Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 5 5600F + Intel Arc B390

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F paired with the Intel Arc B390 in Control delivers playable performance only at lower resolutions and settings, with the data showing a system that is firmly GPU-limited across the board. The Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile of all GPUs in the database, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it just 1.3% above the GeForce GT 520MX and 2.7% above the GT 710 – a group that is not known for modern gaming capability. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 5 5600F is a solid mid-range CPU at the 85th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 36945 that is effectively identical to the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (36938, 0% delta) and only 0.5% behind the Intel Core i9-12900T. The CPU is not the bottleneck here; the integrated Arc B390 graphics are.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Control at 1080p with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, at 1080p Low settings the combo achieves 65 FPS average, and at Medium it reaches 46 FPS. High settings drop to 41 FPS, while Ultra falls to 36 FPS. The data shows that 1080p Low and Medium are the only configurations that clear 45 FPS across the entire measured set.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% higher than the GeForce GT 520MX (1463) and 2.5% higher than the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446). It is also 2.7% above the GeForce GT 710 (1443), but all of these chips are in the bottom percentile bracket of GPU performance.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600F holding back the Arc B390 in Control?

A: No. The Ryzen 5 5600F has a multithread score of 19236 and a single-thread score of 2872, placing it at the 85th CPU percentile. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 225, scores 36938 on average (0% delta), while the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is 0.2% higher. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows the GPU is the limiting component, not the CPU.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming on this combo?

A: At 1440p, Low settings produce 50 FPS average, which is the only playable option. Medium drops to 35 FPS, High to 31 FPS, and Ultra to 27 FPS. The data suggests that 1440p Low is the ceiling for acceptable performance, and even that is marginal for fast-paced action.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Control?

A: The combo ranks 2551 out of 2888 tested configurations in Control, placing it in the bottom 12% of all combos. This is consistent with the GPU's 9th percentile standing, confirming that the Arc B390 is the primary performance limiter.

Q: Is there any resolution where Ultra settings are viable?

A: No. At 1080p Ultra, the combo averages 36 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it averages 27 FPS; and at 4K Ultra, it averages 18 FPS. None of these reach the 40+ FPS threshold that would be considered smooth for an action-adventure title, so Ultra is not recommended at any resolution.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, with memory being system shared and bandwidth dependent on the host system's DDR4 memory configuration. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 ROPs, along with 12 ray tracing cores. Its theoretical peak performance is 7.680 TFLOPS for FP32 and 15.36 TFLOPS for FP16 (2:1 ratio), with a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The TDP is 80 W, and it uses no power connectors, as it is integrated into the processor package.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark score of 1482 places this GPU at the 9th percentile of all GPUs tested. The nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts: the GT 520MX (1463, +1.3%), the GeForce 800M (1460, +1.5%), the GT 625 OEM (1446, +2.5%), and the GT 710 (1443, +2.7%). These are all chips that were entry-level even in their own era, which contextualizes the Arc B390's position. It is not a gaming GPU in the traditional sense; it is an integrated solution meant for basic display output and light workloads, and the Control results reflect that.

In Control, the GPU's role is decisive. The frame rate scales almost linearly with resolution and settings reductions, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p Low, the system produces 65 FPS, but dropping to 4K Low cuts that to 33 FPS – a 49% reduction. The system shared memory architecture means the GPU is competing with the CPU for bandwidth, and the 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth of the Ryzen 5 5600F's dual-channel DDR4 is likely a further constraint. The data does not show any scenario where the CPU becomes the bottleneck, as the Ryzen 5 5600F's 12 threads and 32 MB of shared L3 cache are more than adequate for Control's demands.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data offers a clear hierarchy for settings presets at each resolution. At 1080p, Low is the only setting that delivers a comfortable experience at 65 FPS average. Medium produces 46 FPS, which is playable but with occasional dips to 40 FPS minimum. High drops to 41 FPS, and Ultra falls to 36 FPS. For a game like Control, which features fast-paced combat and physics-heavy environments, a stable 45+ FPS is preferable, which points to 1080p Low as the primary recommendation.

