Control

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 347th out of 3,720 tested combos in Control. That places this configuration in the top 9.3 percent of all tested system pairings for this game, a strong showing driven almost entirely by the GPU's raw rendering power. The combo outperforms the median tested system by a wide margin, though the older six-core CPU prevents it from reaching the very top of the chart where newer processors would sit.

This ranking reflects a lopsided pairing. The RTX 5090 D sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the Core i5-10400F lands at the 68th percentile among all CPUs. In a game like Control, which rewards high single-thread performance but also scales with modern multi-core designs, this combination produces frame rates that are far above the playable threshold of 60 FPS at every resolution and preset tested. The data shows that the system never dips below 83 FPS average even at the most demanding settings, so the ranking is a measure of how much headroom this combo provides rather than a sign of any bottleneck-related failure.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded FPS values reveal that the GPU is the dominant component in this pairing at all tested resolutions, but the CPU becomes more relevant as resolution drops. At 3840x2160, the gap between Low and Ultra settings is substantial: 136 FPS on Low versus 83 FPS on Ultra, a 53 FPS spread. This indicates that at 4K, the RTX 5090 D is doing nearly all the heavy lifting, and the i5-10400F has enough single-thread throughput to keep feeding it.

At 2560x1440, the spread narrows slightly: Low runs at 155 FPS, Ultra at 124 FPS, a 31 FPS difference. The CPU's influence grows here because the GPU has more headroom to produce frames, but the i5-10400F's six cores and twelve threads still manage to keep average FPS above 120 at every preset. At 1920x1080, the pattern continues: Low delivers 170 FPS, Ultra delivers 137 FPS, a 33 FPS spread. The fact that the 1080p Low result (170 FPS) is only 34 FPS higher than the 4K Low result (136 FPS) suggests that the CPU begins to cap performance at lower resolutions, where the GPU could theoretically push even higher frame rates if the processor were faster.

The scaling between resolutions is telling. Dropping from 4K to 1440p at Ultra improves the average by 41 FPS (from 83 to 124). Dropping further from 1440p to 1080p at Ultra improves the average by only 13 FPS (from 124 to 137). This diminishing return indicates that at 1080p Ultra, the CPU is starting to limit the GPU's output. The i5-10400F's boost clock of 4.30 GHz and its 14 nm Comet Lake architecture are competent, but they are not in the same league as the RTX 5090 D's Blackwell 2.0 GPU, which has 21,760 shading units and a 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth. In short, the GPU defines the ceiling at 4K and 1440p, while the CPU becomes the limiting factor only at 1080p and only when settings are light enough to allow very high frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the combo delivers an average of 96 FPS on High settings, 136 FPS on Low, 108 FPS on Medium, and 83 FPS on Ultra. The only preset with full min/max data at this resolution is Medium, which shows a minimum of 92 FPS and a maximum of 124 FPS. That 92 FPS minimum is still well above the 60 FPS playable threshold, so even the worst-case frame time is comfortable. The Low preset's 136 FPS average suggests that the GPU has significant overhead at 4K when visual effects are reduced, while Ultra's 83 FPS average indicates that Control's most demanding settings, including its heavy use of ray-tracing-adjacent effects and particle systems, still leaves a large margin over the playability floor.

At 2560x1440, the averages climb across the board: High hits 131 FPS, Low hits 155 FPS, Medium hits 136 FPS, and Ultra hits 124 FPS. The Medium preset again has the only min/max data, with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS. The 116 FPS minimum at 1440p Medium is higher than the 4K Ultra average, which underlines how much resolution scaling affects this game. Every setting at 1440p stays above 120 FPS on average, so users with 144 Hz monitors can expect a consistently smooth experience.

At 1920x1080, the results are the highest in the dataset: High averages 144 FPS, Low averages 170 FPS, Medium averages 150 FPS, and Ultra averages 137 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 127 FPS and a maximum of 172 FPS. The 170 FPS Low result is the single fastest average recorded for this combo, and even the Ultra preset's 137 FPS average leaves substantial room above the 60 FPS threshold. Notably, the spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p (33 FPS) is nearly identical to the spread at 1440p (31 FPS), while the 4K spread is much larger (53 FPS). This confirms that the CPU is not the primary constraint at lower resolutions, but rather that the GPU's performance scaling with settings is relatively consistent once resolution is not the dominant factor.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo playable at 4K Ultra settings in Control?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 83 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The database lists Ultra as the best playable setting at this resolution.

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves?

A: The highest recorded average is 170 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests partial CPU limitation at 1080p. The improvement from 1440p Ultra (124 FPS) to 1080p Ultra (137 FPS) is only 13 FPS, a smaller gain than the 41 FPS jump from 4K Ultra (83 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (124 FPS). This indicates the i5-10400F starts to limit frame rates at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the worst-case frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 92 FPS, which occurred at 3840x2160 on Medium settings. No other preset includes min/max data, but all recorded averages are above 83 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested systems in Control?

A: It ranks 347th out of 3,720 tested combos, placing it in the top 9.3 percent of all configurations in the database for this game.

Q: Which component has a higher percentile ranking?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, while the Intel Core i5-10400F sits at the 68th percentile among all CPUs. The GPU is the stronger component in this pairing.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database, the CPU's closest match is the Intel Xeon 6756E, which scores 0.2 percent higher in aggregate benchmarks. The Intel Core 7 160UL is 0.3 percent lower, the AMD EPYC 7552 is 0.5 percent higher, and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C is 0.6 percent lower. These deltas are all within one percent, meaning any of these processors would behave nearly identically to the i5-10400F in Control when paired with the same GPU. The Ryzen 3 7320C is a notable inclusion because it is a much lower-end part on paper, yet its aggregate score is only 0.6 percent behind, suggesting that Control's engine does not heavily favor the i5's extra cores and threads in this specific benchmark.

On the GPU side, the nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, which scores 1.1 percent higher in aggregate benchmarks. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is 1.6 percent lower, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB is 2.1 percent lower, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB is 2.4 percent lower. All four rivals fall within a 3.5 percent band of the RTX 5090 D's average score, which is remarkable given the generational and architectural differences. In practice, a system swapping the RTX 5090 D for an RX 6650M XT would deliver nearly the same frame rates in Control, although the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth would likely matter more in other titles with heavier texture loads. For Control specifically, the measured data indicates that any of these GPU alternatives would produce average FPS within a few frames of the RTX 5090 D at each resolution and preset.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which delivers an average of 83 FPS. This is the best visual quality available in the test set, and it still leaves 23 FPS of headroom above the playable threshold. Players seeking higher frame rates can drop to High for 96 FPS, Medium for 108 FPS, or Low for 136 FPS, but Ultra is the recommended choice for maximum image quality without sacrificing playability.

At 2560x1440, the best setting is also Ultra, with an average of 124 FPS. This provides a 64 FPS margin over the 60 FPS threshold, so there is ample room for demanding scenes that might cause temporary dips. The High preset offers 131 FPS, Medium offers 136 FPS, and Low offers 155 FPS, but none of these are necessary to maintain smooth gameplay.

At 1920x1080, Ultra remains the best setting, delivering an average of 137 FPS. The margin over the playable threshold is 77 FPS, the largest of any resolution tested. High runs at 144 FPS, Medium at 150 FPS, and Low at 170 FPS, but Ultra's 137 FPS average is still high enough for most high-refresh-rate monitors. The data shows that this combo can run Control at maximum settings across all three resolutions while staying far above the 60 FPS playability floor, making the i5-10400F and RTX 5090 D a fully capable pairing for this title.