Control

The pairing of an Intel Core i3-12100F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a playable combination for Control, but it earns that verdict only in a narrow sense: the game runs smoothly at 1080p across every preset, holds the 60 FPS line at 1440p through Medium settings, and at 4K only the Low preset clears the threshold. The recorded data places this pairing at rank 2549 out of 3720 tested combinations for this game, which puts it in the lower half of the database for Control specifically, a demanding action-adventure title that leans hard on ray-tracing-capable hardware when settings climb.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 3720 combinations measured in Control, this CPU and GPU pairing ranks 2549. That position tells a clear story: the RTX 2060 SUPER is the limiting factor. On its own the GPU sits in the 62nd percentile against all graphics cards in the database, and the i3-12100F sits in the 68th percentile against all CPUs, but Control is one of the heaviest games in the dataset for GPU load, so a mid-pack GPU drags the combined result below the median.

The rank also needs context from the CPU side. The i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread part with a single-thread Passmark score of 3444 and a single-core Cinebench R23 score of 1674, numbers that are genuinely competitive for gaming. Its weakness is throughput: the multi-thread Passmark score of 14015 and the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11860 describe a chip that would struggle in heavily threaded workloads. Control does not demand that kind of throughput, so the ranking deficit comes almost entirely from the graphics card.

The 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is respectable for this class, but with only 34 RT cores and 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, the card runs out of headroom quickly once Control's heavier presets come into play. The ranking reflects that ceiling.

CPU and GPU Roles

At 1080p the balance tilts slightly toward the CPU, and this is where the i3-12100F earns its keep. The jump from Low at 121.1 FPS to Ultra at 68 FPS across presets shows the GPU absorbing the settings load, but the fact that even Ultra stays above 60 FPS indicates the quad-core processor is feeding frames fast enough at this resolution. The single-thread strength of Alder Lake, with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, keeps frame delivery consistent.

At 1440p the GPU becomes the dominant component. Moving from 1080p Medium at 86.1 FPS to 1440p Medium at 63 FPS costs roughly a quarter of the frame rate at identical settings, a drop consistent with GPU-bound scaling: the pixel count grows faster than the card's 105.6 GPixel/s pixel rate can absorb. The CPU's role recedes because the game engine's per-frame demand rises while simulation load stays constant.

At 4K the RTX 2060 SUPER is fully saturated. Low settings deliver 61.8 FPS at 4K versus 121.1 FPS at 1080p, almost exactly halved, which is the signature of a pure GPU limitation. No processor swap would materially change this outcome; the Turing card with its 2176 shading units is simply moving as many pixels as it can.

The scaling between presets reinforces the picture. At 1440p, dropping from Medium at 63 FPS to Low at 89.1 FPS buys a large gain, while at 4K the same drop goes from 43.5 FPS to 61.8 FPS. Settings reductions buy performance roughly in proportion to GPU cost at every resolution, confirming that the graphics card governs this game's behavior in all but the 1080p Low scenario, where the frame rate approaches territory where the CPU would become the constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

All figures below are average frame rates from measured runs; minimum and maximum values were not recorded for these configurations.

At 1920x1080:

• Low: 121.1 FPS
• Medium: 86.1 FPS
• High: 72.5 FPS
• Ultra: 68 FPS

Every preset clears the 60 FPS playable threshold, and even Ultra holds an 8 FPS cushion above it. The Low result of 121.1 FPS is more than double the threshold, showing substantial surplus performance for high-refresh play if visual fidelity is sacrificed.

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 89.1 FPS
• Medium: 63 FPS
• High: 56.3 FPS
• Ultra: 50.2 FPS

The Medium preset sits just above the line at 63 FPS, while High at 56.3 FPS and Ultra at 50.2 FPS fall short. The gap between Medium and High, 6.7 FPS, is the single most expensive step in the 1440p ladder.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 61.8 FPS
• Medium: 43.5 FPS
• High: 38.8 FPS
• Ultra: 30.4 FPS

Only Low survives above 60 FPS, and barely at 61.8 FPS. The Medium preset loses 29.5 percent of the Low frame rate, and Ultra at 30.4 FPS is roughly half the playable standard. 4K at higher presets is not a realistic target for this hardware in Control.

