Control

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Control with the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop reveals important information about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 78 FPS average. Moving to 1440p High drops that to 59 FPS, a reduction of roughly 24%. Pushing further to 4K High yields 40 FPS, another 32% drop from the 1440p figure. This progressive decline is steep and consistent, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The scaling behavior becomes even more telling when examining the Low settings preset. At 1080p Low, the system produces 124 FPS average. At 1440p Low, it falls to 94 FPS, and at 4K Low, it reaches 63 FPS. The 4K Low result is notably higher than the 4K High result by 57.5%, which shows that while the GPU is stressed at 4K, the settings preset has a substantial impact on the achievable frame rate. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU has more headroom to feed the GPU, but as resolution climbs, the GPU workload scales up, and the frame rate drops accordingly.

For the Medium preset, the measured values show 88 FPS at 1080p, 67 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K, with minimum FPS recorded at 75, 57, and 38 respectively. The max FPS for Medium settings follows a similar pattern: 101 at 1080p, 77 at 1440p, and 52 at 4K. The gap between min and max FPS narrows as resolution increases, which is typical behavior for GPU-bound scenarios where frame time variance becomes less pronounced under heavier load.

Ultra settings produce the most demanding scenario, with 68 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS is the lowest figure in the entire dataset, and it suggests that this configuration, while capable of 4K at lower presets, is not suitable for maxed-out settings at that resolution if a smooth 60 FPS experience is the target. The overall pattern across all settings is unambiguous: Control scales almost linearly with resolution, and the RTX 5050, while competent at 1080p and playable at 1440p, runs out of headroom at 4K for anything above Low settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC, containing 16,900 million transistors on a 149 mm² die. Its base clock is 2317 MHz, boosting to 2572 MHz, and the memory runs at 2500 MHz with 20 Gbps effective speed. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications place the GPU in the 66th percentile among all GPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 21035. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, which scores 21153 (a 0.6% difference), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M at 21237 (1% difference), and the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT at 20713 (1.6% difference). The RTX 5050's score of 17326 in Passmark G3D reflects its overall DirectX performance, while its Passmark DirectX 11 score of 150 and DirectX 12 score of 66 indicate that the card is far better suited to older API workloads than to the latest ones.

In Control specifically, the GPU's role becomes evident when looking at the 4K results. The fact that 4K Low achieves 63 FPS while 4K High drops to 40 FPS demonstrates that the GPU is the component being pushed hardest at this resolution. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a relevant factor here, as Control at 4K with higher settings can demand significant memory resources. The 320.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for lower presets but may become a constraint at Ultra settings, where the 35 FPS result suggests the GPU is struggling to keep up with both geometry and texture workloads. The RTX 5050's 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, combined with its 13.17 TFLOPS FP32 performance, provide the raw compute needed for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS indicates that the card is clearly not designed for maxed-out 4K gaming in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for playing Control with this CPU/GPU combo?

A: The data shows that 1080p is the sweet spot, with all settings presets achieving at least 68 FPS. At 1440p, the combo delivers 52-94 FPS depending on settings, which is playable. At 4K, only Low settings reach above 60 FPS, so 4K is not recommended for higher presets.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5050 has an average benchmark score of 21035, placing it in the 66th percentile. It trails the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M by 1%, while leading the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT by 1.6% and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile by 1.6%.

Q: What settings preset should I use for a steady 60+ FPS experience?

A: At 1080p, Low (124 FPS), Medium (88 FPS), and High (78 FPS) all exceed 60 FPS, while Ultra (68 FPS) also clears that bar. At 1440p, only Low (94 FPS) and Medium (67 FPS) achieve 60+ FPS. At 4K, only Low (63 FPS) manages to stay above 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 78 at 1080p High to 59 at 1440p High and then to 40 at 4K High. This represents a 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K, showing the significant GPU load increase at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at any resolution in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the frame rate drops consistently with resolution increases. At 1080p Low with 124 FPS, the CPU is likely near its limit, but at 4K Ultra with 35 FPS, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the dataset?

