Control

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor from the Raptor Lake-R generation, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock runs at 2.10 GHz with a boost clock up to 5.40 GHz, and it carries 33 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration places the CPU in the 94th percentile among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 54097. In synthetic multithreaded workloads, it scores 35443 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 5003 in single-core, indicating strong headroom for both heavily threaded and lightly threaded game logic.

For Control, an Action Adventure title from 2019, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data without becoming a bottleneck. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 282.9 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all resolution and setting combinations. This suggests that at lower resolutions and reduced graphical loads, the i7-14700F is fully capable of pushing frame rates well beyond typical display refresh rates. The 20-core design, with its 28 threads, provides ample parallel processing for the game's background simulation and AI routines, ensuring that even during intense combat sequences with multiple enemies and destructible environments, the CPU maintains consistent frame delivery.

The processor's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, posts an average score of 54450, which is only 0.6% higher than the i7-14700F's 54097. This near-parity indicates that in raw compute terms, the two are effectively interchangeable for gaming workloads. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D scores 54681, just 1.1% higher, while the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 and AMD EPYC 7313P trail by 1.2% and 1.7% respectively. These margins are negligible in real-world gaming, meaning the i7-14700F's performance in Control is unlikely to be the limiting factor in any resolution tested.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Control?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 282.9, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X?

A: The i7-14700F scores 54097 in average benchmarks, which is only 0.6% lower than the Ryzen 9 9900X's 54450, indicating essentially identical performance.

Q: Does the CPU's 20-core configuration help at higher resolutions?

A: At 4K Ultra, the combo still delivers 76.7 FPS, showing that the CPU maintains sufficient throughput even when the GPU is heavily loaded, though the frame rate drop from 1080p suggests the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

Q: What is the CPU's boost clock and how might it affect single-threaded game performance?

A: The boost clock is 5.40 GHz, which supports strong single-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5003.

Q: How does the i7-14700F's L3 cache size compare to what Control might need?

A: With 33 MB of shared L3 cache, the CPU provides substantial fast-access storage for game data, which helps maintain consistent frame times during level streaming and asset loading.

Q: What percentile does this CPU rank in among all processors?

A: The i7-14700F is in the 94th percentile of all CPUs tested, placing it firmly in the high-performance tier for gaming.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 178.6 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops this to 133.3 FPS, a reduction of 45.3 FPS or approximately 25%. At 3840x2160 High, the frame rate falls further to 90.9 FPS, another 42.4 FPS drop from 1440p. This consistent decline of roughly 40-45 FPS per resolution step indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

Looking at Low settings, the pattern is similar but with larger absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 282.9 FPS, which drops to 215.1 FPS at 1440p (a 67.8 FPS decrease) and then to 144.3 FPS at 4K (a 70.8 FPS decrease). The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is about 49%, which is smaller than the 49.1% drop seen at High settings, suggesting that at Low settings, the CPU still has some headroom to partially compensate for the GPU load increase.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is steeper. From 158.4 FPS at 1080p, the frame rate drops to 118 FPS at 1440p (a 25.5% decrease) and then to 76.7 FPS at 4K (a 35% decrease from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 81.7 FPS, or 51.6%. This steeper decline at Ultra settings confirms that the RTX 5090's graphical workload — including ray tracing and advanced shading effects — scales more aggressively with resolution than the CPU-bound portions of the game.

The data shows that at 1080p, the combo is likely CPU-bound at Low and Medium settings (282.9 and 202 FPS respectively), where the GPU has spare capacity. At 4K, even the RTX 5090's substantial compute resources become the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 76.7 FPS result at Ultra. The i7-14700F's 20 cores and high boost clock keep it from being the limiting component at any resolution tested, but the GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are clearly the primary drivers of frame rate variation across resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 11th out of 1636 tested combos in Control. This places it in the top 0.7% of all configurations evaluated, which is an exceptional result given the game's age and the relative newness of both components. The rank reflects the measured FPS data across all four settings and three resolutions, with the combo consistently delivering high frame rates.

The top 10 positions ahead of this combo likely feature even more powerful CPUs or specialized configurations, but the i7-14700F's 94th percentile CPU score and the RTX 5090's 94th percentile GPU score indicate that this pairing is near the apex of current hardware. The RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 84306 places it just 0.1% behind the RTX 5090 D (84241) and 0.2% ahead of the RTX 5050 Mobile (84171), showing that the desktop 5090 is essentially at the top of the GPU hierarchy.

