Control

# Control with Intel Core i5-14400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

The pairing of Intel's Core i5-14400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER produces remarkably high frame rates across all tested configurations in Control, with the data showing a system that comfortably handles the game's demanding physics and particle effects at every resolution. The measured results place this combo at rank 105 out of 1636 tested combinations, firmly in the upper tier of systems for this title. What stands out immediately is the consistency of the scaling curve—from the lowest preset to Ultra, the performance deltas are predictable and smooth, suggesting a well-balanced platform where neither component creates a dramatic bottleneck at typical gaming resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing a flawless high-refresh experience, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers 174.6 FPS on average, which is 38 FPS higher than High settings and only 70.3 FPS below the Low preset's 244.9 FPS. The jump from Medium to High costs 19.9 FPS at 1080p, while the jump from High to Ultra costs another 18.4 FPS, making Medium the sweet spot for pure frame rate headroom without the visual compromises of Low.

At 2560x1440, the analysis shifts slightly—Medium produces 129.4 FPS, which remains well above the 120 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay on high-refresh monitors, while High drops to 117.7 FPS. The 4K data tells a different story entirely: Medium achieves 90.2 FPS and High achieves 81.1 FPS, both playable but requiring a choice between visual fidelity and frame rate stability. The Ultra preset at 4K yields 71.5 FPS, which is still fluid for slower-paced exploration but may feel less responsive during Control's intense combat sequences. Given the data, Medium at 1440p or 1080p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom, while High at 4K remains the most sensible choice for resolution-focused players who can tolerate sub-90 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 105th out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 6.4% of all configurations in the database. This is a strong showing for a mid-range processor paired with a high-end graphics card, and the data implies that the i5-14400F does not meaningfully restrict the RTX 4080 SUPER in this title. The CPU's position relative to other processors—88th percentile among all CPUs—combined with the GPU's identical 88th percentile ranking suggests a harmonious match. The nearest rival combos for the CPU alone include the Intel Core i7-12800H (average benchmark score 32513, deltaPct 0), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, deltaPct 0.2), AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32584, deltaPct -0.2), and Intel Core i7-13705H (32586, deltaPct -0.2). These near-identical scores indicate that the i5-14400F's computational throughput is comparable to several laptop-oriented chips, yet in Control the desktop platform's sustained power delivery likely contributes to the strong rank.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 SUPER brings 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is particularly relevant for Control because the game's destructible environments and physics simulations can quickly consume frame buffer resources at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra test produces 71.5 FPS, and the 4K Low test reaches 125.3 FPS—a gap of 53.8 FPS that showcases how memory bandwidth and shading power interact with the game's rendering complexity. The GPU's boost clock of 2550 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz, combined with 10240 shading units and 80 RT cores, explains why the card excels at both rasterized and ray-traced workloads. The data shows that even at 4K Low, the system achieves 125.3 FPS, which is 74.2% of the 1080p Low result of 244.9 FPS—indicating the GPU remains the dominant factor even when resolution scales down.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings sweep shows: Low produces 244.9 FPS, Medium delivers 174.6 FPS, High reaches 154.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to 136.3 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 44.3% reduction in average frame rate, with the largest single-step drop occurring between Low and Medium at 70.3 FPS. The 2560x1440 results follow a similar pattern but with compressed absolute values: Low hits 184.6 FPS, Medium achieves 129.4 FPS, High sits at 117.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 102.1 FPS. Notably, the gap between High and Ultra narrows to 15.6 FPS at 1440p compared to 18.4 FPS at 1080p, suggesting diminishing returns from the Ultra preset as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are 125.3 FPS for Low, 90.2 FPS for Medium, 81.1 FPS for High, and 71.5 FPS for Ultra. The 4K Low result is particularly interesting—it exceeds the 1080p Ultra result of 136.3 FPS by a small margin, yet still trails the 1440p Medium score. This indicates that at 4K, even the Low preset benefits from the GPU's raw compute power, but the resolution itself imposes a hard ceiling that no settings adjustment can fully overcome. The minimum frame rates are not recorded in the dataset, so the average values alone must guide interpretation; however, the consistency of the scaling across resolutions suggests stable frame pacing.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p at High settings reduces average FPS from 154.7 to 117.7, a 23.9% drop. Moving from 1440p to 4K at the same preset further reduces performance to 81.1 FPS, another 31.1% decline. The cumulative effect from 1080p to 4K at High is a 47.6% reduction in frame rate. This scaling curve is steeper than what would be expected if the CPU were the primary limiter—if the i5-14400F were bottlenecking, the 1080p results would show less headroom over 1440p. Instead, the data shows that the GPU's workload scales almost linearly with pixel count, which points to the RTX 4080 SUPER as the performance ceiling at all three resolutions.

