Control

# Control: Intel Core i7-13700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

The combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a highly capable Control experience, landing at rank 730 out of 1636 tested combos. This places it solidly in the upper-middle tier of the database, with benchmark results indicating the pairing is well-balanced for this title. The measured frame rates show that the RTX 3070’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory becomes the primary constraint at higher settings, while the i7-13700K’s 16 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom across all tested resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The data strongly favors the High preset as the optimal experience across all three tested resolutions. At 1080p, High delivers 99.9 FPS average, which is only 11.8 FPS behind the Ultra preset’s 88.2 FPS but with significantly lower rendering overhead. The gap between High and Ultra narrows at higher resolutions, but High consistently maintains a comfortable margin above 50 FPS even at 4K, where it hits 50.6 FPS average.

For players targeting 1440p, High again emerges as the sweet spot at 76.6 FPS average. Medium trails at 84.2 FPS, but the visual fidelity difference between Medium and High is substantial in a game like Control, which relies heavily on atmospheric lighting and particle effects. Low settings provide the highest frame rates (123.1 FPS at 1440p, 157.9 FPS at 1080p) but sacrifice the visual identity that makes Control distinctive.

At 4K, Ultra drops to 46.7 FPS average, which falls below the smoothness threshold for most players. High at 50.6 FPS is borderline playable, while Medium at 60.2 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for 4K displays. The recommendation is clear: High for 1080p and 1440p, Medium for 4K if visual fidelity matters more than raw frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s position at 730 out of 1636 tested combinations represents the 55th percentile of all tested pairings in Control. This is a respectable showing, given that the RTX 3070 sits at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the i7-13700K ranks at the 93rd percentile among all CPUs. The discrepancy between CPU and GPU percentiles suggests the graphics card is the limiting factor in this pairing, which the measured FPS data confirms.

The i7-13700K’s nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks include the Core i7-13700KF (0.1% faster), AMD EPYC 4364P (0.3% slower), Core i9-12900F (0.4% slower), and AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 (0.5% faster). These differences are negligible in gaming scenarios, meaning the CPU choice has minimal impact on Control’s performance. The RTX 3070’s nearest rivals — AMD FirePro S7150 (0.6% faster), Radeon RX 6600 XT (0.9% slower), GTX 980 Ti (1% slower), and Radeon R9 M295X (1.1% faster) — show similar clustering, indicating the GPU’s performance tier is well-established.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for Control at most settings but becomes a bottleneck at Ultra. The GPU’s 5888 shading units and 46 RT cores are relevant for Control’s heavy use of real-time effects, though the measured data shows the card handles the game’s demands without issue at High settings.

The GPU’s boost clock of 1725 MHz and base clock of 1500 MHz are modest for the Ampere architecture, yet the card still achieves 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The fact that the RTX 3070’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3162, while its PassMark G3D score reaches 22214, indicates strong raw compute that translates well to Control’s rendering workload. The gap between High (50.6 FPS at 4K) and Low (80.7 FPS at 4K) — a 30.1 FPS difference — shows how much headroom exists when reducing rendering complexity, suggesting the GPU is not fully utilized at Low settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 3070 delivers: Low at 157.9 FPS, Medium at 111.7 FPS, High at 99.9 FPS, and Ultra at 88.2 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 46.2 FPS, while Medium to High costs only 11.8 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 11.7 FPS. This pattern indicates diminishing returns beyond Medium, with High offering the best compromise.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 123.1 FPS, Medium at 84.2 FPS, High at 76.6 FPS, and Ultra at 65.3 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p reduces frame rates by 34.8 FPS at Low, 27.5 FPS at Medium, 23.3 FPS at High, and 22.9 FPS at Ultra. The smaller absolute drops at higher settings suggest the GPU becomes relatively more efficient at higher resolutions, though the percentage drop remains consistent.

At 3840x2160, the card produces: Low at 80.7 FPS, Medium at 60.2 FPS, High at 50.6 FPS, and Ultra at 46.7 FPS. The 4K to 1440p transition costs 42.4 FPS at Low, 24 FPS at Medium, 26 FPS at High, and 18.6 FPS at Ultra. Notably, Ultra at 4K (46.7 FPS) is only 3.9 FPS behind High (50.6 FPS), indicating the settings menu’s Ultra preset adds minimal overhead at this resolution.

FAQ

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

A: Only at Medium settings, which delivers 60.2 FPS average. High drops to 50.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 46.7 FPS. Low settings achieve 80.7 FPS but with significantly reduced visual quality.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: High at 76.6 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides a 11.3 FPS improvement over Ultra’s 65.3 FPS while maintaining most visual features. Medium at 84.2 FPS is viable for players prioritizing frame rate.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its closest rivals in this game?

A: The GPU’s benchmark scores place it within 1.1% of its nearest rivals (AMD FirePro S7150, Radeon RX 6600 XT, GTX 980 Ti, and Radeon R9 M295X). The measured FPS data shows the card performing consistently with its 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs.

Q: Is the CPU bottlenecking the GPU in Control?

A: No. The i7-13700K ranks at the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, and its nearest rivals show performance differences under 0.5%. The GPU’s lower percentile (72nd) and the FPS scaling patterns indicate the RTX 3070 is the limiting component.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: 88.2 FPS average, which is 11.7 FPS behind High (99.9 FPS) and 69.7 FPS behind Low (157.9 FPS). The Ultra preset provides marginal visual gains over High at a measurable performance cost.

Q: How does resolution scaling affect performance from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, frame rates drop from 99.9 FPS at 1080p to 76.6 FPS at 1440p (23.3% reduction) and 50.6 FPS at 4K (49.3% reduction from 1080p). The scaling is consistent across settings, indicating a GPU-bound workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K, with 16 cores and 24 threads, provides far more processing power than Control requires. Its Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process, runs at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boosts to 5.40 GHz. The 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache ensure that game data remains readily accessible. Benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000 and single-core score of 5505, while PassMark multithread reaches 45887 and single-thread hits 4333.

The CPU’s 3DMark scores — 12412 at max threads, 10717 at 16 threads, and 1136 single-thread — demonstrate strong scaling across thread counts. This matters little for Control, which is primarily GPU-bound at the tested settings, but it ensures the CPU never becomes a bottleneck even at 1080p Low settings where 157.9 FPS is achieved. The i7-13700K’s 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, combined with its nearest rivals all scoring within 0.5% of each other, confirms that any modern high-end CPU would produce similar results in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. Moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces frame rates by an average of 27.1 FPS across all settings (23.3% at High, 28.2% at Low, 24.6% at Medium, 25.9% at Ultra). The transition from 1440p to 4K costs an average of 27.8 FPS (33.9% at High, 34.4% at Low, 28.5% at Medium, 28.5% at Ultra).

These percentages are remarkably consistent, which is the signature of a GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect smaller absolute FPS drops at higher resolutions (since the GPU becomes more loaded). Instead, the consistent percentage drops indicate the RTX 3070’s 8 GB memory capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are the determining factors. The 4K Ultra result of 46.7 FPS, just 3.9 FPS below 4K High, suggests that the game’s Ultra preset pushes memory usage near the 8 GB limit, causing the GPU to hit a wall regardless of settings. Players seeking higher 4K performance should consider lowering to Medium (60.2 FPS), which provides a 9.6 FPS improvement over High while keeping the experience fluid.