Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 Action Adventure, is a demanding title that stresses both the CPU and GPU heavily, particularly with its physics-driven environments and particle effects. The pairing of the Intel Core i5-14400F with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 produces a classic mid-range setup where the graphics card is often the primary constraint, but the data reveals a more nuanced story at lower resolutions. This combination yields playable frame rates at 1080p but requires careful settings adjustments to maintain smooth performance, especially as resolution scales upward.

Resolution Scaling

The measured performance data for this combo shows a steep and predictable decline in average frame rates as resolution increases, a clear indicator of where the system's bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 97 FPS, which drops to 73 FPS at 1440p and further to 49 FPS at 4K. This pattern—a 24 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and another 24 FPS drop to 4K—illustrates a near-linear scaling penalty that is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario, as the rendering workload expands with each pixel count increase.

The trend becomes even more pronounced when examining the High preset, where the average frame rate falls from 61 FPS at 1080p to 46 FPS at 1440p and then to 31 FPS at 4K. The percentage loss from 1080p to 4K at High settings is roughly 49%, indicating that the GTX 1070’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus are being saturated by the higher resolution textures and effects. The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at these higher resolutions; the i5-14400F's 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom, while the GPU's compute throughput (6.463 TFLOPS) and pixel rate (107.7 GPixel/s) become the wall.

However, at 1080p Low, the system reaches 97 FPS, which is close to the refresh rate of many standard monitors. This indicates that while the GPU is still the dominant factor, the CPU's performance—with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21645—is sufficient to feed the graphics card without creating a significant CPU-bound ceiling. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p (97 FPS vs 53 FPS) is substantial, showing that the scaling is dictated almost entirely by the GPU's ability to process the increased shader and texture work, not by any CPU limitation.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, built on the 16 nm Pascal architecture with the GP104 chip, is the workhorse here, and its specifications directly explain the measured results. With a base clock of 1506 MHz and a boost clock of 1683 MHz, the card operates at a level that is now considered entry-level for modern titles, but its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data shows it struggles at 4K, where the Ultra preset averages just 27 FPS, falling below the 30 FPS threshold for console-like playability.

The GPU's benchmark scores underscore its mid-range status, with a Passmark G3D score of 13498 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1082. These numbers place the GTX 1070 in the 47th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the AMD FirePro W5000 and NVIDIA Quadro M2000M, which are close in average score but not gaming-focused. In Control, the GPU's 1920 shading units and 64 ROPs are tasked with rendering the game's complex lighting and destruction physics, and the frame rate data reflects this load. At 1440p High, the average FPS of 46 is playable but not smooth, while Medium settings at the same resolution yield 52 FPS, suggesting that the card's texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s is a limiting factor.

The VRAM usage is also a critical element. At 4K Ultra, the card's 8 GB buffer is likely near capacity, leading to the observed 27 FPS average. The data shows that dropping to 4K Low, which reduces texture detail and shadow quality, brings the average up to 49 FPS, a significant improvement that indicates the game is highly sensitive to memory pressure and fill-rate demands. The GPU's power draw is rated at 150 W, which is modest, but the card's age (released in 2016) means it lacks modern features like hardware ray tracing, which Control can use but which this GPU cannot accelerate, forcing the engine to rely on software fallbacks or disabled effects.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F, a Raptor Lake Refresh part on the Intel Socket 1700 platform, plays a supporting role that becomes more visible at lower resolutions. With 10 cores (likely a mix of performance and efficiency cores) and 16 threads, the CPU offers strong multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21645 and Passmark multi-thread score of 25470. The base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz ensure that single-threaded tasks, which are common in game logic and physics, are handled with agility, reflected in its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3055.

In Control, the CPU's role is to manage the game's asynchronous physics and AI routines. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 97 FPS, which is high enough that any CPU stalls would be noticeable. The i5-14400F's performance percentile of 83 versus all CPUs, along with its nearest rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U and Intel Core i9-11900, indicates it is a capable processor that does not bottleneck the GTX 1070 in this title. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain high hit rates for game data, reducing memory latency.

