Control

# Control with Intel Core i7-14700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

The Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti pairing delivers a highly capable Control experience across all tested resolutions, with the data showing a system that comfortably handles 1080p and 1440p at high refresh rates while remaining playable at 4K. This combination ranks 433rd out of 1,636 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 26.5% of all configurations—a strong showing for a desktop setup built around a 20-core CPU and a 12 GB Ampere GPU. The measured frames-per-second figures reveal a system where the GPU becomes the primary scaling factor as resolution increases, while the CPU's substantial thread count ensures consistent frame delivery even at lower settings.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 as the sweet spot, delivering 91.8 FPS at High settings and 106 FPS at Medium. At 1920x1080, High settings reach 119.8 FPS, but the 1440p figures provide a better balance of visual fidelity and frame rate.

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

A: The Core i7-14700F scores 54,097 on average in benchmark suites, placing it 94th percentile among all CPUs. It trails the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X by just 0.6% and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D by 1.1%, while leading the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 1.2% and the AMD EPYC 7313P by 1.7%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to other graphics cards?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti holds an 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41,224. It sits nearly level with the RTX 3090 (0.5% behind) and the Radeon Pro 5300 (0.9% behind), while also closely matching the RTX 5070's delta of -1.1%.

Q: Does this combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No—the measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 54.5 FPS. Dropping to High settings at 4K yields 61.5 FPS, which crosses the 60 FPS threshold, while Medium produces 70.9 FPS.

Q: How many cores and threads does the i7-14700F bring to this game?

A: The processor provides 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and boost up to 5.40 GHz. Its L3 cache is 33 MB shared, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration for handling texture-heavy scenes?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 912.4 GB/s bandwidth. This is paired with a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that High settings provide the most consistent experience across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, High delivers 119.8 FPS—more than double the 54.5 FPS seen at Ultra 4K—while maintaining visual quality that justifies the settings choice. Medium settings offer a performance uplift of 14.7% over High at 1080p (137.4 vs 119.8 FPS) but come with reduced graphical fidelity that may not be worth the trade-off for most players.

For 1440p monitors, High settings at 91.8 FPS represent the best balance, as dropping to Medium only adds 14.2 FPS (106 FPS) while Ultra falls to 78.1 FPS. The 4K situation is different: High settings produce 61.5 FPS, which is marginally above the 60 FPS target, but Medium at 70.9 FPS offers more headroom for demanding scenes. Low settings across all resolutions produce the highest frame rates (192.9 FPS at 1080p, 144.4 FPS at 1440p, 100 FPS at 4K) but at significant visual cost.

The data indicates that Ultra settings should be avoided at 4K (54.5 FPS) and only considered at 1080p (106.3 FPS) if the user prioritizes maximum fidelity over frame rate. For most users, High at 1440p or 1080p appears to be the recommended preset, as it maintains frame rates well above 90 FPS while preserving the game's atmospheric lighting and particle effects.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F brings 20 cores and 28 threads to Control, a game that benefits from high single-thread performance for physics calculations and AI routines. The processor's boost clock of 5.40 GHz provides strong per-core performance, reflected in its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5,003 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,711. This single-thread capability is crucial for maintaining consistent frame pacing, as Control's gameplay often involves complex interactions between the environment and the player's telekinetic abilities.

The multi-threaded performance is equally substantial, with Cinebench R23 multi-core reaching 35,443 and Geekbench multi-core scoring 16,571. This breadth of processing power ensures that background tasks and game logic do not introduce stutters, even when the GPU is fully saturated at 4K. The CPU's 94th percentile ranking among all processors places it firmly in high-end territory, though its nearest rivals show interesting dynamics: the Ryzen 9 9900X edges it out by only 0.6% in average benchmark scores, suggesting that the i7-14700F provides comparable CPU-bound performance in games like Control.

The 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is particularly important for a game that streams assets dynamically. The CPU's 65 W TDP, while not directly indicative of gaming performance, suggests efficient power delivery that allows sustained boost clocks during extended play sessions. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings (192.9 FPS), the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough frames to approach the 200 FPS mark, indicating that it is not a bottleneck even in the least demanding scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti achieves a rank of 433 out of 1,636 tested combos for Control, positioning it in the top 26.5% of all configurations evaluated. This rank reflects the balanced nature of the pairing: the CPU's high percentile (94th) and the GPU's strong showing (83rd percentile) combine to produce a system that handles Control's demanding physics and rendering requirements effectively.

The rank of 433 suggests that while many higher-end combos exist (likely featuring newer GPUs or more expensive CPUs), this pairing is well above the median performance level. The CPU's average benchmark score of 54,097 is nearly identical to the RTX 3080 Ti's average of 41,224 in their respective categories, indicating that neither component dramatically outclasses the other. This balance is evident in the measured FPS data, where the system scales predictably with resolution changes rather than exhibiting sudden bottlenecks.

