Control

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the Intel Arc B580 presents a fascinating case study in Control, a game known for its physics-heavy combat and atmospheric destruction. The measured frame rates reveal a configuration that is decisively bound by the graphics card at higher resolutions, yet shows surprising headroom when the settings are lowered. This analysis breaks down the data to understand where the bottleneck lies and how to get the best experience from this specific hardware combination.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking trend in the data is the drastic drop in performance as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 72 FPS at 1080p to 54 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 18 FPS. The slide continues to 4K, where the average plummets to 37 FPS. This represents a 48.6% decrease in performance from 1080p to 4K, a significant penalty that strongly indicates the GPU is the primary limiting component. The Arc B580's 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 456.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are being saturated by the increasing pixel count.

When we look at the Low preset, the scaling pattern shifts slightly. The transition from 1080p (114 FPS) to 1440p (86 FPS) is a 24.6% drop, but the leap to 4K (58 FPS) is a further 32.6% reduction. While the GPU remains the bottleneck, the fact that the 4K Low score (58 FPS) is nearly double the 4K Ultra score (32 FPS) suggests that the game's advanced rendering features, such as ray tracing and volumetric effects, are heavily taxing the GPU's 20 dedicated RT cores and 80 ROPs. The data implies that even at lower resolutions, the B580 is working at its limits, but the gap widens considerably as the render target grows.

The difference between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 61 at 1440p to 41 at 4K, a 32.8% decline. This is a larger relative drop than the 1080p to 1440p transition (which saw a 24.7% decline from 81 to 61 FPS). This non-linear scaling suggests that the B580's 192-bit memory bus and 12 GB of GDDR6 memory are becoming a critical constraint at 4K, as the bandwidth demands of the higher resolution outpace what the card can deliver.

Settings Recommendations

Given the benchmark results, the optimal experience for this combination depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the data clearly supports using the High preset. It delivers an average of 72 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and only 9 FPS lower than the Low preset. The Medium preset offers a middle ground at 81 FPS, but High provides a better visual experience for a minimal performance cost. The Ultra preset, at 62 FPS, is playable but offers diminishing returns over High, making High the best balance of fidelity and fluidity.

At 2560x1440, the choice becomes more nuanced. The High preset produces an average of 54 FPS, which is borderline for fast-paced action. Dropping to Medium yields 61 FPS, a 13% improvement that likely secures a more consistent experience. The Low preset at 86 FPS is overly compromising visually. Therefore, the Medium preset is the recommended choice at 1440p, as it provides a playable frame rate while retaining more visual detail than Low. The Ultra preset at 47 FPS is not recommended for a game with as much on-screen chaos as Control.

For 3840x2160, the data paints a grim picture for high-fidelity gaming. The Ultra preset averages just 32 FPS, which is a slideshow. Even the High preset at 37 FPS is below the playable threshold. The Medium preset, at 41 FPS, is the highest setting that approaches playability, but it is still not ideal. The only viable option for a smooth 4K experience is the Low preset, which averages 58 FPS. This suggests that 4K gaming with this combo requires significant compromises, and players should be prepared to use Low settings to maintain a fluid frame rate.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS gaming at 1920x1080?

A: Yes. The data shows that at 1080p, the High preset achieves 72 FPS average, and the Medium and Low presets achieve 81 and 114 FPS respectively. Even the Ultra preset manages 62 FPS, so a 60 FPS target is achievable across all tested settings.

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: Based on the measured data, the Medium preset (61 FPS average) is the best choice for 2560x1440. It offers a better balance of visual quality and performance than the High preset (54 FPS) and is significantly more playable than the Ultra preset (47 FPS).

Q: How does the performance at 4K compare to 1080p?

A: The performance drop is substantial. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 72 FPS at 1080p to 37 FPS at 4K, a 48.6% reduction. This indicates that the Intel Arc B580 is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Q: Can this setup handle the Ultra preset at any resolution?

A: Yes, but only at 1920x1080, where it produces an average of 62 FPS. At 1440p, the Ultra preset drops to 47 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 32 FPS, making it unplayable at those higher resolutions.

Q: Why is the performance at 4K so low compared to 1080p?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The Arc B580's compute power and memory bandwidth are strained by the 4K resolution. The jump from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings causes a 32.8% FPS drop, suggesting the 456.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is a significant constraint.

Q: Is the Low preset at 4K a viable option?

