Control

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER produces a combination that is heavily skewed toward CPU capability, and the benchmark data for Control reflects that imbalance. This combo ranks 3176th out of 3720 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the lower tier of results despite the presence of a flagship-class processor. The measured frames per second across resolutions and settings tell a consistent story: the GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting factor, and the i9-14900K’s substantial compute resources are largely underutilized in this title. This analysis breaks down the measured data, contextualizes the GPU’s role, and explains how resolution scaling and settings choices affect the experience.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 3720 tested combos for Control, this pairing sits at rank 3176. That places it in the bottom 14% of all configurations, which is a poor showing for a system built around a 24-core, 32-thread processor. The rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU’s performance ceiling; the GTX 1660 SUPER’s average benchmark score is 12986, and its percentile versus all GPUs is 53, meaning it sits just above the median graphics card. In contrast, the i9-14900K’s percentile versus all CPUs is 95, with an average benchmark score of 79097. The delta between these two components is stark: the CPU is in the top 5% of all processors, while the GPU is merely average. In Control, a game that stresses rendering throughput heavily, the combo rank reflects the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s strengths.

The nearest rivals for this GPU provide context for its performance tier. The GTX 1660 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 12986 is 0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (score 12940) and 0.4% behind the AMD Radeon RX 580 (score 12928). It is 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 (score 13075) and 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon 740M (score 12870). These deltas are minuscule, indicating that the GTX 1660 SUPER performs within a narrow band of comparable mid-range GPUs. For Control, this means the combo’s ranking is not an outlier due to driver issues or thermal throttling; it is simply the expected result for a GPU of this class.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU116 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It has 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The core clocks are 1530 MHz base and 1785 MHz boost, which are modest by modern standards. Memory is 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The memory clock is 1750 MHz, translating to 14 Gbps effective. These specifications define the GPU’s role in Control: it has enough bandwidth for 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles at 4K due to both capacity and throughput constraints.

The 6 GB VRAM is a critical factor at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the measured average FPS drops to 29 at High settings, 33 at Medium, and 25 at Ultra. The frame time data shows a minimum of 28 FPS and maximum of 38 FPS at 4K Medium, indicating significant variability. The 192-bit memory bus and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the texture and geometry loads that Control presents at 4K. The GPU’s pixel rate is 85.68 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 157.1 GTexel/s, both of which are strained when rendering at 3840x2160. The FP32 throughput of 5.027 TFLOPS is a hard ceiling for compute-heavy effects, and Control’s physics and particle systems likely push against this limit.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 91 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 69 FPS, a 24.2% reduction. At 3840x2160 Low, the average is 46 FPS, which is 49.5% lower than the 1080p Low result. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is nearly halved, indicating that the GPU is the bottleneck. For High settings, the progression is 57 FPS at 1080p, 43 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 24.6%, and from 1440p to 4K is 32.6%. This non-linear decline is typical for a GPU that runs out of memory bandwidth as pixel count increases.

The Medium settings row provides the only complete min/max data. At 1080p Medium, the average is 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 and maximum of 74. At 1440p Medium, the average falls to 49 FPS, with min 41 and max 56. At 4K Medium, the average is 33 FPS, with min 28 and max 38. The frame time consistency worsens at higher resolutions; the spread between min and max widens from 19 FPS at 1080p to 15 FPS at 1440p, and narrows to 10 FPS at 4K, but the lower absolute values mean the experience feels more stutter-prone. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor here; the i9-14900K’s boost clock of 6.00 GHz and 36 MB of L3 cache are sufficient to feed the GPU at all resolutions. Instead, the GTX 1660 SUPER’s 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit bus become the primary constraints as resolution climbs.

FAQ

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

A: At 1920x1080, the combo achieves playable frame rates across all settings, with Low at 91 FPS, Medium at 64 FPS, High at 57 FPS, and Ultra at 50 FPS. This is the only resolution where all settings exceed 50 FPS average.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 12986, which is 0.4% higher than the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s score of 12940. In practical terms, the two GPUs perform nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: Does the i9-14900K’s 24 cores help performance in Control?

A: The data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking. The combo’s rank of 3176 out of 3720 suggests the GPU limits results. The CPU’s multi-core score of 39399.5 in Cinebench R23 is far beyond what Control requires.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this setup?

