Control

Control remains a demanding showcase title even years after its original release, and this particular pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 produces a compelling dataset. The measured frames per second (FPS) across three resolutions and four quality presets reveal a system that is clearly capable, but the margins between settings and resolutions tell a nuanced story about where its true strengths lie. The data shows a consistent pattern: this combo is exceptionally strong at 1080p, very solid at 1440p, and just barely crosses the playable threshold at 4K with specific settings. The following analysis breaks down exactly what these numbers mean for a prospective user.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4070 paired with the Ryzen 7 9700F demonstrates overwhelming headroom. The Low preset delivers an average of 193 FPS, which is the single highest average recorded for this combination in any configuration. Moving up to Medium, the average drops to 137 FPS, with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS, indicating that even the frame dips remain far above any conceivable playability concern. The High preset still produces a commanding average of 122 FPS, while the most demanding Ultra preset maintains an average of 106 FPS. None of the 1080p results include minimum or maximum values for High or Ultra, but the averages alone suggest that the system is nowhere near its limits at this resolution.

Stepping up to 2560x1440 reveals a predictable but not severe performance cost. The Low preset averages 146 FPS, which is still exceptionally high for a 1440p workload. Medium follows with an average of 104 FPS, accompanied by a minimum of 88 FPS and a maximum of 119 FPS, showing a tighter but still comfortable frame window. High settings produce an average of 92 FPS, while Ultra drops to 80 FPS. The 1440p data suggests that the GPU is beginning to feel the resolution increase, but the Ryzen 7 9700F’s strong single-thread performance, reflected in its PassMark single-thread score of 4691, helps maintain high averages even without explicit min/max data for those upper presets.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens considerably. The Low preset still manages an average of 98 FPS, which is respectable for 4K. Medium drops to an average of 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS, marking the first time in this dataset that the minimum FPS dips below the 60 FPS playable threshold. High settings average 62 FPS, which is just above the line, while Ultra falls to an average of 54 FPS, clearly below the playability threshold. The 4K results show that the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game, but the raw compute power, as measured by its PassMark G3D score of 26927, starts to hit a wall at this resolution.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU’s role diminishes. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Ultra only reduces the average FPS from 193 to 106, a difference of 87 FPS. The Ryzen 7 9700F, with its 8 cores and 16 threads and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, clearly has enough processing power to feed the RTX 4070 at this resolution, as evidenced by the high averages across all presets. The CPU’s PassMark multithread score of 36470 and its 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggest it is not a limiting factor here.

Moving to 1440p, the same preset transition from Low to Ultra shows a reduction from 146 to 80 FPS, a gap of 66 FPS. This smaller absolute difference implies that the GPU is starting to take on more of the workload, but the CPU is still keeping pace. At 4K, the gap from Low to Ultra is 44 FPS (98 to 54), and the fact that Ultra cannot maintain 60 FPS while Low easily exceeds it points directly to the GPU’s pixel-pushing limits. The RTX 4070’s 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs are being saturated at 4K Ultra, while the CPU’s Zen 5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process, has ample headroom to spare.

The data also shows that the CPU becomes less relevant as resolution climbs. At 1080p, the difference between High and Ultra is only 16 FPS (122 to 106), suggesting that the GPU is already the main driver of frame rate even at High settings. At 1440p, that same High-to-Ultra gap is 12 FPS (92 to 80), and at 4K it narrows to 8 FPS (62 to 54). This pattern confirms that the RTX 4070 is the dominant factor in determining performance at higher resolutions, while the Ryzen 7 9700F’s capabilities are more than sufficient to avoid becoming a bottleneck in any tested configuration.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the obvious choice, as it delivers an average of 106 FPS, which is not only above the 60 FPS playable threshold but also high enough to take advantage of high-refresh-rate monitors. The data shows no reason to compromise on quality at this resolution, as even the most demanding settings leave a 46 FPS margin over the playability threshold.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset remains the best option, with an average of 80 FPS. This is 20 FPS above the playable threshold, providing a comfortable buffer for demanding scenes. The Medium preset’s minimum of 88 FPS is actually higher than the Ultra average, but the Ultra average of 80 FPS is still well within acceptable territory, and the visual fidelity gain justifies the performance trade-off.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more delicate. The High preset is the most demanding option that stays at or above 60 FPS, with an average of exactly 62 FPS. The Medium preset averages 70 FPS but includes a minimum of 59 FPS, which dips below the threshold, making High the safer recommendation for consistent playability. Ultra at 54 FPS is not viable for a 60 FPS target, and Low at 98 FPS is overly conservative given that High offers a much better visual experience for just 36 FPS less on average.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Control? The answer is a clear yes, with specific caveats depending on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the system clears the 60 FPS threshold with every preset, including Ultra at 106 FPS average. At 2560x1440, the same is true, with Ultra averaging 80 FPS, which is 20 FPS above the playable line. At 3840x2160, the system can run the game, but only on High settings or lower, as Ultra falls to 54 FPS and Medium has min FPS dips to 59. The verdict by resolution confirms that High at 4K is the best playable setting, with an average of 62 FPS. This is a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p, offering high refresh rates and ultra-quality visuals, while at 4K it requires a modest settings compromise to maintain a consistent 60 FPS experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Control?

A: The highest average FPS is 193, recorded at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this system run Control at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: No, the average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 54, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best preset to use at 2560x1440 for a 60 FPS target?

A: The Ultra preset is the best choice, as it maintains an average of 80 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: At which resolution and preset does the minimum FPS first drop below 60?

A: The minimum FPS drops to 59 at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, which is the first recorded instance below the playable threshold.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: The Low preset averages 193 FPS, while Ultra averages 106 FPS, resulting in an 87 FPS difference in favor of Low.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 4K?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, as the average FPS drops significantly with higher presets (from 98 at Low to 54 at Ultra), while the CPU’s performance headroom is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested combos in this database for Control, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 904th out of 3720 combinations. This places it in the top 24.3% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing given that the RTX 4070 sits in the 81st percentile of all GPUs and the CPU in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. The rank suggests that while this is not an extreme high-end configuration, it outperforms the vast majority of tested systems in this game. The combination’s strength is clearly in its balance, as the CPU’s high percentile ranking compensates for the GPU’s slightly lower percentile, resulting in a system that consistently delivers playable frame rates at high settings across common resolutions.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX averages 69875 in benchmark scores, which is just 0.2% lower than the Ryzen 7 9700F’s 69996 average. The Intel Core i7-14700KF is 0.2% higher at 70163, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 0.7% higher at 69515, and the Intel Core i7-14700K is 0.9% higher at 69355. These deltas are all within a single percentage point, meaning that swapping the 9700F for any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Control, assuming the same GPU is used.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals show a similar story. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 averages 37628, which is 0.1% lower than the RTX 4070’s 37648 average. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is 0.4% lower at 37507, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is 1.3% higher at 38135, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 is 1.3% lower at 37157. These small deltas indicate that any of these GPUs would behave very similarly to the RTX 4070 in Control, with performance differences of a few FPS at most. For a user considering alternative hardware, these rivals represent the closest performance matches, though the RTX 4070’s combination of 12 GB VRAM and Ada Lovelace architecture may offer distinct advantages in other games not reflected in this benchmark.