However, the CPU's influence wanes as resolution increases. At 4K, the GPU is so heavily taxed that the CPU's frame time contributions are negligible; the difference between 4K Low (49 FPS) and 4K High (31 FPS) is purely a GPU-side effect. The only scenario where the CPU might become a factor is at 1080p Ultra, where the average FPS is 53, but even then, the GPU is likely the primary constraint given the high settings. The i5-14400F's power efficiency, with a 65 W TDP, means it won't throttle under sustained loads, ensuring consistent frame pacing in long gaming sessions, but the benchmark data confirms that this is a GPU-bound pairing for most of Control's settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, this pairing of the i5-14400F and GTX 1070 holds a specific position that reflects its performance ceiling. The combo ranks 3083 out of 3720 tested combinations in Control, placing it in the lower 17% of systems. This rank is a direct consequence of the GPU's age and relative weakness, as the CPU is a modern, high-performing part that would typically be paired with a more powerful graphics card to achieve a higher rank.

The ranking indicates that while this system can run Control, it does so at the margins of playability. The data shows that the combo's average FPS across all settings and resolutions is often below the 60 FPS target that most gamers prefer, with only the 1080p Low setting (97 FPS) and 1080p Medium (69 FPS) exceeding that threshold. The GPU's percentile of 47 is the primary drag on the combo's overall standing, as the CPU's percentile of 83 is far more respectable. This mismatch between CPU and GPU performance means that users with this combo are leaving performance on the table; a stronger GPU would immediately improve the rank, while a weaker CPU would not change the outcome significantly.

The implication is that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with adjusted settings, as the 1440p and 4K data points are consistently below 60 FPS, with the exception of the 1440p Low setting (73 FPS). The rank of 3083 suggests that the GTX 1070 is holding back the system, and the data confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck in most scenarios. For a benchmark database, this combo serves as a baseline for what a 10-core CPU can do when paired with a mid-range GPU from a previous generation, showing that CPU headroom is abundant but unused.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rate data provides a detailed look at performance across all four presets and three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 97 FPS on Low, 69 FPS on Medium, 61 FPS on High, and 53 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS, indicating some frame pacing volatility but generally smooth gameplay. The High and Ultra presets have no reported minimum or maximum values, but the averages suggest they are stable enough for casual play, though not for competitive gaming.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop to 73 FPS on Low, 52 FPS on Medium, 46 FPS on High, and 40 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS, meaning that the system can hit 60 FPS at times but will dip below 45 FPS during intense scenes, which could be noticeable. The High preset at 1440p, at 46 FPS average, is borderline playable, but the 40 FPS average on Ultra is likely to feel sluggish for most users.

At 4K (3840x2160), the system struggles significantly. The Low preset averages 49 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, while Medium drops to 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 40 FPS, making it a marginal experience. High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra falls to 27 FPS, both of which are below the 30 FPS threshold for smooth console-like performance. The 4K data clearly shows that the GTX 1070 is out of its depth, and the 8 GB VRAM is insufficient for the high-resolution textures, leading to these low averages.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo is at 1920x1080 with the Medium preset, which yields an average of 69 FPS. This setting provides a good balance between visual fidelity and performance, as the minimum FPS of 58 ensures that the game rarely stutters, keeping the action fluid. The Low preset at 1080p is also viable at 97 FPS, but it sacrifices too much visual detail for a gain that is unnecessary on a standard 60 Hz monitor, making Medium the sweet spot.

For users with 1440p monitors, the Low preset at 73 FPS is the only setting that provides a consistently smooth experience, as Medium drops to 52 FPS and High to 46 FPS. The Low preset will reduce texture quality and shadow resolution, but the higher frame rate is worth the compromise for playability. Using High or Ultra at 1440p is not recommended, as the averages are too low to maintain a stable gameplay experience, especially in combat-heavy sequences.

At 4K, the data suggests that this combo is not suitable for a quality experience. The Low preset at 49 FPS is the only playable option, and even then, the visual quality is severely diminished. Users with a 4K display should consider lowering the resolution or upgrading the GPU, as the Ultra preset at 27 FPS and High at 31 FPS are below playable thresholds. Overall, the recommended configuration is 1080p Medium, which offers the best mix of performance and visual quality, ensuring that Control remains an enjoyable experience without requiring a settings sacrifice that makes the game look dated.