Control

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160 (4K, the highest resolution recorded for this game), the most demanding preset that still clears the 60 FPS threshold is Ultra. The measured average at Ultra is 79.8 FPS, which leaves a 19.8 FPS margin over the playable threshold. For players who want a higher frame rate at 4K, dropping to High yields 92.8 FPS, and Low settings reach 144.9 FPS, but the data confirms that Ultra is fully viable at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the best available preset remains Ultra, with an average of 118.8 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS floor, and the margin is substantial: 58.8 FPS of headroom. The recorded data shows no need to compromise on visual quality at this resolution, as even the heaviest settings deliver nearly double the playable threshold.

At 1920x1080, the same pattern holds. Ultra settings produce an average of 158 FPS, which is 98 FPS above the playable threshold. This is the strongest result in the entire measured set, and the combination of a high refresh rate display with Ultra presets is entirely supported by the data. In short, across every resolution tested, the most demanding preset (Ultra) stays above 60 FPS, so the recommendation is simply to use Ultra everywhere.

CPU and GPU Roles

The measured FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a clear GPU-bound pattern. When moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Ultra settings, the average drops from 158 to 118.8 FPS, a reduction of 39.2 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160 at Ultra, the average falls to 79.8 FPS, another 39 FPS drop. This consistent degradation as pixel count rises indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant performance factor at higher resolutions, with the Intel Core i5-11400F providing sufficient instruction throughput to avoid becoming the limiting component at 4K.

The CPU's role becomes more visible at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is only 42.5 FPS (200.5 down to 158). At 3840x2160, the same settings spread is 65.1 FPS (144.9 down to 79.8). The wider spread at 4K is expected because pixel fill rate and shading load scale with resolution, but the fact that 1080p Low still only reaches 200.5 FPS, while 4K Low reaches 144.9 FPS, suggests that the CPU is imposing an upper bound in the low-resolution, low-settings case. The i5-11400F's six cores and twelve threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, are sufficient to keep the RTX 5090 busy at 1440p and 4K, but at 1080p with Low settings, the frame rate is likely capped by the processor rather than the graphics card.

The scaling between presets tells a similar story. At 2560x1440, the delta between Low and Ultra is 60.7 FPS, while at 1920x1080 it is 42.5 FPS. The larger delta at 1440p indicates that the GPU has more headroom to express its capabilities when the CPU is less likely to bottleneck. Overall, the data indicates a GPU-dominant system where the CPU matters most at 1080p and low settings, but the GPU governs the experience at 1440p and 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the recorded averages are as follows: Low settings deliver 200.5 FPS, Medium delivers 177.8 FPS, High delivers 171 FPS, and Ultra delivers 158 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 42.5 FPS, which is the smallest spread across all resolutions. This is consistent with a CPU-influenced ceiling at 1080p, as the frame rates cluster in a relatively narrow band regardless of graphics settings.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 179.5 FPS, Medium at 149.6 FPS, High at 134.2 FPS, and Ultra at 118.8 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread here is 60.7 FPS, wider than at 1080p. The step from Low to Medium is 29.9 FPS, from Medium to High is 15.4 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 15.4 FPS. The diminishing returns from Medium upward are typical of a game where the highest presets add effects that cost performance without doubling the visual workload.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 144.9 FPS, Medium at 101.5 FPS, High at 92.8 FPS, and Ultra at 79.8 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 65.1 FPS, the widest of any resolution. The step from Low to Medium is a steep 43.4 FPS drop, suggesting that Medium enables features that are particularly expensive at 4K. From Medium to High the drop is 8.7 FPS, and from High to Ultra it is 13 FPS. No min or max FPS values were recorded in the dataset, so the analysis relies solely on averages, but the averages are consistent and monotonic across all settings and resolutions.

The Verdict

This PC, pairing the Intel Core i5-11400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, can run Control at or above 60 FPS at every resolution and preset combination recorded in the database. At 3840x2160, the playable settings list includes High, Low, Medium, and Ultra, with Ultra averaging 79.8 FPS. This means a 4K display with maxed-out settings is fully supported, and there is even room to spare for demanding scenes, though no min FPS data is available to confirm frame time stability.

At 2560x1440, all four presets are playable, with Ultra at 118.8 FPS. This is a strong result for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, as the average exceeds 100 FPS even at the highest quality level. At 1920x1080, Ultra reaches 158 FPS, which comfortably supports 144 Hz displays. The verdict is unambiguous: this combination does not merely meet the playable threshold, it exceeds it by a wide margin at every measured setting. The only scenario where the CPU might become a factor is 1080p Low, where 200.5 FPS is likely processor-limited, but that is far above any practical target.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the Intel Core i5-11400F sits in a tight cluster of processors with nearly identical average benchmark scores. The AMD EPYC 7H12 scores 17120, just 0.3% lower than the i5-11400F's average benchmark score of 17177. The Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17239, 0.4% higher. The AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 17278, 0.6% higher, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 17074, 0.6% lower. In practical terms, any of these CPUs would deliver essentially identical frame rates in Control when paired with the RTX 5090, since the game is GPU-bound at high settings and resolutions.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79842. The nearest rivals are all within 1.4% of that figure. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79605, 0.3% lower. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79396, 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, 1.4% higher. These deltas are small enough that the choice among these GPUs would yield nearly indistinguishable performance in Control, though the workstation-oriented Tesla cards and the RX 6850M XT are not direct consumer gaming equivalents. The key takeaway is that the RTX 5090's position in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs means any of these near-neighbor parts would also clear 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, given the measured 79.8 FPS result.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 184th out of 3720 tested combos in the database for Control. This places the system in the top 5.0% of all recorded configurations, a strong showing driven almost entirely by the GPU's exceptional performance class. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs is respectable but not elite, while the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs is near the top of the distribution.

The rank of 184 out of 3720 means that a very large number of tested combinations sit above this pairing, but the gap between rank 1 and rank 184 is likely small in absolute frame rate terms, since Control is a GPU-bound title. Any combo with a faster CPU or GPU would land higher in the list, but the practical difference at 4K Ultra might be only a few FPS. The data shows a system that punches far above its CPU class thanks to the RTX 5090, and the recorded 79.8 FPS at 4K Ultra is the headline number. For players considering this exact pairing, the verdict is simple: it runs Control at max settings at every resolution, and the ranking confirms it is one of the strongest combinations in the database.