Control

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Control, but the data reveals a clear performance ceiling at 4K. This analysis examines the measured frame rates, scaling behavior, and component roles based strictly on the provided benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but steep performance drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High settings preset, the average frame rate falls from 93 FPS at 1080p to 71 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 22 FPS. Moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings, the average drops further to 48 FPS, another 23 FPS decrease. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the gap between 1440p and 4K is nearly identical to the gap between 1080p and 1440p.

The scaling behavior is even more pronounced when examining the Low settings preset. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 148 FPS, which drops to 112 FPS at 1440p and then to 76 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 72 FPS, or roughly 49% of the 1080p performance. This suggests that even at the lowest graphical settings, the GPU is unable to maintain high frame rates at 4K, as the pixel count increase from 2.1 million to 8.3 million pixels overwhelms the rendering pipeline.

The Medium settings data provides the most complete picture, with both minimum and maximum FPS recorded. At 1080p Medium, the average is 105 FPS with a minimum of 89 FPS and maximum of 121 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 80 FPS, with min/max of 68 and 92 FPS respectively. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 FPS and maximum of 62 FPS. The minimum FPS values are particularly telling: the 4K minimum of 46 FPS is below the 1440p average of 80 FPS, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain consistent frame delivery at higher resolutions.

What this scaling data suggests is that the system is CPU-limited at 1080p with lower settings, but becomes firmly GPU-limited as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the 148 FPS average likely approaches the CPU's frame delivery ceiling, as the Radeon RX 7700 has sufficient headroom to render more frames if the processor could feed it faster. However, at 4K, even the Low preset only yields 76 FPS, confirming that the GPU's rendering capacity is the bottleneck at that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600KF + AMD Radeon RX 7700 combination ranks 1294 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 44.8th percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking is consistent with the hardware's performance profile: the CPU is strong, but the GPU sits in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, pulling the overall combo performance down relative to top-tier configurations.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals provides context for this ranking. The Radeon RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15852, which is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15862 (a delta of -0.1%). It also sits close to the AMD Radeon RX 9060 at 16014 (delta of -1%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 16129 (delta of -1.7%). These deltas reveal that the RX 7700's raw compute performance is comparable to these other cards, though none of them are particularly high-end in the current market.

The CPU, by contrast, ranks much higher. The Core i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49394, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 at 49228 (delta of 0.3%), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G at 49196 (delta of 0.4%), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 at 48995 (delta of 0.8%). The only rival that scores higher is the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 at 49796 (delta of -0.8%), but the difference is minimal. This indicates that the CPU is performing at a high level relative to the broader processor market.

The disparity between the CPU's 90th percentile ranking and the GPU's 58th percentile ranking explains why the combo sits in the lower half of all tested configurations. The CPU is clearly capable of driving higher frame rates, but the GPU's mid-range performance limits the overall system in a game like Control that scales heavily with resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and frame rate preference. For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 93 FPS provides a smooth experience well above the 60 FPS threshold, while the Ultra preset at 81 FPS also remains playable. The Medium preset at 105 FPS offers additional headroom, but the visual quality trade-off may not be worth the extra 12 FPS over High. The Low preset at 148 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rate is prioritized over visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset at 71 FPS is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it stays above 60 FPS while delivering enhanced graphical effects. The Medium preset at 80 FPS provides a more comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, with the minimum of 68 FPS ensuring consistent frame delivery. The Ultra preset at 61 FPS is borderline, as it hovers right at the edge of the 60 FPS target, and the minimum FPS data is not recorded for this preset. The Low preset at 112 FPS is unnecessary at this resolution unless the user prioritizes maximum refresh rate.

