Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a fundamentally GPU-limited experience in Control, with frame rates that range from playable at 1080p Low to effectively unplayable at 4K Ultra. The data shows a processor that is vastly overqualified for the integrated graphics it is paired with, resulting in a combo that ranks in the bottom 12% of all tested configurations for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K in Control is severe, clearly identifying the Intel Arc B390 as the limiting component. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 65 FPS at 1920x1080 to 50 FPS at 2560x1440, a 23% reduction, and then plummets to 33 FPS at 3840x2160, a 49% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is overwhelmed by pixel throughput, as the workload increases geometrically with resolution while the CPU remains largely idle.

The High settings preset tells a similar story, with averages of 41 FPS at 1080p, 31 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 32%, while the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 24%. This non-linear degradation indicates that the graphics processor is hitting a hard computational ceiling at higher resolutions, where the shading units and ROPs cannot keep pace with the demand for filled pixels. The gap between Low and High settings at 4K is only 12 FPS, further confirming that resolution, not graphical complexity, is the primary bottleneck.

The 1080p to 4K scaling at Ultra settings is the most punishing, with the average FPS falling from 36 to 18, a 50% reduction. Interestingly, the delta between Medium and Ultra at 1080p is just 10 FPS (46 to 36), while at 4K it is only 6 FPS (24 to 18). This compressed range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is so saturated that additional settings changes have diminishing returns, as the render pipeline is already saturated with pixel work. The data strongly suggests that this combo is only viable for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being a marginal stretch and 4K being outside the territory of practical use for this title.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 2551 out of 2888 combos tested in Control, placing it in the 12th percentile of all systems. This is a poor showing that reflects the GPU's position in the broader market, rather than any deficiency in the CPU. The Intel Arc B390's standalone benchmark score is 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad, which puts it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and the NVIDIA GeForce 800M, which it beats by 1.3% and 1.5% respectively.

The CPU, by contrast, is a top-tier performer. The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F scores 32750 in its average benchmark, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600T, which it trails by a negligible 0.1%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H, which it leads by 0.2%. This massive disparity between the CPU and GPU performance tiers means the combo's overall rank is dragged down entirely by the graphics solution.

The practical implication of this rank is that the system will struggle to maintain smooth gameplay even at lower settings. A rank of 2551 out of 2888 indicates that the vast majority of tested hardware combinations deliver higher frame rates in Control. The data suggests that while the CPU is capable of feeding frames at a much higher rate, the GPU is the gating factor, and the system's overall capability is defined by the weakest link, which is unequivocally the integrated graphics.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. The measured data shows 65 FPS at Low, 46 FPS at Medium, 41 FPS at High, and 36 FPS at Ultra settings at 1920x1080. The Low and Medium settings provide average frame rates above 45 FPS, which is generally considered playable, while High and Ultra dip below 45 FPS.

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?*

A: The data clearly indicates 1920x1080 is the only viable resolution. At 2560x1440, the average frame rates range from 27 FPS at Ultra to 50 FPS at Low, with most settings falling below 40 FPS. At 3840x2160, all settings produce averages between 18 and 33 FPS, which is below acceptable playability thresholds for an action game.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its direct rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F has an average benchmark score of 32750. It is statistically tied with the Intel Core i5-14600T (32707, 0.1% behind) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (32697, 0.2% behind), and it slightly outperforms the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32812, 0.2% ahead of the Ryzen 5).

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the definitive bottleneck. The Intel Arc B390 has a percentile rank of 9 among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 7400F has a percentile rank of 83 among all CPUs. Furthermore, the GPU's score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad places it alongside much older integrated and entry-level discrete parts, while the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21765 demonstrates high-end processing capability.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 50 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 27 FPS. This represents a 23 FPS difference, or a 46% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest graphical preset.

Q: Does the Arc B390's performance in 3DMark correlate with its in-game results?

A: Yes, the correlation is strong. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 is just 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, and the in-game frame rates at 1080p Ultra (36 FPS) and 4K Ultra (18 FPS) are consistent with a GPU in this performance stratum, confirming the benchmark's predictive validity for Control.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the system achieves its best results: Low averages 65 FPS, Medium averages 46 FPS with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 53, High averages 41 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS. This is the only resolution where any setting breaks the 60 FPS threshold, and only the Low preset does so.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decline across the board. Low averages 50 FPS, Medium averages 35 FPS (min 30, max 40), High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 27 FPS. The 1440p results show that the system is already struggling to maintain 30 FPS at the higher quality presets, with only Low and Medium surpassing that mark.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low averages 33 FPS, Medium averages 24 FPS (min 20, max 27), High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. No setting at 4K achieves an average above 33 FPS, and the Ultra preset dips to an 18 FPS average, which is well below the threshold for smooth gameplay in a fast-paced action-adventure title. The data shows a consistent pattern of roughly 20-25% performance loss when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 30-40% loss when moving from 1440p to 4K, depending on the settings preset.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the decisive factor in this combo's performance, and its specifications explain the low frame rates. The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, and it has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 ROPs. It also includes 12 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is rated at 60.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute at 7.680 TFLOPS.

This is an integrated graphics solution (IGP) with system-shared memory, meaning its bandwidth is "System Dependent." This architecture is fundamentally limited for a game like Control that features heavy visual effects and complex rendering. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts like the GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% behind) and the GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% behind), which underscores its entry-level positioning.

The data shows that the GPU's 24 ROPs are likely the primary constraint at higher resolutions, as the fill rate demand of 4K exceeds its capability to output pixels. The 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is also insufficient for the game's shader complexity at higher settings. The GPU's 80W TDP and IGP form factor indicate it is designed for power efficiency, not raw gaming performance, and the benchmark results confirm this trade-off, as the system struggles to exceed 40 FPS at 1080p with High settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a high-performance desktop processor that is severely underutilized in this configuration. It features 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael), with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The CPU has a 65W TDP and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing 83.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. It includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 7400F demonstrates strong processing power, scoring 21765 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3072 in single-core. Its average benchmark score is 32750, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. This places it in close competition with the Intel Core i5-14600T (32707, 0.1% difference), the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (32697, 0.2%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32812, -0.2%), none of which represent a meaningful performance gap.

For Control, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls, and the data indicates it is more than capable of doing so. The 12 threads and high boost clock of 4.70 GHz are sufficient for the game's threading model. The evidence that the CPU is not the bottleneck is clear: the frame rates do not improve significantly when settings are lowered (which reduces GPU load), and the GPU's percentile rank (9) is vastly lower than the CPU's (83). The CPU could likely drive significantly higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU, but in this combo, its potential is capped by the Arc B390's limitations. The 5 nm process node and 6,570 million transistors contribute to its efficiency, but this efficiency does not translate to higher in-game FPS when the graphics unit is the limiting factor.