Control

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB produces a mid-table result for Control, securing the 844th position out of 1636 tested combinations. This places the duo in the 51st percentile of all tested combos, indicating a balanced pairing that sits squarely in the middle of the performance distribution. The rank reflects a system capable of smooth gameplay at most settings, though it does not threaten the upper echelons of the leaderboard, where more expensive and higher-tier components dominate the frame rate charts.

How This Combo Ranks

The 844th rank out of 1636 combos places this configuration in the middle of the pack, a position that aligns with the hardware’s specifications rather than exceeding them. The data shows a 51.4% finish, meaning it outperforms slightly more than half of all tested combinations. This is a solid, workmanlike result for a 1440p-oriented setup. The ranking suggests that the CPU and GPU are well-matched for this title, with neither component dramatically bottlenecking the other to skew the overall score. In the context of the database, this combo sits below high-end enthusiast builds but well above entry-level systems, making it a representative example of a mainstream gaming rig from the current generation.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides the computational foundation for this combo, featuring 10 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz can boost up to 4.70 GHz, which is sufficient for the demands of Control’s physics and AI systems. The CPU’s Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process, delivers strong single-thread performance that is critical for this game’s frame pacing. Benchmark results show a single-core score of 3093 in Cinebench R23 and 2333 in Geekbench, indicating robust per-core throughput. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain data locality for the game’s streaming assets. The CPU’s 88th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 32508, confirms it is a capable performer. In the measured FPS data, the CPU’s influence is most apparent at lower resolutions, where it can keep up with the GPU’s output, allowing the frame rate to scale effectively without introducing a significant bottleneck.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB is the primary driver of visual output, built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip. It operates with a base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost clock of 3130 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2530 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 322.3 GB/s, which is adequate for the textures and effects in Control at 1080p and 1440p. The GPU’s 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 200.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 400.6 GTexel/s, which translate into the raw fill rates needed for the game’s particle effects. The 32 RT cores support hardware-accelerated ray tracing, though the measured data does not isolate this feature. The GPU’s 50th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it at the median of the database, and its FP32 throughput of 25.64 TFLOPS is respectable for this class. The 150 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest a power-efficient card that is well-suited for the measured performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a granular view of performance across three resolutions and four settings tiers. At 1920x1080, the combo averages 144.6 FPS on Low, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset. This drops to 102.2 FPS on Medium, 90.7 FPS on High, and 81.4 FPS on Ultra. These figures indicate that at 1080p, the system is capable of exceeding 144 FPS only at the lowest settings, but remains above 80 FPS even at the highest quality preset, which is a strong result for competitive or high-refresh-rate play.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages decrease proportionally. The Low preset yields 111.6 FPS, which is a 23% reduction from the 1080p Low result. Medium produces 77 FPS, High produces 70 FPS, and Ultra produces 57.5 FPS. The 1440p High result of 70 FPS is particularly notable, as it represents a smooth experience for most gaming monitors, while the Ultra preset at 57.5 FPS is borderline for a 60 Hz display, suggesting that a slight reduction in settings is advisable for consistent frame pacing.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its limitations. The Low preset averages 70.3 FPS, which is still playable, but the Medium preset drops to 54.7 FPS, High to 48.1 FPS, and Ultra to 40.9 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is below the standard for smooth gameplay, indicating that this resolution is more demanding than the hardware can comfortably handle at maximum settings. The data shows a clear progression where each increase in resolution or settings tier exacts a measurable toll on the average frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the bottleneck in this system. At 1080p Low, the system produces 144.6 FPS, which drops to 111.6 FPS at 1440p Low, a 22.8% decrease, and then to 70.3 FPS at 4K Low, a 51.4% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases. The CPU has sufficient headroom at 1080p to push the GPU to its maximum output, but as the pixel count rises, the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth become the constraining resources.

The scaling is more pronounced at higher settings. From 1080p Ultra (81.4 FPS) to 4K Ultra (40.9 FPS), the frame rate drops by 49.8%, nearly halving. This steep decline underscores the GPU’s inability to maintain high frame rates at 4K when the visual workload is maximized. Conversely, the difference between 1080p and 1440p at Ultra is a 29.4% reduction, which is less severe but still significant. The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1440p gaming, where it can deliver 70 FPS on High and 57.5 FPS on Ultra, or for 1080p gaming where it can exceed 90 FPS on High settings. At 4K, the system is only viable with reduced settings, as the GPU’s 8 GB memory buffer and 322.3 GB/s bandwidth limit its performance at that resolution.