Control

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Control with the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 570 spans three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its only playable result: Low settings produce an average of 60.2 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold exactly. Medium at 1080p drops to 40.9 FPS, High falls to 34.8 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 30.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is substantial, a 19.3 FPS loss, indicating that the first step up in quality carries a heavy performance penalty for this hardware.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but at lower absolute numbers. Low settings average 40.4 FPS, which is the best result at this resolution. Medium averages 29.1 FPS, High averages 25.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 22.4 FPS. None of these reach the 60 FPS threshold, and even the best case at 1440p falls nearly 20 FPS short. The scaling from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is a drop of 19.8 FPS, showing that the extra pixel count places a significant load on the RX 570.

At 3840x2160, the results are largely marginal. Low settings average 28.6 FPS, which is the highest 4K figure recorded. Medium averages 20.8 FPS, High averages 21.2 FPS, and Ultra averages 15.1 FPS. Interestingly, High at 4K slightly outperforms Medium, a 0.4 FPS difference that falls within measurement noise, but the overall picture is clear: this combo cannot approach playable frame rates at 4K under any preset. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is only 13.5 FPS, suggesting the GPU is heavily saturated regardless of settings.

Min and max FPS values were not recorded for any configuration, so the analysis relies on averages alone. The data indicates that frame pacing at 1080p Low is sufficient for the 60 FPS target, while every other setting and resolution combination falls short.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results indicate that the AMD Radeon RX 570 is the dominant performance limiter in Control for this pairing. Evidence comes from the scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 29.9 FPS, a wide margin that shows the GPU struggling as image quality increases. At 1440p, that same Low-to-Ultra spread narrows to 18.0 FPS, and at 4K it narrows further to 13.5 FPS. When the GPU is already saturated at higher resolutions, changing settings has less relative impact, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound rendering.

The Intel Core i5-9400, with six cores and six threads, appears sufficient to feed the RX 570 at 1080p Low, where the average reaches 60.2 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller differences between resolutions at the same settings. Instead, the data shows a consistent and large penalty for each resolution jump: from 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the loss is 19.8 FPS, and from 1440p Low to 4K Low, the loss is another 11.8 FPS. This monotonic decline points to pixel throughput, not processor throughput, as the constraint.

At 1080p Medium, the average of 40.9 FPS versus 60.2 FPS at Low suggests that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, not the CPU's compute capacity. The RX 570 has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, with a memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s over a 256-bit bus. These specifications align with the observed behavior: the card can handle light settings at 1080p but runs out of headroom quickly as settings rise.

For higher resolutions, the CPU's role diminishes further. At 4K, even Low settings only produce 28.6 FPS, and the frame rate barely responds to settings changes. This is the behavior of a GPU that is fully utilized at all times. The i5-9400's single-core performance, reflected in a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 935, is adequate for this game's logic and draw call processing at these frame rates. There is no evidence in the recorded data that the CPU prevents higher FPS at any resolution or preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 3587 out of 3720 tested combos in the database for Control. This places it in the lower portion of the distribution, roughly the 4th percentile of all recorded configurations. The ranking reflects the GPU's age and tier more than the CPU, as the RX 570 sits in the 74th percentile among all GPUs in general benchmark scores, while the i5-9400 sits in the 47th percentile among all CPUs.

The low combo rank is consistent with the measured FPS data. A rank around 3587 out of 3720 suggests that most other combinations in the database achieve higher frame rates in this title. However, the ranking should be interpreted with context: Control is a demanding action-adventure game with heavy visual effects, and the RX 570 is an entry-level card from 2017. The combo rank does not mean the hardware is defective or poorly matched; it simply reflects that the majority of tested systems have stronger GPUs.

The CPU's general benchmark percentile of 47 places it near the middle of all processors, and its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 with an average score 0.2% lower, the Intel Core i7-10710U with a score 0.3% higher, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 with a score 0.4% higher, and the Intel Core i3-10305 with a score 0.4% lower. These deltas are tiny, meaning the i5-9400 is effectively on par with a cluster of mid-range CPUs from the same era. The GPU's nearest rivals show similar clustering: the AMD Radeon RX 6800M is 0.4% lower, the AMD Radeon R9 M295X is 0.7% higher, the AMD Radeon RX 470 is 0.8% lower, and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 is 1.2% higher. This tells us the RX 570 performs in line with a small family of comparable graphics solutions.

