Control

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Control, but the data reveals a clear transition into GPU-bound territory at higher resolutions. The measured frames per second (FPS) across the four settings presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—show a consistent pattern of scaling that shifts from CPU limitation at lower resolutions to pure graphics card throughput at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and follows the expected curve for a high-end GPU paired with a mid-range processor. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 114.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 88.3 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 23.0%. Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 58.3 FPS, a 34.0% decline. This steepening slope indicates that the RX 6800 XT is increasingly saturated as pixel count rises.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic absolute scaling. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 168.7 FPS, which is extraordinarily high and suggests the CPU is nearing its ceiling for this game engine. At 1440p Low, the average drops to 136.2 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls to 89.9 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 19.3%, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 34.0%, mirroring the High preset’s behavior. This symmetry indicates that once the resolution increases enough to stress the GPU, the scaling becomes consistent regardless of the quality preset.

The Medium preset follows the same trajectory: 126.7 FPS at 1080p, 97.2 FPS at 1440p, and 63.5 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, yields 98.6 FPS at 1080p, 75.0 FPS at 1440p, and 49.9 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 70.1 FPS, but at 4K that gap narrows to 40.0 FPS. This narrowing gap is the signature of a GPU bottleneck: at lower resolutions, the CPU can keep up with the graphics card, but at 4K, the GPU’s raw compute limits the frame rate, making the choice of preset less impactful on absolute FPS.

The data suggests that the limiting component is clearly the graphics card at 4K, as even the jump from Low to Medium at that resolution only yields a 26.5% FPS reduction, whereas at 1080p the same preset jump cuts performance by 24.9%. The RX 6800 XT, with its 512.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 20.74 TFLOPS FP32 compute, is the dominant factor in 4K results. The Intel Core i5-10400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides enough headroom at 1080p to allow the GPU to stretch its legs, but the data indicates that the CPU is not the primary constraint at 4K, where the GPU’s pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s becomes the ceiling.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting a smooth 60 FPS experience, the High preset at 4K delivers 58.3 FPS, which is slightly below the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 4K provides 63.5 FPS, making it the better choice for 4K displays if fluidity is the priority. The jump from Medium to High at 4K costs 5.2 FPS, a 8.2% reduction, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 8.4 FPS, a 14.4% reduction. Ultra at 4K drops to 49.9 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for many users, so Medium or High is the recommended 4K target.

At 1440p, the situation is more forgiving. The Ultra preset achieves 75.0 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS, and the High preset hits 88.3 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 136.2 FPS, which is beneficial for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual quality trade-off is substantial. For a balanced experience at 1440p, High is the optimal preset, offering a 13.3 FPS advantage over Ultra while maintaining most visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 1440p yields 97.2 FPS, which is a 10.1% improvement over High but comes with reduced texture and shadow quality.

At 1080p, the combo is so powerful that even Ultra delivers 98.6 FPS, which is well above the standard 60 FPS target. The Low preset at 1080p produces 168.7 FPS, which is suitable for 144Hz or 165Hz displays, but the High preset at 114.7 FPS is the sweet spot for most users, providing a 16.1 FPS advantage over Ultra while preserving most of the visual features. The Medium preset at 126.7 FPS is a viable alternative for those seeking extra headroom, but the difference between Medium and High is only 12.0 FPS, making High the clear recommendation for 1080p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a Comet Lake processor built on a 14 nm process, featuring 6 cores and 12 threads. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz are modest by modern standards, but the benchmark data shows it holds its own in this game. The CPU’s 3DMark scores—4748 for 16 threads and 4735 for max threads—indicate that the 12-thread configuration is well-utilized, but the single-thread score of 688 is relatively low, which could be a limiting factor in CPU-bound scenarios.

The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 and single-core score of 1453 provide context for the CPU’s capability. In Control, the game’s engine is known to scale with core count, but the data suggests that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 168.7 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame throughput. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1350 and 4-thread score of 2560 show that the CPU’s performance per thread is adequate, but not exceptional.

The nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database include the AMD EPYC 7552, which scores 14115 (a 0.4% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, which scores 14277 (a -0.8% delta). These rivals are closely matched, indicating that the i5-10400F sits in a competitive mid-range segment. In Control, the CPU’s role is to feed the RX 6800 XT, and the data shows that it does so effectively up to 1440p, where the GPU becomes the bottleneck. At 1080p, the CPU is more involved, and the difference between Low and Ultra settings (70.1 FPS) reflects the CPU’s ability to handle the increased draw calls and physics calculations at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 571 out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 65.0th percentile of all configurations. This rank is respectable, given that the GPU is a high-end part while the CPU is a mid-range option. The RX 6800 XT itself ranks in the 87th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49982, while the CPU ranks in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average score of 14168.

The GPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A550M (0.5% delta), NVIDIA RTX A1000 (-1.7% delta), and NVIDIA CMP 50HX (1.9% delta). The RX 6800 XT’s performance is closely matched with these parts, but in Control, the measured FPS shows that the combo’s rank is influenced more by the GPU than the CPU. The 571st rank out of 1636 combos means that 1065 other combinations perform better, but many of those likely pair the RX 6800 XT with a stronger processor. The data indicates that the i5-10400F is not a bottleneck at the resolutions tested, as the FPS at 4K Ultra (49.9 FPS) is close to what the GPU alone would deliver, but a higher-end CPU might push the 1080p Low result beyond 168.7 FPS.

The combo’s rank is solid, particularly considering that the CPU’s 3DMark max-thread score of 4735 is lower than some rivals, yet the in-game results remain strong. This suggests that Control does not heavily stress the CPU beyond its 12-thread capacity, and the RX 6800 XT’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 72 ray accelerators provide ample headroom for the game’s visual effects.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60 FPS?

A: At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset delivers 75.0 FPS, and the High preset delivers 88.3 FPS, both comfortably above 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset achieves 63.5 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that stays above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the FPS varies significantly with the preset, from 168.7 FPS on Low to 98.6 FPS on Ultra, indicating that the CPU is more involved at this resolution. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz is sufficient to push high frame rates, but the single-thread score of 688 in 3DMark suggests it may be a limiting factor at the very highest FPS values.

Q: Is the RX 6800 XT the main bottleneck at 4K?

A: Yes, the data shows that at 3840x2160, the FPS range from 49.9 (Ultra) to 89.9 (Low), and the gap between presets narrows compared to 1080p. This indicates that the GPU’s compute and memory bandwidth (512.0 GB/s) are the primary constraints, not the CPU.

Q: How does this combo compare to the GPU’s nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6800 XT’s average benchmark score of 49982 is 0.5% higher than the Intel Arc A550M and 2.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. In Control, the measured FPS at 1440p High (88.3 FPS) reflects the GPU’s strong performance relative to these rivals.

Q: What preset should be used for competitive play at 1080p?

A: The Low preset at 1080p yields 168.7 FPS, which is the highest measured value and suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors. However, the High preset at 114.7 FPS offers a better visual experience while still providing a frame rate well above 100 FPS.

Q: Does the combo rank higher or lower than the median in this game?

A: The combo ranks 571 out of 1636 combos, which places it in the 65th percentile, meaning it performs better than 65% of all tested configurations in Control. This is above the median, confirming that the pairing is well-balanced for this title.