Control

The Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 580 combination delivers playable frame rates in Control only at 1080p with lower presets, with performance collapsing at higher resolutions. The data shows a CPU that is massively overqualified for the GPU, leaving the RX 580 as the definitive bottleneck across all tested settings. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages just 16.2 FPS, while dropping to Low at 1080p pushes it to 62.7 FPS, indicating the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading power are the limiting factors.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?*

A: The only resolution where the combo reaches a consistently playable average is 1920x1080. At this resolution, the Low preset averages 62.7 FPS, and Medium averages 45.7 FPS. Higher resolutions like 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 fall below 50 FPS on all presets.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i7-14700F has an average benchmark score of 54097, placing it 0.6% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and 1.1% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D. It is 1.2% ahead of the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 and 1.7% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313P, ranking in the 94th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: What is the GPU’s performance percentile?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 580 sits in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13559. Its closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 with a delta of 0%, followed by the GTX 950 at 0.1% ahead.

Q: Does raising settings from Low to Ultra have a consistent impact?

A: No. The impact is severe but variable. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra drops the average from 62.7 FPS to 35.8 FPS, a reduction of 26.9 FPS. At 4K, the same setting change drops the average from 34.9 FPS to 16.2 FPS, showing diminishing returns at higher pixel counts.

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

A: The GPU is the clear limiting factor. The i7-14700F has 20 cores and 28 threads with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, while the RX 580’s 8 GB of VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth struggle with higher resolutions. Benchmark results indicate the frame rate scales with resolution, which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance.

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank among tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 1523 out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the bottom 7% of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily attributed to the GPU’s modest performance relative to modern standards.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the primary driver of Control’s performance, and its specifications explain the measured frame rates. With 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, the GPU offers a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The base clock runs at 1257 MHz with a boost clock of 1340 MHz, and the memory operates at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). These figures produce a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute at 6.175 TFLOPS.

The data shows that Control is highly sensitive to this GPU’s capabilities. At 1080p Low, the RX 580 manages 62.7 FPS, but doubling the resolution to 4K reduces that to 34.9 FPS at the same settings. The 32 ROPs and 144 TMUs are insufficient for the game’s demanding effects at higher pixel counts. The GPU’s 53rd percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its mid-range status. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, has an identical average score of 13564, showing that the RX 580 is functionally equivalent to that older card in synthetic benchmarks.

The GDDR5 memory type and 256-bit bus width are critical for Control’s texture-heavy environments. Benchmark results indicate that the 8 GB capacity is not the issue; rather, the bandwidth bottleneck manifests at resolutions above 1080p. The GPU’s 14 nm process node and 5,700 million transistors deliver a die size of 232 mm², but these are legacy specifications that cannot keep pace with the game’s modern rendering requirements.

Resolution Scaling

Frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. Going from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings drops the average from 38.4 FPS to 29.5 FPS, a 23% reduction. Scaling further to 3840x2160 at High brings the average down to 20.4 FPS, a 47% drop from 1080p. This pattern holds across all presets, with the Low setting showing the largest absolute drop: from 62.7 FPS at 1080p to 48.8 FPS at 1440p and 34.9 FPS at 4K.

The scaling behavior indicates that the CPU is not a contributing factor. The i7-14700F’s 5.40 GHz boost clock and 33 MB of shared L3 cache are more than sufficient to feed the GPU at any resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, frame rates would remain relatively flat across resolutions. Instead, the data shows a consistent decline as pixel count increases, which is the signature of a GPU constrained by memory bandwidth and shading throughput.

At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers only 16.2 FPS, making the game effectively unplayable. The Medium preset at 4K fares marginally better at 21.1 FPS, while Low reaches 34.9 FPS. These numbers suggest that the RX 580’s 256.0 GB/s bandwidth is simply inadequate for 4K rendering in Control, regardless of graphical fidelity settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its best results. The Low preset averages 62.7 FPS, which is the only setting to exceed 60 FPS. Medium averages 45.7 FPS, High averages 38.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 35.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 26.9 FPS, indicating that the Low preset is the only viable option for smooth gameplay at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, all presets fall below 50 FPS. Low averages 48.8 FPS, which is borderline playable. Medium averages 34.1 FPS, High averages 29.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 28.4 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 20.4 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is becoming the dominant constraint regardless of settings.

At 3840x2160, performance deteriorates significantly. Low averages 34.9 FPS, Medium averages 21.1 FPS, High averages 20.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 16.2 FPS. None of these are playable for a fast-paced action game. The difference between Low and Ultra is 18.7 FPS, showing that even the lowest settings cannot overcome the resolution’s demands.

The data reveals that the Low preset at 1080p is the only configuration that achieves a frame rate above 60 FPS. All other combinations fall below this threshold, with 1440p and 4K options trailing far behind. The measured FPS values show a clear hierarchy: resolution has a larger impact on performance than settings changes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor from the Raptor Lake Refresh architecture, built on a 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. Its average benchmark score of 54097 places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, and it outperforms the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X by a narrow margin in synthetic tests.

In Control, the CPU’s role is minimal. The game is not CPU-intensive at the settings tested, and the i7-14700F’s massive thread count and high boost clock ensure that frame rates are never CPU-limited. Benchmark results indicate that the CPU’s 20 cores remain largely underutilized, as the GPU saturates first. The 65W TDP and dual-channel memory support are adequate for this workload.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, which scores 54450 (0.6% higher), and the Intel Xeon Phi 7290, which scores 53469 (1.2% lower). These differences are negligible in gaming scenarios. The i7-14700F’s high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5003, ensures that any CPU-bound sections of Control are handled without issue.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience with this combo, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only sensible choice. The data shows an average of 62.7 FPS, which is the sole configuration to break the 60 FPS barrier. This preset sacrifices visual fidelity but provides the smoothest gameplay, which is critical for Control’s action-oriented combat and physics-based environments.

The Medium preset at 1080p averages 45.7 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a game that requires precise timing. The High preset drops to 38.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 35.8 FPS, both of which introduce noticeable stutter in fast-moving scenes. At 1440p, the Low preset offers 48.8 FPS, but this is still below the 60 FPS target and comes with the same visual compromises.

Given the GPU’s 53rd percentile ranking and its equivalence to the GTX 570, players should accept that Control will not run at high settings on this hardware. The Low preset at 1080p is the recommended configuration, as it provides the best balance of playability and responsiveness. Higher presets or resolutions should be avoided unless the user is willing to tolerate sub-30 FPS averages.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 1523 out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the bottom 6.9% of all configurations. This low ranking is a direct consequence of the RX 580’s modest performance, which anchors the system’s capabilities. The i7-14700F is a top-tier CPU that ranks in the 94th percentile, but it is paired with a GPU that ranks in the 53rd percentile, creating a significant performance imbalance.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RX 580’s average score of 13559 is nearly identical to the GTX 570’s 13564, with a delta of 0%. This means the GPU is effectively a decade-old performer. The CPU, by contrast, sits within 1.1% of the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, one of the fastest processors available. The combination of a high-end CPU with a low-mid-range GPU produces a system that is severely GPU-bound in Control.

The rank of 1523 out of 1636 indicates that most other tested combos, even those with weaker CPUs, deliver better performance because they feature stronger GPUs. The data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield significant improvements, while the CPU would remain more than adequate for any future GPU upgrade. This combo is a textbook example of CPU overkill paired with GPU underpowering, resulting in a poor gaming experience for modern titles like Control.