Control

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 delivers a playable but not dominant experience in Control, with performance heavily dependent on the resolution and preset selected. The data shows a clear hierarchy where the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s six cores and twelve threads provide a solid foundation at 1080p. This combination ranks in the lower-mid tier of tested configurations, making it a balanced pairing for 1080p gaming rather than a high-refresh-rate or 4K powerhouse.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results across four presets and three resolutions reveal a consistent pattern: the Low preset offers the highest frame rates, but the Medium preset provides the best balance between visual fidelity and playability. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 108.6 FPS, which is the only tested configuration to break the 100 FPS barrier. However, the Medium preset still delivers a very smooth 78.8 FPS, which is 37.8% faster than the High preset’s 70.5 FPS and 27.2% faster than Ultra’s 57.4 FPS. For gamers seeking a responsive experience without sacrificing all visual quality, Medium at 1080p is the clear recommendation, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while offering better textures and effects than Low.

At 2560x1440, the situation shifts slightly. The Low preset delivers 81.5 FPS, which remains excellent for competitive play, but Medium drops to 60.1 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset manages 52.5 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action, while Ultra falls to 47.2 FPS. Given that Control is an action-adventure title with intense combat sequences, the Medium preset at 1440p is the optimal choice, as it keeps frame rates consistently above 60 FPS while providing a noticeable upgrade over Low. The drop from Medium to High represents a 12.6% performance loss, which is a significant trade-off for marginal visual gains.

At 3840x2160, the story changes dramatically. Even the Low preset only reaches 54.2 FPS, and the Medium preset falls to 38.4 FPS. The High preset manages 36 FPS, while Ultra drops to a stuttery 31.1 FPS. None of these configurations provide a consistently smooth 4K experience, so the recommendation is to avoid 4K entirely with this combo unless the user is willing to accept sub-60 FPS performance. The data suggests that 1080p Medium or 1440p Medium are the sweet spots, with 1080p offering the most headroom for maintaining frame rate stability during demanding scenes.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 as the optimal resolution, with the Low preset achieving 108.6 FPS and Medium reaching 78.8 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset still delivers 60.1 FPS, but 3840x2160 fails to reach 60 FPS even on Low, making 1080p the most reliable choice for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of frame rate?

A: Across all resolutions, Ultra consistently underperforms High. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 57.4 FPS versus High’s 70.5 FPS, a 18.6% difference. At 1440p, the gap widens to 47.2 FPS versus 52.5 FPS, and at 4K, it narrows to 31.1 FPS versus 36 FPS. The data indicates diminishing returns for Ultra settings.

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, but only with the Medium preset, which achieves 60.1 FPS. The Low preset reaches 81.5 FPS, providing a comfortable buffer, while High and Ultra fall below 60 FPS. Users targeting 60 FPS at 1440p should stick to Medium settings.

*Q: Can the RX 6600 handle 4K gaming in Control?*

A: No, the data shows the GPU struggles at 3840x2160. The best result is 54.2 FPS on Low, with Medium at 38.4 FPS, High at 36 FPS, and Ultra at 31.1 FPS. These figures fall well below the 60 FPS target, indicating the RX 6600 is not suited for 4K in this title.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14168, placing it 0.4% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7552 and 0.8% behind the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C. It trails the Intel Core i5-8500 by 1.1% and the AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 by 1.2%, showing it is closely matched with its peers.

Q: What is the GPU’s standing relative to its nearest competitors?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 has an average benchmark score of 25235, which is virtually identical to the AMD Radeon 890M (0% difference). It is 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP, 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, and 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data shows it becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU’s boost clock of 2491 MHz and game clock of 2044 MHz are relatively high, yet the measured frame rates at 3840x2160 suggest the card’s raw compute power—8.928 TFLOPS FP32—is insufficient for demanding 4K workloads. The pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s are moderate, explaining the steep performance drop when resolution increases.

The GPU’s 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs are typical for this class, but the 112 TMUs limit texture-heavy scenes. At 1080p, the GPU’s performance is strong, with the Low preset hitting 108.6 FPS, which indicates the card is not fully saturated. However, at 1440p, the Medium preset’s 60.1 FPS suggests the GPU is nearing its limits, as the CPU has ample headroom. The 4K results confirm the GPU is the bottleneck, as even the Low preset fails to reach 60 FPS. The Radeon RX 6600’s 132 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x8 interface are sufficient for this workload, but the data clearly shows that gamers should pair this card with a 1080p or 1440p monitor for Control.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 1309 out of 1636 combos for Control, placing it in the 20th percentile from the top. This is a below-average ranking, indicating that many other CPU-GPU pairings deliver better frame rates in this specific game. The rank reflects the GPU’s mid-tier status, as the RX 6600 sits at the 69th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU is at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. The combo’s performance is constrained more by the GPU than the CPU, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops at higher resolutions.

The nearest rival GPUs provide context for this ranking. The RX 6600’s average benchmark score of 25235 is nearly identical to the Radeon 890M (25246), RX 580 2048SP (25287), and RX 6700M (25180), with delta percentages ranging from -0.2% to 0.2%. The RTX 3060 Ti is only 0.5% behind with a score of 25120, meaning the RX 6600 is competitively positioned among its peers. However, the combo rank of 1309 suggests that the specific pairing with the i5-10400F does not boost the experience, likely due to the CPU’s moderate single-thread performance, which scores 688 in 3DMark single-thread and 1453 in Cinebench R23 single-core. The data implies that while the components are individually capable, the combination does not excel in Control’s specific engine demands.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Low preset, frame rates drop from 108.6 FPS at 1080p to 81.5 FPS at 1440p, a 25.0% reduction, and then to 54.2 FPS at 4K, a further 33.5% reduction from 1440p. This progressive decline indicates that the GPU is increasingly burdened at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s role diminishes. At 1080p, the CPU is more involved in frame generation, but the GPU still has headroom, as evidenced by the 108.6 FPS result. By 1440p, the GPU begins to struggle, and at 4K, it becomes the clear bottleneck.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend: 78.8 FPS at 1080p, 60.1 FPS at 1440p (a 23.7% drop), and 38.4 FPS at 4K (a 36.1% drop from 1440p). The High preset follows suit with 70.5 FPS, 52.5 FPS, and 36 FPS, respectively. The Ultra preset is the most punishing, dropping from 57.4 FPS at 1080p to 47.2 FPS at 1440p (a 17.8% drop) and 31.1 FPS at 4K (a 34.1% drop from 1440p). The consistent pattern across all presets points to the GPU as the limiting factor, as the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p but cannot compensate for the GPU’s lack of raw power at higher resolutions. The data suggests that users should stick to 1080p or 1440p to maintain playable frame rates, as the jump to 4K results in a 50% or greater performance hit compared to 1080p in most presets.