Control

Control is a 2019 action-adventure title that stresses both the GPU and CPU through its physics-heavy environments and real-time ray tracing options. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070, using only the provided benchmark data to interpret how this combination handles the game across resolutions and settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for this combo across the three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 182 avg FPS, while Medium drops to 129, High to 115, and Ultra to exactly 100. The jump from Low to Medium costs 53 FPS, a substantial 29% reduction, whereas the step from Medium to High costs only 14 FPS, and High to Ultra another 15. At 1080p, the data indicates that High offers the best balance: 115 avg FPS is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play, and the 15 FPS penalty from High to Ultra does not provide a proportional visual return given the diminishing frame rate.

For 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low produces 137 avg FPS, Medium 98, High 87, and Ultra 75. Here, Medium appears as the sweet spot. The 98 avg FPS is comfortably within high-refresh territory, and the 11 FPS difference between Medium and High is smaller than the 39 FPS gap between Low and Medium. Choosing Medium at 1440p retains most of the fluidity while avoiding the steeper cost of High. The Ultra preset at 75 FPS is playable, but the data shows a 23 FPS drop from Medium, suggesting that the additional settings overhead is significant at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results become more constrained. Low yields 93 avg FPS, Medium 66, High 59, and Ultra 51. The Medium preset at 4K is the only non-Low option that maintains an average above 60 FPS, with 66 avg and a minimum of 56. High and Ultra fall below the 60 FPS line, making them less ideal for consistent frame pacing. The data suggests that for a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K, Medium is the highest viable preset, while Low offers headroom for higher refresh rates if the display supports it. The min FPS of 56 on Medium indicates occasional dips below 60, so users prioritizing strict frame times might still prefer Low at 93 avg.

Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: Low provides the highest FPS, but Medium offers the best compromise for maintaining both visual quality and frame rate stability. The High preset is only recommended at 1080p, where the 115 avg FPS leaves ample margin. For 1440p and 4K, Medium is the data-supported recommendation, with Ultra reserved for users who accept sub-60 FPS averages at 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 brings 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. In Control, which uses high-resolution textures and complex particle effects, this memory capacity is ample for all tested presets, including Ultra at 4K. The GPU’s 128 ROPs and 224 TMUs handle the game’s polygon throughput and texture filtering, while the 3584 shading units process the pixel and compute workloads. The boost clock of 2520 MHz and game clock of 2070 MHz indicate the sustained performance level during gaming.

The GPU’s benchmark scores provide context. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290 and Passmark G3D score of 25381 place it in the 69th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER, which scores 24170 (1.2% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800S at 24063 (0.8% higher). This suggests the RX 9070 is competitive with last-generation high-end cards, though the deltaPct values are small, indicating a tight performance cluster. The GPU’s Passmark DirectX 12 score of 74 is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 281, which might reflect specific driver or workload characteristics, but the measured FPS in Control shows strong real-world performance.

In Control, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra preset drops to 51 avg FPS, a 49 FPS reduction from 1080p Ultra, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. The 16 GB VRAM prevents any memory-related stutters, but the raw pixel throughput limits the frame rate. The GPU’s pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s are the theoretical limits that the game hits against at 4K Ultra. At 1080p, however, the GPU has more headroom, as evidenced by the 182 avg FPS on Low, which suggests that the CPU can feed frames fast enough to keep the GPU busy.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 1134 out of 3720 tested combinations for Control, placing it in the top 30% of all systems. This rank reflects the balance between the CPU’s strong multi-core performance and the GPU’s mid-high tier rasterization capability. The CPU itself sits in the 91st percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 53620, while the GPU is in the 69th percentile with an average score of 23877. The disparity between these percentiles suggests that the CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU, which means the combo’s rank is likely constrained more by the GPU than the CPU.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, which scores 53288 (0.6% higher), and the AMD EPYC 7313P at 53206 (0.8% higher). These small deltas indicate that the i7-14700F is performance-competitive with high-end desktop processors. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the RTX 2080 SUPER (1.2% higher) and the RX 6800S (0.8% higher), showing that the RX 9070 is slightly below those cards in synthetic benchmarks. Given this, the combo rank of 1134 out of 3720 makes sense: a top-tier CPU paired with a GPU that lags behind the fastest cards results in a system that is strong but not elite for Control.

The rank also implies that a significant portion of tested combos—over 2500—outperform this pairing. This is expected, as many high-end systems combine top-tier CPUs with flagship GPUs. However, the data shows that this combo still delivers playable frame rates at all tested settings, with the only sub-60 FPS result being 4K Ultra at 51 avg. For a 1440p gaming setup, this combo ranks well within the range that provides a smooth experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results are as follows: Low averages 182 FPS, Medium averages 129 with a minimum of 110 and maximum of 148, High averages 115, and Ultra averages 100. The Low preset’s 182 FPS indicates that the CPU is capable of driving very high frame rates, as the GPU is not heavily taxed at this resolution. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 110 shows that even during demanding scenes, the frame rate stays well above 60. High and Ultra remain above 100 FPS, making 1080p a resolution where any preset is playable, though Ultra’s 100 FPS is the floor.

