Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 5 8400F + AMD Radeon RX 6600

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 lands at rank 1335 out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower-mid tier of the database. The data reveals a pairing that can handle the game at 1080p comfortably but struggles significantly as resolution climbs, with the GPU emerging as the clear limiting factor. The Ryzen 5 8400F, sitting at the 82nd percentile among all CPUs, provides ample processing headroom, yet the RX 6600's 69th percentile GPU standing shows why frame rates drop off so sharply at higher resolutions. The measured results tell a story of a balanced entry-level setup that excels at its intended resolution class.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1335 out of 1636 places it in the bottom 18% of tested configurations for Control specifically. This ranking reflects the demanding nature of the game's physics-heavy combat and destructible environments rather than any fundamental flaw in the hardware pairing. In raw benchmark terms, the CPU's average benchmark score of 25064 puts it within 0.3% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24993) and statistically tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (25057, 0% delta). The GPU's average benchmark score of 25235 sits within 0.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (25120) and 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (25180), suggesting the graphics card is competitive with mid-range offerings from the previous generation.

The ranking disparity between component benchmarks and in-game performance highlights how Control's specific engine characteristics—particularly its use of asynchronous compute and ray-traced reflections—can penalize hardware that performs well in synthetic tests. The RX 6600's 8 GB VRAM buffer and 128-bit memory bus show their limitations when the game's particle effects and physics calculations scale up at higher presets. The CPU's Zen 4 architecture with 6 cores and 12 threads provides solid single-thread performance, evidenced by the 3dmark single-thread score of 951 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2943, but Control's engine appears to lean heavily on GPU throughput once resolution increases.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo perform at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 69.1, which provides a smooth experience for most players. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold commonly targeted for action games, and the data shows there is headroom to increase settings if desired.

Q: What is the best resolution for this hardware pairing?

A: At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all presets, ranging from 56.4 FPS at Ultra to 108.9 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, performance drops to a range of 47.2 to 81 FPS, while 3840x2160 sees the average dip below 35 FPS at High settings, making 1080p the clear sweet spot.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 8400F's average benchmark score of 25064 is essentially identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (25057, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (25099, -0.1% delta). It is 0.3% faster than the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24993), showing that all four processors deliver comparable overall performance.

Q: Is the RX 6600's performance competitive with other GPUs?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 25235 places it 0.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (25120) and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (25180). It essentially matches the AMD Radeon 890M (25246, 0% delta) and runs 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (25287).

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 34.9 FPS at High, 38.4 FPS at Medium, and 54.6 FPS at Low settings. The Ultra preset drops to 29.8 FPS, which falls below the threshold for smooth gameplay in this action title.

Q: Does enabling Ultra settings provide a meaningful visual upgrade?

A: At 1080p, moving from High to Ultra reduces the average FPS from 69.1 to 56.4, a drop of approximately 18%. The data suggests that High settings offer a better balance of visual quality and performance, as the Ultra preset pushes frame rates below 60 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data indicates that the High preset at 1920x1080 provides the best overall experience for this combination, delivering 69.1 FPS average. This sits comfortably above the 60 FPS target while maintaining substantial visual fidelity. Players seeking higher frame rates can drop to Medium at 79.3 FPS or Low at 108.9 FPS, but the jump from High to Medium only yields about 10 FPS while noticeably reducing visual quality. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 56.5 FPS offers the most playable experience, though it falls slightly below 60 FPS; the Low preset at 81 FPS is the only 1440p option that maintains a smooth frame rate. For 3840x2160, the Low preset at 54.6 FPS is the only viable option, as all other settings drop below 40 FPS. The Ultra preset at any resolution is questionable—even at 1080p it only achieves 56.4 FPS, making it the least efficient choice in the measured data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo shows a clear performance hierarchy: Low settings produce 108.9 FPS, Medium reaches 79.3 FPS, High delivers 69.1 FPS, and Ultra drops to 56.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is substantial at nearly 30 FPS, while the step from Medium to High is more modest at about 10 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges but with compressed values: Low achieves 81 FPS, Medium hits 56.5 FPS, High manages 54.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 47.2 FPS. The Medium-to-High delta at 1440p is negligible at just 2.1 FPS, suggesting the High preset adds visual features that tax the GPU without proportional performance cost. At 3840x2160, the results become marginal: Low produces 54.6 FPS, Medium reaches 38.4 FPS, High delivers 34.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 29.8 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration below 30 FPS, indicating the hardware simply cannot sustain playable frame rates at maximum settings in this resolution class.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a predictable but steep performance decline as resolution increases. From 1080p High (69.1 FPS) to 1440p High (54.4 FPS), the frame rate drops by 21.3%. Scaling further to 4K High (34.9 FPS) represents a 49.5% reduction from the 1440p result and a 60.8% drop from 1080p. This scaling pattern reveals that the RX 6600's 8 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth become increasingly insufficient as pixel count rises. The GPU's pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p but struggle to maintain throughput at 4K. The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal; the Ryzen 5 8400F's strong single-thread score of 951 in 3dmark and Cinebench R23 single-core result of 2943 suggest it can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them at higher resolutions. The fact that 4K Low (54.6 FPS) nearly matches 1440p High (54.4 FPS) indicates that lowering settings at 4K can recover some performance, but the fundamental resolution penalty remains steep.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F brings Zen 4 architecture on a 4 nm process, featuring 6 cores and 12 threads with base clock of 4.20 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its 16 MB shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide solid data throughput for game logic and physics calculations. In Control, which relies heavily on the CPU for the game's physics-based combat and destructible environments, this processor demonstrates adequate headroom. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20851 and single-core score of 2943 indicate strong performance for a 6-core chip, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs. The 3dmark multi-threaded scores—6091 at 16 threads, 5275 at 8 threads, and 3563 at 4 threads—show that scaling remains consistent as thread count increases, suggesting the processor handles Control's multi-threaded workload efficiently. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck; even at 4K Ultra with 29.8 FPS, the processor maintains its 4.70 GHz boost capability without apparent constraint. The CPU's percentile ranking and benchmark scores confirm it is more than capable for this game, with the GPU serving as the limiting component.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600, built on RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process, features 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the boost clock reaches 2491 MHz and game clock sits at 2044 MHz. The GPU's FP32 performance of 8.928 TFLOPS and 28 ray-tracing cores support Control's visual effects, but the hardware's 69th percentile standing among all GPUs reveals its mid-range positioning. The measured FPS data clearly shows the GPU as the primary constraint: at 1080p, the frame rate scales almost linearly with settings reductions, indicating the graphics card is fully utilized. At 4K, the GPU's limitations become pronounced—the 29.8 FPS Ultra result represents a 72.6% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result of 56.4 FPS. The RX 6600's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 890M (25246, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (25180, 0.2% ahead), but in Control specifically, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM buffer appears to be the deciding factor. The measured data suggests that the RX 6600's memory subsystem, with its 128-bit bus and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, cannot efficiently handle Control's texture streaming and particle effects at higher resolutions, making the GPU the definitive bottleneck in this pairing.