Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, presents a demanding environment with its physics-heavy combat and destructible geometry. The pairing of the Intel Core i5-14400F with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX produces a dataset that clearly delineates the boundaries between CPU and GPU limitations across resolutions. The measured FPS values, spanning three resolutions and four quality presets, indicate a system that is overwhelmingly powerful at 1080p but whose performance curve reveals a significant shift in bottleneck dynamics as pixel count rises.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 225 FPS at 1920x1080 to 170 FPS at 2560x1440, representing a 24.4% reduction, and then further to 115 FPS at 3840x2160, a 32.4% drop from the 1440p figure. This cumulative reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 48.9%, which is a substantial loss but still leaves the system far above playable thresholds. The scaling pattern indicates that even at the lowest graphical fidelity, the GPU is being progressively taxed by the increased pixel workload, though the absolute headroom remains considerable.

At High settings, the pattern shifts. The transition from 1080p to 1440p yields a 24.6% performance loss, from 142 FPS to 107 FPS. The subsequent move to 4K results in a 32.7% drop, landing at 72 FPS. This consistent ~25% and ~33% reduction per resolution step suggests that the RX 7900 XTX is scaling predictably with the pixel count, but the absolute values at 4K High (72 FPS) indicate that the GPU is now the primary limiting component. The data shows that 4K High is the first configuration where the average frame rate dips below the 75 FPS threshold, signaling a transition from GPU-bound to heavily GPU-bound territory.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling curve. Starting at 123 FPS at 1080p, it drops to 93 FPS at 1440p (a 24.4% loss) and then to 63 FPS at 4K (a 32.3% loss from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 63 FPS is the lowest average recorded in the entire dataset, and the scaling suggests that the GPU's compute and memory subsystems are saturated at this configuration. The difference between 1080p and 4K at Ultra is 48.8%, mirroring the Low preset's total loss, which indicates that the resolution scaling factor is relatively consistent regardless of the preset’s load intensity, though the starting points differ dramatically.

The Medium preset provides the most granular data, with min and max FPS values recorded. At 1080p, the average is 160 FPS with a range of 136-184. At 1440p, the average drops to 121 FPS (a 24.4% loss) with a range of 103-139. At 4K, the average falls to 82 FPS (a 32.2% loss from 1440p) with a range of 69-94. The min FPS at 4K Medium (69 FPS) is particularly telling, as it suggests that frame pacing consistency degrades alongside the average, indicating that the GPU is working at its limits to maintain the physics simulation and rendering simultaneously. Overall, the resolution scaling data points to a system where the CPU is rarely the limiting factor above 1080p, with the RX 7900 XTX's bandwidth and compute throughput dictating the frame rate at 1440p and 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved in Control with this combo?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 225, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is followed by 170 FPS at 2560x1440 Low and 160 FPS at 1920x1080 Medium, showing that the system has massive headroom at lower resolutions.

Q: Is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX capable of running Control at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, but with a caveat. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 63 FPS. While this is technically playable, it is the lowest average in the dataset, and the lack of min FPS data for this preset suggests that the benchmark did not record a stable frame time envelope, indicating potential stutter in intense scenes.

Q: How does the Combo rank compare to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 536th out of 3720 tested combinations in Control. This places it in the top 14.4% of all tested combos, which is a strong showing given that the game is known for its demanding rendering, but it is not a top-tier configuration for this specific title.

Q: What is the difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields an average of 170 FPS, while the Ultra preset yields 93 FPS. This is a 45.3% reduction in average FPS when moving from Low to Ultra, demonstrating the significant graphical workload added by the higher preset.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1440p or 4K, as the frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes. At 1080p Low, the 225 FPS average is high, but it is likely that the CPU can still feed the GPU effectively at this level, given that the frame rate is not capped by the CPU’s limits.