At 4K, the situation is more challenging. The High preset at 48 FPS falls below the 60 FPS target, making it less than ideal for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 54 FPS is slightly better but still below 60 FPS, and the minimum of 46 FPS indicates occasional dips into the low 40s. The Ultra preset at 41 FPS is not recommended for playable frame rates. The Low preset at 76 FPS is the only 4K option that exceeds 60 FPS, but the visual quality reduction is substantial. For 4K, the Medium preset at 54 FPS represents the best compromise, offering moderate visual quality while maintaining relatively stable frame delivery.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the four settings presets produce the following average frame rates: Low at 148 FPS, Medium at 105 FPS (min 89, max 121), High at 93 FPS, and Ultra at 81 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 67 FPS, indicating that the graphics settings have a significant impact on performance at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 89 FPS is notably close to the High preset's average, suggesting that the Medium settings provide consistent frame delivery without significant dips.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 112 FPS, Medium at 80 FPS (min 68, max 92), High at 71 FPS, and Ultra at 61 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra narrows to 51 FPS, showing that the GPU becomes more constrained as resolution increases. The Medium preset's minimum of 68 FPS is above the High preset's average, indicating that the lower settings help maintain smoother frame delivery.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 76 FPS, Medium at 54 FPS (min 46, max 62), High at 48 FPS, and Ultra at 41 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 35 FPS, the smallest gap across all resolutions. This compression of performance differences at 4K indicates that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck, and reducing settings has diminishing returns as the pixel count overwhelms the rendering hardware.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This memory configuration is well-suited for Control's high-resolution textures, as the 16 GB capacity prevents VRAM limitations at 4K. The GPU's 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units deliver a pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s.

The GPU's clock speeds are 1900 MHz base, 2041 MHz game clock, and 2459 MHz boost, with memory running at 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective). The FP32 performance of 25.18 TFLOPS places the GPU in the mid-range segment, which is reflected in its 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs. The nearest rival comparisons show the RX 7700 performing nearly identically to the Radeon R9 370X (delta -0.1%) and slightly below the Radeon RX 9060 (delta -1%) and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (delta -1.7%).

The GPU's role in Control is evident from the resolution scaling data. At 1080p, the GPU can push frame rates above 100 FPS at Medium settings, but at 4K, even Low settings only reach 76 FPS. The 16 GB VRAM is not the limiting factor, as the game's memory footprint at 4K Ultra likely fits within this capacity. Instead, the GPU's compute throughput of 25.18 TFLOPS determines the ceiling, and this is insufficient for maintaining 60+ FPS at 4K with high visual quality settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF provides 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This processor is built on the Raptor Lake architecture using a 10 nm process, and it features a 24 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multi-core at 32544, single-core at 4594, and Geekbench multi-core at 17085 with single-core at 2445.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all processors is supported by its nearest rival comparisons. The Ryzen 9 7900 scores 49228 (0.3% higher), the Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G scores 49196 (0.4% higher), and the Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995 (0.8% higher). The Ryzen AI Max+ 388 scores 49796, which is 0.8% higher than the i5-14600KF. These small deltas indicate that the CPU is competitively positioned in the high-end desktop segment.

In Control, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p with lower settings. The 148 FPS average at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough frames to exceed 140 FPS. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's performance headroom becomes irrelevant. The CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads provide ample processing power for the game's physics and AI systems, but the data indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at 1440p and above.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 at High settings provides 71 FPS average, which balances visual quality with smooth gameplay. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 93 FPS, but the higher resolution offers a better visual experience with only a 22 FPS reduction.

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Only the Low preset at 3840x2160 exceeds 60 FPS, with an average of 76 FPS. The Medium preset averages 54 FPS, and the High preset averages 48 FPS, both below the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Radeon RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15852. It performs nearly identically to the Radeon R9 370X at 15862 (0.1% lower), and slightly below the Radeon RX 9060 at 16014 (1% lower) and the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 16129 (1.7% lower).

Q: What is the CPU's performance ranking?

A: The Core i5-14600KF ranks in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49394. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, scores 49228, which is 0.3% lower.

Q: How much does the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 93 FPS at 1080p to 71 FPS at 1440p, and then to 48 FPS at 4K. This represents a total reduction of 45 FPS from the lowest to highest resolution tested.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest minimum frame rate at 4K?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 has a minimum FPS of 46, which is the only 4K preset with recorded minimum data. The Low preset averages 76 FPS but does not have a recorded minimum value, so its consistency is unknown.