Control

Control pairs Intel’s Core i7-14700K with AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT, and the measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets reveal a system that is consistently GPU-bound at higher loads, with CPU headroom that only becomes visible at the lowest settings. The data set includes 12 measured configurations, all with average FPS recorded, and a subset with minimum and maximum frame data at Medium settings. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, CPU and GPU roles, settings trade-offs, and the combo’s rank against 3,720 other tested combinations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, which points to the graphics card being the primary limiter as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 113 FPS at 1920x1080 to 86 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 58 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 24% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 33% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, which is typical for a rasterization-heavy title where the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth dominate.

At Low settings, the same pattern holds but with higher absolute numbers: 179 FPS at 1080p, 136 FPS at 1440p, and 92 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 24%, and from 1440p to 4K is 32%. Interestingly, the percentage drop is almost identical to High settings, suggesting that even at Low, the RX 6800 XT is still the bottleneck rather than the CPU. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect the gap between 1080p and 1440p to shrink at Low settings, since lower GPU load would expose the processor’s ceiling. That does not happen here.

Medium settings show 127 FPS at 1080p, 96 FPS at 1440p, and 65 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 24%, and 1440p-to-4K is 32%. Ultra settings produce 98 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K, with the same relative drops (24% and 32%). The uniformity of these percentages across all four presets strongly indicates that the scaling is purely a function of resolution and GPU workload, not a CPU-imposed ceiling. The Core i7-14700K with 20 cores and 28 threads appears to be far ahead of what Control needs at these settings.

The only measured minimum and maximum FPS come from Medium presets. At 1080p Medium, the frame rate ranges from 108 to 146, averaging 127. At 1440p Medium, the range is 82 to 111, averaging 96. At 4K Medium, the range is 55 to 75, averaging 65. The spread between minimum and maximum is roughly 30% of the average at each resolution, which is a moderate variance that suggests occasional dips during intense scenes, but no severe stuttering. The fact that the minimum FPS at 4K Medium (55) is still above the average FPS at 4K Ultra (50) shows that dropping from Ultra to Medium buys more than just a few frames — it ensures the worst-case frame time stays playable.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on Raptor Lake-R architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It has 33 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 or DDR5 memory. In terms of raw compute, its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 33,440.5, and single-core is 2,160. Geekbench scores are 20,767 multi-core and 2,569 single-core. These numbers place it in the 94th percentile among all CPUs tested.

Given the FPS data, the CPU is not the limiting factor in Control at any resolution or setting. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU load is lightest and the CPU would be most likely to bottleneck, the RX 6800 XT still delivers 179 FPS average. That is a very high frame rate, and it suggests the CPU can feed the GPU well beyond what the card can render. The nearest CPU rivals — AMD EPYC 9115, Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7940HX, and Ryzen 7 9700F — all have average benchmark scores within 1% of the i7-14700K, meaning the processor is in a performance tier where Control’s CPU demands are unlikely to differentiate results.

The evidence for CPU headroom is strongest when comparing Low and Ultra settings at 1080p. Low averages 179 FPS, while Ultra averages 98 FPS. That is a 45% drop in performance purely from increasing graphics settings, with no change in CPU workload. If the CPU were near its limit, we would see a smaller gap because the processor would cap both presets. Instead, the GPU is clearly the one doing all the heavy lifting. The PassMark multi-thread score of 52,392 and single-thread score of 4,472 further confirm that the CPU has substantial reserve capacity for a game like Control, which is not known for extreme thread scaling.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that Medium settings provide the best balance of frame rate stability and visual quality, particularly because it is the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average is 127 FPS with a minimum of 108 and maximum of 146. That minimum is above the 98 FPS average of Ultra at the same resolution, meaning Medium never drops below what Ultra typically achieves. At 1440p Medium, the average is 96 FPS with a minimum of 82, which is still higher than the 74 FPS average of Ultra at 1440p. At 4K Medium, the average is 65 FPS with a minimum of 55, while Ultra at 4K averages only 50 FPS.

For users targeting a consistent 60 FPS experience, Medium at 4K is the safest choice because the minimum of 55 FPS is close to the target, and the average of 65 FPS provides some headroom. High settings at 4K average 58 FPS, but without minimum data, it is unclear whether that average includes dips below 50. Given the data, Medium offers the most predictable performance. At 1440p, High settings average 86 FPS, which is respectable, but Medium’s 96 FPS average with an 82 FPS minimum makes it the better option for high refresh rate displays. At 1080p, even Ultra averages 98 FPS, so users with 60 Hz monitors can comfortably use Ultra, but those with 144 Hz panels should stick to High or Medium to stay above 113 or 127 FPS respectively.

Low settings are only advisable for maximum frame rates, such as 179 FPS at 1080p or 136 FPS at 1440p, but the visual sacrifice is significant and unnecessary given that Medium provides 127 FPS at 1080p and 96 FPS at 1440p. The jump from Low to Medium costs only about 29% of the frame rate but provides a substantial improvement in visual fidelity. From Medium to High, the cost is 11% at 1080p (127 to 113), and from High to Ultra it is 13% (113 to 98). The diminishing returns are clear: Medium is the sweet spot, High is a mild upgrade, and Ultra is for users who prioritize image quality over frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core i7-14700K and Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 1,183 out of 3,720 tested combos in Control. That places it in the 68th percentile, meaning roughly one-third of all tested configurations deliver higher average FPS in this game. The rank is based on measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, so it reflects the overall capability of the pairing rather than a single best-case scenario.