Q: What is the most balanced preset for a smooth experience at 4K?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 provides an average of 82 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 69 FPS. This is the only 4K configuration with min/max data, and the 69 FPS minimum is above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the most consistent 4K option in the dataset.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, with its RDNA 3.0 architecture and 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, provides a memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This substantial bandwidth is critical for Control, a game that streams high-resolution textures and handles complex particle effects. The GPU’s boost clock of 2498 MHz and game clock of 2365 MHz allow it to sustain high throughput, but the data shows that the 4K resolutions, particularly Ultra, begin to stress this configuration. The 63 FPS average at 4K Ultra, compared to 115 FPS at 4K Low, indicates a 45.2% performance penalty for the highest preset, which is primarily due to increased shading and texture filtering demands.

The GPU’s FP32 performance is rated at 61.39 TFLOPS, which is ample for this title’s DX11 and DX12 rendering paths, but the physics simulation in Control often relies on compute shaders. The 4K Medium result of 82 FPS (with a min of 69 FPS) suggests that the GPU can handle the compute load, but the transition to Ultra introduces heavier ray-traced reflections and volumetric lighting, which are not fully optimized on RDNA 3.0. The 24 GB frame buffer is more than sufficient for any preset, as the data does not indicate a VRAM capacity limit; instead, the performance drops are attributable to compute and fill-rate limitations.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it at the 64th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 19410. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, has an average score of 19334, a delta of 0.4%, which is a negligible difference in synthetic tests. This is surprising given the generational gap, but it highlights that Control’s real-world performance is more dependent on driver optimizations and specific feature usage than on raw compute metrics. The GPU’s DirectX 12 benchmark score of 131 is notably low, but this does not translate to poor in-game performance, as the measured FPS at 1080p High (142 FPS) is strong, indicating that the game’s engine leverages the GPU’s raw power effectively rather than relying on specific API features.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 536 out of 3720 tested combinations places it in the 85.6th percentile of all systems tested in Control. This is a robust result, suggesting that the i5-14400F and RX 7900 XTX form a synergistic pairing for this title. The CPU’s percentile rank of 83 (average benchmark score of 32279) is slightly lower than the combo’s overall rank, indicating that the GPU is the primary driver of performance in this context. The GPU’s percentile rank of 64 is lower than the combo rank, which is counterintuitive, but it suggests that the specific combination of the i5-14400F’s high single-thread performance and the RX 7900 XTX’s bandwidth works well in Control’s engine.

The data indicates that the combo performs better than the GPU’s standalone percentile would suggest, which implies that the CPU is not holding the GPU back. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, has a delta of 0.1%, meaning they are effectively tied in synthetic benchmarks. However, in Control, the i5-14400F’s 10 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, provide the necessary single-thread headroom for the game’s physics calculations. The rank of 536 means that there are 535 other combinations that outperform this setup, but given that this is a 2019 title, the fact that this modern hardware still ranks in the top 15% of all tested combos confirms that the system is well-balanced.

The combo’s ranking also benefits from the fact that Control is not heavily multithreaded. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21645 is high, but the single-core score of 3055 is what matters more for this game’s engine. The data shows that the combo does not rank in the top 100, which suggests that the absolute top-tier CPUs (like those with higher single-thread scores) can push the RX 7900 XTX to higher frame rates at 1080p, but the GPU still becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions, making the CPU choice less critical for 4K gaming.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, all presets are playable, with even the Ultra preset achieving an average of 123 FPS. However, the Medium preset provides an excellent balance, offering 160 FPS average with a minimum of 136 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without the visual degradation of Low settings. The High preset at 142 FPS is also viable, but the extra visual fidelity of Ultra is not worth the 23.8% frame rate drop from High to Ultra when the Medium preset already provides a high refresh rate experience.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the recommended choice, delivering 107 FPS average. While the Medium preset yields 121 FPS, the visual improvement from Medium to High is substantial in Control, given the game’s use of dynamic lighting and shadows. The Ultra preset’s 93 FPS average is still playable, but it introduces more frequent dips (as evidenced by the lack of min/max data). For a 144Hz monitor, the Medium preset is the safest bet to stay above the refresh rate, but for 60Hz displays, High or Ultra are both acceptable.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the clear winner, with an average of 82 FPS and a minimum of 69 FPS. This is the only 4K preset with a recorded minimum FPS above 60, which is critical for maintaining a consistent experience. The High preset’s 72 FPS average is borderline, and the lack of min/max data suggests potential instability. The Ultra preset’s 63 FPS average is too close to the 60 FPS threshold to recommend, as any intense combat sequence could cause a noticeable stutter. Therefore, for 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the definitive recommendation, offering a 30.2% improvement over Ultra in average FPS while maintaining a stable frame time.

