Control

Control with the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 presents a compelling mid-range pairing that is heavily skewed toward GPU-bound performance at higher resolutions. The data shows a system that can deliver smooth 1080p gameplay at maximum settings, but one that will require careful settings adjustments to maintain playable frame rates at 4K. The combination's overall rank of 1632 out of 2888 tested combos places it in the 56th percentile, indicating a solidly mid-pack performer that excels at its primary target resolutions but struggles to maintain that status as pixel count increases.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a dramatic drop in performance that clearly identifies the AMD Radeon RX 9060 as the primary limiting factor in this configuration. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 82 FPS at 1920x1080 to 62 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to just 42 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 49% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K, a scaling curve that points directly at the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit memory bus being saturated by the higher resolution workloads.

The 4K results are particularly telling for the game's demanding nature. Even at Low settings, the system only manages 66 FPS at 3840x2160, which is surprisingly close to the 42 FPS achieved at High settings. This narrow 24 FPS gap between Low and High at 4K, compared to a 48 FPS gap at 1080p (130 FPS Low vs 82 FPS High), suggests that the game's visual complexity at 4K overwhelms the GPU regardless of the preset chosen. The Medium preset at 4K shows 47 FPS average with a minimum of 40 FPS, indicating that even mid-range settings struggle to maintain fluid motion at this resolution.

At 1440p, the scaling pattern becomes more balanced. The system delivers 98 FPS on Low, 70 FPS on Medium, 62 FPS on High, and 54 FPS on Ultra. The incremental drops between presets here suggest a more even distribution of GPU load, with the card still having headroom to render additional effects without completely bottlenecking. The 1440p Medium result, with its 59 FPS minimum and 80 FPS maximum, shows that this resolution represents the sweet spot where the RX 9060 can still flex its compute capabilities without being constrained by memory bandwidth.

The 1080p data tells a different story entirely. Here, the Core i3-12100F begins to show its influence as a potential bottleneck in certain scenarios. The jump from 92 FPS at Medium to 82 FPS at High is relatively modest, but the leap from 82 FPS High to 130 FPS Low indicates that at lower settings, the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads can still feed the GPU adequately. The 71 FPS Ultra result at 1080p, while playable, shows that the game's most demanding settings can still tax this combination, though the 8 GB VRAM buffer appears sufficient at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 1920x1080, the Ultra preset at 71 FPS average is the recommended choice, as it delivers the full visual experience while maintaining frame rates above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 82 FPS offers a 11 FPS improvement with only a modest visual downgrade, making it the better option for competitive play or for users with 144Hz displays. The Medium preset at 92 FPS provides the best performance-to-visual tradeoff for most users, with the 78 FPS minimum ensuring consistent frame pacing during intense combat sequences.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 62 FPS is the clear winner, offering the best balance of image quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 54 FPS is borderline, falling below the 60 FPS target, while the Medium preset at 70 FPS is a strong alternative for those who prefer higher frame rates over visual fidelity. The Low preset at 98 FPS is unnecessary at this resolution, as the visual degradation outweighs the performance benefit for most users.

The 4K resolution at 3840x2160 presents a challenge, as no preset achieves the 60 FPS target. The Low preset at 66 FPS is the only option that exceeds 60 FPS, but the visual quality drop is substantial. The Medium preset at 47 FPS offers a reasonable compromise, though the 40 FPS minimum could cause noticeable stuttering during action-heavy moments. For 4K owners, the data suggests that the High preset at 42 FPS is not worth the additional GPU load over Medium, and users should either accept the Medium preset or consider lowering the resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus, offering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is clearly the dominant component in this pairing for Control. The GPU's 1792 shading units and 28 RT cores, running at a boost clock of 2990 MHz, deliver 21.43 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. These specifications translate directly to the measured frame rates, with the card's performance ceiling being reached at 4K where the 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes the primary constraint.

The card's benchmark scores reinforce its position. A PassMark G3D score of 17631 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 place it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival comparison shows it performs within 1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (delta of -0.7%), which is notable given the RX 9060's lower memory capacity. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 88183 and Vulkan score of 39476 further confirm its compute capabilities, though these synthetic benchmarks don't fully capture the memory bandwidth limitations that manifest in Control at 4K.