FAQ

Q: Can the i3-12100F and RTX 2060 SUPER run Control at 1080p on max settings?

A: Yes. The Ultra preset at 1920x1080 averages 68 FPS, above the 60 FPS threshold, making this the best settings option at that resolution according to the recorded data.

Q: What is the best experience at 1440p?

A: Medium settings, which average 63 FPS. High drops to 56.3 FPS and Ultra to 50.2 FPS, both below the playable threshold.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this combination in Control?

A: Only marginally. Low settings average 61.8 FPS, clearing the threshold by under 2 FPS. Any higher preset falls well short, with Ultra at 30.4 FPS.

Q: Does the 4-core CPU hold this game back?

A: The evidence says no at the resolutions tested. Frame rates scale sharply with resolution and settings, which points to the GPU as the bottleneck. The CPU's strong single-thread results, 1674 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 3444 in Passmark single-thread, are sufficient for Control's engine.

Q: How does this combination rank against others tested in Control?

A: It ranks 2549 out of 3720 combinations, in the lower half of the database for this game, largely due to the GPU sitting in the 62nd percentile while Control is GPU-intensive.

Q: How much performance does dropping from High to Low buy at 1080p?

A: Frame rates climb from 72.5 FPS to 121.1 FPS, a gain of 48.6 FPS, useful for players targeting higher refresh rates.

Similar Performance Alternatives

On the CPU side, the database lists four chips with near-identical aggregate scores. The Intel Core 3 N355 averages 13492 against the i3-12100F's 13494, a difference of effectively zero, so it would behave interchangeably in this game. The Intel Core i5-9500 sits 0.3 percent behind, and the Intel Core i5-class Core 5 120UL is 0.7 percent ahead, both within margin-of-error territory. The Core i7-1250U trails by 1.1 percent. Any of these processors paired with the same GPU would produce Control results within a few frames of the recorded figures, because the game's performance here is GPU-governed.

On the GPU side, the nearest rivals cluster just as tightly. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile averages 18159 against the RTX 2060 SUPER's 18093, only 0.4 percent apart, meaning a laptop-class RTX 3060 would deliver essentially the same Control experience. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 is 0.5 percent ahead. More surprisingly, the AMD Radeon RX 460 and the Intel Arc A770M appear in the rival list at 1.5 and 1.6 percent above respectively, though those aggregate database scores cover broad test suites rather than this specific game. The practical takeaway: any graphics card scoring near 18093 in the database's GPU average would land close to these Control frame rates, and upgrading meaningfully beyond them requires stepping to hardware well outside this cluster.

Best Settings per Resolution

Based on the recorded data and the 60 FPS playable threshold:

• 1920x1080: Ultra, 68 FPS average. The full preset ladder is playable at 1080p, and Ultra holds an 8 FPS margin above the threshold. This is the recommended configuration for image quality.
• 2560x1440: Medium, 63 FPS average. Medium is the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS. High at 56.3 FPS misses the cut, so players wanting 1440p High would need to accept a sub-threshold frame rate or step down resolution.
• 3840x2160: Low, 61.8 FPS average. Low is the only 4K preset that clears the line, and by a slim 1.8 FPS. Medium at 43.5 FPS is not viable.

The overall verdict: this combination handles Control well at 1080p with no compromises, provides a solid Medium-settings experience at 1440p, and only technically achieves 4K playability at minimum settings. The i3-12100F, with its $97 launch MSRP and capable Alder Lake single-thread performance, is not the constraint; the RTX 2060 SUPER, an end-of-life Turing card with a $399 launch MSRP, defines the ceiling, and Control's demanding engine makes that ceiling visible at every step above 1080p.