Overall, the data suggests that the RX 7900 XTX is overkill for 1080p gaming, where the CPU is likely the limiting factor, but it is well-suited for high-refresh 1440p gaming, and it can handle 4K with settings adjustments. The recommendation hierarchy is: 1080p Medium/High, 1440p High, and 4K Medium.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope is wide. The Low preset achieves an average of 225 FPS, which is the highest measurement in the entire dataset. The Medium preset produces 160 FPS, with a minimum of 136 FPS and a maximum of 184 FPS, indicating a stable frame delivery. The High preset yields 142 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 123 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 102 FPS, which is a 45.3% reduction in average FPS. The min/max data for Medium shows a 48 FPS range, suggesting that the game’s physics engine causes occasional frame time spikes, but the high average ensures these are not disruptive.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset remains the highest performer at 170 FPS. The Medium preset follows at 121 FPS, with a min of 103 FPS and a max of 139 FPS, a 36 FPS range. The High preset achieves 107 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 93 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 77 FPS, a 45.3% reduction, which is consistent with the 1080p scaling. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 103 FPS is significant, as it means the system stays above 100 FPS even in demanding scenes, making 1440p Medium a very smooth experience.

At 3840x2160, the performance gaps narrow in absolute terms. The Low preset averages 115 FPS, which is still a very playable frame rate. The Medium preset averages 82 FPS, with a min of 69 FPS and a max of 94 FPS. The High preset averages 72 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 63 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 52 FPS, a 45.2% reduction. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 69 FPS is above the 60 FPS threshold, but the High and Ultra presets lack min FPS data, indicating that their frame times are less consistent. The 4K data clearly shows that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rates scale almost linearly with the pixel count, and the preset impact on FPS is consistent across resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F, with its 10 cores (6 performance and 4 efficiency) and 16 threads, operates at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. This configuration provides strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for Control’s physics and game logic. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3055 and multicore score of 21645 indicate a balanced processor, but the game’s reliance on single-thread performance means that the boost clock is the more critical specification. The 20 MB of L3 cache (shared) helps with data locality, reducing memory latency for the game’s streaming assets.

In the context of this combo, the CPU’s role becomes less significant as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the 225 FPS average is likely near the CPU’s frame generation limit, but the data does not show a hard cap. At 1080p Ultra, the 123 FPS average is well below what the CPU is capable of, indicating that the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU’s percentile rank of 83 (against all CPUs) places it in the top 17% of processors, but its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-11900 (delta 0.2%), show that it is not a class-leading chip. However, in this game, the i5-14400F’s high boost clock allows it to keep up with the RX 7900 XTX’s output at 1440p, as evidenced by the 107 FPS average at High settings.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP is modest, but this does not translate to performance limitations in this title. The Passmark single-thread score of 3701 is strong, and the data compression score of 315521 suggests that the CPU handles background tasks without impacting game performance. The absence of integrated graphics means the RX 7900 XTX handles all rendering duties, but this is not a concern. The CPU’s memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, with a dual-channel bus, allows for flexible system configuration, though the memory bandwidth is not listed, so its impact cannot be quantified. Overall, the CPU role is to provide consistent, high-frequency single-thread performance, which it does admirably, ensuring that the GPU is not starved of data at 1440p and below, while at 4K, the GPU’s workload dominates the frame time.