Control

The AMD Radeon RX 580 paired with the Intel Core i5-14600K delivers a strictly 1080p experience in Control, with the data showing a hard ceiling at that resolution. At 4K, the combination is effectively unplayable, with average frame rates falling below 34 FPS across all settings. The most striking finding is the minimal performance gap between Medium and High presets at 1440p and above, which suggests the GPU's memory subsystem and compute resources are the primary bottlenecks, not the game's visual complexity.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a steep and consistent penalty as resolution increases, pointing directly at the RX 580 as the limiting component. Moving from 1080p High (41.5 FPS) to 1440p High (29.0 FPS) costs a 30% drop in performance, while the jump to 4K High (21.9 FPS) represents a further 24% reduction. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is saturated at its core, rather than a CPU-bound scenario.

The Low preset data confirms this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 62.8 FPS, which is the only measured configuration that approaches a smooth 60 FPS target. However, at 4K Low, the average collapses to 33.8 FPS — a 46% reduction from the 1080p result. This indicates that even with minimal graphical load, the RX 580's 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot feed the pixel throughput required at 4K. The game is clearly GPU-limited across the entire resolution spectrum, with the i5-14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads providing ample headroom.

Interestingly, the scaling from 1440p to 4K is less severe than from 1080p to 1440p. For example, Ultra settings drop from 23.7 FPS at 1440p to 16.5 FPS at 4K, a 30% loss, whereas the 1080p to 1440p Ultra transition (35.1 to 23.7 FPS) is a 32% loss. This suggests diminishing returns on pixel count as the GPU's shading units (2304) become the absolute constraint, rather than memory bandwidth alone.

GPU Role

The RX 580's specifications directly explain its performance ceiling in Control. With 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card has sufficient capacity for the game's textures at 1080p, but the 256.0 GB/s bandwidth is the critical weakness. The benchmark data shows that at 1440p and 4K, even the Low preset (which typically reduces texture streaming and shadow resolution) cannot maintain playable rates, indicating that bandwidth, not capacity, is the limiting factor.

The GPU's clock behavior reinforces this analysis. The base clock of 1257 MHz and boost clock of 1340 MHz are modest by modern standards, and the 6.175 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is the architectural bottleneck. The card's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, scores nearly identically (0% deltaPct in average benchmark score), yet the RX 580's 53rd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it firmly in the mid-range category. In Control specifically, the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (16.5 FPS) is below the 24 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for cinematic slideshows, confirming that this GPU is a legacy part (end-of-life production status) struggling with a 2019 title at high resolutions.

The 8 GB VRAM is not the issue here; the data shows no sudden drop between Medium and High that would indicate memory swapping. Instead, the consistent 2-3 FPS differences between Medium and High at each resolution (e.g., 31.4 vs 29.0 at 1440p) suggest the GPU's compute units are fully occupied, and the additional shading work from High settings yields only marginal frame rate changes.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the only viable configuration for this combo is 1080p Low, which delivers 62.8 FPS. This is the sole preset/resolution combination that exceeds 60 FPS, making it the clear recommendation for any playable experience. The data shows that 1080p Medium (44.2 FPS) and 1080p High (41.5 FPS) are both playable but sub-60, while 1080p Ultra (35.1 FPS) sacrifices too much responsiveness for marginal visual gains.

For users willing to tolerate frame rates in the 40s, 1080p Medium offers a 41% improvement over Low (44.2 vs 62.8) in visual fidelity for a 30% performance cost. However, the jump from Medium to High at 1080p yields only a 6% FPS increase (44.2 to 41.5, actually a decrease), which is counterintuitive and suggests High settings introduce inefficiencies that Medium avoids. At 1440p, all settings fall below 49 FPS, with only Low (48.9) approaching playability, but the 1080p Low result remains superior.

The recommendation is unambiguous: run Control at 1920x1080 with the Low preset for the best combination of smoothness and stability. Pushing to Medium is acceptable if the user prioritizes visuals over frame rate, but the 1440p and 4K rows should be avoided entirely, as they produce unplayable results regardless of settings.

FAQ

*Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS in Control at any setting?*

A: Yes, only at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, which achieves 62.8 FPS. All other measured configurations fall below this threshold.

Q: How does the RX 580's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score is 13559, placing it within 0.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 455. It ranks in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs.

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

A: The data shows 1080p is the only resolution with any playable frame rates. At 1440p, the highest average is 48.9 FPS (Low), and at 4K, the highest is 33.8 FPS (Low), both below acceptable thresholds.

Q: Does increasing settings from Medium to High improve performance?

A: No, the measured data shows a decrease. At 1080p, Medium averages 44.2 FPS while High averages 41.5 FPS, and at 1440p, Medium (31.4) beats High (29.0). This suggests High settings add overhead without visual benefit on this GPU.

Q: Is the i5-14600K holding back the RX 580 in this game?

A: No, the data indicates GPU limitation. The i5-14600K scores in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, and the frame rates scale consistently with resolution, which is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1533 out of 1636 tested combinations in Control, placing it in the bottom 7% of all systems.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1533 out of 1636 tested combinations in Control places it in the bottom 6% of all systems, which is a poor showing for a CPU that ranks in the 93rd percentile among all processors. This disparity underscores the GPU's dominance as the performance limiter. The i5-14600K's average benchmark score of 49166 puts it within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14600KF, confirming that the CPU is not the weak link. Yet the RX 580's 53rd percentile GPU ranking means the overall system performance is dragged down to near the bottom of the database.

The rank is particularly damning when considering the game's 2019 release date. A modern CPU paired with a 2017 GPU (the RX 580 launched in April 2017) results in a severely unbalanced system for Control. The data shows that even the lowest settings at 1080p only barely break 60 FPS, while most modern combinations would exceed 100 FPS. This combo is effectively a legacy GPU strapped to a high-end CPU, wasting the i5-14600K's potential in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K provides far more processing power than this game requires, as evidenced by the consistent GPU-bound scaling. With 14 cores, 20 threads, and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32881 places it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, scores 0.2% lower in average benchmark terms, indicating the i5 is a top-tier performer.

In Control, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data, but the benchmark results show no evidence of CPU limitation. The frame rates at 1080p Low (62.8 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (35.1 FPS) differ by 44%, which is entirely attributable to GPU load. The i5-14600K's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4/DDR5) provide ample bandwidth for the game's data streams. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different settings at the same resolution, which is not the case. The data confirms that the RX 580 is the sole constraint, and upgrading the GPU would yield substantial gains without any CPU changes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are: Low 62.8 FPS, Medium 44.2 FPS, High 41.5 FPS, and Ultra 35.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 18.6 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is only 2.7 FPS, and High to Ultra is 6.4 FPS. This indicates that the Low preset removes significant GPU load, while the Medium-to-High transition adds minimal overhead.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 48.9 FPS, Medium 31.4 FPS, High 29.0 FPS, and Ultra 23.7 FPS. Compared to 1080p, the Low preset drops by 14 FPS (22%), while Ultra drops by 11.4 FPS (32%). The Medium-to-High delta at 1440p is 2.4 FPS, mirroring the 1080p pattern.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 33.8 FPS, Medium 20.4 FPS, High 21.9 FPS, and Ultra 16.5 FPS. Notably, High (21.9) outperforms Medium (20.4) by 1.5 FPS, breaking the monotonic trend seen at other resolutions. This anomaly suggests that at 4K, the GPU's scheduling of shading units behaves unpredictably under different settings. The overall 4K range spans 17.3 FPS from Low to Ultra, showing that no setting can rescue playability at this resolution.