Control

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT delivers a playable experience in Control at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles at 4K. Measured data shows the combination reaches an average of 80.3 FPS at 1080p High and 60.3 FPS at 1440p High, while 4K High drops to 37.9 FPS. The system ranks 2392 out of 3720 tested combos for this title, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS by resolution and settings, examines CPU versus GPU scaling, and provides guidance on optimal settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the i3-12100F and RX 7600 XT combination produces its strongest results. The Low preset averages 120.5 FPS, which is the highest measured value across all resolutions and settings. Moving to Medium yields 87.6 FPS, while High achieves 80.3 FPS. The Ultra preset remains above the 60 FPS playability threshold at 68.6 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra spans 51.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU has substantial headroom at this resolution even with maximum settings.

At 2560x1440, performance scales downward as expected. The Low preset averages 92.2 FPS, which is still well above the playability threshold. Medium delivers 69 FPS, and High barely clears 60 FPS with an average of 60.3 FPS. The Ultra preset drops below the threshold at 52 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 40.2 FPS, a narrower gap than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the system falls short of the 60 FPS threshold for most settings. The Low preset averages 65 FPS, which is the only playable option at this resolution. Medium drops to 41.9 FPS, High falls to 37.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 36.6 FPS. The performance cliff between Low and Medium at 4K is steep, a 23.1 FPS drop, indicating that the RX 7600 XT's 16 GB memory buffer cannot compensate for the raw compute demands of higher presets at this resolution.

Data does not include min or max FPS values, so all analysis relies on average FPS. The measured values show consistent scaling across resolutions, with 1080p to 1440p resulting in roughly 25-30% lower FPS for the same settings, and 1440p to 4K producing another 35-45% reduction.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior across resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU is the primary constraint, as evidenced by the wide gap between Low (120.5 FPS) and Ultra (68.6 FPS). The i3-12100F, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, provides sufficient throughput to keep the RX 7600 XT fed at this resolution. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11860 and single-core score of 1674 place it in the 68th percentile for all CPUs, which is adequate for Control's demands at 1080p.

At 1440p, the balance shifts slightly toward the GPU. The FPS gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 40.2 FPS, compared to 51.9 FPS at 1080p. This suggests that as resolution increases, the GPU's rendering workload grows faster than the CPU's frame preparation workload. The i3-12100F's 3DMark 4-thread score of 2859 and 8-thread score of 4026 indicate that the CPU has enough multi-threaded capacity to avoid becoming a hard bottleneck at 1440p.

At 4K, the GPU is unequivocally the limiting factor. The RX 7600 XT's FP32 compute of 22.57 TFLOPS and texture rate of 352.6 GTexel/s are insufficient for high presets at this resolution, regardless of CPU headroom. The fact that Low at 4K (65 FPS) is only slightly lower than Medium at 1440p (69 FPS) demonstrates that the GPU is operating near its absolute ceiling. The i3-12100F's single-thread performance, measured at 893 in 3DMark single-thread and 3444 in Passmark, is more than adequate for 4K, where the GPU's pixel rate of 176.3 GPixel/s becomes the dominant constraint.

The scaling pattern across resolutions indicates that Control is primarily GPU-bound at all tested settings. The CPU's Passmark multi-thread score of 14015 and Geekbench multi-core score of 7252 place it well above the minimum requirements for this game. However, the relatively low core count of 4 means that the CPU could become a factor in scenes with heavy physics or AI calculations, though the measured FPS data does not show evidence of such a bottleneck in the average figures.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearestRivals data for the i3-12100F shows that the Intel Core 3 N355 has an average benchmark score of 13492, a 0% delta from the i3-12100F's 13494. This indicates that the N355 would deliver essentially identical CPU-bound performance in Control. The Intel Core i5-9500 scores 13452, a 0.3% deficit, meaning it would perform within a fraction of a percent of the i3-12100F. The Intel Core 5 120UL scores 13594, a 0.7% advantage, which would translate to a negligible FPS difference in game. The Intel Core i7-1250U scores 13351, a 1.1% deficit, again resulting in nearly identical frame rates.

