Lockdown Protocol

Lockdown Protocol is a fast-paced FPS that stresses both the CPU and GPU depending on the resolution and quality preset. This analysis examines the performance of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, using measured frame rate data across three resolutions and four settings presets. The data shows a system that scales predictably, with the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strength allows for high frame rates at lower settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and pronounced scaling pattern as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload at higher pixel counts. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 136 FPS at 1920x1080 to 100 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 36 FPS. Moving up to 3840x2160, the average falls further to 64 FPS, representing a 72 FPS total drop from 1080p. This steep decline indicates that the Radeon RX 7700 XT is the limiting component at these higher resolutions, as the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth demands outpace the GPU's capabilities.

The scaling at the Medium preset follows a similar trajectory. The average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 156 FPS, which drops to 114 FPS at 2560x1440 and then to 74 FPS at 3840x2160. The gap between 1440p and 4K remains significant, with a 40 FPS loss. This consistent pattern across presets confirms that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint as resolution increases, regardless of the graphical workload.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic absolute scaling, though the relative drop is similar. At 1920x1080, the system achieves a very high 219 FPS average. At 2560x1440, this drops to 161 FPS, and at 3840x2160, it falls to 104 FPS. The 115 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at Low settings highlights how much headroom the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus provides at lower resolutions. It is only at 4K Low that the frame rate drops below 200 FPS, suggesting that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than it can render at higher pixel counts.

Finally, the Ultra preset shows the system's limits. The average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 102 FPS, which drops to 75 FPS at 2560x1440 and then to 48 FPS at 3840x2160. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured scenario where the average frame rate dips below 50 FPS, indicating a challenging workload for the RX 7700 XT. The scaling from 1080p to 4K here is a 54 FPS drop, which is less severe in absolute terms than the Low preset but still represents a 53% reduction in performance.

The data indicates that the RX 7700 XT is the limiting factor at 4K across all settings. The CPU's influence is most visible at 1080p, where the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 117 FPS, a gap that narrows to 56 FPS at 4K. This suggests that at lower resolutions, the GPU has more headroom, and the CPU's performance ceiling is not being reached.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate gaming with this combo?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system consistently exceeds 100 FPS on all presets, with a maximum average of 219 FPS at Low settings. Even at Ultra, the 102 FPS average is sufficient for a 100Hz display, making 1080p the target for high-refresh-rate play.

Q: How does the RX 7700 XT compare to its closest rival in raw compute?

A: The Radeon RX 7700 XT has an average benchmark score of 22549, which places it 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (22435) and 1.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (22170). It trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 by 1.5% in average score.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus a top-tier CPU for gaming workloads?

A: Yes, the CPU sits in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 84003 is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (83807) and 1.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 9135 (82980), indicating it is among the fastest desktop processors available.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average frame rate is 48 FPS. Since the CPU is capable of generating much higher frame rates, as seen at 1080p Low (219 FPS), the GPU is clearly the limiting factor at 4K, not the processor.

Q: What is the frame rate variance like at Medium settings?

A: The data includes min and max FPS for Medium settings. At 1920x1080, the range is 132 to 179 FPS. At 2560x1440, it is 97 to 131 FPS, and at 3840x2160, it is 63 to 85 FPS. This shows a narrower relative variance at higher resolutions.

Q: How much faster is the CPU than its nearest rival in multi-threaded tests?