A: The only minimum FPS values provided are for Medium settings: 75 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K. These minimums indicate that frame pacing is consistent enough to avoid major stutters, though the 4K minimum of 38 FPS suggests occasional dips below the average.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for Control with the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 covers four settings presets across three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 124 FPS, which is the highest figure in the entire dataset. Medium settings at 1080p produce 88 FPS average, with a minimum of 75 FPS and maximum of 101 FPS. High settings at 1080p achieve 78 FPS average, and Ultra settings come in at 68 FPS average. All 1080p presets exceed the 60 FPS threshold, making this resolution fully playable at any settings level.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset yields 94 FPS average, which remains well above 60 FPS. Medium settings at 1440p drop to 67 FPS average, with minimum and maximum values of 57 and 77 FPS respectively. High settings at 1440p produce 59 FPS average, which is just below the 60 FPS mark. Ultra settings at 1440p fall further to 52 FPS average. The 1440p results show that only Low and Medium presets maintain a smooth 60+ FPS experience, while High and Ultra require some tolerance for lower frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 63 FPS average, which is the only 4K setting that breaks the 60 FPS barrier. Medium settings at 4K drop to 45 FPS average, with minimum 38 FPS and maximum 52 FPS. High settings at 4K produce 40 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 35 FPS average. The 4K results clearly demonstrate that the RTX 5050 is not suited for high-fidelity gaming at this resolution, with even High settings only managing 40 FPS average. The data shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: Low settings provide approximately double the frame rate of Ultra settings, with Medium and High falling in between.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600KF combined with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1756 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places the configuration in the lower half of the database, which is consistent with the RTX 5050's position as a mid-range GPU. The rank of 1756 out of 2888 means that roughly 61% of tested combinations outperform this setup in Control, while about 39% perform worse. This ranking reflects the GPU's 66th percentile standing among all GPUs, which is below the CPU's 90th percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU in this combo, the Intel Core i5-14600KF, is a strong performer in its own right, with an average benchmark score of 49394 and a 90th percentile ranking. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, which scores 49228 (0.3% higher), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G at 49196 (0.4% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 at 48995 (0.8% higher). The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 scores 49796, which is 0.8% higher than the i5-14600KF. These margins are small, indicating that the CPU is competitive with other high-end processors in general benchmarks.

However, in Control, the combo's rank of 1756 out of 2888 suggests that the GPU is holding the system back. If this CPU were paired with a more powerful GPU, the ranking would likely improve substantially, given that the CPU has ample headroom to feed faster graphics cards. The data indicates that the i5-14600KF is not the limiting factor in this configuration; rather, the RTX 5050's mid-range performance caps the overall result. The GPU's average benchmark score of 21035, compared to its nearest rivals within 1.6%, places it in a cluster of similar-performance cards, but none of these are high-end options.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process node. Its base clock is 3.50 GHz, boosting up to 5.30 GHz, which provides strong single-thread performance for gaming workloads. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, which helps reduce memory latency in game scenarios. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, with a dual-channel memory bus, and has a TDP of 125 W. It is unlocked for overclocking, giving users headroom to push clocks beyond the 5.30 GHz boost.

In general benchmarks, the i5-14600KF demonstrates strong multi-threaded capabilities, scoring 32544 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 13668 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. Its single-core scores are equally impressive: 4594 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 1929 in Cinebench R20 single-core. The Geekbench scores of 17085 multi-core and 2445 single-core further confirm the CPU's strong performance. The Passmark multi-thread score of 38697 and single-thread score of 4273 indicate that the CPU excels in both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads.

In the context of Control, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 124 FPS, which suggests the CPU can sustain high frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck. However, at 4K Ultra with 35 FPS, the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor, as the GPU is overwhelmed by the resolution and settings demands. The fact that the combo ranks 1756 out of 2888 in this game, despite the CPU's 90th percentile standing, reinforces that the GPU determines the overall experience. The i5-14600KF's high boost clock of 5.30 GHz and large L3 cache provide the necessary single-thread performance for Control's game engine, but the RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth cap the achievable frame rates at higher resolutions and settings.