Control

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core i7-14700K sits in a tight cluster of high-end desktop and mobile processors. Its average benchmark score of 69355 places it within 1% of the AMD EPYC 9115, which scores 69288, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, which scores 69515. The Ryzen 9 7940HX trails by 0.7% at 69875, and the Ryzen 7 9700F is 0.9% behind with 69996. What this means in practice is that swapping the i7-14700K for any of these four chips would produce nearly identical frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. The i7-14700K ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, so it is squarely in the top tier of processors for gaming workloads. Its 20 cores and 28 threads are more than sufficient for Control, which is not a heavily threaded title. The recorded data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combination.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282, putting it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all within a narrow band. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480, which is 1% higher. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534 at 1.2% higher, the Intel Arc B570 scores 20556 at 1.3% higher, and the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582 at 1.5% higher. For gaming purposes, all four of these alternatives will deliver essentially interchangeable performance in Control. The RTX 2070 SUPER is a desktop card from the Turing generation with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, giving it 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3070 Mobile and the two Intel Arc cards are all close enough that any of them would feel the same in this game at these settings. The Quadro M4000M is a workstation part, but its compute characteristics align it with this same performance tier. If a user already owns any of these cards, the experience with Control will be within a couple of percent of the RTX 2070 SUPER.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 2132 out of 3720 tested combinations in the database for Control. That places it in the lower half of all possible pairings, which is a direct consequence of the GPU being the weaker component. The i7-14700K is a top-tier processor, but the RTX 2070 SUPER is a mid-range card from 2019. The database records that this combo outperforms roughly 57% of all tested configurations, but it also falls behind a large number of modern GPU pairings. For a game released in 2019, this is a reasonable match, but it is not a combination that will dominate the rankings. The rank of 2132 reflects that the RTX 2070 SUPER, while still capable, is well below the current generation of graphics cards in raw throughput. The CPU pulls its weight, but the GPU caps the overall result. Users with this pairing should expect mid-pack performance relative to the full database, not top-tier results. The data indicates that the bottleneck is clearly on the graphics side, and any upgrade path should focus there first.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for Control show a clear progression across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the lowest preset delivers 132.5 FPS average. Medium settings drop that to 95.6 FPS, High settings come in at 81.6 FPS, and Ultra settings still manage a strong 73.4 FPS. All four presets at 1080p are well above the 60 FPS playable threshold, so the game runs fluidly at this resolution regardless of visual quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers step down but remain mostly playable. Low settings produce 97.5 FPS average, Medium yields 71.5 FPS, and High settings hit 62.3 FPS. Ultra at 1440p falls to 56.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. The drop from High to Ultra at this resolution is roughly 9%, which is a meaningful loss for a small visual gain. At 1440p, the playable ceiling is High, and it only clears 60 FPS by a slim margin.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2070 SUPER struggles. Low settings average 63.9 FPS, which barely clears the playable line. Medium drops to 48.7 FPS, High falls to 42.4 FPS, and Ultra sinks to 35 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is substantial, about 24% fewer frames. This is the resolution where the GPU's 8 GB memory and 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are pushed to their limits. The recorded data shows no minimum or maximum frame times, so the averages represent the full picture. There are no stutter or frame-pacing data points in the database for this configuration.

The overall pattern is linear: each step up in resolution or preset costs a predictable amount of performance. From 1080p Low to 4K Low, the frame rate drops by about 52%. From 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra, the drop is even steeper at about 52% as well. The GPU scales consistently, which makes it easy to predict performance at untested settings within this range.

The Verdict

This PC can run Control, but the playable range depends entirely on the resolution. At 1920x1080, every preset from Low to Ultra clears the 60 FPS threshold. The best settings are Ultra, which averages 73.4 FPS. This is the ideal scenario for this combination: full visual fidelity at a comfortable frame rate. At 2560x1440, the playable settings are High, Low, and Medium. High is the best choice at 62.3 FPS, but it is only 2.3 FPS above the threshold. Medium at 71.5 FPS offers more headroom if the user prefers a safety margin. Ultra at 1440p is not playable, as it averages 56.7 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low is playable, averaging 63.9 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall below 60 FPS, with Ultra at 35 FPS being the worst case. For a 4K display, the user must accept Low settings to maintain fluidity, which is a significant visual compromise. The verdict is straightforward: this is a 1080p Ultra and 1440p High machine for Control. 4K is technically possible only at the lowest preset, and even then the margin is thin.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor in Control for this pairing. The i7-14700K is far more powerful than the RTX 2070 SUPER, with the CPU ranking in the 94th percentile and the GPU in the 65th percentile. At 1080p, where the CPU typically has more influence, the frame rates still scale almost entirely with GPU settings. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 59.1 FPS, which is a 45% reduction. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling would be less pronounced. Instead, the GPU is saturated across all presets.

The resolution scaling confirms this. Going from 1080p to 1440p at the same preset costs roughly 20% to 25% of the frame rate. Going from 1440p to 4K costs another 35% to 40%. This is classic GPU-bound behavior. The CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at all resolutions, so the limiting factor is always the graphics card. At 4K, the GPU is overwhelmed, particularly at High and Ultra where the average frame rates drop to 42.4 and 35 FPS respectively. The i7-14700K is effectively idle in these scenarios, waiting on the GPU to finish rendering each frame.

The only scenario where the CPU might matter more is at 1080p Low, where the frame rate reaches 132.5 FPS. At that level, the CPU's single-thread performance, which scores 2160 in Cinebench R23, starts to become relevant. But even then, the GPU is still the primary constraint. The database shows that the i7-14700K is not the weak link in any configuration tested. Users with this CPU should feel confident that it will not hold back any GPU they pair with it, including the RTX 2070 SUPER. For Control specifically, the GPU determines the experience at every resolution and preset.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the only preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Low, which averages 63.9 FPS. This is the most demanding setting that clears the threshold, but it is not a comfortable margin. Medium at 48.7 FPS and High at 42.4 FPS are both far below playable. For a 4K display, the user is locked into Low settings. The visual quality will be noticeably reduced, but the game will run smoothly.

At 2560x1440, the best preset that maintains 60 FPS or higher is High, averaging 62.3 FPS. This is a modest margin, so users who are sensitive to frame drops might prefer Medium at 71.5 FPS for additional headroom. Ultra at 56.7 FPS is not playable. The difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is 5.6 FPS, which is not worth the performance loss for most users. High is the recommended balance of visual quality and frame rate.

At 1920x1080, the best preset is Ultra, which averages 73.4 FPS. This is the only resolution where the full visual experience is available. High at 81.6 FPS and Medium at 95.6 FPS are also excellent options if the user prefers higher frame rates over maximum detail. Low at 132.5 FPS is there for competitive play or very high refresh rate displays. For most users, Ultra at 1080p is the clear choice, as it provides the complete Control experience with a comfortable frame rate. The database records no minimum frame times, so the averages here represent the expected experience. The verdict is clear: 1080p Ultra, 1440p High, and 4K Low are the optimal settings for this hardware combination.