Control

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a thoroughly playable Control experience at 1080p and 1440p, but stumbles at 4K. Benchmark results show the combo hitting 140 FPS at 1080p Low, which is the highest average recorded across all tested settings. At 1440p, the system remains smooth, with the High preset producing an average of 67 FPS, just above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The 4K picture is less favorable; only the Low preset cracks 60 FPS, averaging 71 FPS, while every higher setting dips below the playable mark. This data indicates a GPU-bound title at higher resolutions, with the RTX 4060’s 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus becoming the limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combination is complete for three resolutions and four settings, though min/max figures are only provided for Medium presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 140 FPS, representing the peak performance of this combo. The Medium preset at 1080p shows an average of 99 FPS, with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS, indicating a stable frame time distribution. High settings at 1080p produce an average of 88 FPS, while Ultra drops to 77 FPS average. All four 1080p presets remain well above the 60 FPS threshold, with even the most demanding setting holding a 17 FPS margin.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scaling is consistent but more pressured. Low settings average 106 FPS, which is a 34 FPS reduction from 1080p Low. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 75 FPS, with min and max figures of 64 and 86 FPS respectively, showing a wider variance than at 1080p. High settings at 1440p average 67 FPS, narrowly clearing the playable threshold. Ultra at 1440p falls to 58 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS line, making it the first unplayable setting in this resolution. The data shows a clear pattern: each step up in resolution costs roughly 30-40% of the frame rate at equivalent settings.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles significantly. Low settings average 71 FPS, which is the only playable option at this resolution. Medium at 4K averages 51 FPS, with a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 58 FPS, indicating frame pacing issues. High settings at 4K drop to 45 FPS average, and Ultra bottoms out at 39 FPS. The delta between 1440p and 4K at High settings is 22 FPS (67 to 45), while at Low settings it is 35 FPS (106 to 71), showing that the GPU scaling is non-linear and heavily taxed by 4K pixel throughput.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a clear shift in component bottleneck depending on resolution. At 1920x1080, the RTX 4060 is the primary constraint, but the i5-12600KF’s 10-core, 16-thread configuration with a 4.90 GHz boost clock provides enough headroom to push high frame rates. The 140 FPS result at 1080p Low suggests the CPU is not limiting at this resolution, as the frame rate scales directly with GPU workload reductions from preset changes. The difference between 1080p Low and 1080p Ultra is 63 FPS (140 to 77), which is a GPU-driven reduction since the CPU workload does not change significantly with visual settings.

At 2560x1440, the GPU becomes more dominant, but the CPU still matters for maintaining minimum frame rates. The Medium preset’s 64 FPS minimum at 1440p shows that the i5-12600KF can sustain consistent frame delivery even when the GPU is under heavier load. The scaling from 1080p High (88 FPS) to 1440p High (67 FPS) is a 21 FPS drop, which is proportional to the pixel count increase of 1.78x, indicating a near-perfect GPU-bound scenario. The CPU’s role at 1440p is to avoid bottlenecking the GPU, which the data confirms it does, as the 106 FPS Low result is not CPU-limited.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unequivocally the limiting factor. The RTX 4060’s 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are insufficient for 4K Ultra, which averages only 39 FPS. The CPU’s influence nearly vanishes at this resolution; the difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 32 FPS (71 to 39), which is entirely attributable to GPU rendering load. The i5-12600KF’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1016 and multi-thread score of 7956 indicate ample processing power for this game’s physics and AI, which are not the bottleneck at any resolution. The data shows that Control is a GPU-intensive title, and the RTX 4060 is the component that determines playability above 1080p.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-12600KF, based on average benchmark scores, provide context for how this CPU compares. The Intel Core i9-10900K has an average score of 27872, which is 0.3% lower than the i5-12600KF’s 27799, making them effectively equivalent in compute performance. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D scores 27896, also 0.3% above the i5-12600KF, meaning it would offer nearly identical frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800U and AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE are also within 0.3% of the i5-12600KF’s score, though these are mobile or lower-power parts that would likely thermally throttle in sustained gaming, unlike the 125 W TDP desktop i5-12600KF.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, the nearest rivals are older or lower-tier parts, but the benchmark data suggests they would perform similarly in Control. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 has an average score of 17666, which is 0.2% higher than the RTX 4060’s 17639, indicating that this ancient GPU could theoretically match the RTX 4060 in raw compute, though it lacks modern features like ray tracing and DirectX 12 Ultimate support. The AMD Radeon 780M integrated GPU scores 17588, 0.3% below the RTX 4060, meaning a laptop with this iGPU might approach the same frame rates at lower settings. The AMD Radeon Pro 560 and Pro 460, with scores of 17551 and 17509 respectively, are 0.5% and 0.7% below the RTX 4060, but these workstation cards would lack the RTX 4060’s 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores, which matter for Control’s optional ray tracing features.

