Control

The Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination delivers a thoroughly playable Control experience across every resolution tested, with the data showing a clear performance hierarchy that scales predictably from 1080p through 4K. At 1920x1080, the pairing produces an average of 207.1 FPS on Low settings, 151.9 FPS on Medium, 131.8 FPS on High, and 114.1 FPS on Ultra — all far beyond the 60 FPS playable threshold. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages remain robust: 159.6 FPS on Low, 112.6 FPS on Medium, 98.5 FPS on High, and 89.1 FPS on Ultra. The most demanding scenario, 3840x2160, still clears the bar at High and Medium with 66.3 FPS and 78.6 FPS respectively, while Low hits 107.6 FPS; only Ultra at 4K falls short at 56 FPS. These measured figures indicate a system that comfortably handles the game's action-adventure demands without requiring compromises at mainstream resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data provides a complete picture of how this CPU-GPU pairing behaves across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the RTX 5070 shows substantial headroom: the Low preset delivers 207.1 FPS average, which represents the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. Medium reduces the average to 151.9 FPS, a 26.6% drop from Low, while High comes in at 131.8 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p still produces 114.1 FPS, meaning every setting at this resolution exceeds the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin — the lowest average is 90% above the playable line. The scaling between presets is consistent, with each step up in quality costing roughly 20-30 FPS, suggesting the GPU is the primary bottleneck rather than the CPU.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues but with reduced absolute numbers. Low settings yield 159.6 FPS, Medium drops to 112.6 FPS, High manages 98.5 FPS, and Ultra settles at 89.1 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 47 FPS, which is the largest single-step gap in this resolution, indicating that Medium introduces significant rendering work. The spread from Low to Ultra is 70.5 FPS, and even the most demanding preset at 1440p stays well above 60 FPS — 48.5% higher than the threshold. This resolution appears to be the sweet spot for the combo, balancing visual fidelity with frame rates that leave room for demanding scenes.

The 3840x2160 results reveal the limits of this configuration. Low produces 107.6 FPS, Medium drops to 78.6 FPS, and High comes in at 66.3 FPS — all still playable. Ultra, however, falls to 56 FPS, which is 4 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold and therefore not considered playable by the benchmark criteria. The scaling at 4K is steeper: the gap between Low and Medium is 29 FPS, between Medium and High is 12.3 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 10.3 FPS. This suggests that Ultra at 4K pushes the RTX 5070's 12 GB GDDR7 memory and 192-bit bus to their limits, with the 672.0 GB/s bandwidth becoming a constraint. Notably, max FPS and min FPS data are not recorded in the measured results, so the analysis relies on average FPS values, which are consistent across all twelve test configurations.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 1920x1080, the best settings that remain at or above 60 FPS are Ultra, with an average of 114.1 FPS. This is the most demanding preset available, and the combo clears the threshold by 90.2%. The data indicates that at 1080p, the RTX 5070 has enough raw compute — 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 and 482.3 GTexel/s texture rate — to handle the game's maximum quality without breaking a sweat. Users targeting high refresh rates could also consider High at 131.8 FPS, but Ultra is the optimal choice for maximum fidelity while staying comfortably playable.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are also Ultra, delivering 89.1 FPS average. This is 48.5% above the 60 FPS threshold, showing that the combo retains substantial headroom even at the higher pixel count. The Ultra preset at 1440p benefits from the GPU's 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, which handle the game's physics-based destruction and particle effects efficiently. The 89.1 FPS figure is close enough to 90 FPS that it could support smoother motion on high-refresh displays, though the benchmark only certifies the 60 FPS threshold.

