Control

Control with the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 presents a fascinating case study in how a modern high-end pairing handles a 2019 Action Adventure title. The measured FPS data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings, yet the CPU’s substantial headroom becomes apparent at lower presets. The combination ranks 68th out of 1636 tested combos, placing it in the top 4.2% of all configurations, which aligns with the individual component percentiles: the CPU sits at the 93rd percentile, and the GPU at the 89th percentile. This page analyzes the measured frames per second across three resolutions and four quality presets, interpreting what the scaling patterns imply about the limiting components.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 260.4 FPS at 1920x1080 to 199.3 FPS at 2560x1440, and then plummets to 135.5 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 48% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at the lowest preset. This steep decline indicates that even at Low settings, the RTX 5080’s rendering workload is scaling heavily with pixel count, which is expected for a GPU with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and a 256-bit bus. The 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth is being taxed more as resolution increases, but the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor here, as the i7-13700K’s 16 cores and 24 threads can easily feed frames at these rates.

Moving to Ultra settings, the scaling pattern shifts. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 141.4 FPS, which drops to 106.4 FPS at 1440p, and further to 74.6 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is about 47%, nearly identical to the Low preset’s drop. This consistency across presets suggests that the GPU’s compute units, specifically its 10752 shading units and 112 ROPs, are the primary constraint. The pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s are being saturated at 4K regardless of the quality settings. What is notable is the gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution: at 1080p, the difference is 119 FPS (260.4 vs 141.4), while at 4K, the difference narrows to 60.9 FPS (135.5 vs 74.6). This compression at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU’s raw throughput, rather than memory bandwidth or CPU speed, is the dominant factor in this game’s performance envelope.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 68 out of 1636 tested configurations places it in the top 4.2% of all pairings tested for Control. This is a strong showing, but the data suggests it is not the absolute top tier. The GPU’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the Intel Arc A570M (deltaPct of 1.6), the Intel Arc Pro A60 (deltaPct of -1.9), the Intel Arc A580 (deltaPct of 2.5), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (deltaPct of 2.6). These differences are small, ranging from -1.9% to +2.6%, which indicates that the RTX 5080’s average benchmark score of 59188 is closely matched by several other GPUs. However, in actual game FPS, the RTX 5080’s advantage is clear due to its architecture, but the ranking data shows it is not significantly ahead of its nearest rivals in synthetic tests.

On the CPU side, the i7-13700K’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13700KF (deltaPct of -0.1), the AMD EPYC 4364P (deltaPct of 0.3), the Intel Core i9-12900F (deltaPct of 0.4), and the AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 (deltaPct of -0.5). These deltas are all within half a percent, meaning the CPU’s benchmark scores are statistically indistinguishable from those of its closest competitors. This is crucial for Control, because the game’s performance at 1080p Low (260.4 FPS) suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck. The i7-13700K’s single-thread score of 1136 in 3DMark and its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5505 indicate strong per-core performance, which is what matters for a game that relies on a primary rendering thread. The combo’s rank of 68, combined with the CPU’s 93rd percentile, suggests that the pairing is well-balanced, but the GPU’s 89th percentile is slightly lower, hinting that the CPU might be overqualified for this title at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 260.4 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that exceeds 260 FPS, and it is a clear outlier compared to the next highest, which is 199.3 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 74.6, which is 66.8 FPS lower than the 141.4 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This represents a 47.2% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the GPU’s fill rate is heavily taxed at 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the CPU can push 260.4 FPS, but as resolution increases, the FPS drops consistently, indicating the RTX 5080’s rendering capabilities are the constraint.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 199.3 FPS, while Ultra settings yield 106.4 FPS. This is a difference of 92.9 FPS, which is a 46.6% reduction in performance when moving to the highest preset.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 68th out of 1636 tested combos for Control. This places it in the top 4.2% of all configurations, which is consistent with the high individual component percentiles.

Q: Are there any settings where the CPU becomes the bottleneck?

