Control

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers an exceptionally strong performance profile in Control, with benchmark results indicating that every preset tested at every resolution clears the 60 FPS playable threshold with significant headroom. Across the board, the combination of this Core 14th Gen processor and Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU produces average frame rates ranging from 83 FPS at 4K Ultra to 248 FPS at 1080p Low, establishing this system as a high-end option for this Action Adventure title. The data shows a consistent pattern where the RTX 5090 D provides overwhelming graphical throughput, with the i5-14400F’s 10 cores and 16 threads proving sufficient to feed the GPU even at lower resolutions where CPU load typically becomes more prominent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Control reveals a clear hierarchy across resolutions and settings, with the most demanding configuration—3840x2160 Ultra—producing an average of 83 FPS. At 4K High, the average rises to 96 FPS, while Medium settings yield 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS and a maximum of 124 FPS. Dropping to Low at 4K pushes the average to 152 FPS, demonstrating that the RTX 5090 D has substantial scaling headroom even at the highest resolution tested.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance envelope expands considerably. Ultra settings deliver an average of 124 FPS, High reaches 142 FPS, and Medium produces 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS and maximum of 184 FPS. At Low settings, the average jumps to 225 FPS, indicating that the GPU is far from saturated at this resolution. The 1440p results show a 49% performance increase from Ultra to Low, a scaling pattern that suggests the graphics card’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are more than adequate for this workload.

At 1920x1080, the system truly stretches its legs. Ultra settings maintain an average of 163 FPS, High reaches 188 FPS, and Medium produces 211 FPS with a minimum of 180 FPS and maximum of 243 FPS. Low settings cap out at 248 FPS average, which represents a 52% uplift over the 4K Ultra figure. The 1080p Medium results show a tight frame time distribution, with the minimum only 31 FPS below the average, indicating stable performance. The complete dataset shows no resolution or setting combination falling below the 60 FPS threshold, with even the most demanding 4K Ultra configuration holding a 23 FPS margin above playability.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which achieves an average of 83 FPS. This is particularly notable because Ultra is the highest setting available in the test suite, meaning the system exceeds the playable threshold even at maximum graphical fidelity. The 4K Ultra result shows 38% more performance than required for smooth gameplay, giving users room to enable additional features without concern.

At 2560x1440, Ultra settings remain the best choice, delivering an average of 124 FPS. This represents a 49% increase over the 4K Ultra figure and provides more than double the 60 FPS threshold. The 1440p Ultra configuration benefits from reduced pixel count while maintaining the same settings, demonstrating that the RTX 5090 D has ample compute resources for this resolution class.

For 1920x1080, Ultra settings again take the top spot with an average of 163 FPS. This is 172% above the 60 FPS playable threshold, indicating that the system is heavily GPU-bound at this resolution. The 1080p Ultra result is 96% higher than the 4K Ultra figure, showing a near-linear scaling relationship as resolution decreases. Across all three resolutions, Ultra is the recommended preset, and the data indicates that users could potentially push beyond Ultra if the game offered higher settings, given the substantial frame rate headroom.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance data indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this configuration for Control, with the GPU’s Blackwell 2.0 architecture and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput driving frame rates across all tested scenarios. The scaling between resolutions provides clear evidence: moving from 3840x2160 to 2560x1440 at Ultra settings increases the average FPS from 83 to 124, a 49% improvement, while the further step to 1920x1080 yields 163 FPS, another 31% increase. This pattern shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at every resolution, with the i5-14400F’s 10 cores and 16 threads providing sufficient processing power to avoid limiting the graphics card.

At lower settings, the CPU role becomes relatively more important, but the data still shows GPU dominance. For instance, at 4K Low, the average of 152 FPS is 83% higher than 4K Ultra, indicating that the GPU has significant untapped potential when graphical loads are reduced. The 1080p Low result of 248 FPS further confirms this, as the system approaches the practical limits of frame generation in this title. The i5-14400F, with its boost clock of 4.70 GHz and single-core Geekbench score of 2058, demonstrates adequate single-threaded performance for Control’s engine, which typically relies on a few primary threads.

The transition from 4K to 1440p at Medium settings shows an average increase from 108 to 160 FPS, a 48% gain, while the 1440p to 1080p step at Medium yields 211 FPS, another 32% improvement. These consistent scaling ratios suggest that neither component becomes a bottleneck at any tested configuration. The CPU’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache likely contribute to stable frame pacing, as evidenced by the minimum FPS values at Medium settings: 92 at 4K, 136 at 1440p, and 180 at 1080p, all of which remain well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Examining the nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-14400F provides context for its role in this configuration. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 32279 places it within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, which scores 32233, and within 0.2% of the Intel Core i9-11900 at 32226. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS scores 32354, putting it 0.2% ahead, while the Intel Core i7-12800H trails by 0.5% with a score of 32121. These deltas are minimal, indicating that any of these processors would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in Control when paired with the same RTX 5090 D, as the GPU is the dominant factor in this game’s performance profile.

For the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D’s average benchmark score of 77712 is closely matched by several alternatives. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76904, which is 1.1% lower, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, 1.6% higher. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB and 16 GB versions score 79396 and 79605 respectively, representing 2.1% and 2.4% advantages over the RTX 5090 D. These differences are small enough that users with these alternative GPUs would experience essentially equivalent performance in Control, with frame rates differing by only a few percentage points across the tested resolutions and settings.

The percentile rankings reinforce this picture: the i5-14400F sits in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 5090 D ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. This combination places the system in the upper echelon of tested hardware, and the nearest rival data suggests that the specific choice of CPU or GPU within these performance bands would not materially alter the gameplay experience in Control.

The Verdict

This PC can run Control at the highest settings across all tested resolutions, with benchmark results confirming that every configuration delivers average frame rates well above the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 3840x2160, Ultra settings achieve 83 FPS average, which is 38% above the threshold, and all four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—are classified as playable. The 2560x1440 resolution shows even stronger performance, with Ultra averaging 124 FPS, more than double the threshold, and all presets playable. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings produce 163 FPS average, and Low settings reach 248 FPS, indicating that the system has substantial headroom for future updates or more demanding scenes.

The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: all three resolutions support Ultra settings at or above 60 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 83 FPS is the weakest configuration tested, yet it still maintains a comfortable margin above the threshold. For users with high refresh rate displays, the 1440p and 1080p results are particularly compelling, with 1440p Ultra offering 124 FPS and 1080p Ultra offering 163 FPS, both suitable for 120 Hz and 144 Hz monitors respectively. The data indicates that this combination is not merely playable but exceptionally capable, with no configuration approaching the 60 FPS limit.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of tested combinations for Control, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 37th out of 3720 total combos, placing it in the top 1% of all tested systems. This top-tier ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows the system outperforming the vast majority of configurations across all resolutions and settings. The rank of 37 out of 3720 represents a percentile position of approximately 99%, indicating that only 36 other combinations deliver higher performance in this game.

The ranking reflects the synergy between the i5-14400F’s 83rd percentile CPU standing and the RTX 5090 D’s 92nd percentile GPU standing. While neither component is the absolute fastest available, their combination produces results that outperform most systems, largely due to the GPU’s dominance in Control’s rendering pipeline. The 37th rank suggests that users with higher-tier CPUs might achieve slightly better frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios, but the measured data shows that the GPU remains the limiting factor at all tested settings, so the practical difference would be minimal. This combination represents a well-balanced configuration that maximizes performance in Control without requiring top-tier components in both positions.