For 3840x2160, the best settings that stay at or above 60 FPS are High, with an average of 66.3 FPS. This is only 10.5% above the threshold, making it the tightest margin in the entire dataset. Medium at 78.6 FPS is also an option for more headroom, but High represents the highest quality preset that remains playable. Ultra at 4K is the only configuration that fails the test, averaging 56 FPS — 6.7% below the 60 FPS line. The verdict data confirms: at 4K, the playable settings are High, Low, and Medium, with High being the best choice for visual quality.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU side, the Intel Core i5-14600K sits at the 90th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 48618. Its nearest rivals in the database are remarkably close in performance. The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698, which is only 0.2% higher — a negligible difference that would translate to nearly identical frame rates in Control. The AMD EPYC 4345P comes in at 48470, 0.3% lower, again within run-to-run variance. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48287, 0.7% below the 14600K, while the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995, 0.8% above. All four rivals are within 1% of the 14600K's average score, meaning any of these CPUs would produce essentially the same measured FPS in this game, given the same GPU. The 14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads, with a 5.30 GHz boost clock and 24 MB shared L3 cache, are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5070 in Control, which is not a heavily threaded title.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 holds the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40377. Its nearest rivals are all AMD professional cards, which is notable. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 scores 40318, just 0.1% lower — effectively identical performance. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 scores 40063, 0.8% lower, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 scores 40870, 1.2% higher. The NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile scores 39568, 2% lower than the 5070. These deltas are small enough that in real-world Control gameplay, the frame rates would be within a few FPS of each other. The RTX 5070's 6144 shading units, 80 ROPs, and 672.0 GB/s memory bandwidth give it a clear advantage over these rivals in raw throughput, but the benchmark scores suggest the gap is narrower than the spec sheet implies. For users considering alternatives, any of these GPUs would deliver similar playable results at 1080p and 1440p, though the 4K Ultra scenario would likely fail on the slightly slower cards as well.

The Verdict

This PC can run Control with strong results at every resolution except for the single most demanding configuration. At 1920x1080, all four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra averaging 114.1 FPS. The system is overkill for 1080p, providing nearly double the playable frame rate at maximum quality. At 2560x1440, the story is equally positive: every preset stays above 60 FPS, with Ultra at 89.1 FPS and Low at 159.6 FPS. This resolution offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance headroom, making it the recommended target for this combo.

At 3840x2160, the verdict is more nuanced. High settings produce 66.3 FPS, which clears the bar, and Medium and Low are also playable at 78.6 FPS and 107.6 FPS respectively. However, Ultra at 4K averages 56 FPS, falling 4 FPS short of the playable threshold. Users who insist on 4K Ultra would need to either reduce settings to High or accept the sub-60 FPS average, which may still be playable depending on personal tolerance, but the benchmark officially marks it as not playable. Overall, the data shows that the Intel Core i5-14600K and RTX 5070 combination is a capable pairing for Control, with the only caveat being 4K Ultra — a scenario that stresses the GPU's memory bandwidth and render output capabilities to their limits.

FAQ

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

A: The highest recorded average is 207.1 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest playable average is 66.3 FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings.

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

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 56, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The best playable setting at 4K is High, which averages 66.3 FPS.

Q: Which resolution offers the best balance of quality and performance?

A: 2560x1440 with Ultra settings provides 89.1 FPS average, which is 48.5% above the 60 FPS threshold. This is the highest quality preset that still maintains substantial headroom, making it the recommended choice.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5070's average benchmark score is 40377. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 is 0.1% lower, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 is 0.8% lower, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is 1.2% higher, and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile is 2% lower. All are within 2% of the 5070's performance.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations in Control?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600K + RTX 5070 combo ranks 694 out of 3720 total combos tested in this game, placing it in the top 18.7% of all configurations.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. The i5-14600K scores at the 90th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals are within 1% in average score. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 207.1 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently even at high frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Control, the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 achieves a rank of 694 out of 3720 combos. This places the configuration in the top 18.7% of all systems tested, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The rank reflects the combined performance of both components, and the data shows that the CPU's 90th percentile standing contributes meaningfully to the overall result. Given that the GPU sits at the 82nd percentile, the combo's rank is slightly higher than the GPU's percentile alone would suggest, indicating that the 14600K does not hold back the 5070 in this title.

The rank of 694 means there are 693 combos that perform better, likely featuring higher-tier GPUs like the RTX 5080 or 5090, or perhaps combinations with faster CPUs. However, the 694th position out of 3720 is a solid result, especially considering that the combo delivers playable frame rates at every resolution except 4K Ultra. For context, the nearest CPU rivals — the Xeon Gold 5318H, EPYC 4345P, Core Ultra 5 245HX, and Core Ultra 5 245 — would all achieve nearly identical ranks when paired with the same GPU, given their sub-1% score deltas. The RTX 5070's nearest GPU rivals would similarly produce comparable ranks, though the professional AMD cards might lack the driver optimizations for gaming that NVIDIA provides. In sum, this combo ranks well above average, and the measured FPS data confirms that it is a reliable choice for Control at 1080p and 1440p, with acceptable performance at 4K High.