At 2560x1440, the breakdown is: Low at 137, Medium at 98 (min 83, max 112), High at 87, and Ultra at 75. The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 45 FPS, a 25% reduction. Medium at 1440p is still above 60 FPS, but the min of 83 shows less headroom than at 1080p. High and Ultra remain above 75 FPS, but the margin over 60 FPS shrinks. The data indicates that 1440p is where the GPU starts to become the limiting factor, as the CPU has less influence on the frame rate reduction.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 93, Medium at 66 (min 56, max 76), High at 59, and Ultra at 51. The 4K Low preset is the only one that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, with 93 avg. Medium’s 66 avg is playable, but the 56 min FPS shows that dips below 60 occur. High and Ultra fall below 60 FPS on average, with Ultra at 51 being the slowest measured result. The min FPS data is only available for Medium at each resolution, which shows a consistent pattern: 110 at 1080p, 83 at 1440p, and 56 at 4K. This progressive decline in minimum frame rate highlights the growing GPU load as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 182 at 1080p to 137 at 1440p (a 45 FPS or 25% reduction) and then to 93 at 4K (a 44 FPS or 32% reduction from 1440p). This near-linear scaling suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU can maintain high frame rates at 1080p but the GPU struggles to render more pixels. The same pattern holds for Medium: 129 at 1080p, 98 at 1440p, and 66 at 4K. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is 31 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 32 FPS, again showing a consistent per-resolution cost.

For High settings, the drop is 115 to 87 to 59, with reductions of 28 FPS each step. Ultra shows 100 to 75 to 51, with reductions of 25 and 24 FPS. The consistent FPS drops across all settings indicate that pixel count, not settings complexity, is the dominant factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the 1080p to 1440p drop to be smaller, as the CPU has more headroom. Instead, the data shows that doubling the pixel count from 1080p to 4K roughly halves the FPS at every preset, which is a classic GPU-bound signature.

At 1080p Low, the 182 FPS suggests the CPU is not fully saturated, but the GPU is still able to produce high frame rates. The fact that 4K Low only achieves 93 FPS—half of 1080p Low—confirms that the GPU’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor. The RX 9070’s 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate is the theoretical ceiling, and the measured results show the game approaching that limit at higher resolutions. The CPU’s role is to feed the GPU, and at 4K, the GPU cannot process frames fast enough to fully utilize the CPU’s multi-core capabilities.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: The data shows Medium at 2560x1440 delivers 98 avg FPS with a minimum of 83, keeping the experience well above 60 FPS. High drops to 87 avg, and Ultra to 75, so Medium offers the best margin while retaining moderate visual fidelity.

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

A: The 4K Medium preset averages 66 FPS but has a minimum of 56 FPS, meaning occasional dips below 60. The Low preset at 93 avg FPS is the only 4K option that maintains a comfortable margin over 60 FPS, while High (59) and Ultra (51) fall short.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 9070 scores 25381 in Passmark G3D, which is 1.2% lower than the RTX 2080 SUPER (24170) and 0.8% higher than the RX 6800S (24063). The deltaPct values are small, indicating these GPUs perform within a narrow range.

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

A: The resolution scaling data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter. FPS drops roughly proportionally from 1080p to 4K across all settings (e.g., Low goes from 182 to 93), which is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload rather than a CPU bottleneck.

Q: What is the CPU’s percentile ranking among all tested processors?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F is in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53620. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, scores 53288, which is 0.6% higher.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM affect performance at 4K Ultra?

A: The 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for this game, as the 4K Ultra result of 51 avg FPS is limited by the GPU’s pixel throughput, not memory capacity. No VRAM-related stutter is indicated in the min FPS data for Medium at 4K (56 min), which shows a smooth frame delivery.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its architecture is Raptor Lake-R on a 10 nm process, with 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per core L2 cache. The CPU’s benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance: Cinebench R23 single-core scores 4958, and Geekbench single-core scores 2429. Multi-thread performance is equally robust, with Cinebench R23 multi-core at 35122 and Geekbench multi-core at 19620. The Passmark multithread score of 41317 further confirms its high throughput.

In Control, the CPU’s role is to manage physics calculations, AI, and the game’s asynchronous compute workloads. The 28 threads provide ample parallelism for these tasks, and the high boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures responsive single-thread performance for game logic. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 182 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s frame generation limit. At this resolution, the GPU is not the bottleneck, so the CPU’s ability to process the game loop and issue draw calls is the determining factor.

However, the CPU’s percentile rank (91st) is higher than the GPU’s (69th), indicating that the CPU is not the limiting component in most scenarios. The measured FPS drops with resolution at all settings, which points to the GPU becoming the bottleneck as pixel count increases. The CPU’s 20 cores and 28 threads are more than sufficient for Control’s requirements, as evidenced by the fact that the 1080p Low frame rate (182) is nearly double the 4K Low frame rate (93). This suggests that the CPU is idle-waiting at higher resolutions, while the GPU struggles to fill frames.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the Intel Xeon 6505P (0.2% lower score) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (0.6% higher score). These small deltas indicate that the i7-14700F is well-positioned among high-end desktop CPUs. For Control specifically, the CPU’s performance headroom means that users could pair it with a more powerful GPU to achieve higher frame rates at 4K, but with the RX 9070, the CPU is not the limiting factor. The 65W TDP and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support make it a versatile platform, though the data does not include memory speed effects on FPS.