Control

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti delivers a playable but constrained experience in Control, with the data showing a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. The benchmark results indicate that this combination is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can achieve smooth performance at Medium settings, while higher resolutions and settings push the system to its limits. The combo ranks in the lower percentile of tested configurations, confirming that while functional, it is not a high-performance pairing for this title.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal experience for this combo is at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, which produces an average of 64.2 FPS. This is the only preset at 1080p that balances visual quality with a frame rate comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. High settings at the same resolution deliver 59.8 FPS, which is marginally below the 60 FPS target but still playable, though the data suggests Medium is the safer choice for consistent performance.

At 1080p, Low settings yield 93.7 FPS, indicating significant headroom for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, but this comes at the cost of visual fidelity. Ultra settings drop the frame rate to 48.7 FPS, which is noticeably less fluid and not recommended for this hardware. The step from Medium to High is only a 4.4 FPS difference, while the jump to Ultra costs 15.5 FPS, showing that Ultra provides diminishing returns for this GPU.

For 2560x1440, no preset achieves 60 FPS. Low settings produce 69.8 FPS, which is the only playable option at this resolution, while Medium and High drop to 50.3 and 47 FPS respectively. Ultra at 1440p falls to 39.4 FPS, making it unsuitable for action sequences. At 3840x2160, all settings are below 48 FPS, with Low at 48 FPS being the only option that approaches playability, though it is still not ideal.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 1425th out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the bottom 13% of all configurations. This low ranking reflects the hardware's limitations, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The data shows that this is not a top-tier setup for the game, but it is not the worst performer either, as it remains functional at 1080p.

The CPU, Intel Core i3-12100F, holds a 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs, indicating it is a mid-range processor that handles the game's logic without major issues. Its average benchmark score of 13516 places it nearly equal to the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (deltaPct -0.1), and slightly ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (deltaPct 0.4). This suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios.

The GPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, ranks at the 55th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 13925. It sits close to the AMD Radeon RX 570X (deltaPct 0.4) and the NVIDIA Tesla K10 (deltaPct -0.7), indicating it is a mid-tier graphics card. The GPU's performance is the primary constraint, especially at 1440p and 4K, where frame rates drop significantly.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo achieves playable frame rates above 60 FPS, specifically at Low (93.7 FPS) and Medium (64.2 FPS) settings.

*Q: Can this combo run Control at 4K?*

A: At 3840x2160, all settings produce average frame rates below 48 FPS. Low settings yield 48 FPS, while Medium, High, and Ultra drop to 32.1, 27.6, and 25.3 FPS respectively, indicating that 4K is not a viable option.

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

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13516, which is 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX and 0.4% above the Intel Core i7-1250U. It also sits 1.8% above the Intel Core i7-7700K.

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

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti has an average benchmark score of 13925, which is 0.4% above the AMD Radeon RX 570X and 0.8% above both the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680. It is 0.7% below the NVIDIA Tesla K10.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 93.7 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 48.7 FPS, representing a 45 FPS reduction. This is a 48% drop in performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the frame rates range from 39.4 FPS at Ultra to 69.8 FPS at Low. Since the CPU is ranked at the 72nd percentile and the GPU at the 55th percentile, the GPU is more likely the limiting component, especially at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results: Low averages 93.7 FPS, Medium averages 64.2 FPS, High averages 59.8 FPS, and Ultra averages 48.7 FPS. This shows a clear progression where each settings tier reduces performance, but Medium and High remain within a playable range.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop significantly. Low averages 69.8 FPS, Medium averages 50.3 FPS, High averages 47 FPS, and Ultra averages 39.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 19.5 FPS, which is the largest single-step drop in the entire dataset, indicating that Medium settings at 1440p are particularly demanding for this GPU.

At 3840x2160, all settings are below playable thresholds. Low averages 48 FPS, Medium averages 32.1 FPS, High averages 27.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 25.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 22.7 FPS, showing that even the lowest settings cannot deliver a smooth experience at 4K. The data confirms that this combo is strictly a 1080p solution for Control.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a significant GPU bottleneck. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 64.2 at 1080p to 50.3 at 1440p, a 21.7% reduction, and then to 32.1 at 4K, a further 36.2% reduction from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that the GTX 1660 Ti's 6 GB of VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the higher pixel counts.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings. At Low, the FPS drops from 93.7 at 1080p to 69.8 at 1440p (25.5% reduction) and then to 48 at 4K (31.2% reduction). At Ultra, the drop is from 48.7 at 1080p to 39.4 at 1440p (19.1% reduction) and then to 25.3 at 4K (35.8% reduction). The consistent degradation suggests that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's performance remains relatively stable regardless of resolution.

The data shows that 1440p is a borderline case, with Low settings barely maintaining 60 FPS, while 4K is completely out of reach. This pattern is typical of a mid-range GPU being paired with a capable but not high-end CPU, where the GPU's rendering load increases disproportionately with resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 58 W TDP make it a modest but efficient desktop part. Benchmark results show a single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark and 1681 in Cinebench R23, indicating solid per-core performance for gaming workloads.

In Control, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, as the frame rates scale primarily with resolution and settings rather than CPU load. The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking and its proximity to the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (deltaPct -0.1) suggest that it provides adequate processing power for the game's physics and AI systems. The multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11912, ensures that the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU at lower resolutions.

The data indicates that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 93.7 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's practical limit for this game, but at 1080p Medium and above, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's 8 threads are sufficient for Control's demands, and there is no evidence in the measured FPS data of CPU-related stuttering or frame drops.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a Turing-architecture GPU with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz, combined with 1536 shading units, deliver 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The 12 nm process node and 120 W TDP make it a mid-range card that was launched with a 279 USD MSRP.

The GPU's performance in Control is the primary determinant of frame rates. At 1080p, it manages playable speeds up to High settings, but the 55th percentile ranking and its closeness to the AMD Radeon RX 570X (deltaPct 0.4) highlight its mid-tier status. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p, but the data shows that at 1440p and 4K, the card struggles, likely due to memory bandwidth limitations.

The 48.7 FPS at 1080p Ultra indicates that the GPU cannot maintain a stable 60 FPS at the highest settings, while the 25.3 FPS at 4K Ultra shows that it is completely overwhelmed at that resolution. The GPU's benchmark scores, including a Passmark G3D score of 12871 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1061, confirm that it is a capable 1080p card but not suited for higher-resolution gaming. The GTX 1660 Ti is the clear bottleneck in this combo, as evidenced by the sharp FPS declines with each resolution increase.