A: At 1080p Low, the 260.4 FPS result suggests the CPU is still keeping up, but it is approaching the limit of what the i7-13700K can deliver. The single-thread score of 1136 in 3DMark and the 554 in Cinebench R15 single-core indicate the CPU is strong, but at this frame rate, the game’s engine may start to be limited by the CPU’s per-core performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5080 and i7-13700K produce a wide range of frame rates depending on the preset. The Low preset achieves an average of 260.4 FPS, which is the highest measured in this dataset. Medium settings drop to 189.1 FPS, High settings to 166 FPS, and Ultra to 141.4 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with each step up in quality costing roughly 20-70 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 119 FPS, which is substantial and indicates that the GPU’s shading units and ROPs are heavily utilized at higher presets.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low settings produce 199.3 FPS, Medium produces 142.1 FPS, High produces 124.5 FPS, and Ultra produces 106.4 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at this resolution is 92.9 FPS. Comparing to 1080p, the Low preset loses 61.1 FPS (260.4 to 199.3), while Ultra loses 35 FPS (141.4 to 106.4). This shows that the CPU is less of a factor at 1440p, as the GPU’s pixel processing becomes more dominant.

At 3840x2160, the performance is the most constrained. Low settings yield 135.5 FPS, Medium yields 97.9 FPS, High yields 82.5 FPS, and Ultra yields 74.6 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 60.9 FPS, which is the smallest absolute gap across the three resolutions. This is a critical finding: at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that changing settings has less impact on FPS. The RTX 5080’s 16 GB of VRAM and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient, but the 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the limiting factor. The 4K Ultra result of 74.6 FPS is still playable, but it is the only configuration below 80 FPS in the entire dataset.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the “High” preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 166 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1440p High, the average FPS is 124.5, which is still excellent for competitive play. At 4K High, the average FPS is 82.5, which is smooth for a visually demanding title. The jump from High to Ultra costs significant performance: at 1080p, Ultra is 24.6 FPS slower than High (141.4 vs 166), and at 4K, Ultra is 7.9 FPS slower (74.6 vs 82.5). The visual difference between High and Ultra is often minimal in Control, so High is the recommended preset for maximizing frame rate without sacrificing noticeable detail.

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, Ultra at 1440p (106.4 FPS) is a viable option, as it stays above 100 FPS. However, Ultra at 4K (74.6 FPS) is borderline for fast-paced action, and the data indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck. Medium settings are a good fallback for 4K if higher frame rates are desired, as the 97.9 FPS at 4K Medium is a 31% improvement over 4K Ultra. Low settings are only recommended for extreme competitiveness, as the 260.4 FPS at 1080p Low is the only configuration that approaches the CPU’s limits. The i7-13700K’s boost clock of 5.40 GHz is likely fully utilized at this setting, and the game’s engine may not benefit from further frame rate increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505. In Control, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The game is not heavily multi-threaded, so the CPU’s single-thread performance is critical. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1136 and the Geekbench single-core score of 2850 indicate that the i7-13700K excels in this regard. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the CPU can deliver 260.4 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s limit. At higher resolutions and settings, the CPU’s utilization drops, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking and its nearest rivals (all within 0.5% in average score) suggest that any similar high-end CPU would produce comparable results in this game, as the limiting factor is the GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the primary driver of performance in Control, as evidenced by the FPS scaling across resolutions. With 10752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, the GPU’s compute throughput is substantial. Its base clock of 2295 MHz and boost clock of 2617 MHz allow it to sustain high utilization. The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for this game’s textures at 4K. The GPU’s benchmark scores show a PassMark G3D score of 36565 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 8637, placing it at the 89th percentile. In Control, the GPU’s performance is consistent with its synthetic results. The drop from 1080p to 4K at each preset is significant, but the RTX 5080 still manages to exceed 74 FPS even at 4K Ultra. The GPU’s nearest rivals (Intel Arc A570M, Arc Pro A60, Arc A580, and Radeon Pro W5500X) have average scores within 2.6% of the RTX 5080, but in actual game FPS, the RTX 5080’s architecture likely provides an advantage due to its dedicated RT cores and tensor cores, even though Control does not heavily utilize ray tracing. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting component at 4K, as the FPS differences between settings become smaller, indicating that the GPU’s raw compute and pixel processing are saturated.