Control

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a robust, if not top-tier, experience in Control, a 2019 Action Adventure title. Benchmark data shows this combination ranks 734th out of 1636 tested combos, placing it in the 55th percentile overall. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is clearly capable of smooth 1080p and 1440p play, but which begins to show its limits at 4K, particularly with higher graphical presets. The following analysis breaks down the data by component role, resolution scaling, and raw performance metrics.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this hardware in Control?*

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 87.6 FPS, while the Low preset reaches 159.4 FPS. For a balance of visual quality and high refresh rates, the 2560x1440 High preset at 73.9 FPS is a strong choice, as it is substantially above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 103.1 at 1920x1080 to 52.7 at 3840x2160, a reduction of roughly 49%. This indicates a significant shift in load onto the GPU as pixel count quadruples.

*Q: Does the CPU or GPU bottleneck this combination in Control?*

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The difference between Low and Ultra presets at 4K is 41.4 FPS (83.7 vs 42.3), while the CPU’s 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample headroom for the game’s physics and logic.

Q: How does the i7-14700KF compare to its closest rival, the i7-14700K?

A: The average benchmark score for the i7-14700KF is 70104, while the i7-14700K scores 70074, resulting in a deltaPct of 0. This indicates they perform virtually identically in synthetic tests.

Q: What is the GPU's synthetic performance percentile?

A: The RTX 3070 sits in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs based on its average benchmark score of 28238. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, scores 27985, a delta of 0.9%.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the CPU?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF has a launch MSRP of $384.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the central component for rendering in Control, a game known for its particle effects and physics-based destruction. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the game's textures at the tested resolutions, though the capacity is a factor at 4K Ultra where the average FPS falls to 42.3. The GPU's boost clock is rated at 1725 MHz, and its 5888 shading units handle the bulk of the rendering work.

The synthetic benchmark data for the RTX 3070 shows a Passmark G3D score of 22214 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162. These numbers place it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 3070 outperforms the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT by 0.9% in average score (28238 vs 27985) and beats the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti by 1% (28238 vs 27956). However, it trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% (28238 vs 28409). This data implies that the GPU is a solid mid-to-high-end performer, capable of handling demanding titles at 1440p, but its 8 GB VRAM and raw compute power (20.31 TFLOPS FP32) become strained when pushing 4K resolutions with high detail settings. The drop from 83.7 FPS at 4K Low to 42.3 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrates the heavy toll that increased shader complexity and texture detail take on the GPU's resources.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this combination shows a clear and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system achieves 103.1 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings reduces the average to 73.9 FPS, a drop of 28.3%. At 3840x2160, the average falls to 52.7 FPS, a further 28.7% reduction from the 1440p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the principal bottleneck, as the rendering load increases quadratically with pixel count.

The impact of resolution is consistent across all settings. For instance, at Low settings, the jump from 159.4 FPS at 1080p to 119.9 FPS at 1440p is a 24.8% decrease, and then to 83.7 FPS at 4K is a further 30.2% decrease. This suggests that even at lower graphical presets, the pixel throughput demands of 4K are significant. The data shows that 1080p is the sweet spot for this GPU to maintain high refresh rates, with even the Ultra preset averaging 87.6 FPS. At 1440p, the Ultra preset still delivers a playable 67.5 FPS, but the High preset at 73.9 FPS offers a better balance for smooth gameplay. The 4K resolution is only viable with Low settings (83.7 FPS) or Medium settings (57 FPS), as the High and Ultra presets fall below the 60 FPS target.

How This Combo Ranks

In the specific context of Control, the combination of the Core i7-14700KF and RTX 3070 achieves a rank of 734 out of 1636 tested combos. This places the system in the upper-middle tier of performance, meaning it outperforms the majority of other CPU-GPU pairings tested in this game. While not a top-tier combination, this rank indicates a balanced setup that can deliver a smooth experience at mainstream resolutions.

This ranking is consistent with the individual component performance. The CPU sits in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 72nd percentile. The combination's rank is likely dragged down by the GPU, which is not at the same performance tier as the CPU. The data implies that in Control, the RTX 3070 is the limiting factor, preventing the system from reaching the very high frame rates that the i7-14700KF could otherwise support. The 1636 total combos tested provides context, showing that there are many systems with more powerful GPUs that achieve higher average frame rates, but also a significant number that fall below this configuration's performance level.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The CPU has a substantial 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. In Control, which is a GPU-intensive title, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics calculations, and draw calls. With a Passmark multithread score of 52425 and a single-thread score of 4480, the i7-14700KF provides more than enough processing power to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 3070.

The CPU's benchmark scores show it is a top-tier processor. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 44557 and single-core score of 6290 are exceptionally high. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i7-14700KF is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-14700K (deltaPct of 0), and it is only 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X. This performance headroom means that in Control, the CPU is unlikely to be the cause of frame rate drops. The data shows that the FPS differences between settings are primarily due to GPU load, as the CPU can easily handle the increased data from higher resolutions and settings. The 125W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a versatile and powerful choice for a gaming system.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at how this system performs across different resolutions and settings in Control. All figures are average FPS values.

1920x1080: At this resolution, the system is clearly GPU-bound at all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 159.4 FPS, which is exceptionally high. The Medium preset drops to 110.8 FPS, while the High preset averages 103.1 FPS. The Ultra preset, which includes the most demanding visual effects, still maintains a smooth 87.6 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 3070 is well-suited for 1080p gaming, capable of delivering high refresh rates even at maximum quality.

2560x1440: At 1440p, the performance remains strong but the GPU workload increases. The Low preset averages 119.9 FPS, which is still very playable. The Medium preset delivers 86.2 FPS, and the High preset averages 73.9 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 67.5 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. The data shows a clear progression of decreasing FPS as settings increase, with the difference between Low and Ultra being 52.4 FPS.

3840x2160: At 4K, the GPU is under significant stress. The Low preset averages 83.7 FPS, which is a playable result. However, the Medium preset falls to 57 FPS, and the High preset drops further to 52.7 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 42.3 FPS, which may not be ideal for fast-paced action. The performance gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 41.4 FPS, highlighting the substantial impact of graphical settings on the GPU at this resolution. The data suggests that for a consistent 60 FPS experience at 4K, users would need to stick to the Low preset, or accept lower frame rates with higher settings.