Control

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 lands in an interesting position for Control, the 2019 action adventure from Remedy's catalog that remains one of the heavier rendering loads in the database. The combo sits at rank 1756 out of 3720 tested configurations for this game, which places it just above the midpoint: not elite, but comfortably clear of the bottom half. The recorded data, all measured rather than estimated, tells a story of a GPU-limited pairing that scales predictably with resolution and delivers a playable experience at two of the three resolutions tested.

How This Combo Ranks

Rank 1756 of 3720 is the headline figure, and it invites a closer look at what that position means. Slightly more than half of all tested CPU/GPU combinations for Control outperform this pairing, while the rest fall behind it. That is a middling placement, but the distribution of frame rates recorded here suggests the combo is far from struggling: at 1080p it averages 148 FPS on Low and 81 FPS on Ultra, numbers that most of the configurations below it in the rankings would envy.

What holds the ranking back is the top of the chart. Control rewards high-end GPUs at higher resolutions, and the RX 7700, sitting at the 58th percentile versus all GPUs in the database, cannot match the flagship cards that occupy the upper ranks. The CPU side is actually the stronger relative performer: the Core i5-11400F sits at the 71st percentile versus all CPUs, suggesting that in this pairing the processor is doing more than its share of the work.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling data points clearly to a GPU-bound system at higher resolutions. Moving from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 at Medium settings drops the average from 105 FPS to 54 FPS, a 49 percent decline. That kind of cliff is the signature of graphics limitation: when the CPU were the bottleneck, resolution changes would barely move the frame rate.

The per-preset scaling reinforces this. At 1080p, stepping from Low to Ultra costs the pairing 67 FPS (148 down to 81). At 4K, the same step costs only 35 FPS (76 down to 41). The tighter spread at 4K means the GPU is saturated regardless of settings, so visual quality is nearly free to raise until the card hits its ceiling. At 1080p, the wider spread indicates spare GPU headroom at lower presets, where the six-core, twelve-thread Rocket Lake CPU likely sets the ceiling. The i5-11400F's solid single-thread results (868 in 3DMark single-thread, 2024 in Cinebench R23 single-core) indicate it feeds the game capably at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the pairing averages 148 FPS on Low, 105 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 89 and a maximum of 121), 93 FPS on High, and 81 FPS on Ultra. Every preset clears the 60 FPS playable threshold, and even the Medium floor of 89 FPS stays well above it.

At 2560x1440, the averages settle to 112 FPS on Low, 80 FPS on Medium (minimum 68, maximum 92), 71 FPS on High, and 61 FPS on Ultra. The Ultra result is the tightest call in the dataset, sitting a single frame above the threshold, which suggests demanding sequences could dip below 60 even though the average holds.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 76 FPS on Low, 54 FPS on Medium (minimum 46, maximum 62), 48 FPS on High, and 41 FPS on Ultra. Only Low clears 60 FPS here, and the Medium minimum of 46 FPS confirms that the more demanding presets at 4K produce noticeable frame time variation relative to the 1080p and 1440p results.

Similar Performance Alternatives

On the CPU side, the database identifies four rivals within a whisker of the i5-11400F's average benchmark score of 17177. The Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17239, just 0.4 percent higher, while the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G is 0.6 percent ahead at 17278. The AMD EPYC 7H12, at 17120, is only 0.3 percent behind, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U trails by 0.6 percent at 17074. Swapping the processor for any of these would leave Control's results effectively unchanged at GPU-limited resolutions, though the near-identical scores come from very different designs.

On the GPU side, the RX 7700's average benchmark score of 15852 has equally close neighbors. The AMD Radeon R9 370X is a near-exact match at 15862, only 0.1 percent apart. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 scores 16014, one percent higher, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti manages 16129, 1.7 percent ahead. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 sits 1.1 percent behind at 15679. Anyone running the RX 9060 or RTX 3060 Ti should expect Control frame rates within a frame or two of the numbers recorded here, since the GPU is the limiting component in this game at 1440p and 4K.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding playable preset is Ultra, delivering 81 FPS on average. That is the recommended configuration: full visual detail with a 21 FPS cushion over the threshold.

At 2560x1440, Ultra again stays at or above 60 FPS, but only just, at 61 FPS. Players who want firmer margins should consider High at 71 FPS, which sacrifices detail for a more stable experience, particularly in combat-heavy scenes where minima matter.

At 3840x2160, the ceiling collapses to Low, the only preset averaging at least 60 FPS, at 76 FPS. Medium at 54 FPS falls short, so 4K players must choose between resolution purity and visual fidelity, or accept sub-60 frame rates.

The Verdict

Yes, this PC runs Control, with important qualifications at 4K. At 1080p and 1440p, every preset from Low through Ultra averages at least 60 FPS, with best results of 81 FPS (1080p Ultra) and 61 FPS (1440p Ultra). At 4K, only Low clears the bar at 76 FPS; Medium, High, and Ultra average 54, 48, and 41 FPS respectively and do not qualify as playable by the database's 60 FPS standard. The practical takeaway: for a smooth, fully detailed experience, play at 1080p or 1440p; for 4K, drop settings to Low or accept reduced frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Can the i5-11400F and RX 7700 run Control at 60 FPS?

A: Yes at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, where every preset including Ultra averages at least 60 FPS (81 and 61 FPS respectively at Ultra). At 3840x2160, only the Low preset clears 60 FPS, averaging 76 FPS.

Q: What is the highest FPS recorded for this combo in Control?

A: 148 FPS average, at 1920x1080 on the Low preset. The highest recorded single-frame maximum is 121 FPS at 1080p Medium.

Q: Is the game CPU-limited or GPU-limited on this pairing?

A: GPU-limited at higher resolutions. Average frame rate drops 49 percent from 105 FPS to 54 FPS when moving from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings, a pattern consistent with graphics-bound behavior. The CPU sits at the 71st percentile versus all CPUs, ahead of the GPU's 58th percentile.

Q: What is the frame rate range at 1440p Medium?

A: The average is 80 FPS, with a minimum of 68 and a maximum of 92. Even the slowest recorded frames stay above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Which alternative GPUs would perform similarly in Control?

A: The AMD Radeon R9 370X (0.1 percent difference in average benchmark score), AMD Radeon RX 9060 (1 percent higher), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (1.7 percent higher), and AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (1.1 percent lower) all sit within roughly two percent of the RX 7700's overall score.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations for Control?

A: It ranks 1756 out of 3720 tested combos, placing it just above the middle of the field, with slightly more than half of configurations outperforming it.