The 132W TDP and 300W suggested PSU indicate this is a power-efficient card, but the gaming results show that the 8 GB VRAM is the limiting factor for Control's high-resolution textures. The minimum frame rates at Medium settings, 40 FPS at 4K and 59 FPS at 1440p, suggest that memory pressure causes occasional dips even when average frame rates appear acceptable. The card's 64 ROPs and 112 TMUs, with a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s, are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but struggle to keep up with 4K rendering demands.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core i3-12100F and Radeon RX 9060 achieves a rank of 1632 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 56.5th percentile of all systems tested. This mid-pack ranking reflects the system's ability to handle the game well at 1080p and 1440p, while being outclassed by higher-end configurations at 4K. The ranking is consistent with the GPU's individual 59th percentile standing among all GPUs, though the CPU's 68th percentile among all CPUs suggests the processor is slightly less of a bottleneck than the graphics card.

The combo's position is particularly strong when considering the CPU's performance class. The Core i3-12100F's nearest rivals include the Intel Core 3 N355 (0% delta), Intel Core i5-9500 (0.3% delta), and Intel Core 5 120UL (-0.7% delta), indicating that it sits at the top of its performance tier. This means the CPU is not holding back the GPU in most scenarios, as evidenced by the 130 FPS Low preset result at 1080p, which shows the system can achieve high frame rates when the GPU isn't the constraint.

For the GPU, the nearest rival comparison shows the RX 9060 performing within 2.1% of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 and within 1% of the AMD Radeon RX 7700. The -0.7% delta against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is particularly noteworthy, as it indicates this AMD card is directly competitive with a well-regarded NVIDIA offering in Control. However, the combo's overall rank suggests that other configurations with more powerful GPUs or higher-end CPUs can achieve significantly better results, particularly at 4K where this system's 42 FPS High preset places it well below the 60 FPS target.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F serves as a capable but not exceptional foundation for this gaming configuration. With 4 cores and 8 threads running at a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, the CPU delivers solid single-threaded performance that is crucial for Control's game logic and physics. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide adequate memory locality for the game's assets, while the 10 nm Alder Lake architecture ensures efficient instruction processing.

The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong performance for its class. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11860 and single-core score of 1674 demonstrate that the processor can handle both multi-threaded workloads and latency-sensitive single-threaded tasks. The PassMark single-thread score of 3444 and multi-thread score of 14015 further confirm its capabilities, with the 3DMark single-thread score of 893 showing that gaming-oriented workloads are well-served by this chip's architecture.

In Control, the CPU's role becomes apparent at 1080p where frame rates exceed 90 FPS. The 130 FPS Low preset result suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently at lower settings, but the drop to 71 FPS at Ultra indicates that the GPU becomes the bottleneck when more complex rendering is required. The 4-core, 8-thread configuration is sufficient for Control's requirements, as evidenced by the 68th percentile ranking among all CPUs, but it doesn't provide the headroom that a 6-core or 8-core processor might offer for future titles or more demanding scenes.

FAQ

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS at 4K in Control?

A: No, the data shows that no preset reaches 60 FPS average at 3840x2160. The highest result is 66 FPS at Low settings, but Medium drops to 47 FPS, High to 42 FPS, and Ultra to 36 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combination?

A: The 2560x1440 resolution with High settings provides the best balance, delivering 62 FPS average. At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 71 FPS is also viable, while 4K requires significant compromises regardless of settings.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to the RTX 3060 Ti in this game?

A: The GPU benchmark data shows the RX 9060 performs within 0.7% of the RTX 3060 Ti in average score, indicating near-parity in synthetic testing. However, Control's specific memory requirements may cause differences not fully captured by these scores.

Q: Is the Core i3-12100F a bottleneck for this GPU?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 130 FPS, indicating the CPU can handle high frame rates. The GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings, as shown by the 42 FPS 4K High result.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows 70 FPS average with a minimum of 59 FPS and maximum of 80 FPS at 2560x1440 Medium settings, providing a smooth experience with some headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM cause issues in Control?

A: The data indicates memory pressure at 4K, where the gap between Low (66 FPS) and High (42 FPS) narrows significantly compared to 1080p. This suggests the 8 GB capacity becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions, though 1080p and 1440p results remain strong.