The Low preset tells a similar story: 244.9 FPS at 1080p, 184.6 FPS at 1440p (a 24.6% drop), and 125.3 FPS at 4K (a 32.1% drop from 1440p). The fact that Low settings still exhibit such significant resolution scaling reinforces that Control's rendering pipeline is heavily GPU-bound. Had the CPU been the constraint, we would expect to see the 1080p Low result capped at a value closer to the 1440p result, since lowering resolution reduces GPU load but not CPU load. The absence of such capping in the data—244.9 FPS at 1080p Low versus 184.6 FPS at 1440p Low—confirms that the i5-14400F has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU even at very high frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER overkill for Control at 1080p?

A: The data shows 136.3 FPS at Ultra and 244.9 FPS at Low settings on 1920x1080, which suggests the GPU is not fully utilized at this resolution. The substantial headroom indicates that players with 144Hz or 240Hz monitors can enjoy maximum settings, but the card's full potential is better realized at 1440p or 4K.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: Medium settings produce 90.2 FPS at 3840x2160, which is the highest average frame rate that remains above the 90 FPS threshold. High settings deliver 81.1 FPS, and Ultra drops to 71.5 FPS, so Medium offers the best compromise between visual fidelity and smoothness at 4K.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 105th out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 6.4% of all systems. This ranking reflects the strong synergy between the i5-14400F's 10 cores and the RTX 4080 SUPER's 10240 shading units.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: No, the resolution scaling data contradicts a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 244.9 FPS, and at 1440p Low it drops to 184.6 FPS—if the CPU were limiting, these values would be much closer. The i5-14400F's 4.70 GHz boost clock and 20 MB of L3 cache provide ample processing power.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, the gap is 18.4 FPS (154.7 vs 136.3); at 1440p, it narrows to 15.6 FPS (117.7 vs 102.1); and at 4K, it shrinks further to 9.6 FPS (81.1 vs 71.5). The diminishing difference at higher resolutions suggests Ultra's additional effects are less impactful when pixel count dominates.

Q: Is 16 GB of VRAM sufficient for Control at 4K?

A: The measured 4K Ultra result of 71.5 FPS indicates that the 16 GB GDDR6X frame buffer is not exhausted by this game, as higher VRAM pressure would typically cause more erratic frame rates. The 736.3 GB/s bandwidth also supports smooth texture streaming during combat.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide quick access to frequently used game data, while the 65 W TDP suggests efficient power delivery that avoids thermal throttling during extended sessions. In Control, the CPU's role is primarily to manage the game's physics engine and AI routines, which are not as demanding as the rendering workload. The benchmark results show the i5-14400F achieving a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21914 and a single-core score of 3093, placing it in the 88th percentile among all CPUs.

The processor's nearest rivals in average benchmark score—the Intel Core i7-12800H at 32513 (deltaPct 0), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 at 32446 (deltaPct 0.2), and AMD Ryzen 7 250 at 32584 (deltaPct -0.2)—all fall within a narrow performance band, indicating that the i5-14400F offers competitive throughput for its class. In the context of Control specifically, the CPU's 10 cores are more than sufficient to feed the RTX 4080 SUPER, as evidenced by the 244.9 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low. The data suggests that players could potentially pair this CPU with an even faster GPU without encountering a significant bottleneck, though the current combination already delivers exceptional performance in this title.