Control

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a broadly capable experience in Control, with performance scaling predictably across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p and 1440p, this combination provides substantial headroom above the 60 FPS playability threshold, while 4K gaming requires a careful selection of graphics presets. The benchmark data, measured across Low, Medium, High, and Ultra settings at three resolutions, reveals a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but maintains strong average frame rates throughout.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are consistently high across all presets. On the Low preset, the average FPS reaches 173, providing an exceptionally smooth experience. Moving to Medium, average FPS drops to 121, while the High preset yields 112 FPS. Even at the most demanding Ultra preset, the average FPS remains impressively high at 94.1. This resolution shows the least sensitivity to graphical settings, with a difference of only 78.9 FPS between the lowest and highest presets.

At 2560x1440, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The Low preset averages 129.8 FPS, which drops to 90.5 FPS on Medium. The High preset shows an average of 81.9 FPS, and the Ultra preset still manages to hold at 70 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 59.8 FPS, indicating a moderate but manageable impact from the graphical settings. All four presets at this resolution clear the 60 FPS threshold with room to spare.

At 3840x2160, the data reveals the most significant challenge for this hardware combination. The Low preset averages 89.3 FPS, which is a strong result for 4K. The Medium preset drops to 61.4 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold. However, the High preset averages 54.4 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 49.3 FPS. These latter settings fall below the playable threshold, requiring users to prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity. The data shows no min or max FPS values are available for any resolution or preset, so all analysis relies on the average FPS.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a classic pattern. At 1920x1080, the average FPS delta between the Ultra and Low presets is 78.9 FPS. At 2560x1440, this delta narrows to 59.8 FPS, and at 3840x2160, it widens to a 40 FPS difference between Ultra and Low. This trend indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT becomes the primary performance determinant as resolution increases. The GPU’s workload grows disproportionately with pixel count, and the data shows that the GPU’s capabilities are the limiting factor at 4K, where even the High preset cannot maintain 60 FPS.

Conversely, at 1080p, the frame rates are so high that the processor’s capabilities are more visible. The Intel Core i3-12100F, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, provides enough throughput to keep the GPU well-fed at lower resolutions. The difference between the Medium and Low presets at 1080p is 52 FPS, whereas at 1440p, the difference is 39 FPS, and at 4K, it is 27.9 FPS. This suggests the CPU is still capable of handling the rendering commands without bottlenecking the GPU at these settings. However, the data also shows that as the preset becomes more demanding, the GPU’s workload increases, and the system becomes more dependent on the Radeon RX 7800 XT’s raw power.

The scaling between Low and Medium presets is more significant at 1440p and 4K than at 1080p. This indicates that the GPU’s shading units, texture mapping units, and memory bandwidth are being used more aggressively at higher resolutions. The Radeon RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is sufficient for all tested presets. The data does not show any memory capacity-related dips, so it is likely the GPU’s compute cores that are the primary limiter at 4K. In summary, the Core i3-12100F is not a bottleneck for this game at any resolution, while the RX 7800 XT dictates which presets are viable at 4K.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Control at 60 FPS on the Ultra preset at 2560x1440?*

A: Yes. The benchmark data shows an average FPS of 70 at 2560x1440 on the Ultra preset, which is 10 FPS above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best preset to use for 4K gaming?

A: The Medium preset is the most demanding option that maintains a playable average FPS. It averages 61.4 FPS, while the High preset drops to 54.4 FPS and the Ultra preset to 49.3 FPS.

Q: Does the system perform better at 1080p on the Ultra preset than it does at 1440p on the Low preset?

A: No. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 94.1, while at 1440p Low, the average FPS is 129.5. The lower resolution at a higher preset does not outperform the higher resolution at a lower preset.

Q: Is the frame rate at 4K on the Low preset playable?

A: Yes, the average FPS at 3840x2160 on Low is 89.3, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience.

Q: Which resolution shows the largest percentage increase in FPS from Ultra to Low?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, the FPS goes from 49.3 on Ultra to 89.3 on Low, a difference of 40 FPS. This is the largest absolute difference among the three resolutions.

Q: How many FPS are gained by dropping from Medium to Low at 2560x1440?

A: At 1440p, Medium averages 90.5 FPS and Low averages 129.5 FPS, resulting in a gain of 39 FPS when using the Low preset.

The Verdict

Based on the measured data, this PC can run Control at playable frame rates at 2560x1440 and 1920x1080 across all four tested presets. At these resolutions, the system clears the 60 FPS threshold with significant headroom, even on the Ultra settings. For 3840x2160, the system is only capable of maintaining a 60 FPS average on the Low and Medium presets. The High and Ultra presets at 4K fall below the playable threshold, with average frame rates of 54.4 and 49.3 FPS, respectively. Therefore, for 4K gaming, users must trade visual fidelity for performance by selecting the Medium preset, which delivers a 61.4 FPS average.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average FPS of 94.1. This provides a high level of visual quality while maintaining a comfortable margin above the playability threshold.

At 2560x1440, the best preset is also Ultra, with an average FPS of 70. This is the highest visual quality available and still clears the 60 FPS bar by 10 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Medium, with an average FPS of 61.4. This is the only 4K setting that achieves a playable frame rate while offering better visuals than the Low preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT combination ranks 1305 out of 3720 tested combos in this game. This places the combo in the top 35% of all configurations tested by this benchmark database. The high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p are the main contributors to this rank, while the 4K performance holds it back relative to higher-end GPUs. The data shows that the system’s ranking is a reflection of its ability to handle the game’s demands at mainstream resolutions, but not at the extreme 4K setting.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU, the Intel Core i3-12100F has a set of neighbors with similar average benchmark scores. The Intel Core 3 N355 shows a delta of 0%, meaning it is a direct performance match. The Intel Core i5-9500 is 0.3% faster, while the Intel Core 5 120UL is 0.7% slower. The Intel Core i7-1250U is 1.1% faster than the i3-12100F. These alternatives would deliver near-identical CPU-bound behavior in Control.

For the GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT’s nearest rivals are also close in average score. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 has a deltaPct of -0.5%, meaning it is slightly slower. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M is 0.9% faster, and the NVIDIA Tesla K20c is 1.3% faster. The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is 1.8% slower. When paired with the Core i3-12100F, any of these GPUs would produce frame rates in the same ballpark, though the exact resolution and preset may vary due to memory capacity and bandwidth differences.