Control

# Control with Intel Core i7-13700K + AMD Radeon RX 7700

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a playable but not dominant experience in Control, a 2019 Action Adventure title. The measured data shows the combo ranking 1756th out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it squarely in the middle of the database. The CPU, with 16 cores and 24 threads boosting to 5.40 GHz, sits in the 89th percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU, with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 256-bit bus, holds the 58th percentile against all GPUs. This imbalance — a top-tier processor paired with a mid-range graphics card — becomes the defining characteristic of the performance profile across all resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 93 FPS at 1920x1080 to 71 FPS at 2560x1440, then down to 48 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 48.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is a substantial hit that points directly at the Radeon RX 7700 as the limiting component. The GPU's 16 GB of VRAM is not the constraint here; rather, the raw compute throughput of 25.18 TFLOPS FP32 reaches its ceiling as pixel count quadruples.

The scaling pattern holds across other settings. At Low settings, the drop from 148 FPS at 1080p to 112 FPS at 1440p and 76 FPS at 4K represents a 48.6% total decline. At Medium, the average dips from 105 to 80 to 54 FPS across the same resolution ladder. This consistency — roughly half the performance lost when moving from 1080p to 4K — suggests the game's rendering pipeline scales linearly with pixel count once the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU.

The Ultra preset tells a more severe story. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 41 FPS average, which is below the 48 FPS achieved at High settings. The gap between Medium and Ultra at 4K is 13 FPS (54 vs 41), while at 1080p that same gap is 24 FPS (105 vs 81). The diminishing returns at 4K indicate that the GPU is saturated; additional graphical fidelity settings cannot be compensated for by the otherwise strong CPU. The Core i7-13700K, with its 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3.40 GHz base clock, is never the bottleneck in these higher resolution scenarios — the data shows the RX 7700's 96 ROPs and 393.4 GTexel/s texture rate are what ultimately cap performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p High settings?

A: The measured average is 71 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings. This is a 22 FPS drop from the 93 FPS achieved at 1080p High, indicating the GPU is increasingly stressed as resolution rises.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This CPU-GPU combination ranks 1756th out of 3720 tested combos in Control. That places it in the 47th percentile overall, meaning roughly half of tested systems perform better in this specific game.

Q: Is the Core i7-13700K holding back the Radeon RX 7700 in this game?

A: The data suggests no. The CPU scores 30,745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, which is in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 148 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it falls to 41 FPS — a pattern typical of GPU limitation, not CPU limitation.

Q: What is the best preset for a smooth experience at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Medium settings yield 54 FPS average with a minimum of 46 FPS, which is the highest minimum among the 4K presets. Low settings achieve 76 FPS, but Medium offers a better balance of visual quality and performance.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15,852. The AMD Radeon R9 370X scores 15,862 (0.1% higher), the RX 9060 scores 16,014 (1% higher), and the NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti scores 16,129 (1.7% higher). Only the Radeon Pro W5500 is lower at 15,679 (1.1% lower).

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings average 148 FPS while Ultra averages 81 FPS. That is a 67 FPS difference, or a 45.3% reduction, demonstrating the significant performance cost of the Ultra preset at this resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor from the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. Its 3.40 GHz base clock and 5.40 GHz boost clock provide substantial single-thread headroom, as evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,136 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,116. These numbers matter in Control because the game's physics and particle systems rely heavily on single-threaded performance. The 89th percentile ranking against all CPUs confirms this processor is a strong performer, but in this specific game, its influence wanes as resolution increases.

At 1080p Low, the combo produces 148 FPS, which is high enough to suggest the CPU is feeding the GPU adequately. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (67 FPS) is larger than the gap between 1080p and 4K at Low (72 FPS). This indicates that at lower resolutions, the GPU is still the primary constraint, but the CPU's 30 MB of L3 cache and 24 threads help maintain frame pacing. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10,717 and max-thread score of 12,412 show strong multi-threaded scaling, which benefits Control's background simulation during combat sequences.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score — the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 at 46,971 (0.2% higher), the Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 at 47,022 (0.3% higher), the Ryzen 9 7845HX at 46,654 (0.5% lower), and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 at 46,653 (0.5% lower) — all sit within a narrow 0.8% band. This suggests the i7-13700K is competitively positioned among high-end processors, but its advantage does not translate to proportionally higher FPS in this game because the GPU becomes the bottleneck beyond 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

For the best measured experience, the data points to Medium settings as the optimal balance. At 2560x1440, Medium produces 80 FPS average with a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS. This is the only 1440p preset with recorded minimum and maximum values, indicating the frame time consistency is acceptable. The 68 FPS minimum is above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth, making this the recommended configuration for 1440p gaming.

