Control

Control is a non-issue for the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 pairing. Measured benchmark data shows the combo clearing the 60 FPS playable threshold at every tested resolution and every preset, including Ultra at 4K, where it averages 76.1 FPS. That is a clean sweep across all twelve test configurations, and it places this hardware in an enviable position for a game that originally launched in 2019. The analysis below breaks down where this combo ranks, which component is doing the heavy lifting, and exactly which settings to use at each resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 3720 tested hardware combinations in the Control benchmark database, the Core i7-14700K plus RTX 5080 sits at rank 172. That places it inside the top five percent of all tested pairings for this specific title — a strong standing, though not at the absolute apex where flagship-tier CPUs and halo GPUs reside.

The components themselves carry similarly high percentile ratings. The i7-14700K sits in the 94th percentile versus all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 69355. Its nearest rivals by aggregate score are remarkably close: the AMD EPYC 9115 sits within 0.1 percent, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is effectively tied at just 0.2 percent ahead, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and Ryzen 7 9700F trail by 0.7 and 0.9 percent respectively. In other words, the CPU's raw compute standing is nearly indistinguishable from a small cluster of high-performance Ryzen 9 parts.

The RTX 5080 occupies the 87th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 56083. Its closest rivals include the AMD Radeon 8060S (0.6 percent behind), the Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (0.7 percent behind), the Radeon Pro W5700X (2.3 percent behind), and the Radeon RX 9070 GRE, which actually scores 2.2 percent ahead. These are tight margins, and they translate directly into the ranking: the 172nd-place standing in Control reflects a GPU in the 87th percentile paired with a CPU in the 94th, both working well above the level Control demands.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling data tells a clear story: Control on this combo is GPU-bound at every resolution, and the CPU is never the limiting factor.

Look at the numbers. At 1920x1080, frame rates run from 259 FPS on Low to 143.4 FPS on Ultra. Move to 2560x1440 and the range drops to 200 FPS on Low and 106.4 FPS on Ultra. At 3840x2160, Low yields 133.5 FPS and Ultra 76.1 FPS. The significant frame rate drops as resolution climbs — Ultra falls from 143.4 to 106.4 to 76.1 FPS across the three resolutions — are the signature of a GPU-limited scenario. If the i7-14700K were the bottleneck, raising resolution would barely dent frame rates, since the CPU's workload stays constant while the GPU's grows.

The preset scaling reinforces this. At 4K, going from Low to Ultra costs 57.4 FPS (133.5 down to 76.1). At 1080p the same jump costs 115.6 FPS (259 down to 143.4). The GPU's 10752 shading units, 84 RT cores, and 960 GB/s of GDDR7 memory bandwidth are what determine the final frame rate here, not the processor.

That said, the CPU is not dead weight. With 20 cores, 28 threads, a 5.60 GHz boost clock, a 33 MB shared L3 cache, and a Passmark single-thread score of 4472 plus a physics score of 2964, the i7-14700K provides far more headroom than Control can consume. Even the demanding physics-driven destruction sequences in this action-adventure title won't push a chip in the 94th CPU percentile to its limit. The practical takeaway: upgrading the GPU would raise frame rates; upgrading the CPU would change nothing in this game.

FAQ

Q: Can the RTX 5080 run Control at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The measured average at 3840x2160 on Ultra is 76.1 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: Which resolution should I play at for the highest frame rate?

A: 1920x1080 delivers the highest frame rates across the board — 259 FPS on Low, 185.5 on Medium, 166.5 on High, and 143.4 on Ultra. But since even 4K Ultra averages 76.1 FPS, there is no reason to drop resolution for performance on this hardware.

Q: How much performance is lost going from Low to Ultra?

A: It depends on resolution. At 1080p the drop is from 259 to 143.4 FPS. At 1440p it is from 200 to 106.4 FPS. At 4K it is from 133.5 to 76.1 FPS. Every configuration remains above 60 FPS regardless.

Q: Is the Core i7-14700K fast enough to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5080 in Control?

A: Yes. The benchmark data shows frame rates scaling down steeply as resolution increases, which indicates GPU-bound behavior. The CPU, in the 94th percentile of all tested processors with a single-thread score of 4472, has ample headroom for this title.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested pairings in Control?

A: It ranks 172nd out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the top five percent.

Q: Does Control support the hardware features of the RTX 5080?

A: The RTX 5080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which aligns with Control's modern rendering requirements, and the card carries 84 RT cores for ray tracing workloads.

The Verdict

Yes — decisively. This PC runs Control at every resolution and preset combination in the database, with no exceptions.

At 1920x1080, all four presets are playable and Ultra averages 143.4 FPS. At 2560x1440, all four presets are playable and Ultra averages 106.4 FPS. At 3840x2160, all four presets are playable and Ultra averages 76.1 FPS. The verdict data confirms High, Low, Medium, and Ultra all clear the 60 FPS threshold at every resolution.

The margin is worth emphasizing. Even the worst-case scenario — 4K Ultra at 76.1 FPS — holds a 16.1 FPS cushion over the playable threshold. At 1080p Ultra, the frame rate is more than double the threshold. For a game released in 2019 running on 2023-and-2025 flagship-adjacent hardware, the result is a formality, but the data makes it unambiguous: buy once, max everything, play at whatever resolution your monitor supports.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Based on the nearestRivals data, several nearby hardware configurations would deliver a nearly identical Control experience.

On the CPU side, the field is tight. The AMD EPYC 9115 scores within 0.1 percent of the i7-14700K's average benchmark score, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 0.2 percent ahead — functionally identical performance in aggregate terms. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F sit 0.7 and 0.9 percent behind respectively. Any of these processors paired with the RTX 5080 would produce Control frame rates within rounding error of the numbers above, since the game is GPU-bound anyway.

On the GPU side, the alternatives cluster just as closely. The AMD Radeon 8060S scores 0.6 percent below the RTX 5080, the Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 0.7 percent behind, and the Radeon Pro W5700X trails by 2.3 percent. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE actually scores 2.2 percent ahead. A system built around the RX 9070 GRE with the i7-14700K would likely post marginally higher averages in Control; the W5700X would post marginally lower ones. The spread across all four rivals is under five percentage points in aggregate score, so the practical difference in this title would be small.

The safest swaps: Ryzen 9 7950X for the CPU, Radeon RX 9070 GRE for the GPU, each trading blows with the original parts by fractions of a percent in the database's aggregate scoring.

Best Settings per Resolution

• 3840x2160 (4K): Ultra, averaging 76.1 FPS. This is the most demanding tested preset and it stays above the 60 FPS threshold with room to spare. Medium raises the average to 97.5 FPS and Low to 133.5 FPS, but there is no need to step down.
• 2560x1440: Ultra, averaging 106.4 FPS. A 46.2 FPS cushion over the playable threshold. High would push the average to 125.3 FPS, Medium to 142.3 FPS, and Low to 200 FPS, but Ultra is already comfortably smooth.
• 1920x1080: Ultra, averaging 143.4 FPS. Every preset at this resolution soars — 166.5 FPS on High, 185.5 on Medium, 259 on Low — so Ultra is the obvious choice with no compromise required.

The pattern is consistent: Ultra is the best setting at every resolution for this combo, and the data shows no configuration where a settings reduction is necessary to reach 60 FPS. Set everything to maximum and play.