Control

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Control, making it a strong contender for high-refresh-rate gaming. Benchmark results show this combination ranks 2nd out of 3,720 tested hardware combos for this title, placing it in the top tier of systems. Across all three tested resolutions, every available preset—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—clears the 60 FPS playability threshold, which means the limiting factor for most users will be their display's refresh rate rather than the hardware itself. The data is measured, not estimated, providing concrete performance figures for this specific pairing.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which runs at an average of 185 FPS. This is the highest quality setting available and still provides more than triple the playability threshold, leaving substantial headroom for demanding scenes or background tasks.

At 2560x1440, the answer is again Ultra, delivering an average of 121 FPS. This resolution provides a sweet spot for the RX 7600—ultra settings maintain well above 60 FPS while offering significantly more detail than 1080p, and the frame rate remains high enough for smooth gameplay on 120Hz monitors.

For 3840x2160 (4K), the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is also Ultra, with an average of 67 FPS. This is the tightest margin of the three resolutions—the 67 FPS average sits just 7 frames above the 60 FPS threshold, so players who want a consistent 60 FPS with no dips should consider dropping to High settings (89 FPS average) for a safer buffer. The Ultra preset at 4K is technically playable but leaves minimal room for frame-time spikes in combat-heavy sequences.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, are all within a fraction of a percent of the i5-13400F's performance. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS matches it almost exactly with a 0% delta, meaning identical multi-threaded performance in synthetic tests. The Intel Core 5 120 and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D are both slightly behind at -0.3%, while the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H edges slightly ahead at +0.4%. In practical terms for Control, these processors would produce nearly indistinguishable frame rates, as the game is not heavily CPU-bound at the tested settings.

On the GPU side, the RX 7600's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, which scores 0.2% below it—effectively tied in raw compute performance. The AMD Radeon Pro 560X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti both sit slightly further behind at +0.6% and +0.7% deltas respectively, meaning the RX 7600 outperforms them by less than 1%. The AMD Radeon 680M integrated graphics comes in 0.7% behind the RX 7600. For Control specifically, users with these rival GPUs should expect very similar frame rates at equivalent settings, though the RX 7600's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and modern RDNA 3.0 architecture may handle texture-heavy scenes differently than older rivals.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RX 7600 produces exceptional results across all settings. Low settings average 341 FPS, Medium averages 291 FPS with a minimum of 247 and maximum of 334, High averages 247 FPS, and Ultra averages 185 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial—185 FPS versus 341 FPS—but even the lowest figure at Ultra is far beyond the 60 FPS threshold, making this resolution ideal for competitive or high-refresh-rate play.

At 2560x1440, performance remains very strong. Low settings average 224 FPS, Medium averages 190 FPS (minimum 162, maximum 219), High averages 162 FPS, and Ultra averages 121 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a roughly 30-35% reduction in frame rates across presets, which is typical for a 2.25x increase in pixel count. The minimum frame rate at Medium (162 FPS) still exceeds the Ultra average at 4K, demonstrating the headroom available at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, frame rates drop more noticeably but remain playable. Low settings average 123 FPS, Medium averages 105 FPS (minimum 89, maximum 121), High averages 89 FPS, and Ultra averages 67 FPS. The step from High to Ultra at 4K is the largest single-preset drop in the entire dataset—a 22 FPS reduction from 89 to 67—which suggests the Ultra preset's additional effects (likely volumetric lighting or reflections) are particularly demanding at this pixel count. The minimum frame rate at Medium (89 FPS) is still above what many players consider comfortable for a single-player action game.

The Verdict

This system can absolutely run Control, and it does so with remarkable ease. The verdict data confirms that all four presets at all three resolutions—1080p, 1440p, and 4K—are playable, with the lowest average being 67 FPS at 4K Ultra. At 1080p, the system delivers 185 FPS on Ultra, making it suitable for 165Hz or even 240Hz displays. At 1440p, 121 FPS on Ultra pairs well with 120Hz monitors. At 4K, Ultra runs at 67 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold but leaves little margin; players who prefer a locked 60 FPS with breathing room should use High settings at 89 FPS. The only scenario where this system approaches its limits is 4K Ultra, where the 67 FPS average is just 7 frames above the playability threshold. For everyone else, this is a high-performance pairing that runs Control with significant headroom at every quality level.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows that the GPU is the primary performance driver in Control, with the CPU rarely becoming a bottleneck. This is evident from the frame rate scaling across resolutions: moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces average FPS by roughly 30-35% at every preset, and moving from 1440p to 4K reduces it by another 40-45%. This consistent proportional scaling indicates that the RX 7600's rendering workload is the limiting factor, not the i5-13400F's processing power.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 341 FPS, which is an extremely high frame rate that requires strong single-thread performance to feed the GPU. The i5-13400F's single-thread benchmark scores (960 in 3DMark single-thread, 3634 in PassMark) are sufficient for this task, but the fact that FPS drops from 341 at Low to 185 at Ultra at the same resolution shows that GPU load is what scales with settings. At 4K, the CPU matters even less—the 67 FPS at Ultra is clearly GPU-bound, as evidenced by the large drops when increasing presets.

The verdict data reinforces this: the system ranks 2nd out of 3,720 combos for this game, which is an excellent position. This high ranking suggests that both components are well-matched for Control's engine, with the RX 7600 providing ample rasterization throughput and the i5-13400F avoiding any CPU-side frame pacing issues. For players upgrading, prioritizing a GPU upgrade would yield larger gains in Control than a CPU upgrade, particularly at 1440p and 4K where the GPU workload dominates.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Control at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, at 4K Ultra settings the system averages 67 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playability threshold. However, the margin is slim—only 7 FPS above the threshold—so players who experience frame drops during intense scenes may prefer High settings, which average 89 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1080p, Ultra settings average 185 FPS, which exceeds 144Hz. At 1440p, Ultra averages 121 FPS, which is below 144Hz but still smooth; dropping to High at 1440p raises the average to 162 FPS, which meets 144Hz. For a 144Hz display, 1080p Ultra or 1440p High are the appropriate choices.

Q: How does this system compare to other hardware combinations?

A: This CPU+GPU combo ranks 2nd out of 3,720 tested combinations for Control, placing it in the top tier. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, performs identically within 0%, while the GPU's closest competitor, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, is 0.2% slower.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: The GPU is the dominant factor. Frame rates scale proportionally with resolution changes (roughly 30-35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and another 40-45% from 1440p to 4K), which indicates GPU-bound performance. The CPU's single-thread performance is sufficient even at 1080p Low where the system reaches 341 FPS.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate at Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum FPS at Medium settings is 247 at 1080p, 162 at 1440p, and 89 at 4K. These minimums represent the lowest recorded frame rates during testing and are all well above the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: Does this system support ray tracing in Control?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7600 includes 32 ray accelerators and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which enables hardware ray tracing. However, the measured FPS data in this analysis was collected without ray tracing enabled, so the performance impact of enabling this feature in Control is not quantified here.