For the GPU, the nearestRivals data lists the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 with an average score of 17037, a 0.3% delta from the RX 7600 XT's 17083. This older dual-GPU card would produce nearly identical average FPS in Control, though its driver support and frame pacing might differ. The AMD Radeon HD 7970M scores 17019, a 0.4% delta, which is remarkable given its age and mobile design. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 scores 17208, a 0.7% advantage, making it a slightly faster alternative that could push 4K Low from 65 FPS to roughly 65.5 FPS based on the delta. The NVIDIA Tesla M4 scores 16932, a 0.9% deficit, which would result in approximately 64.4 FPS at 4K Low.

These rival scores indicate that the i3-12100F and RX 7600 XT combination sits in a crowded performance band. Users upgrading from any of these near-equivalent components would see no meaningful FPS change in Control. The RTX 3070's slight edge could push 1440p Ultra from 52 FPS to approximately 52.4 FPS, which would still not clear the 60 FPS threshold.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Control at 1080p with maximum settings?

A: Yes. The Ultra preset at 1920x1080 averages 68.6 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playability threshold. All four settings presets at 1080p are playable, with Low at 120.5 FPS, Medium at 87.6 FPS, and High at 80.3 FPS.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p?

A: High is the most demanding playable preset at 2560x1440, averaging 60.3 FPS. Medium averages 69 FPS and Low averages 92.2 FPS, but Ultra drops below the threshold at 52 FPS.

Q: Is 4K playable with this hardware?

A: Only with the Low preset, which averages 65 FPS at 3840x2160. Medium drops to 41.9 FPS, High to 37.9 FPS, and Ultra to 36.6 FPS, all below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RX 7600 XT compare to the RTX 3070 for this game?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, which is 0.7% higher than the RX 7600 XT's 17083. This translates to a negligible FPS difference in Control, less than one frame per second at most settings.

Q: Does the i3-12100F bottleneck the RX 7600 XT?

A: The data shows the system is GPU-bound at all resolutions. The i3-12100F's average benchmark score of 13494 places it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rival, the Core 3 N355, scores 13492. No evidence of CPU bottlenecking appears in the measured FPS.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 1080p Medium?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 averages 87.6 FPS. This is 27.2 FPS higher than the High preset and 32.9 FPS lower than the Low preset, making it a good balance of visual quality and performance.

The Verdict

The Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT combination can run Control, but the playable resolution depends heavily on the settings preset. At 1920x1080, all four presets clear the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra averaging 68.6 FPS. At 2560x1440, the system achieves playable performance on Low, Medium, and High presets, with High barely clearing 60 FPS at 60.3 FPS. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset is playable, averaging 65 FPS; all other presets fall below 42 FPS.

The verdict by resolution confirms this analysis: 1080p is fully playable across all settings, 1440p is playable up to High, and 4K is playable only on Low. The 60 FPS threshold is the benchmark for playability, and the data shows that users seeking higher visual fidelity at 4K would need more powerful hardware. For 1440p users, the system offers a comfortable margin on Medium and a marginal one on High.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is Low, which averages 65 FPS. This is the only preset at 4K that stays at or above 60 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall below the threshold, with averages of 41.9 FPS, 37.9 FPS, and 36.6 FPS respectively.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is High, averaging 60.3 FPS. This preset barely clears the threshold, while Medium provides a more comfortable 69 FPS. Low averages 92.2 FPS but sacrifices visual quality. Ultra is not playable at 52 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is Ultra, averaging 68.6 FPS. This provides the highest visual quality while maintaining a playable frame rate. The system has sufficient headroom at 1080p to run the most demanding preset without dropping below 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT ranks 2392 out of 3720 tested combos for Control, placing it in the 35.7th percentile of all tested systems. This rank reflects the GPU's 60th percentile standing among all GPUs and the CPU's 68th percentile among all CPUs. The ranking indicates that while this system is capable of running Control at playable frame rates for 1080p and 1440p, many other combinations deliver higher performance.

The rank is consistent with the measured FPS data. Systems ranking above 2392 would generally achieve higher frame rates at the same settings, particularly at 4K where this combination struggles. The RX 7600 XT's nearest rivals, including the RTX 3070 with a 0.7% higher score, would likely rank slightly higher due to their marginal performance advantage. The i3-12100F's nearest rivals, such as the Core 5 120UL with a 0.7% higher score, would also contribute to a slightly better overall ranking if paired with the same GPU.

The 2392 rank out of 3720 combos suggests that users should not expect top-tier performance from this system in Control. However, the playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p demonstrate that the combination is sufficient for a satisfying experience at those resolutions, particularly when settings are adjusted to match the hardware's capabilities.