A: In the Cinebench R23 multi-core test, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus scores 51731 points. This is a strong result, though the comparison to its nearest rivals is based on the average benchmark score, where it leads the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K by 0.2%.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For a 144Hz monitor at 1920x1080, the Medium preset is an excellent choice. The 156 FPS average is above the 144Hz threshold, and the min FPS of 132 ensures that frame times remain smooth and consistent, avoiding noticeable stutters. The High preset also works well, with a 136 FPS average, but it does not have the same min FPS headroom as Medium.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the most balanced option. The 114 FPS average is respectable for a high-refresh-rate panel, and the min FPS of 97 keeps the experience fluid. The High preset, at 100 FPS average, is also viable, but it lacks the min FPS data to guarantee the same level of consistency. The Low preset offers a much higher 161 FPS average, but the visual compromises may not be worth the performance gain for most users.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The Medium preset is the only viable option for a reasonably smooth experience, with a 74 FPS average and a 63 FPS min. The High preset drops to a 64 FPS average, which is playable but perceptibly less smooth. The Low preset, at 104 FPS, is the best for achieving higher frame rates, but the visual quality reduction is significant. The Ultra preset is not recommended at 4K, as the 48 FPS average is below the threshold for a fluid gaming experience.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this hardware combination, offering a balanced trade-off between visual fidelity and performance across all three resolutions. It provides the best chance of maintaining a consistent frame rate, as evidenced by the min FPS data being available for this preset, which allows for a more definitive analysis of frame pacing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rate data provides a complete picture of performance across nine distinct scenarios. At 1920x1080, the system is clearly CPU-bound at lower settings, with the Low preset achieving an average of 219 FPS. The Medium preset follows at 156 FPS, with a min of 132 and a max of 179. High settings yield 136 FPS, and Ultra drops to 102 FPS. This shows a 117 FPS spread between the lowest and highest quality settings, indicating that the GPU is the variable component even at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. The Low preset averages 161 FPS, while Medium averages 114 FPS, with a min of 97 and a max of 131. The High preset averages 100 FPS, and Ultra drops to 75 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra here is 86 FPS, a smaller gap than at 1080p, which suggests the GPU is starting to become more of a limiting factor as the pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the primary bottleneck. The Low preset averages 104 FPS, which is a significant drop from the 161 FPS at 1440p. The Medium preset averages 74 FPS, with a min of 63 and a max of 85. High settings yield 64 FPS, and Ultra drops to 48 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 56 FPS, the smallest of the three resolutions, confirming that the GPU's rendering limits are being reached regardless of the quality preset.

The data for the High and Ultra presets does not include min or max FPS values, making it harder to assess frame consistency. However, the Medium preset data shows that the min FPS is consistently around 80% of the average at each resolution, which indicates reasonably stable performance. The overall pattern is one of a system that scales well from 1080p to 1440p, but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K, particularly at higher quality settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is the defining component for frame rates in Lockdown Protocol at higher resolutions. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s, which is a critical factor for 4K gaming. The measured data shows that at 3840x2160, the average frame rate drops below 100 FPS even at Low settings, indicating that the memory subsystem and rendering cores are being taxed heavily.

The GPU's clock speeds are notable, with a base clock of 1435 MHz and a boost clock of 2544 MHz. The game clock is listed at 2171 MHz, which is the expected sustained clock under load. This boost behavior allows the GPU to perform well at 1080p, where it achieves a 219 FPS average at Low settings, but the physical limits of the 245 W TDP and the 346 mm² die size become apparent at 4K.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 67th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 22549 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with a 0.5% lead over the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile and a 1.7% lead over the AMD Radeon RX 5700. This suggests that the RX 7700 XT is a solid mid-range performer, but it is not designed for extreme 4K workloads. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3316 and the Geekbench OpenCL score of 138383 reflect its compute capabilities, which are sufficient for 1440p gaming but require compromises at 4K.

The GPU's 35.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 54 RT cores are substantial, but the data shows that Lockdown Protocol is more reliant on raw pixel throughput. The 96 ROPs and 244.2 GPixel/s pixel rate are likely the limiting factors at 4K, as the GPU struggles to fill the 8.3 million pixels per frame at high quality settings. The 432.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth also appears to be a constraint, as the frame rate drops significantly when moving from 1440p to 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus provides an exceptionally strong foundation for this gaming system. With 24 cores and 24 threads, it offers massive multi-threading capabilities, which is reflected in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731. This processing power ensures that the CPU is never the bottleneck in Lockdown Protocol, even at lower resolutions where frame rates are high.

The CPU's high boost clock of 5.80 GHz is a key factor in its gaming performance. The single-core performance, as measured by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303, is excellent and allows for high frame rates in scenarios where the game logic is the limiting factor. The Passmark single-thread score of 4823 further confirms its strong single-core capabilities, which are crucial for FPS games that often depend on a single main thread.

The CPU's position in the 96th percentile of all CPUs underscores its top-tier status. Its average benchmark score of 84003 is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which is its closest rival. This indicates that the 290K Plus is essentially the fastest desktop CPU available, offering a marginal but measurable performance lead over its predecessors and competitors.

In Lockdown Protocol, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. The measured data shows that at 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 219 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's practical limit for this game. The fact that the frame rate drops to 102 FPS at 1080p Ultra is entirely due to the GPU's workload, not the CPU. The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 115.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for the game's demands.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and 3 nm process node also contribute to its efficiency, though the gaming performance is the primary concern here. The data shows that the CPU is a capable partner for the RX 7700 XT, providing enough headroom to allow the GPU to be the limiting factor at all resolutions above 1080p. This is the ideal scenario for a gaming system, as it means the GPU is being fully utilized without the CPU holding it back.