A: Yes, the Low preset at 3840x2160 averages 58 FPS, making it the only 4K setting that provides a smooth gaming experience. This indicates that while the GPU is powerful enough for 4K, it requires a significant reduction in graphical fidelity to achieve playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested configurations for Control, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and Intel Arc B580 holds a rank of 2816 out of 3720 total combos. This places it in the lower 25th percentile of all tested systems, which is a surprising result given the components involved. The percentile rank of the CPU itself is 94, indicating it is a top-tier processor, while the GPU's percentile is 68. This discrepancy in relative strength helps explain the combo's lower overall standing.

The benchmark data suggests that while the i7-14700KF is a powerful processor, its capabilities are largely untapped in this scenario. The combo rank is likely dragged down by the GPU's performance, which, while respectable, does not match the CPU's high-end standing. The rank of 2816 implies that many other configurations, likely with more powerful GPUs, achieve much higher frame rates in this specific game, even if their CPUs are less capable. This highlights a fundamental imbalance in this pairing for Control.

This ranking is a clear indicator that the system is GPU-limited. The CPU's high percentile (94) versus the GPU's lower percentile (68) shows a significant gap. In a game like Control, which is graphically intensive, the GPU's performance is the deciding factor for the overall system ranking. The data implies that the i7-14700KF has substantial headroom to support a more powerful graphics card, but with the Arc B580, the system's overall capability is capped by the GPU's limits.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the central character in this performance story. Its specifications reveal why it behaves the way it does in Control. The GPU is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture and operates at a consistent base and boost clock of 2670 MHz. This high clock speed helps drive its pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s, which are crucial for filling the screen with the game's detailed environments and particle effects.

The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s. This is a substantial amount, but the data suggests it is not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The significant performance drop from 1440p to 4K, particularly at the Medium setting (61 to 41 FPS), indicates that the memory subsystem is being pushed to its limits. The 19 Gbps effective memory speed is fast, but the 192-bit bus width restricts the total data throughput compared to wider-bus cards.

With 2560 shading units and 80 ROPs, the B580 has the raw compute to handle modern games, but its performance in Control shows that it is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The 20 RT cores are present for ray tracing effects, but enabling those at higher resolutions likely contributes to the severe FPS drops seen in the Ultra preset. The 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is a solid number, yet the measured data shows that it is insufficient for a smooth 4K experience in this demanding title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured results provides a clear picture of the combo's capability across different resolutions and settings.

1920x1080

• Low: 114 FPS average
• Medium: 81 FPS average (69 min, 93 max)
• High: 72 FPS average
• Ultra: 62 FPS average

2560x1440

• Low: 86 FPS average
• Medium: 61 FPS average (52 min, 70 max)
• High: 54 FPS average
• Ultra: 47 FPS average

3840x2160

• Low: 58 FPS average
• Medium: 41 FPS average (35 min, 48 max)
• High: 37 FPS average
• Ultra: 32 FPS average

The data shows a clear hierarchy. At 1080p, the system is capable of high refresh rate gaming, with even the Ultra preset exceeding 60 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the performance becomes more moderate, with only the Low and Medium presets staying above 60 FPS. At 4K, the system struggles, and only the Low preset manages to stay above 50 FPS. The minimum FPS data for the Medium preset shows that frame pacing is a concern, with lows of 69, 52, and 35 FPS at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively, indicating potential stutter during intense scenes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a powerhouse processor that is largely underutilized in this pairing. With 20 cores (8 performance and 12 efficient) and 28 threads, it provides immense multi-threaded capability. Its boost clock of 5.60 GHz and base clock of 3.40 GHz ensure excellent single-thread performance, which is often critical for game logic and physics calculations. The 33 MB of shared L3 cache provides a large, fast pool of memory for frequently accessed data.

In Control, the CPU's role is to handle the game's physics engine, which simulates the destructible environments and object interactions. The i7-14700KF's strong single-core performance (evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6235) and high core count are more than sufficient for this task. The benchmark results confirm this, as the frame rates are consistently limited by the GPU, not the CPU. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU still manages to feed it enough data to achieve 114 FPS.

The CPU's high benchmark scores, such as a Passmark multithread score of 52425 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2578, further support the notion that it is not the bottleneck. The data suggests that the i7-14700KF is capable of driving much higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU. Its performance in this context is akin to a high-performance engine constrained by a smaller throttle body; the potential is there, but the GPU limits the output. The 125W TDP and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a versatile and powerful platform, but its capabilities are clearly ahead of what the Arc B580 can deliver in this game.