Control

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Control. At 1080p, this combo handles the game comfortably, but pushing to 4K quickly exposes the GPU as the primary bottleneck. The data shows a clear scaling pattern: average frame rates drop by roughly half when moving from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 on the same settings preset, indicating that the RX 5700 XT's rendering capabilities, rather than the CPU's processing power, dictate performance at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS rows reveal a steep performance curve across the three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo averages 115 FPS, which drops to 87 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 59 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The High preset tells a similar story: 73 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and 37 FPS at 4K — a 49% drop as well. Medium settings show 82 FPS, 62 FPS, and 42 FPS respectively, while Ultra settings yield 63 FPS, 48 FPS, and 32 FPS.

These numbers indicate that the frame rate penalty for doubling pixel count is consistent across all presets, hovering around 50%. This consistency points to a GPU-bound scenario: the RX 5700 XT's fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated as resolution increases, regardless of how much graphical detail is enabled. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 24 threads, is not the limiting factor here — if it were, we would see a smaller FPS gap between 1080p and 1440p, with a more pronounced cliff at 4K. Instead, the linear drop suggests the GPU is working at maximum capacity even at 1440p High, and 4K simply overwhelms it.

Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens with resolution. At 1080p, Low (115 FPS) beats Ultra (63 FPS) by 52 FPS. At 1440p, that gap shrinks to 39 FPS (87 vs 48). At 4K, it narrows further to 27 FPS (59 vs 32). This narrowing indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU is so saturated that turning down settings provides diminishing returns — the pixel throughput cost dominates over the shading complexity cost.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture with a Navi 10 chip manufactured on a 7 nm process. It packs 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, effectively 14 Gbps, while the GPU has a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. With 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs, the card is rated for 9.754 TFLOPS of FP32 compute.

In Control, this GPU configuration produces mediocre 4K results. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages only 32 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. Even High at 4K only manages 37 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM buffer appears adequate for this title at these settings — the measured data does not show a catastrophic frame time spike that would indicate memory swapping. However, the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is likely a limiting factor given the game's heavy use of particle effects and physics-based destruction at higher resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark percentile stands at 59, meaning it outperforms 59% of all GPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 16361, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, 0.1% faster) and the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16408, 0.3% slower). This places the RX 5700 XT in the mid-range tier, which aligns with its measured performance in Control: capable at 1080p and 1440p, but struggling to maintain 60 FPS at 4K on any preset except Low.

The card's texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s suggest it can handle moderate resolutions well, but the 4K data confirms that the ROP throughput is insufficient for this game at that pixel count. The measured 4K Medium average of 42 FPS, with minimums of 36 FPS, indicates real-world stuttering potential in combat-heavy scenes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a Raptor Lake-S part with 16 cores (8 performance and 8 efficiency) and 24 threads. It runs at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boosts to 5.40 GHz, with 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor's benchmark data shows strong multi-threaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30745 and a Passmark multi-thread score of 45887. Single-thread performance is equally solid, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2529 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4333.

In Control, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect 1080p and 1440p results to be closer together, with the GPU only becoming the limiter at 4K. Instead, the consistent ~50% drop from 1080p to 4K across all presets suggests the CPU is feeding frames faster than the GPU can render them at every resolution.

The CPU's 16-core, 24-thread configuration is overkill for this title, which likely uses only a handful of threads for its physics and AI systems. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10717 and max-thread score of 12412 indicate that even under heavy load, the processor has ample headroom. The 125W TDP and boost clock of 5.40 GHz provide sufficient single-core performance for the game's main thread, which is often the limiting factor in older game engines.

The CPU's percentile rank of 89 puts it above 89% of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (46971, 0.2% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (46654, 0.5% slower), showing that the 13700K is competitive with top-tier consumer processors. However, this raw compute power does not translate into higher frame rates in Control because the GPU is the constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core i7-13700K and Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 2767 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 26th percentile of all configurations. This rank reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning more than the CPU's high-end capabilities. The combo's measured FPS at 1080p High (73 FPS) and 1440p High (55 FPS) are respectable, but the 4K results drag the overall ranking down.

The rank disparity between the CPU (89th percentile) and GPU (59th percentile) explains this combo's placement. The i7-13700K is a top-tier processor that would pair better with a more powerful GPU to achieve higher frame rates at 4K. The RX 5700 XT, while competent at 1080p, lacks the raw throughput for 4K gaming in Control. The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, where the GPU can keep up with the CPU's frame delivery.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing sits below the median, which indicates that many other CPU-GPU combinations achieve higher frame rates in this title. The bottleneck is clearly the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling — upgrading to a faster GPU would yield significant FPS gains at 1440p and 4K, while upgrading the CPU would provide negligible improvement in this game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p, the High preset delivers 73 FPS, which is smooth for most displays. The Medium preset offers 82 FPS with minimums of 70 FPS, providing a slightly better safety margin for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 63 FPS is still playable, but the visual fidelity gain over High is marginal relative to the 10 FPS loss.

At 1440p, the High preset at 55 FPS is borderline for 60 Hz displays. The Medium preset at 62 FPS, with minimums of 53 FPS, is the better choice for consistent performance. The Low preset at 87 FPS is the only option that guarantees a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, but it sacrifices significant visual quality.

For 4K, the data shows that only the Low preset (59 FPS) approaches playability. The Medium preset at 42 FPS and High at 37 FPS are below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra at 32 FPS is not recommended. Given that the 4K Low setting still averages 59 FPS, this is the only viable 4K option for this combo, though players should expect occasional dips during intense combat sequences.

The best overall experience is achieved at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, which balances visual quality with performance. The 62 FPS average and 53 FPS minimums provide a stable experience without the need to drop to Low settings. For 1080p users, High settings at 73 FPS offer the best compromise between image quality and frame rate.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Control at 4K 60 FPS?*

A: No. The measured data shows that even at 4K Low settings, the average FPS is 59, which is just below 60. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 42 FPS, and at High it falls to 37 FPS. This combo is not capable of maintaining 60 FPS at 4K in this game.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU pairing?

A: The data indicates that 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides the best balance, averaging 62 FPS with minimums of 53 FPS. At 1920x1080, High settings average 73 FPS, which is also a strong option for higher refresh rates.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K bottlenecking the RX 5700 XT in this game?

A: No. The resolution scaling pattern — consistent ~50% FPS drops from 1080p to 4K across all presets — indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU's benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core of 30745) suggest it has ample headroom for this title.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 16361. The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M scores 16351 (0.1% higher), while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell scores 16408 (0.3% lower). These deltas are negligible, placing the RX 5700 XT firmly in the mid-range tier.

Q: What settings should I use for a 1440p monitor with a 60 Hz refresh rate?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 is recommended, as it averages 62 FPS with minimums of 53 FPS. The High preset at 55 FPS may cause occasional dips below 60 FPS, while Low at 87 FPS sacrifices too much visual quality.

Q: Does the combo's ranking reflect its overall gaming performance?

A: The combo ranks 2767 out of 3720 tested configurations, placing it below the median. This rank is primarily driven by the GPU's 59th percentile standing, while the CPU ranks in the 89th percentile. The data suggests the GPU is holding back the overall performance potential.