At 1920x1080, Medium achieves 105 FPS average with a minimum of 89 FPS, which is a comfortable margin above refresh-rate targets. High settings at 1080p drop to 93 FPS, still playable, but the 12 FPS difference between Medium and High may not justify the visual upgrade for competitive play. At 4K, Medium is the only preset with a minimum FPS above 45 (46 FPS), making it the safest choice for maintaining playability at that resolution. Low settings at 4K reach 76 FPS, but the visual compromise is severe, and the jump from Low to Medium only costs 22 FPS (76 to 54).

Ultra settings are consistently the worst performers across all resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra yields 81 FPS; at 1440p, 61 FPS; at 4K, 41 FPS. The 4K Ultra figure is below the 48 FPS of High settings, and the 1440p Ultra minimum is not recorded, but the average suggests occasional dips below 60 FPS. Given that the RX 7700's 16 GB VRAM is not the limiting factor, the Ultra preset's additional draw calls and post-processing effects stress the 2,560 shading units more than the memory subsystem.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1756 out of 3720 places this system in the 47.2% percentile of all tested combinations in Control. This is a middling result, consistent with the GPU's 58th percentile overall ranking and the CPU's 89th percentile. The data shows a system that is held back by its graphics card in this title, despite having a processor that outperforms 89% of all CPUs. The 4K Ultra result of 41 FPS is particularly telling — it is below the average frame rate of many lower-ranked combos that might use more powerful GPUs with weaker CPUs.

In comparison to the GPU's nearest rivals, the RX 7700's average benchmark score of 15,852 is only 1.7% lower than the NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti's 16,129. In actual gameplay, this gap could manifest as a few FPS difference, but the ranking data suggests that in Control specifically, the combo's position is more influenced by the GPU's absolute performance than by the CPU's capacity. The 16 GB of VRAM and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth are not exploited fully at 1080p, but at 4K they become more relevant, yet the 41 FPS Ultra result shows the compute units are the real limit.

The rank of 1756 also means 1,964 combos perform worse, which includes systems with older or lower-tier hardware. This is not a top-tier pairing for Control, but it is far from the bottom. The data indicates that owners of this combo should target 1440p Medium or 1080p Medium/High for the best experience, rather than attempting 4K Ultra where the system falls below the playability threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low settings produce 148 FPS, Medium produces 105 FPS with a range of 89 to 121, High produces 93 FPS, and Ultra produces 81 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 67 FPS, and the Medium preset has the only recorded minimum and maximum values, indicating tighter frame pacing. At 1080p, even the lowest average of 81 FPS (Ultra) is above the 60 FPS threshold, making all presets technically playable at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop: Low yields 112 FPS, Medium yields 80 FPS (68 to 92 range), High yields 71 FPS, and Ultra yields 61 FPS. The 1440p Medium result maintains a minimum above 60 FPS, but High and Ultra likely dip below that threshold during intense scenes, though their minimums are not recorded. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 51 FPS, slightly narrower than at 1080p, as the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 76 FPS, Medium at 54 FPS (46 to 62 range), High at 48 FPS, and Ultra at 41 FPS. This resolution shows the most significant performance degradation. The Medium preset's minimum of 46 FPS is the lowest recorded value across all tested configurations, and the Ultra average of 41 FPS is below the 48 FPS High average, suggesting that Ultra settings introduce overhead that the GPU cannot handle at 4K. The 4K Low result of 76 FPS is the only 4K preset that stays comfortably above 60 FPS, but it requires sacrificing most visual fidelity.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory operates on a 256-bit bus, providing 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1900 MHz, with a boost clock of 2459 MHz and a game clock of 2041 MHz. These specifications place the GPU in the 58th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15,852. Its nearest rivals in benchmark scores are the R9 370X (15,862, 0.1% higher), the RX 9060 (16,014, 1% higher), the Pro W5500 (15,679, 1.1% lower), and the RTX 3060 Ti (16,129, 1.7% higher).

In Control, the GPU's 2,560 shading units and 96 ROPs are the primary determinants of frame rate at higher resolutions. The 4K results show a clear ceiling: even at Low settings, the GPU cannot exceed 76 FPS, and at Ultra it drops to 41 FPS. The 16 GB VRAM is not exhausted in any tested configuration — the game likely uses far less — so the memory capacity is a non-factor. Instead, the 25.18 TFLOPS FP32 compute performance is the limiting factor. The 40 RT cores are present, but Control's implementation of ray tracing is not exercised in these benchmark rows, so they contribute little to the measured results.

The GPU's texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s scale directly with resolution. At 1080p, these rates are sufficient to maintain 148 FPS at Low, but at 4K, the pixel rate becomes the bottleneck, especially with Ultra settings that increase the number of texture fetches and pixel shader operations. The gap between the RX 7700 and the RTX 3060 Ti (1.7% in benchmark score) does not translate to a proportional FPS difference in the measured data, suggesting that Control's specific rendering path favors the RDNA 3.0 architecture's strengths. However, the combo's rank of 1756 indicates that many other GPU options, particularly those with higher compute throughput, would yield better results in this game.