory bandwidth and 105.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are modest by modern standards, and the 8 GB VRAM capacity may also contribute to performance degradation at 4K where texture memory demands increase.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal. With a boost clock of 6.00 GHz and 36 MB of shared L3 cache, the i9-14900K can easily feed frames at 1080p, as evidenced by the 156.5 FPS result at Low settings. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops by roughly half from 1080p Low to 4K Low, confirming that the GPU is the limiting component. Players seeking higher 4K performance would need a more powerful GPU, as the CPU has ample headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range shows clear tiering. Low settings deliver 156.5 FPS, providing excellent headroom for high-refresh displays. Medium settings produce 111.2 FPS, still well above 100 FPS. High settings yield 99.2 FPS, just shy of triple digits. Ultra settings drop to 75.2 FPS, which remains playable but sacrifices the frame rate advantage of lower presets.

At 2560x1440, the numbers scale down proportionally. Low settings achieve 117.4 FPS, maintaining a triple-digit average. Medium settings reach 85.3 FPS, comfortably above 60. High settings produce 70.1 FPS, still smooth but with less margin. Ultra settings fall to 54.2 FPS, dipping below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider essential for FPS games.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings manage 78 FPS, which is surprising for 4K and indicates the game is not overly demanding at low detail. Medium settings drop to 57 FPS, just short of 60. High settings produce 45.5 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 37.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 40.2 FPS, showing that the RTX 2060 SUPER struggles with high-detail 4K rendering.

The data shows a consistent pattern: Medium settings offer the best compromise between visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, the jump from Medium to High costs 12 FPS; at 1440p, it costs 15.2 FPS; at 4K, it costs 11.5 FPS. These deltas are relatively small, but the cumulative effect of higher resolutions amplifies the GPU's workload.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, based on the TU106 chip and Turing architecture, is the decisive factor in this combo's Lockdown Protocol performance. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the GPU provides 448 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes strained at 4K. The boost clock of 1650 MHz and base clock of 1470 MHz are modest, and the 2176 shading units deliver 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 63rd percentile versus all GPUs, with an average score of 19774. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, scores 19706, a 0.3% difference. The RTX 2070 is just 0.5% behind at 19680, and the Quadro K5200 trails by 0.8% at 19623. These close margins indicate that the RTX 2060 SUPER is competitively positioned within its performance class, but it is not a high-end card by modern standards.

In Lockdown Protocol, the GPU's role is most evident at 4K, where the measured FPS drops to 37.8 at Ultra settings. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely a limiting factor at 4K Ultra, as texture-heavy scenes can exceed this allocation. The GPU's 12 nm process node and 10,800 million transistors result in a 445 mm² die size, which is large for a mid-range card but reflects the Turing architecture's inclusion of 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores. These features are not directly utilized in the measured FPS data, but they contribute to the GPU's overall capability.

The GPU's 175 W TDP and dual-slot design require a 450 W suggested PSU, making it a moderate power consumer. Its PCIe 3.0 x16 interface is older but sufficient for this performance class. For Lockdown Protocol, the RTX 2060 SUPER delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p across most settings, but players targeting 4K should stick to Low or Medium presets. The GPU is the bottleneck in this pairing, and any upgrade path would prioritize replacing it before the CPU.