Control

The pairing of an Intel Core i3-12100F with an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX presents a stark contrast in hardware tiers, but the measured data for Control shows that this combination is not only functional but exceptionally fast. The RX 7900 XTX, a top-tier RDNA 3.0 card, dominates the workload, while the quad-core i3-12100F keeps pace sufficiently to avoid bottlenecking the frame rates in this title. Benchmark results indicate that this system clears the 60 FPS threshold at every preset and resolution tested, making it a high-refresh-rate monster for this specific action-adventure game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for Control are uniformly high across all settings and resolutions, with the data showing a clear hierarchy based on graphical load. At 1080p, the system is massively overqualified, delivering an average of 222.8 FPS on Low settings. This drops to 156.7 FPS on Medium, 144 FPS on High, and 122.7 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p represents a 100.1 FPS drop, indicating that even at the highest settings, the GPU is still the primary driver of performance, though the CPU’s 4 cores and 8 threads are being pushed to their limits to generate these high frame rates.

Moving to 1440p, the frame rates remain exceptionally playable, with the average FPS at Low settling at 168.6. The Medium preset yields 118.9 FPS, while High produces 105 FPS. At the Ultra preset, the system still maintains an average of 95.9 FPS, which is a significant 26.8 FPS decrease from the Medium setting. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra shows a 26.8 FPS reduction, from 122.7 to 95.9 FPS, which is a modest penalty given the 78% increase in pixel count, suggesting the RX 7900 XTX has ample headroom.

At 4K (3840x2160), the system finally starts to flex its muscles, but it still never dips below the 60 FPS threshold. The Low preset averages 115.9 FPS, which is a substantial 52.7 FPS drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 81.9 FPS, and High averages 75 FPS. The most demanding Ultra preset still manages an average of 64.5 FPS, which is just 4.5 FPS above the playable threshold. The performance falloff from 1440p to 4K at Ultra is 31.4 FPS, from 95.9 to 64.5 FPS, which highlights the massive resolution scaling of the game's renderer, but the GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6 memory and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth ensure that the frame buffer is never a limiting factor.

CPU and GPU Roles

In this configuration, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is unequivocally the dominant component determining frame rates, but the Intel Core i3-12100F plays a critical supporting role. The data shows that at 1080p, the gap between the Low and Ultra presets is 100.1 FPS, which is a 45% reduction in performance. This scaling is directly attributable to the GPU's workload, as the CPU is likely not the bottleneck at these high frame rates, even with the i3-12100F's moderate 4.30 GHz boost clock.

As the resolution increases, the GPU's role becomes even more pronounced. The 4K results show a 51.4 FPS difference between Low (115.9 FPS) and Ultra (64.5 FPS). This significant drop is purely a GPU-side rendering cost, as the CPU has to feed fewer frames per second at higher resolutions. The i3-12100F, with its 12 MB of L3 cache and 3dmark single-thread score of 893, is sufficient to keep up with the RX 7900 XTX's output at 4K, but at 1080p, it is likely the limiting factor preventing even higher frame rates.

The scaling between resolutions reveals the bottleneck shift. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 122.7 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it produces 95.9 FPS, a 26.8 FPS drop. At 4K Ultra, it produces 64.5 FPS, another 31.4 FPS drop. The fact that the frame rate drops consistently with resolution indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint at all settings. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see the frame rates plateau at 1080p, which they do not. The CPU's cinebench r23 multicore score of 11860 is adequate for this title, but the system's performance is clearly dictated by the GPU's 61.39 TFLOPS of compute power.

Best Settings per Resolution

For players targeting a locked 60 FPS experience, the data shows that this combo can run Control at the highest possible settings at every resolution tested. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the best choice, delivering a commanding 122.7 FPS average. This is more than double the playable threshold, leaving massive headroom for future driver updates or more demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset again provides the best visual experience, with an average of 95.9 FPS. This is still well above the 60 FPS target, ensuring smooth gameplay even during intense combat sequences with heavy particle effects. The High preset at 105 FPS offers a slight performance bump, but the visual fidelity loss is not justified when Ultra remains so comfortably playable.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset is still the most demanding option, but it remains the best settings choice, averaging 64.5 FPS. While this is only 4.5 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold, it is stable enough to be considered playable. However, players who prioritize a larger frame rate buffer might prefer the High preset at 75 FPS, which offers a 10.5 FPS improvement with a minor reduction in shadow and reflection quality. The Low preset at 115.9 FPS and Medium at 81.9 FPS are also viable, but the Ultra settings at 4K represent the full extent of the game's visual capabilities, and the hardware is just strong enough to handle it.

How This Combo Ranks

In the aggregate benchmark database, this specific CPU and GPU combination ranks 564th out of 3720 tested combos for Control. This places it in the top 15.2% of all tested systems, which is a very strong showing given the CPU's budget positioning. The rank is heavily influenced by the GPU's performance, as the RX 7900 XTX has a percentile rank of 64 against all GPUs, while the i3-12100F has a percentile rank of 68 against all CPUs.

The combo rank of 564 suggests that while the GPU is powerful, the CPU is holding back the system from reaching the absolute top tier of performance. Many of the 564 combos ranked above this one likely feature higher-core-count CPUs that can push the RX 7900 XTX even harder at 1080p. However, for a 4-core, 8-thread processor, the i3-12100F performs admirably, with an avgBenchmarkScore of 13494, allowing the system to still achieve a top-15% ranking. The data indicates that this is a balanced enough pairing for Control, but the GPU is clearly the star of the show.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for each component provides context for how other hardware might perform in this same configuration. For the CPU, the Intel Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13494. The closest competitor is the Intel Core 3 N355, with a score of 13492, a delta of 0%. This means a system with a Core 3 N355 would perform virtually identically in CPU-bound scenarios. The Intel Core i5-9500, with a score of 13452, is 0.3% slower, while the Intel Core 5 120UL is 0.7% faster with a score of 13594. The Intel Core i7-1250U is 1.1% faster, scoring 13351, which is a negligible difference in real-world gaming.

For the GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has an average benchmark score of 19410. The nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, which scores 19334, a 0.4% delta. This is a surprising comparison, but it highlights that the average benchmark scores do not necessarily reflect gaming performance at high resolutions. The NVIDIA Quadro K5200 is 1% slower, and the AMD FirePro D300 is 1.2% slower, while the NVIDIA TITAN Xp is 1.2% faster with a score of 19177. In practice, a GTX 1060 3 GB would struggle with 4K in Control, but the benchmark scores suggest that for pure compute workloads, the gap is not as large as one might expect from the generational difference.

The Verdict

The verdict is unequivocal: this PC can run Control exceptionally well. According to the verdictByResolution data, the system is playable at all four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at every resolution tested, from 1080p up to 4K. At 1920x1080, the best settings are Ultra, with an average FPS of 122.7, which is over double the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra is again the best, delivering 95.9 FPS, a comfortable margin of 35.9 FPS above the playable threshold.

At 3840x2160, the system still clears the bar, but with less headroom. The Ultra preset averages 64.5 FPS, which is just 4.5 FPS above the playable threshold. This is a playable experience, but there is little room for error in the most demanding scenes. For a more stable 4K experience, the High preset at 75 FPS is the safer choice. Overall, the data shows that this combination of a budget quad-core CPU and a flagship GPU is a surprisingly effective match for Control, offering high refresh rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, and a solid 4K experience. The RX 7900 XTX's raw power is the driving force, and the i3-12100F does not significantly hamper the experience until you push toward the highest frame rates at lower resolutions.