Control

Control, the 2019 action-adventure from Remedy, is a demanding title that stresses both CPU and GPU, but the specific balance shifts dramatically depending on resolution and preset. The data for the Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti reveals a combo that tops the benchmark charts, ranking first out of 3,720 tested combinations. This pairing leverages a powerful 20-core processor with a legacy but still capable graphics card, creating an interesting dynamic where the older GPU is pushed to its limits at higher settings while the CPU flexes its muscle at lower ones. The following analysis breaks down how this combination behaves, where it excels, and where its aging architecture shows.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveals a classic case of GPU-bound scaling. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 276 at 1920x1080 to 174 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 102 frames per second, before falling further to 91 at 3840x2160. This is a steep curve, but the relative impact of each resolution step is telling. Moving from 1080p to 1440p costs a significant 37% of performance, but moving from 1440p to 4K costs a steeper 48%, indicating that the GPU is increasingly saturated as pixel count rises.

The Low preset shows where the CPU begins to take a more prominent role. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves a massive 440 FPS, dropping to 277 at 1440p, and then to 145 at 4K. The scaling here is less severe than in High, with the 1080p to 1440p drop being 37% and the 1440p to 4K drop being 48%. The absolute numbers at 1080p Low are so high that the frame rate is almost certainly being limited by the game engine or CPU single-thread performance, rather than the GTX 1080 Ti's raw compute. The 440 FPS figure is more than double the 174 FPS at 1440p High, highlighting how much headroom the CPU has when the GPU is not tasked heavily.

The medium preset offers a middle ground, with average FPS of 348 at 1080p, 220 at 1440p, and 115 at 4K. The minimum FPS recorded for this preset are 296 at 1080p, 187 at 1440p, and 98 at 4K. The gap between average and minimum at 4K is 17 FPS, which is a tighter margin than at 1080p (52 FPS), suggesting that at 4K the GPU is working so hard that frame times are more consistent, while at 1080p there is more variance, possibly due to CPU or driver overhead.

The Ultra preset is the most punishing. At 4K Ultra, the combo only manages 57 FPS, a stark contrast to the 91 FPS at High and 145 at Low. This shows a massive scaling cost for the Ultra settings, nearly halving performance from High. At 1440p Ultra, the average is 109 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it is 173 FPS. The step from 1440p to 4K at Ultra is a 48% drop (52 FPS absolute), while the 1080p to 1440p step is a 64 FPS drop (37%). The resolution scaling at Ultra is less predictable than at other presets, indicating that certain Ultra effects (likely volumetric or shadow quality) are disproportionately expensive at higher pixel counts. The data strongly suggests that the GTX 1080 Ti is the primary limiter at 4K Ultra, where it cannot maintain a smooth frame rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, built on the Pascal architecture with a 16 nm process node from TSMC, is an older card (released in March 2017) that is now marked as End-of-life. Its specs are still respectable: 11 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 352-bit bus offers a bandwidth of 484.4 GB/s. The card's base clock is 1481 MHz, boosting to 1582 MHz, and it features 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 88 ROPs. Its FP32 compute is rated at 11.34 TFLOPS, which is classic for a high-end card of its generation.

In the context of Control, these specifications translate to a clear performance ceiling. The 11 GB of VRAM is generally sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at high settings, but the data indicates that the card's memory bandwidth and raw compute become the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS of 57 is below the ideal for smooth play. The card's percentile ranking of 58th among all GPUs is a stark reminder of its age, but its average benchmark score of 15,548 in synthetic tests shows it still holds its own against modern mid-range cards.

The GTX 1080 Ti's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are interesting clues. It edges out the AMD Radeon R9 M380 by 0.2% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 by 1.7%, while trailing the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 by 0.8%. This places it in a niche where it slightly outperforms a previous-generation mid-range card (RTX 2060) but is on par with a workstation GPU. In Control, the data suggests the GPU is the primary driver of performance differences at higher settings and resolutions, as the CPU has enough headroom to push high frame rates when the GPU is not overwhelmed.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti achieves a combo ranking of 1st out of 3,720 in Control. This is a stellar result, placing it at the top of the database for this title. The rank is particularly interesting because the GPU is not a high-end current-gen card; it is a last-generation enthusiast card with a synthetic average score of 15,548, ranking it 58th percentile. The CPU, however, is a top-tier processor, ranking 94th percentile with an average score of 69,355.

The CPU's nearest rivals are all AMD parts: the EPYC 9115 (0.1% faster average score), the Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% slower), the Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% slower), and the Ryzen 7 9700F (0.9% slower). The i7-14700K is essentially tied with these, with a delta of less than 1%. This means the CPU's raw compute is top-tier, but in Control, the game engine likely relies on single-thread performance and IPC, which the i7-14700K has in spades.

The GPU's nearest rivals are the Radeon R9 M380 (a mobile card) and the RTX 2060, which are all within a 1.7% delta of the GTX 1080 Ti's average score. This indicates that the GTX 1080 Ti is not a standout in raw compute, yet the combo ranks first. The conclusion is that the i7-14700K's powerful single-core and multi-core performance, combined with the GTX 1080 Ti's solid (if not outstanding) graphics power, pushes this pair to the top of the chart for Control. The game's engine appears to favor the 20-core, 28-thread CPU, which can feed the GPU efficiently, even if the GPU is not the most powerful on the market. The rank of 1 is impressive, but the data suggests it is a result of a highly capable CPU helping a mid-tier GPU reach its full potential.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's rank in Control among all tested combos?

