Control

The Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination delivers a playable but not dominant experience in Control, landing in the 814th position out of 1636 tested combos. The data clearly shows a system where the GPU is the primary scaling factor as resolution increases, but the CPU provides sufficient headroom to avoid becoming a bottleneck at lower settings. This pairing is best suited for 1440p High or 1080p Ultra gaming, where the balance between the 10-core processor and 8 GB GDDR7 memory yields the most consistent frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, indicating that the RTX 5060 is the limiting component at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 148.5 at 1920x1080 to 110.9 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 37.6 FPS, and then to 76.4 at 3840x2160, a further 34.5 FPS drop. This pattern shows that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU’s 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM are being saturated as pixel count increases.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is even more punishing. The average FPS drops from 80.5 at 1080p to 59.3 at 1440p, and then plummets to 38.7 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is barely above playable thresholds, while the 1080p Ultra result is smooth. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 37.7 FPS, whereas at 1080p the same gap is 68 FPS. This compression of performance at 4K confirms that the GPU’s compute resources, with 3840 shading units and a boost clock of 2497 MHz, are exhausted before the CPU’s capabilities are ever tested.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows point to 1440p High as the optimal balance for this combo, delivering 68.8 FPS while maintaining visual fidelity. This sits comfortably above the 1440p Medium result of 82.6 FPS and the 1440p Ultra result of 59.3 FPS, suggesting that High offers a meaningful quality improvement over Medium without the steep cost of Ultra. For players prioritizing smoothness at 1080p, High at 93.3 FPS is the better choice over Ultra’s 80.5 FPS, as the difference in visual quality is less impactful at that resolution.

The data does not support 4K gaming with this combo. Even at Low settings, the 76.4 FPS average is achievable, but the High preset drops to 50.7 FPS and Ultra to 38.7 FPS. Since the benchmark rows only include these four presets, the recommendation is clear: avoid 4K Ultra entirely, and treat 4K High as a marginal experience. At 1080p, Low produces 148.5 FPS, which is far beyond what a 60 Hz display needs, making Medium or High the sensible presets for most users.

GPU Role

The RTX 5060’s 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is the key constraint at higher resolutions. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, translating to 28 Gbps effective, and the boost clock of 2497 MHz allows for solid compute throughput. The GPU’s 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 30 RT cores do not translate into exceptional 4K performance in Control, as evidenced by the 38.7 FPS average at 4K Ultra.

The GPU sits at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 30109. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (deltaPct 0) and the AMD Radeon RX 570 (deltaPct -0.2), which places the 5060 in the upper mid-range tier. The data shows that the GPU’s DirectX 12 benchmark score of 77 is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 200, which may explain the difficulty in maintaining high frame rates at 4K in a game like Control that relies heavily on modern API features. The 48 ROPs and 120 TMUs are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest a fill-rate bottleneck at peak settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 148.5 FPS on Low, 105 FPS on Medium, 93.3 FPS on High, and 80.5 FPS on Ultra. The spread of 68 FPS between Low and Ultra shows a wide performance envelope, with every preset above 80 FPS. At 2560x1440, the results are 110.9 FPS on Low, 82.6 FPS on Medium, 68.8 FPS on High, and 59.3 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p results show a narrower spread of 51.6 FPS, with only the Ultra preset dipping below 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the numbers compress further: 76.4 FPS on Low, 53.5 FPS on Medium, 50.7 FPS on High, and 38.7 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is the only one above 60 FPS, and the gap between Low and Ultra shrinks to 37.7 FPS. Comparing across resolutions, the 1080p Low result of 148.5 FPS is roughly double the 4K Ultra result of 38.7 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU’s performance scales nearly linearly with pixel count until the memory bandwidth ceiling is hit.

How This Combo Ranks

This combo ranks 814th out of 1636 tested combinations in Control, placing it just below the median of the database. This is a mid-pack result for a 2024-era CPU paired with a 2025-era GPU, suggesting that the game’s engine does not favor this hardware pairing as strongly as some other titles. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 32508 places it at the 88th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU’s average score of 30109 places it at the 73rd percentile among GPUs, yet the combined result falls to the 50th percentile in this specific game.

The discrepancy between the individual component rankings and the combo ranking in Control indicates that the game’s performance characteristics do not fully utilize the strengths of either component. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-12800H (deltaPct 0) and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (deltaPct 0.2), show that it is a competent performer in general workloads, but this does not translate into a top-tier gaming result here. The GPU’s rivals, including the RX 7700 XT (deltaPct 0), confirm that it is a solid mid-range card, but the 4K results show its limitations in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. This configuration is ample for Control, as the game does not appear to be CPU-bound at any resolution in the measured data. At 1080p Low, the 148.5 FPS result shows that the CPU can feed the GPU without becoming a limiting factor, and even at 4K Ultra, the 38.7 FPS is clearly a GPU limitation given the 53.5 FPS result at 4K Medium.

The CPU’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide sufficient bandwidth for the game’s physics and AI calculations. The single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3093 and a Passmark single-thread score of 3723, is strong enough to avoid bottlenecks in this title. The multi-core results, such as the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914, are more than adequate for a game that typically uses fewer than 8 threads. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it a reasonable pairing, but the data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield larger gains than upgrading the CPU for this game.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?*

A: The data shows 2560x1440 as the best resolution, with 68.8 FPS at High settings and 59.3 FPS at Ultra, both of which are playable. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 38.7 FPS, which is not recommended.

Q: How much faster is 1080p compared to 4K at the same settings?

A: At High settings, the 1080p average of 93.3 FPS is 42.6 FPS higher than the 4K average of 50.7 FPS. At Low settings, the difference is 72.1 FPS, with 148.5 FPS at 1080p versus 76.4 FPS at 4K.

Q: Does the CPU limit performance in this game?

A: No, the data does not show CPU limitation. The 10-core i5-14400F with a 4.70 GHz boost clock maintains high frame rates at 1080p Low (148.5 FPS), and the performance drop at higher resolutions aligns with GPU constraints.

*Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for Control?*

A: The 8 GB GDDR7 memory is sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 38.7 FPS suggests memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor. The 128-bit bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are the likely constraints.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems?

A: It ranks 814th out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it near the middle of the database. The CPU ranks at the 88th percentile overall, while the GPU ranks at the 73rd percentile.

Q: Which preset should I use for the smoothest experience?

A: For 1440p, High is the best choice at 68.8 FPS. For 1080p, High at 93.3 FPS is preferred over Ultra’s 80.5 FPS, as the visual difference is minor while the frame rate gain is substantial.