The combo's rank is particularly impressive when considering that Control was released in 2019, before either component existed. The game's engine benefits from modern hardware capabilities like DirectX 12 Ultimate (which the RTX 5090 supports) and the CPU's high single-threaded performance. The 11th place ranking out of 1636 combos means that only 10 other configurations (0.6%) outperform this one in Control's measured FPS, making this a top-tier choice for players seeking maximum performance in this title.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, all settings deliver playable frame rates, but High at 178.6 FPS offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance. Ultra at 158.4 FPS is still excellent, but the 20.2 FPS difference between High and Ultra is substantial, and the visual improvement may not justify the drop for competitive play. Medium at 202 FPS and Low at 282.9 FPS are better suited for high-refresh-rate monitors (240Hz+), where the extra frames matter more than graphical detail.

At 2560x1440, High at 133.3 FPS is the recommended choice for most players, as it remains above the 120Hz threshold while offering strong visuals. Ultra at 118 FPS is close but dips below 120, which could cause noticeable stutter on 120Hz displays. Medium at 149.9 FPS provides a comfortable margin for high-refresh-rate gaming, while Low at 215.1 FPS is optimal for 144Hz or 165Hz monitors with minimal graphical compromise.

At 3840x2160, the choices are more constrained. High at 90.9 FPS is the best visual-quality option that remains above 60 FPS, making it suitable for 60Hz or 90Hz displays. Medium at 103.2 FPS offers a smoother experience on 100Hz monitors, while Ultra at 76.7 FPS is still playable but may feel less responsive on higher-refresh-rate displays. Low at 144.3 FPS is the only 4K setting that clears 120 FPS, making it the choice for players with 120Hz+ 4K monitors who prioritize frame rate over detail.

For the best overall experience, High settings at 1440p provide the most balanced combination of visual quality and performance, with 133.3 FPS keeping gameplay smooth on most modern displays. Players with 4K monitors should opt for High at 90.9 FPS unless they have a 120Hz+ panel, in which case Low at 144.3 FPS is the safer bet.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data for this combo in Control is as follows:

At 1920x1080:

• Low: 282.9 FPS average
• Medium: 202 FPS average
• High: 178.6 FPS average
• Ultra: 158.4 FPS average

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 215.1 FPS average
• Medium: 149.9 FPS average
• High: 133.3 FPS average
• Ultra: 118 FPS average

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 144.3 FPS average
• Medium: 103.2 FPS average
• High: 90.9 FPS average
• Ultra: 76.7 FPS average

The data shows consistent scaling across settings within each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 124.5 FPS (from 282.9 down to 158.4), representing a 44% reduction in frame rate. At 1440p, the spread is 97.1 FPS (from 215.1 down to 118), a 45% reduction. At 4K, the spread narrows to 67.6 FPS (from 144.3 down to 76.7), a 47% reduction. This pattern indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's workload grows more rapidly with each settings tier, causing the frame rate to converge.

Across resolutions, the largest single drop occurs between 1080p Low (282.9 FPS) and 1440p Low (215.1 FPS), a decrease of 67.8 FPS. The smallest drop is between 1440p Ultra (118 FPS) and 4K Ultra (76.7 FPS), at 41.3 FPS. This suggests that the RTX 5090's memory subsystem and compute resources handle the 4K Ultra workload relatively efficiently compared to the 1440p to 4K transition at lower settings.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Its base clock runs at 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and memory operates at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The GPU comes with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This substantial memory allocation ensures that even at 4K Ultra settings, Control's textures and geometry fit entirely within VRAM, avoiding any memory-related stuttering.

The RTX 5090's compute capabilities are formidable: 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores. This translates to 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s, with a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s. In Control, which features heavy use of physics-based rendering and destructible environments, these resources allow the GPU to maintain high frame rates even at demanding settings.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 84306 places it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, with passmark G3D score of 39650 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14411. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5090 D, scores 84241 (0.1% lower), while the RTX 5050 Mobile scores 84171 (0.2% lower) — the desktop 5090 is effectively tied with these. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 scores 83209 (1.3% lower), and the NVIDIA CMP 40HX scores 85637 (1.6% higher), showing the 5090 sits at the top of the consumer GPU stack.

In Control, the GPU's role is most evident at 4K Ultra, where it delivers 76.7 FPS — a demanding workload that stresses both the 104.8 TFLOPS compute and the 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth. The 32 GB VRAM capacity ensures that the game's highest-resolution textures (which can exceed 8 GB in Control's Ultra preset) are fully resident, preventing pop-in and maintaining smooth frame delivery. The boost clock of 2407 MHz allows the GPU to dynamically scale its frequency based on thermal headroom, maximizing performance in scenes with lower compute demands while maintaining stability in heavy combat sequences.