At 1440p, the situation tightens considerably. Low is the only preset that breaks 50 FPS, averaging 50 FPS exactly. Medium averages 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS, which is borderline for playability. High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 27 FPS. The data suggests that 1440p Low is the only viable option, and even then, players should expect some stutter in intense scenes given the lack of min FPS data for Low settings. The Medium preset at 1440p does have documented minimums of 30 FPS, which may be too low for consistent gameplay.

At 4K, the picture is bleak. Low averages 33 FPS, Medium averages 24 FPS (with a minimum of 20 FPS), High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. None of these are playable in a meaningful sense, and the recommendation is to avoid 4K entirely with this combo. The best overall experience is 1080p Low, which offers the highest average FPS and likely the most consistent frame pacing, followed by 1080p Medium for those willing to accept occasional dips to 40 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2551 out of 2888 tested configurations in Control, which places it in the bottom 11.7% of all combos tested. This is a poor standing, but it is entirely consistent with the GPU's 9th percentile rank among all GPUs. The CPU, by contrast, is at the 85th percentile, so the ranking is not a reflection of the Ryzen 5 5600F's capability. The CPU's nearest rivals – the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (-0.2%), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (-0.4%) – all have nearly identical average scores, confirming that the 5600F is a well-positioned mid-range processor.

The fact that this combo ranks so low despite having a capable CPU underscores the GPU's dominance in determining game performance. In the context of the database, this combo is closer in performance to systems with legacy integrated graphics than to any modern discrete GPU configuration. The 2551st rank means there are only 337 tested combos that perform worse, which likely include systems with even older CPUs or less capable integrated graphics. For anyone building a system for Control, this combo is not recommended, and the data suggests that even a modest discrete GPU would dramatically improve the ranking and playability.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a heavily GPU-limited system. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 65 at 1080p to 50 at 1440p – a 23% reduction – and then to 33 at 4K – a 49% reduction from 1080p. This is a near-linear scaling with pixel count, which is the classic signature of a GPU bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rate would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU work per frame is largely independent of resolution. Instead, the data shows the GPU struggling more as the pixel count rises.

At Medium settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 46 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p (a 24% drop), and 24 FPS at 4K (a 48% drop from 1080p). High settings show 41 FPS at 1080p, 31 FPS at 1440p (a 24% drop), and 21 FPS at 4K (a 49% drop). Ultra settings follow the same pattern: 36 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p (a 25% drop), and 18 FPS at 4K (a 50% drop). The consistency of these percentages across all settings is remarkable and confirms that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, not any CPU-side constraint.

The Ryzen 5 5600F's 12 threads and 32 MB of L3 cache are more than sufficient to feed this GPU, and the CPU's 85th percentile standing means it is not the weak link. The system shared memory for the GPU is also a factor, as the bandwidth is system dependent and likely falls short of what a discrete GPU would have. This is not a combo that scales gracefully to higher resolutions; it is a 1080p-Low system at best, and the data shows that even that is a stretch for demanding scenes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 65 FPS with no documented minimum or maximum. Medium settings average 46 FPS, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS. High settings average 41 FPS, and Ultra settings average 36 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 29 FPS, indicating a significant performance cost for higher visual fidelity. The Medium preset's minimum of 40 FPS is the only documented floor at 1080p, suggesting that Low and High may have more variable frame pacing.

At 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably. Low settings average 50 FPS, which is still playable but a 23% reduction from 1080p. Medium averages 35 FPS, with a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 40 FPS. High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 27 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 30 FPS is below the 40 FPS floor seen at 1080p Medium, indicating that 1440p is pushing the GPU to its limits. The gap between Low (50 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) is 23 FPS, a similar spread to 1080p but from a lower starting point.

At 3840x2160, the combo is effectively unusable for gaming. Low settings average 33 FPS, Medium averages 24 FPS (minimum 20 FPS, maximum 27 FPS), High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K has the only documented minimum in the entire 4K set at 20 FPS, which is well below any reasonable playability threshold. The scaling from 1080p Low (65 FPS) to 4K Low (33 FPS) is a 49% reduction, and from 1080p Ultra (36 FPS) to 4K Ultra (18 FPS) is a 50% reduction. This consistent halving of performance from 1080p to 4K is the definitive signature of a GPU that is overwhelmed by pixel throughput requirements.