Control

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Control, but the data shows it struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K on higher presets. This combination ranks in the 63rd percentile of all tested combos for this title, placing it firmly in the upper-mid tier of systems. The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the primary performance limiter at higher resolutions, while the CPU provides ample headroom at lower settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system in Control?*

A: The measured data shows that the best playable experience is at 2560x1440 with High settings, yielding an average of 60.6 FPS. At 1920x1080, you can achieve 77 FPS on High, but for a locked 60+ FPS experience, 1440p High is the sweet spot.

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Control?*

A: Only at the Low preset does the system achieve a playable average of 61.6 FPS at 3840x2160. At Medium, High, and Ultra presets, the average FPS drops to 42.5, 39.4, and 35 respectively, which are below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RX 7600 XT's 16 GB of VRAM affect performance in this game?

A: While the 16 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a 288.0 GB/s bandwidth, the benchmark results show that the GPU's raw compute power (22.57 TFLOPS FP32) is the limiting factor at 4K. The VRAM capacity is not the bottleneck, as performance drops are consistent across resolutions due to the rendering load.

Q: Is the Core i5-14400F a bottleneck for the RX 7600 XT in this game?

A: No, the data suggests the opposite. At 1080p Low, the system hits 124.2 FPS, and the CPU's strong multi-core performance (21914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) ensures it is not the limiting factor. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a GPU-bound scenario.

Q: How does the RX 7600 XT compare to its closest rival, the RX 7600?

A: The RX 7600 XT's average benchmark score is 20146, which is only 0.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 7600's score of 20258. In practical terms, these two cards perform nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks, indicating a negligible performance difference.

*Q: What is the system's overall ranking among all tested combos for Control?*

A: The combo ranks 1029 out of 1636 tested combinations, placing it in the 63rd percentile. This means it outperforms the majority of systems tested but is not in the top tier for this specific title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 33 chip, featuring 2048 shading units and 32 ray accelerators. Its boost clock reaches 2755 MHz, with a game clock of 2470 MHz, allowing it to deliver a texture rate of 352.6 GTexel/s. For Control, a game with heavy physics and particle effects, these specifications translate into strong performance at mainstream resolutions.

The 16 GB of GDDR6 VRAM on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. While this is ample for the game's textures, the data shows that the GPU's compute throughput is the deciding factor. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS falls to 35, indicating that the 22.57 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient to maintain fluid frame rates at that resolution. The card's 63rd percentile ranking among all GPUs reinforces that it is a mid-range performer, capable at 1080p and 1440p but out of its depth at 4K on demanding presets.

The performance gap between Low and High settings at 4K is significant—from 61.6 FPS to 39.4 FPS—showing how sensitive the card is to shader complexity and lighting effects in Control. This sensitivity is less pronounced at 1080p, where the difference is 124.2 FPS versus 77 FPS, but still substantial. The GPU's 190 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it is a practical card for most builds, though the data clearly shows its limits under load.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Control, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT achieves a rank of 1029 out of 1636 total combos. This places it in the 63rd percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly 63% of all systems tested for this game. The ranking reflects a balanced mid-range setup that delivers acceptable performance for most users.

The CPU itself scores in the 88th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 32508. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H with a delta of 0%, and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 with a delta of 0.2%, indicating the i5-14400F is statistically tied with these parts. The GPU, however, sits in the 63rd percentile, with its nearest rival being the AMD Radeon RX 460 at a 0.3% delta, showing that the graphics card is the weaker link in this pairing.

This disparity between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's mid-range percentile suggests that the system is not optimally balanced for maximum performance in Control. The CPU has more headroom than the GPU can utilize, particularly at higher resolutions where the graphics card becomes the limiting factor. The combo rank of 1029 reflects this imbalance, as systems with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs would likely rank higher in this GPU-intensive title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers playable frame rates across all presets. The Low preset averages 124.2 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. Medium settings reduce the average to 89 FPS, while High settings yield 77 FPS. The Ultra preset brings the average down to 65.5 FPS, which is still smooth but shows a 47% drop from Low to Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales predictably. Low settings maintain a high average of 95.6 FPS, while Medium, High, and Ultra presets produce 68.6, 60.6, and 54.1 FPS respectively. The 60.6 FPS at High settings is the most balanced option, offering good visual quality without compromising smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates on higher presets. Low settings average 61.6 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. However, Medium settings drop to 42.5 FPS, High to 39.4 FPS, and Ultra to 35 FPS. These numbers indicate that 4K gaming is only viable with significant graphical compromises, making 1440p the practical ceiling for this combination.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear pattern of frame rate scaling as resolution increases. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average FPS drops from 77 to 60.6, a 21% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at the same settings, the frame rate falls from 60.6 to 39.4, a 35% reduction. This accelerating drop-off is a classic sign of GPU limitation, as the pixel count increases quadratically while the GPU's compute capacity remains fixed.

At Low settings, the scaling is more gradual: 124.2 FPS at 1080p, 95.6 FPS at 1440p, and 61.6 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is noteworthy because it shows the system can achieve a playable frame rate if the visual load is minimized. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 26.6 FPS, compared to a 58.7 FPS gap at 1080p. This compressed range at 4K indicates that the GPU is hitting its computational ceiling, and reducing settings has diminishing returns as resolution climbs.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal. At 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most likely to bottleneck, the system achieves 124.2 FPS, which is well above typical monitor refresh rates. The i5-14400F's strong single-core performance (3093 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures it can feed the GPU adequately at all tested resolutions, making the GPU the definitive limiting component.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache provides fast access to frequently used data, and the 65 W TDP makes it an efficient choice for gaming builds. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 21914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3093 in single-core, placing it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs.

For Control, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame pacing and handle the game's physics and AI calculations. The benchmark results show that the i5-14400F is more than sufficient for this task. At 1080p Low, the system averages 124.2 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions where GPU load is lighter. The CPU's nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i7-12800H and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645, perform within 0.2% of its average score, confirming its competitive position.

The 16 threads are beneficial for Control, which can utilize multiple cores for rendering tasks and background processes. However, the data suggests that the CPU's performance headroom is underutilized when paired with the RX 7600 XT at higher resolutions. The 4K results show frame rates dropping to 35 FPS at Ultra, which is far below what the CPU could theoretically support. This indicates that users looking to maximize performance in Control would benefit more from a stronger GPU than a stronger CPU, as the i5-14400F provides ample processing power for this title.