Control

Control presents an interesting case for the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D pairing. The benchmark data shows this combination achieves a combo rank of 18 out of 2888 tested configurations, placing it in the top 1% of all measured combos for this title. This high percentile ranking is consistent with the individual hardware strengths, where the CPU sits at the 89th percentile and the GPU at the 92nd percentile against all tested parts. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but demonstrates remarkable headroom at 1080p, where the CPU's 16 cores and 24 threads can push frame rates well past the 200 FPS threshold. The data indicates that this combo delivers a consistently smooth experience across all settings, with the most demanding Ultra preset still maintaining playable frame rates even at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's position at rank 18 out of 2888 tested combos places it in the 99.4th percentile of all configurations tested for Control. This near-elite ranking reflects the synergy between the Core i7-13700K's strong multi-threaded performance and the RTX 5090 D's massive rendering throughput. The data suggests that this pairing is overkill for Control at standard resolutions, but it provides substantial future-proofing and headroom for more demanding titles.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 46881 places it in a tight cluster of rivals, with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 scoring 46971 (0.2% higher) and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 scoring 47022 (0.3% higher). The Intel Xeon w3-2535 and AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX both score 46653, which is 0.5% lower. This grouping indicates that the i7-13700K's processing power is well-balanced for gaming workloads, where single-thread performance often matters more than raw multi-core scores.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5090 D's average benchmark score of 77712 shows it performs within a narrow band of its nearest rivals. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940 (1.6% higher), while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants score 79396 and 79605 (2.1% and 2.4% higher respectively). The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76904 (1.1% lower). These small deltas suggest that the 5090 D's gaming performance is competitive with these alternatives, though its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth give it advantages in memory-intensive scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing for Control. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for this 2019 Action Adventure title. The GPU's base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz allow it to maintain high utilization across all tested settings. The architecture features 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, translating to a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS is particularly relevant for Control, which uses heavy post-processing effects and physics simulations. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combination still achieves 83 FPS average, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution. However, the RTX 5090 D's 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores provide substantial headroom for ray tracing features, even though the measured data does not include RT-specific benchmarks for this title.

The GPU's 575 W TDP and dual-slot design require robust cooling and power delivery, with a suggested PSU of 950 W. The PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensures no bandwidth limitations, and the display outputs include 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b, supporting high refresh rates at 4K. The benchmark scores show a PassMark G3D score of 44065 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376915, reflecting strong DirectX 12 and Vulkan performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on optimal settings for different resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 289 FPS, Medium reaches 211 FPS, High delivers 188 FPS, and Ultra maintains 163 FPS. All presets are far above the 60 FPS threshold, so users with high refresh rate monitors can comfortably select Ultra for maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness.

At 2560x1440, the scaling is equally impressive: Low hits 225 FPS, Medium achieves 160 FPS, High reaches 142 FPS, and Ultra stays at 124 FPS. The 1440p Ultra setting provides the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users, as the 124 FPS average still exceeds the refresh rate of most gaming monitors in this resolution class.

For 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. Low produces 152 FPS, Medium drops to 108 FPS, High falls to 96 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 83 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K offers the best experience, with a 108 FPS average and minimums of 92 FPS ensuring consistent frame pacing. The High preset at 4K is also viable for those prioritizing visual quality, though the 96 FPS average leaves less headroom for demanding scenes.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 D in Control?

A: The data indicates that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU is not a bottleneck, as frame rates scale consistently with GPU load. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with the CPU's 16 cores and 24 threads providing ample processing headroom.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D's memory configuration benefit Control?

A: The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and asset loading are never constrained by memory capacity or bandwidth, even at 4K Ultra settings.

Q: What is the expected frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: The data shows a 101 FPS difference, with Low averaging 225 FPS and Ultra averaging 124 FPS. This represents a 45% reduction in frame rate when moving from Low to Ultra, reflecting the increased GPU workload from higher quality effects.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K with all settings maxed?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 4K averages 83 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS. The Medium preset offers even more headroom at 108 FPS with minimums of 92 FPS.

Q: How does the combo's rank of 18 out of 2888 translate to real-world performance?

A: This ranking places the combo in the top 0.6% of all tested configurations, indicating that it outperforms the vast majority of systems for Control while maintaining high frame rates across all resolution and setting combinations.

Q: Does the CPU's 89th percentile ranking limit overall performance?

A: The CPU's ranking is not a limiting factor in this title, as the measured frame rates at 1080p reach 289 FPS, suggesting that both CPU and GPU are performing near their maximum potential for this workload.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important characteristics about this combo's behavior. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 188 FPS at 1080p to 142 FPS at 1440p (a 24.5% reduction) and then to 96 FPS at 4K (a 32.4% reduction from 1440p). This progressive decline indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly saturated as pixel count rises, while the CPU maintains consistent frame delivery.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 289 FPS at 1080p, 225 FPS at 1440p, and 152 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop of 22.1% is less severe than the 1440p to 4K drop of 32.4%, suggesting that at lower settings, the CPU can more effectively feed the GPU until 4K overwhelms the rendering pipeline. The Medium preset shows similar scaling patterns, with 211 FPS at 1080p, 160 FPS at 1440p, and 108 FPS at 4K.

The Ultra preset's scaling from 163 FPS at 1080p to 124 FPS at 1440p (a 23.9% reduction) and then to 83 FPS at 4K (a 33.1% reduction) demonstrates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The consistent ~24% drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings indicates that resolution scaling is primarily GPU-bound, while the larger drop to 4K reflects the quadratic increase in pixel count from 1440p to 2160p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K's 16 cores and 24 threads provide substantial processing power for Control's physics and AI systems. The CPU's base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensure responsive frame delivery, while the 30 MB of shared L3 cache reduces memory latency for frequently accessed game data. The Raptor Lake architecture's 10 nm process node and 125 W TDP represent a balance between performance and power efficiency.

The benchmark data shows strong multi-threaded capabilities, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30745 and a PassMark multi-thread score of 45887. Single-thread performance is equally impressive, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2116 and a PassMark single-thread score of 4333. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle both the single-threaded game logic and the multi-threaded rendering tasks that Control requires.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking against all CPUs places it in the upper echelon of processors, though its nearest rivals show that the performance gap is minimal. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900 scores 0.2% higher in average benchmarks, while the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 scores 0.3% higher. This tight clustering suggests that the i7-13700K provides competitive performance for Control, with its higher boost clock of 5.40 GHz potentially offering an advantage in lightly-threaded scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo spans four resolutions and four settings, providing a comprehensive picture of performance. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 211 FPS average with minimums of 180 FPS and maximums of 243 FPS, showing excellent frame consistency. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 289 FPS, representing the highest frame rate in the entire dataset.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 160 FPS with minimums of 136 FPS and maximums of 184 FPS. The High preset at 1440p achieves 142 FPS, while Ultra maintains 124 FPS. The Low preset reaches 225 FPS, demonstrating that the CPU can sustain very high frame rates when GPU load is reduced.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset averages 108 FPS with minimums of 92 FPS and maximums of 124 FPS. The High preset delivers 96 FPS, and Ultra drops to 83 FPS. The Low preset at 4K achieves 152 FPS, showing that even at 4K, the combo can exceed 144 FPS when settings are lowered. The measured data includes complete min/max values only for the Medium preset at each resolution, providing insight into frame time consistency at this mid-range setting.