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 46 at Low settings, and it drops to 25 at Ultra. Only Low settings approach playability, and even then, the 46 FPS average is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured range at 2560x1440 Medium is 41 to 56 FPS, with an average of 49. This 15 FPS spread indicates moderate variability, which may be noticeable during intense scenes.

Q: How does the combo’s ranking compare to other GPUs in its class?

A: The GPU’s percentile versus all GPUs is 53, meaning it outperforms 53% of all graphics cards. Its nearest rivals, such as the RX 580 and RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, have scores within 0.4% of the GTX 1660 SUPER.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy of settings for each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset offers the best balance, with an average of 64 FPS and a minimum of 55 FPS. The High preset drops to 57 FPS average, which is still smooth, but the 7 FPS loss from Medium to High is not justified by the visual gains given the GPU’s age. Ultra at 1080p yields 50 FPS average, which is borderline for action games. For 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only option that maintains a comfortable margin, with 69 FPS average. Medium at 1440p drops to 49 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower segments but risks stutter during combat. The High preset at 1440p produces 43 FPS, and Ultra is 38 FPS, both below the 60 FPS target.

At 3840x2160, no preset delivers a consistently smooth experience. The Low preset’s 46 FPS average is the best result, but it still falls short of 60 FPS. Medium at 4K averages 33 FPS with a minimum of 28, which is likely to feel choppy. High and Ultra at 4K are 29 and 25 FPS respectively, making them unplayable for most users. The data suggests that the optimal configuration is 1080p with Medium settings, as it provides the highest frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold while retaining some visual quality. For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, 1440p Low is a viable alternative, but the 69 FPS average there is only marginally better than 1080p Medium’s 64 FPS. The GTX 1660 SUPER’s 6 GB VRAM is insufficient for 4K textures, and the 336.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain high detail levels at that resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor from the Raptor Lake family, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. It has 36 MB of L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core, plus 80 KB of L1 per core. The CPU’s benchmark scores are exceptional: Cinebench R23 multi-core is 39399.5, single-core is 2262.5, and Geekbench multi-core is 21697 with single-core at 2655. The Passmark multi-thread score is 58674, and single-thread is 4697. These numbers place the CPU in the 95th percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097. In Control, however, these resources are largely idle. The game’s engine is not designed to utilize 24 cores effectively; the measured FPS at 1080p Low (91) and 1440p Low (69) are far below what the CPU could theoretically feed, indicating the GPU is the sole constraint.

The nearest CPU rivals show the i9-14900K’s position. The Intel Core i9-14900KF has an average score of 79371, which is 0.3% higher. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus scores 79574, 0.6% higher. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041, 1.2% higher. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740, which is 1.7% lower. These deltas are negligible for gaming, as Control’s performance does not scale with CPU compute beyond a certain point. The CPU’s 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory are irrelevant to the measured results; the bottleneck is the GPU’s 5.027 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 6 GB VRAM. In essence, the i9-14900K is overkill for this pairing, and the combo’s rank of 3176 reflects the GPU’s limitations, not the CPU’s capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo in Control is as follows. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 91, with no min or max recorded. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 64 FPS, with a minimum of 55 and maximum of 74. At 1920x1080 High, the average is 57 FPS. At 1920x1080 Ultra, the average is 50 FPS. These results show a 41 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p, indicating that the GPU has headroom at lower settings but quickly saturates as detail increases.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 69 FPS. The Medium preset averages 49 FPS, with a minimum of 41 and maximum of 56. The High preset averages 43 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 38 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 31 FPS, which is a 44.9% reduction. This is steeper than the 1080p drop, reinforcing that the GPU’s memory bandwidth is a limiting factor. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 46 FPS. The Medium preset averages 33 FPS, with a minimum of 28 and maximum of 38. The High preset averages 29 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 25 FPS. The 4K Low to Ultra spread is 21 FPS, but the absolute values are low enough that the experience is compromised at every setting.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the GTX 1660 SUPER delivers playable frame rates only at 1080p with Medium or lower settings. The 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit bus cannot handle 4K textures, and the 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for high resolution and high detail simultaneously. The i9-14900K’s role is passive; its 24 cores and 32 threads are not exercised by Control’s workload, and the combo’s ranking of 3176 out of 3720 is a direct consequence of the GPU’s mid-range position. For anyone using this configuration, the measured data suggests sticking to 1080p and adjusting settings to maintain a minimum of 55 FPS, which is achievable at Medium. Higher resolutions are possible only at Low settings, and even then, the frame rates fall below the 60 FPS target.