Lockdown Protocol

FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the Intel Core i9-14900K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 in Lockdown Protocol?

A: This combination ranks 70th out of 3714 tested combos in Lockdown Protocol, placing it in the top 2% of all configurations tested.

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

A: The Intel Core i9-14900K has an average benchmark score of 79097, which is 0.3% behind the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79371), 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus (79574), and 1.2% behind the AMD EPYC 7413 (80041). It is 1.7% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (77740).

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has a percentile ranking of 88 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its closest rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, scores 60326 (0% difference).

Q: What is the best measured average FPS at 1080p for this combo?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 368 FPS, which is the highest measured average FPS across all tested configurations.

Q: What is the lowest measured average FPS for this combo?

A: The lowest measured average FPS is 81 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only configuration that drops below 100 FPS average.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and what memory type does it use?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a combo rank of 70 out of 3714 tested configurations in Lockdown Protocol. This places the pairing in the 98th percentile of all tested combos, indicating that only 69 configurations deliver higher average frame rates in this specific title.

The ranking reflects a hardware pairing that is heavily skewed toward the top of the performance spectrum. With the CPU's percentile rank of 95 against all CPUs and the GPU's percentile rank of 88 against all GPUs, the combination leverages two components that individually sit near the apex of their respective markets. The data suggests that the performance ceiling in Lockdown Protocol is not being reached by this pairing, as the GPU's lower percentile rank compared to the CPU implies the graphics card is the more limiting factor in most scenarios.

When looking at the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, the combo consistently delivers playable frame rates even at the highest settings and resolutions. The rank of 70 is particularly notable because it places this combo ahead of configurations that may use more specialized or newer hardware, underscoring the balance between the Core i9-14900K's strong multi-threaded performance and the RTX 4090's raw rasterization throughput.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K features 24 cores and 32 threads, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. This Raptor Lake-R architecture CPU, built on Intel's 10 nm process, has a 36 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core, alongside 80 KB L1 cache per core.

In Lockdown Protocol, an FPS title, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The high boost clock of 6.00 GHz is particularly relevant for frame pacing in CPU-bound scenarios, such as 1080p gaming where the GPU is less likely to be the bottleneck. The benchmark data supports this: at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 368 FPS average, a 35% increase over the 270 FPS at 2560x1440 Low settings, indicating that the CPU is capable of driving very high frame rates when the GPU workload is reduced.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5, ensure that background tasks and game engine threads have ample headroom. The single-core performance, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2655 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4697, is critical for the main game thread. The nearest rival comparison shows the Core i9-14900K is only 0.3% behind the Core i9-14900KF in average benchmark score, indicating that the integrated UHD Graphics 770 and locked multiplier do not meaningfully impact gaming performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a range of results depending on settings. Low settings produce 368 FPS average, Medium settings yield 261 FPS average with a minimum of 222 FPS and maximum of 301 FPS, High settings achieve 228 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop to 171 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 197 FPS, representing a 53% reduction in average frame rate from the lowest to highest quality preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results scale predictably. Low settings average 270 FPS, Medium settings average 192 FPS with a minimum of 163 FPS and maximum of 220 FPS, High settings average 167 FPS, and Ultra settings average 125 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 145 FPS, which is a 54% reduction, nearly identical to the percentage drop at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings average 174 FPS, Medium settings average 124 FPS with a minimum of 105 FPS and maximum of 142 FPS, High settings average 108 FPS, and Ultra settings average 81 FPS. The reduction from Low to Ultra at 4K is 93 FPS, a 53% drop, consistent with the other resolutions. This consistency across resolutions suggests that the settings presets have a uniform impact on frame rate, independent of resolution.

The Medium settings at each resolution are the only configurations with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, showing tighter variance compared to other presets. At 1080p Medium, the frame time consistency is reflected in the 222-301 FPS range, while at 1440p Medium it spans 163-220 FPS, and at 4K Medium it ranges from 105-142 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. It contains 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, with 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores.

The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth over a 384-bit bus. This memory configuration is particularly relevant for Lockdown Protocol at high resolutions, where texture data and frame buffers consume significant memory. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo still manages 81 FPS average, indicating that the memory bandwidth is sufficient to avoid severe bottlenecks even at the highest settings.

The GPU's compute capabilities, including 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s, translate directly to the frame rates observed. The texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s ensures that texture-heavy scenes in Lockdown Protocol are rendered without stutter. The nearest rival comparison shows the RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score 0.3% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, though this delta is within noise; the 4090's 88th percentile rank among all GPUs reflects its position as one of the fastest consumer graphics cards available.

The GPU's output capabilities include HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a connections, supporting the high refresh rates that this combo can deliver, particularly at 1080p where frame rates exceed 300 FPS in some settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the target frame rate and resolution. For players with a 240 Hz monitor at 1080p, the Medium preset at 261 FPS average provides a comfortable margin above the refresh ceiling, while High at 228 FPS also remains above 200 FPS. Ultra at 171 FPS is only recommended for those prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate, as it still exceeds the 144 Hz threshold.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 167 FPS is the sweet spot for 144 Hz displays, while Medium at 192 FPS offers additional headroom for 165 Hz panels. The Ultra preset at 125 FPS is sufficient for 120 Hz displays but sacrifices the smoothness that the 165 FPS Medium setting delivers. Low at 270 FPS is only necessary for the most competitive players with 240 Hz monitors who need maximum frame pacing.

For 4K gaming, the data reveals that High at 108 FPS is the recommended preset for 100 Hz displays, while Medium at 124 FPS provides better performance for 120 Hz screens. The Ultra preset at 81 FPS is playable but does not reach the 90 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for smooth FPS gameplay. Low at 174 FPS is overkill for most 4K displays and sacrifices too much visual quality.

The consistency of the 53-54% reduction in frame rate from Low to Ultra across all resolutions suggests that the settings presets scale uniformly, meaning players can predict performance based on their resolution and quality preferences without unexpected dips.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear pattern of frame rate reduction as resolution increases. At Low settings, moving from 1920x1080 (368 FPS) to 2560x1440 (270 FPS) represents a 27% drop, while moving to 3840x2160 (174 FPS) represents a 53% drop from 1080p. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a 36% reduction at Low settings.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 261 FPS at 1080p, 192 FPS at 1440p (26% drop), and 124 FPS at 4K (52% drop from 1080p). High settings show 228 FPS at 1080p, 167 FPS at 1440p (27% drop), and 108 FPS at 4K (53% drop). Ultra settings follow the same pattern with 171 FPS, 125 FPS, and 81 FPS respectively.

The consistent percentage drops across all settings presets indicate that resolution scaling is uniform regardless of quality level. This suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases, since the CPU's performance headroom remains constant while the GPU's pixel throughput becomes more strained. The fact that the 1080p to 1440p drop is 26-27% while the 1440p to 4K drop is 35-36% reflects the non-linear nature of pixel count scaling, with 4K requiring approximately 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p.

The frame rate at 4K Ultra (81 FPS) being the only measured configuration below 100 FPS confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck at this resolution, while the CPU's 6.00 GHz boost clock is sufficient to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions. The data indicates that this combo is well-balanced for 1440p and 4K gaming, with the GPU becoming the limiting factor only at the highest resolution and quality settings.