Given the individual component performance, this rank may seem modest. The CPU sits in the 94th percentile, and the GPU in the 85th percentile, yet the combo lands in the 68th percentile. This gap suggests that Control is not particularly demanding on high-end hardware, and many combos with lower-tier CPUs but stronger GPUs could outperform this pairing. The RX 6800 XT’s nearest rivals — NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile, Intel Arc A550M, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, and AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 — all have average benchmark scores within 3% of each other, indicating that the GPU is in a crowded mid-to-high tier. The CPU’s nearest rivals are similarly clustered within 1% of the i7-14700K.

The rank of 1,183 out of 3,720 means there are many combos ahead, but also many behind. The data shows that this pairing is not at the top of the heap for Control, but it is far from the bottom. The 4K Ultra result of 50 FPS average is the weakest measured point, while 1080p Low at 179 FPS is the strongest. The combo’s performance is more impressive at lower resolutions, where the CPU’s headroom allows the GPU to stretch its legs, and less impressive at 4K Ultra, where the GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth are tested.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is built on the Navi 21 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, using a 7 nm process from TSMC. It has 4,608 shading units, 288 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, with 72 ray tracing cores. The base clock is 1,825 MHz, boost clock 2,250 MHz, and game clock 2,015 MHz. Memory is 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU’s FP32 performance is 20.74 TFLOPS, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In Control, the GPU is the dominant performance factor at all measured settings. The evidence is the uniform 24% and 32% FPS drops when moving from 1080p to 1440p and 1440p to 4K, respectively, across every preset. This scaling pattern is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck. The RX 6800 XT’s 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Control at 4K, as the game was released in 2019 and does not require extreme memory capacities. The 512.0 GB/s bandwidth is also adequate, as shown by the 50 FPS average at 4K Ultra, which is playable if not ideal.

The GPU’s benchmark scores are consistent with its gaming performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3,689, and PassMark G3D is 24,980, with a GPU compute score of 13,245. These place it in the 85th percentile among all GPUs. The nearest rivals include the RTX 5070 Ti, which has a 3% higher average benchmark score, and the RX Vega 64, which is 3% lower. This clustering means the RX 6800 XT is in a performance band where small differences in game optimization can shift rankings. In Control, the 4K High result of 58 FPS shows that the GPU is capable of near-60 FPS at high fidelity, but not quite there, while 4K Medium at 65 FPS achieves that target.

The fact that the GPU is end-of-life in production status and was released in 2020 does not diminish its measured performance here. The data shows it can handle Control at 1440p High with 86 FPS and 1080p Ultra with 98 FPS, which are strong results for a last-generation card. The 300 W TDP and suggested 700 W PSU are the only power considerations, but they do not affect the FPS numbers.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p Medium provides 96 FPS average with an 82 FPS minimum, which is ideal for smooth gameplay. At 4K Medium, the average is 65 FPS with a 55 FPS minimum, which is acceptable for 60 Hz displays. 1080p allows higher frame rates, up to 179 FPS at Low.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in Control?

A: No. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 179 FPS, and the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is consistent (24% and 32%) across all settings, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor. The Core i7-14700K’s 20 cores and 5.60 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom.

Q: How does Ultra settings compare to Medium in terms of frame rate?

A: At every resolution, Ultra is significantly slower. At 1080p, Ultra averages 98 FPS versus 127 FPS for Medium. At 1440p, Ultra averages 74 FPS versus 96 FPS. At 4K, Ultra averages 50 FPS versus 65 FPS. Medium also has recorded minimum FPS, which Ultra lacks.

Q: Is this combo ranked high among tested configurations?

A: It ranks 1,183 out of 3,720 combos, placing it in the 68th percentile. The CPU is in the 94th percentile and the GPU in the 85th percentile, so the combo underperforms relative to individual component rankings in Control.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest recorded minimum FPS is 55 at 4K Medium settings. The lowest average FPS is 50 at 4K Ultra. No minimum data is available for Low, High, or Ultra presets.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Control?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 4K Medium, it averages 65 FPS with a 55 FPS minimum. At 4K High, it averages 58 FPS, and at 4K Low, it averages 92 FPS. For a locked 60 FPS, Medium is the recommended preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 179 FPS. Medium settings average 127 FPS, with a minimum of 108 and maximum of 146. High settings average 113 FPS. Ultra settings average 98 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 81 FPS, showing a wide range of performance depending on visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the averages are lower but still strong. Low settings average 136 FPS. Medium settings average 96 FPS, with a minimum of 82 and maximum of 111. High settings average 86 FPS. Ultra settings average 74 FPS. The gap from Low to Ultra is 62 FPS, slightly narrower than at 1080p, which reflects the increased GPU load at higher resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to the lowest measured values. Low settings average 92 FPS. Medium settings average 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 and maximum of 75. High settings average 58 FPS. Ultra settings average 50 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 42 FPS, the smallest absolute spread across resolutions, but the relative performance loss from Low to Ultra is 46%, similar to the 45% loss at 1080p.

Across all 12 configurations, the pattern is clear: Medium is the only preset with full minimum and maximum data, and it consistently sits between Low and High in average FPS. The highest average is 179 FPS at 1080p Low, and the lowest is 50 FPS at 4K Ultra. The combo’s overall performance in Control is strong at 1080p and 1440p, adequate at 4K with settings tuning, and the data confirms that the GPU is the primary driver of frame rate in this title.