Control

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a strong, well-balanced performance profile in Control, a 2019 Action Adventure title. The combo ranks 981st out of 3,720 tested combinations, placing it in the top quarter of all tested systems. This ranking reflects a configuration that can handle the game’s demanding physics and particle effects with ease, though the exact experience varies significantly by resolution and quality preset. Benchmark results indicate that this pairing is capable of high frame rates across all tested settings, with the GPU acting as the primary scaling factor as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 981 out of 3,720 tested combos places it in the 74th percentile of all systems evaluated for Control. This is a solid position, indicating that the i5-14600K and RTX 3080 Ti together outperform roughly three-quarters of the tested configurations in this specific title. The CPU itself sits at the 90th percentile among all processors in the database, with an average benchmark score of 48,618. Its nearest rivals in synthetic workloads are the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (scoring 48,698, a 0.2% advantage) and the AMD EPYC 4345P (scoring 48,470, a 0.3% deficit), showing that the i5-14600K’s raw compute power is competitive with enterprise and workstation parts. The GPU, meanwhile, holds the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 41,187. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (scoring 40,870, a 0.8% deficit) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (scoring 40,377, a 2% deficit), which places the RTX 3080 Ti slightly above the newer RTX 5070 in aggregate GPU benchmarks.

In Control specifically, the frame rate data shows that this combo scales predictably with settings and resolution, but the rank suggests that some combinations with higher-end GPUs or more modern CPUs achieve higher average frame rates. The gap between the 1080p Ultra result of 105 FPS and the 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS highlights where the system’s performance envelope lies. The data indicates that the i5-14600K’s 14 cores and 20 threads provide ample headroom for the game’s CPU-bound tasks, such as physics simulations and AI updates, while the RTX 3080 Ti’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute handle the rendering load. Overall, this combo is positioned as a high-performance pairing that excels at 1440p and remains playable at 4K on lower presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 121 FPS, while the Medium preset reaches 136 FPS with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS. The Ultra preset yields 105 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 13% drop from High. For 1080p gaming, the Medium preset is the recommended choice because it provides a measurable frame rate improvement over High (136 FPS vs 121 FPS) while retaining a higher minimum frame rate (116 FPS) than High’s unspecified minimum, which is likely lower given the average. The Low preset at 1080p hits 192 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual fidelity for the gain.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again stands out, delivering an average of 103 FPS with a minimum of 88 FPS and a maximum of 118 FPS. This is a 12% improvement over High (92 FPS) and a 29% improvement over Ultra (80 FPS). The minimum of 88 FPS ensures that frame pacing remains stable during intense combat sequences, which is crucial for a game like Control with its destructible environments and telekinetic combat. The Low preset at 1440p achieves 145 FPS, but this is unnecessary for a smooth experience and reduces the game’s atmospheric lighting and reflections. For 1440p, Medium is the optimal preset, offering a high refresh rate experience without compromising the game’s visual identity.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The High preset averages 62 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The Medium preset averages 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS, making it the only 4K preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and may introduce noticeable stutter. The Low preset at 4K reaches 98 FPS, but this severely diminishes the game’s graphics. For 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it provides the best playable experience with an average of 70 FPS and a minimum that rarely dips below 60 FPS. Overall, the data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for this combo across all resolutions, balancing visual quality with frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of Control with this hardware. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 121 FPS at 1080p to 92 FPS at 1440p (a 24% reduction) and then to 62 FPS at 4K (a 49% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU-intensive title, where the rendering load increases quadratically with pixel count. At the Medium preset, the same trend is observed: 136 FPS at 1080p drops to 103 FPS at 1440p (a 24% reduction) and then to 70 FPS at 4K (a 49% reduction). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti is the limiting factor as resolution increases, rather than the CPU.

At the Low preset, the scaling is steeper: 192 FPS at 1080p falls to 145 FPS at 1440p (a 24% reduction) and then to 98 FPS at 4K (a 49% reduction). This suggests that even at Low settings, the GPU remains the bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s performance is sufficient to feed the GPU at all tested resolutions. The i5-14600K’s boost clock of 5.30 GHz and 14 cores ensure that CPU-bound tasks like draw call submission and physics calculations do not limit frame rates, even at 1080p where the GPU is less stressed. The 4K-to-1080p ratio of approximately 0.51 (62/121 at High, 70/136 at Medium) indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti’s 912.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth and 34.10 TFLOPS of compute are the primary determinants of performance at higher resolutions.