A: It is ranked 1, out of 3,720 tested combinations.

Q: How does the GTX 1080 Ti perform relative to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti's average benchmark score is 15,548, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon R9 M380 and 1.7% higher than both the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and the GTX 580. It does, however, trail the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 by 0.8%.

Q: What is the FPS at 4K with High settings?

A: The average FPS is 91 at 3840x2160 with High settings.

Q: Which preset gives the best FPS at 1440p?

A: The Low preset at 1440p produces an average FPS of 277, which is the highest of the four presets at that resolution.

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 173 FPS.

Q: Does the i7-14700K have a higher average benchmark score than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X?

A: Yes, the i7-14700K's average benchmark score is 69,355, which is 0.2% higher than the Ryzen 9 7950X's 69,515. Note the deltaPct is -0.2, meaning the i7-14700K is 0.2% lower, so the answer is actually no. The Ryzen 9 7950X has an avgScore of 69,515, which is 160 points higher. The i7-14700K is 0.2% slower, so the answer is no.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings depending on the target resolution. At 1080p, the High preset (276 FPS) offers a massive frame rate, but the Ultra preset (173 FPS) is still far above the 1440p High experience. For the highest visual quality at 1080p, Ultra is playable, but the jump from High to Ultra costs about 60% of the frame rate (173 vs 276 FPS) while offering marginal visual increases. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 348 FPS, which is exceptional for esports or high-refresh monitors, but High is a more balanced choice if the user wants a mix of quality and speed.

For 1440p, the High preset at 174 FPS is an excellent sweet spot, offering a strong visual upgrade with a high frame rate. Ultra at 1440p (109 FPS) is also viable, but the data shows a 65 FPS drop from High, which might not be worth it for most players. Low at 1440p (277 FPS) is only for those who prioritize raw speed over visuals. At 4K, the Medium preset at 115 FPS is the only preset that maintains a high frame rate; High (91 FPS) is playable but not ideal for fast-paced combat, while Ultra (57 FPS) is a slideshow and should be avoided when seeking smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 4K (145 FPS) is the best for competitive play, but the visual downgrade is significant.

The measured data suggests that Medium settings at 1440p (220 FPS) is the best overall experience—excellent frame rate with a solid visual baseline. For those with a 1440p 144Hz monitor, the High preset (174 FPS) is the best choice, as it exceeds the refresh rate while offering better image quality than Medium. The 4K experience is a compromise: only Medium (115 FPS) or Low (145 FPS) are recommended; High (91 FPS) is borderline, and Ultra is not advisable.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its L3 cache is 33 MB shared, and it has a TDP of 125W. Its 94th percentile rank and an average benchmark score of 69,355 place it at the peak of consumer performance, just behind the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X by a margin of 0.2%.

In Control, the CPU's role is critical in achieving high frame rates, especially at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 440 FPS, which is an extreme number that likely requires a very strong single-threaded performance. The i7-14700K's boost clock of 5.60 GHz is among the highest in the market, and its 32 threads are more than enough for the game's threading. At 1440p Low, the same CPU still powers 277 FPS, showing that it is not the bottleneck at these settings.

However, the CPU's advantage becomes less pronounced as resolution increases. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 57 FPS, which is clearly GPU-bound. The CPU has so much headroom that it is not the limiting factor in any of the measured rows. The 33 MB L3 cache and 20 cores are likely overkill for Control, but the high single-core clock is the reason the combo ranks first. The CPU's performance is nearly identical to the top rivals (the EPYC 9115, Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7940HX, and Ryzen 7 9700F), but the slight edge in single-threaded speed (due to the 5.60 GHz boost) likely tips the scales in this benchmark.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the complete measured FPS data for the Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti in Control.

At 1920x1080:

• Low: average FPS 440.
• Medium: average 348 FPS, with a minimum of 296 and a maximum of 400.
• High: average 276 FPS.
• Ultra: average 173 FPS.

At 2560x1440:

• Low: average 277 FPS.
• Medium: average 220 FPS, with a minimum of 187 and a maximum of 253.
• High: average 174 FPS.
• Ultra: average 109 FPS.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: average 145 FPS.
• Medium: average 115 FPS, with a minimum of 98 and a maximum of 132.
• High: average 91 FPS.
• Ultra: average 57 FPS.

These numbers show a clear scaling pattern. The maximum FPS is always at the Low preset, and the minimum is at Ultra. The medium rows have a notable min-max spread, which indicates frame pacing variance. At 1080p Medium, the maximum FPS is 400, which is 52 frames above the average, suggesting occasional high peaks. At 1440p Medium, the spread is 66 frames (253 max – 187 min), and at 4Kp Medium, it is 34 frames. This suggests that the 4Kp Medium is the most consistent frame time, while 1440p Medium has the most variance. The High and Ultra presets lack min-max data, but the averages alone show a clear drop. The 1080p High average of 276 FPS is 64 frames lower than the Low preset, while the 1440p High average is 103 frames lower than Low. At 4Kp, the gap is 54 frames (91 vs 145 FPS). The Ultra preset is the most expensive, with FPS dropping to 173, 109, and 57 at 1080p, 1440p, and 4Kp respectively, showing an exponential cost at higher resolutions.