In practical terms, swapping the i5-12600KF for any of its nearest rivals would change FPS by less than 1%, so the measured results would be nearly identical. Swapping the RTX 4060 for the Radeon HD 7790 would also yield similar average FPS, but the older GPU’s lack of modern API support could cause driver-level issues. The data suggests that this combo is well-balanced, with the CPU having enough headroom to avoid bottlenecking the GPU in Control.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Control?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 140 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 106 FPS at 2560x1440 Low, and then 99 FPS at 1080p Medium.

Q: Can this system run Control at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which average 71 FPS. Medium at 4K drops to 51 FPS, High to 45 FPS, and Ultra to 39 FPS, all below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: Which setting at 1440p is the most demanding that stays above 60 FPS?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 averages 67 FPS, which is the highest playable setting. Ultra at the same resolution averages 58 FPS, missing the threshold by 2 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639, while the Radeon HD 7790 scores 17666, a 0.2% difference. In Control, this would translate to a negligible FPS difference, though the RTX 4060 supports modern features the HD 7790 lacks.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 43 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. The minimum at 1440p Medium is 64 FPS, and at 1080p Medium it is 84 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 2008 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the 54th percentile of all tested systems for Control performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF and RTX 4060 combination ranks 2008th out of 3720 tested combos for Control, placing it slightly above the median of all tested systems. This rank reflects the GPU’s 61st percentile standing among all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 79th percentile among all CPUs. The disparity between the CPU’s high percentile and the GPU’s lower percentile indicates that the RTX 4060 is the performance ceiling for this pairing. In the context of Control specifically, the rank suggests that while this combo is not a high-end configuration, it outperforms roughly 54% of tested systems, which aligns with the measured FPS showing solid 1080p and 1440p performance but weak 4K results.

The rank also contextualizes the GPU’s nearest rivals, which are all older or lower-tier parts. The fact that the RTX 4060’s nearest rivals include the Radeon HD 7790 and Radeon 780M indicates that its 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are modest by modern standards, which is why it ranks lower than the CPU. For Control, the rank of 2008 means there are 1712 combos that perform worse, including those with weaker GPUs or CPUs. The data shows that the i5-12600KF provides sufficient headroom for future GPU upgrades, as its 79th percentile ranking is superior to the GPU’s 61st, meaning a faster graphics card would improve the combo’s rank more than a faster CPU would.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the most demanding option that stays at or above 60 FPS, averaging 77 FPS. This provides a 17 FPS margin over the playable threshold, making it the recommended setting for maximum visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. The High preset at 1080p averages 88 FPS, offering 11 more FPS than Ultra but with reduced graphical fidelity. Medium at 1080p averages 99 FPS, and Low averages 140 FPS, but these are unnecessary sacrifices given that Ultra is already playable.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the best playable option, averaging 67 FPS. This is 7 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold, leaving a modest margin for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 75 FPS, which is safer for maintaining consistent frame rates, but High is still technically playable. Ultra at 1440p averages 58 FPS, which is 2 FPS below the threshold, so it is not recommended. Low at 1440p averages 106 FPS, but this setting sacrifices too much visual quality for the resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only playable option, averaging 71 FPS. This is 11 FPS above the threshold, but the visual compromise at 4K Low is significant. Medium at 4K averages 51 FPS, which is 9 FPS below playable, and High and Ultra are well below at 45 and 39 FPS respectively. For 4K gaming, the data suggests either dropping to 1440p for higher settings or accepting Low quality at 4K, as the RTX 4060 cannot maintain 60 FPS at medium or higher settings in Control.