The data also shows that the gap between presets narrows at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 87 FPS (192 vs 105), while at 4K, the difference is 44 FPS (98 vs 54). This compression is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the pixel fill rate and shader throughput become the limiting factors regardless of quality settings. The RTX 3080 Ti’s pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the sheer number of pixels (8.3 million) overwhelms the GPU’s ability to maintain high frame rates on Ultra settings. This analysis confirms that the CPU plays a secondary role in Control at resolutions above 1080p, with the GPU dominating the performance profile.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset averages 192 FPS, which is far beyond the requirements of any display. The Medium preset averages 136 FPS, with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS, providing a smooth experience on high refresh rate monitors. The High preset averages 121 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 105 FPS. These numbers show that even at Ultra, the combo maintains a frame rate above 100 FPS, making 1080p gaming effortless for this hardware.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong. The Low preset averages 145 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play. The Medium preset averages 103 FPS, with a minimum of 88 FPS and a maximum of 118 FPS, ensuring consistent frame pacing during intense gameplay. The High preset averages 92 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 80 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is 11 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 12 FPS, indicating a linear scaling with quality settings. For 1440p gaming, the combo is well-suited, with all presets except Ultra remaining above 90 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained. The Low preset averages 98 FPS, which is playable but requires significant visual compromises. The Medium preset averages 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS, making it the only preset that consistently stays near the 60 FPS target. The High preset averages 62 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset averages 54 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The data shows that 4K gaming on Ultra is not viable for this combo, but Medium settings provide a playable experience. The minimum FPS of 59 at Medium 4K indicates that there are occasional dips below 60 FPS, but the average of 70 FPS suggests that these are brief and infrequent.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 offers the best balance, with the Medium preset averaging 103 FPS and a minimum of 88 FPS. At 1920x1080, the combo reaches 136 FPS on Medium, but the higher resolution provides a sharper image with only a 33 FPS penalty.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The Low preset at 4K achieves 98 FPS, but the Medium preset is the recommended choice, averaging 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS.

Q: Which preset provides the most consistent frame rate?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 has a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS, showing a narrow range. At 2560x1440, Medium has a minimum of 88 FPS and a maximum of 118 FPS. At 3840x2160, Medium has a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS. This consistency makes Medium the most stable preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The resolution scaling data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is consistent at approximately 49% across all presets, which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance. The i5-14600K’s 14 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock provide sufficient CPU headroom.

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

A: The combo ranks 981st out of 3,720 tested combinations, placing it in the top 26% of all systems. The CPU ranks in the 90th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 92 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 80 FPS, a difference of 12 FPS. This is a 13% reduction in frame rate for the extra visual fidelity of Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 24 MB shared L3 cache. These specifications provide substantial compute power for Control’s CPU-intensive tasks, which include physics simulations, particle effects, and AI pathfinding. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24,491 and single-core score of 2,064 indicate strong performance in both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads, which is relevant for a game that relies on a few primary threads for gameplay logic.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in Control at any tested resolution. The consistent FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K, with a 49% reduction in frame rate across all presets, suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with draw calls and state changes without becoming a bottleneck. The PassMark multi-thread score of 38,682 and integer math score of 125,737 further reinforce the CPU’s ability to handle complex game logic. The CPU’s 90th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 48,618, places it above the vast majority of CPUs in the database. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 4345P, scores 48,470, which is only 0.3% lower, indicating that the i5-14600K is competitive with newer server-class parts in synthetic benchmarks.

In Control, the CPU’s 14 cores and 20 threads ensure that the game’s physics engine and destructible environment calculations are handled efficiently. The boost clock of 5.30 GHz provides high single-thread performance, which is critical for games that have a main thread that coordinates all other systems. The L3 cache of 24 MB shared across all cores helps reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game’s streaming of assets and textures. While the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates at higher resolutions, the CPU’s performance ensures that there are no frame rate drops due to CPU limitations, even at 1080p Low where the GPU is less stressed.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is a high-end graphics card based on the Ampere architecture, manufactured on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It features 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The GPU has a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. The memory clock is 1188 MHz, which translates to 19 Gbps effective. These specifications make the GPU capable of handling Control’s demanding rendering requirements, including real-time ray tracing and high-resolution textures.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reflect its high-performance positioning. The PassMark G3D score of 26,896 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,077 indicate strong rasterization performance. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 192,697 and OpenCL score of 170,037 show robust compute capabilities, which are relevant for the game’s physics simulations. The GPU holds the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 41,187. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (scoring 40,870, a 0.8% deficit) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (scoring 40,377, a 2% deficit), showing that the RTX 3080 Ti remains competitive even against newer-generation cards.

In Control, the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates at 1440p and 4K. The measured FPS data shows a clear scaling pattern where higher resolutions lead to proportionally lower frame rates, which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance. The GPU’s 12 GB of VRAM is sufficient for the game’s textures at all tested settings, and the 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming does not cause stuttering. The FP32 performance of 34.10 TFLOPS provides ample compute for the game’s shader effects, while the 80 RT cores enable ray-traced reflections and shadows, although these were not explicitly tested in the measured data. The GPU’s boost clock of 1665 MHz ensures that it can maintain high frame rates under load, as evidenced by the 4K Medium result of 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS. Overall, the RTX 3080 Ti is the component that defines the performance envelope for this combo in Control.