For Control specifically, the combo rank is what matters. The data shows that this system is not competitive with the majority of tested builds, but it is also not the absolute bottom of the list. The 133 combos ranked below it likely include older or weaker hardware.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Control? The answer depends entirely on resolution and settings. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combination achieves an average of 60.2 FPS, which meets the 60 FPS playable threshold. This is the only configuration in the recorded data that clears the threshold. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 40.9 FPS, which is playable in a loose sense but does not hit the 60 FPS target. At 1080p High, the average falls to 34.8 FPS, and at Ultra it drops to 30.3 FPS. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, users must stick to Low at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the verdict is clear: no settings produce playable frame rates. The best case is Low at 40.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium at 29.1 FPS, High at 25.5 FPS, and Ultra at 22.4 FPS are all well below playable levels. At 3840x2160, the situation is worse, with Low at 28.6 FPS, High at 21.2 FPS, Medium at 20.8 FPS, and Ultra at 15.1 FPS. The database verdict lists no playable settings for either 1440p or 4K.

The practical advice is straightforward: run Control at 1080p with Low settings if you want 60 FPS. If you are willing to accept lower frame rates, Medium at 1080p is the next best option, but it will not hold 60 FPS. Higher resolutions are not viable with this hardware for this game. The RX 570's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are simply insufficient for Control's demands at higher resolutions, even with reduced settings.

Similar Performance Alternatives

If you are considering hardware that behaves similarly to this combo, the nearest rivals in the database provide useful reference points. For the CPU, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 0.2% lower on average, the Intel Core i7-10710U scores 0.3% higher, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 0.4% higher, and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 0.4% lower. These four processors are effectively interchangeable with the i5-9400 in terms of overall benchmark performance. Swapping the i5-9400 for any of these would produce nearly identical frame rates in Control, assuming the GPU stays the same.

For the GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 6800M scores 0.4% lower, the AMD Radeon R9 M295X scores 0.7% higher, the AMD Radeon RX 470 scores 0.8% lower, and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 scores 1.2% higher. The RX 470 is the most relevant comparison, as it is the same architecture generation and a direct predecessor in AMD's lineup. A system with an RX 470 instead of the RX 570 would produce nearly identical results in this game. The R9 M295X is a mobile-class chip, so its similar score is notable, while the Quadro RTX 8000 and RX 6800M are higher-tier products that happen to land close in the aggregate benchmark metric.

For a builder looking to match this system's performance, any of these CPU or GPU swaps would yield comparable Control frame rates. The key takeaway is that the i5-9400 is not the limiting factor; the RX 570 tier of graphics performance is what determines the outcome. Upgrading the GPU alone would change the ranking far more than swapping among these CPU rivals.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this system at 1080p?

A: Low settings produce an average of 60.2 FPS at 1920x1080, which is the only configuration that meets the 60 FPS threshold. Medium drops to 40.9 FPS, High to 34.8 FPS, and Ultra to 30.3 FPS.

Q: Can this system run Control at 1440p?

A: No. The best result at 2560x1440 is Low settings with 40.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall further behind.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the low frame rates?

A: The GPU is the primary limiter. The RX 570 shows large frame rate drops when settings increase at 1080p, and the performance declines consistently as resolution rises, indicating GPU-bound rendering. The i5-9400 has sufficient compute for this game at the recorded frame rates.

Q: How does the RX 570 compare to the RX 470 in this context?

A: The RX 470 has an average benchmark score 0.8% lower than the RX 570. In practical terms, a system with an RX 470 would produce nearly identical frame rates in Control.

Q: What is the combo rank for this system in Control?

A: The combination ranks 3587 out of 3720 tested combos in the database, placing it in the lower portion of all recorded systems for this game.

Q: Is the i5-9400 a weak processor for gaming?

A: The i5-9400 sits in the 47th percentile among all CPUs in general benchmark scores. Its nearest rivals, including the i7-1068NG7 and Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, score within 0.4% of it. The CPU is not the bottleneck in this pairing.