Compared to the nearest rival GPUs, the RTX 3080 Ti's delta of -0.5% against the RTX 3090 means that this combo would perform nearly identically to a system using the 3090, assuming the same CPU. Similarly, the CPU's -0.6% delta versus the Ryzen 9 9900X suggests that swapping in that processor would yield marginal gains at best. This rank indicates that the combo is well-optimized for Control, with no clear weak point dragging down overall performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the primary driver of visual fidelity in this combo, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory proving sufficient for Control's high-resolution textures at 4K. The GPU's 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming remains fluid even in the game's most chaotic scenes, where debris and environmental destruction are rendered simultaneously. The Ampere architecture's 10,240 shading units and 80 RT cores provide the computational muscle for the game's real-time reflections and ray-traced effects (where enabled), though the measured FPS data suggests that standard rasterization is the primary workload.

At 1080p, the GPU's performance scales clearly with settings: 192.9 FPS at Low, 137.4 FPS at Medium, 119.8 FPS at High, and 106.3 FPS at Ultra. This 45% drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p indicates that the GPU is heavily utilized even at lower resolutions, with settings having a substantial impact on frame rate. The 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it above the majority of graphics cards, though the nearest rivals show how tight the competition is: the RTX 3090 is only 0.5% ahead in average benchmarks, meaning real-world differences in Control would be negligible.

The GPU's boost clock of 1665 MHz, combined with its 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 performance, allows it to maintain high frame rates at 1440p, where it delivers 91.8 FPS at High settings. The 384-bit memory bus is particularly beneficial at higher resolutions, as it provides the bandwidth needed to feed the 112 ROPs and 320 TMUs efficiently. The GPU's 350 W TDP and 12-pin power connector indicate a high-power design that requires a robust power supply (750 W suggested), but this power budget translates directly into the performance observed in the measured data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings yield 192.9 FPS, which drops to 137.4 FPS at Medium, 119.8 FPS at High, and 106.3 FPS at Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 86.6 FPS, representing a 45% reduction, which shows that settings have a significant impact even at this resolution. The 1080p Ultra figure of 106.3 FPS remains well above 60 FPS, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings produce 144.4 FPS, Medium reaches 106 FPS, High achieves 91.8 FPS, and Ultra settles at 78.1 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at High settings is 28 FPS (119.8 to 91.8), a 23.4% reduction, while the Ultra setting sees a 28.2 FPS decline (106.3 to 78.1), a 26.5% reduction. These figures indicate that 1440p remains highly playable, with even Ultra settings maintaining frame rates above 75 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limits become apparent. Low settings achieve 100 FPS, Medium produces 70.9 FPS, High yields 61.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 54.5 FPS. The 4K Ultra figure falls below 60 FPS, making it the only setting/resolution combination that fails to hit this target. The transition from 1440p to 4K at High settings results in a 30.3 FPS drop (91.8 to 61.5), a 33% reduction, while Ultra sees a 23.6 FPS drop (78.1 to 54.5), a 30.2% reduction. These numbers show that 4K is only viable at High settings or below, with Medium providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. From 1080p to 1440p, the average frame rate drops by approximately 23-27% across settings, while the jump from 1440p to 4K results in a 30-33% reduction. This non-linear scaling indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti becomes increasingly saturated at higher resolutions, with its 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth and 12 GB VRAM being the limiting factors rather than the CPU.

At 1080p, the CPU's role is more prominent, as evidenced by the 192.9 FPS at Low settings—a figure that approaches the limits of what the i7-14700F can feed to the GPU. The CPU's 20 cores and 5.40 GHz boost clock ensure that at lower resolutions, where the GPU has spare capacity, the system can still deliver high frame rates. However, the 45% drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p suggests that even at this resolution, the GPU's shading units and ROPs are the primary bottleneck when settings are maximized.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings (119.8 to 61.5 FPS) represents a 48.7% reduction, which is close to the theoretical 50% reduction expected from quadrupling the pixel count. This near-linear scaling in the High preset indicates that the system is well-balanced, with neither component disproportionately limiting performance. The Ultra preset shows slightly less severe scaling (54.5 FPS at 4K vs 106.3 FPS at 1080p, a 48.7% reduction as well), reinforcing that the GPU is the primary scaling factor across all settings. The data implies that for users targeting 4K, dropping from Ultra to High provides a 7 FPS gain (54.5 to 61.5), which is the difference between an unplayable and playable experience, while Medium offers an additional 9.4 FPS (70.9) for those willing to compromise further.