Control

Control, the 2019 action-adventure title from Remedy Entertainment, presents a demanding workload that scales significantly with resolution and settings. This analysis examines the performance of the Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060, a combination that ranks 1632nd out of 2888 tested combos in this game. The data indicates a system that is highly capable at 1080p, progressively more strained at 1440p, and only suitable for lower presets at 4K. The measured FPS reveals a consistent pattern where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU's six cores and 12 threads provide a solid foundation for high frame rates at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe, clearly demonstrating the Radeon RX 9060's workload limits as pixel count increases. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 82 FPS at 1920x1080 to 62 FPS at 2560x1440—a 24.4% reduction—and then plummets to 42 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 32.3% drop from 1440p. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 98 FPS at 2560x1440 to 66 FPS at 3840x2160, a 32.7% decline. At Medium settings, the drop is from 70 FPS to 47 FPS, a 32.9% reduction. This steepening decline at 4K suggests that the RX 9060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit memory bus are overwhelmed by the sheer number of pixels, a conclusion supported by the fact that the frame rate loss is not linear with the resolution increase.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is playing a more significant role in determining performance, as the GPU is not fully saturated. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is 59 FPS (130 vs 71), while at 4K, the same gap is only 30 FPS (66 vs 36). This compression of the settings range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU's rendering capabilities are exhausted before the visual quality settings can have their full impact. The system is clearly GPU-bound at 4K, with the CPU having ample headroom to feed frames but the GPU unable to process them fast enough.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F, a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, provides the computational backbone for this system. With a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, it offers sufficient single-thread performance for gaming workloads, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1451 and Geekbench single-core score of 1420. The processor's 12 MB of shared L3 cache is a reasonable allocation for a mid-range desktop chip of its generation.

In the context of Control, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU at resolutions above 1080p, but it is still critical for maintaining high frame rates at lower resolutions. The 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and the 2-thread score of 1350 indicate that the processor can handle the primary game thread and secondary physics or AI threads without becoming a bottleneck. The multi-threaded scores, such as the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and the 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748, show that the CPU has enough throughput for background tasks and the game's overall thread utilization.

The CPU's performance relative to its peers is solid, with an average benchmark score of 14185 placing it at the 68th percentile of all CPUs. It sits within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C and 0.5% of the AMD EPYC 7552 in average score, indicating that for this game, the i5-10400F is a well-balanced performer. The Passmark multi-thread score of 12115 and the Passmark single-thread score of 2541 further confirm its capability, though the Passmark physics score of 696 is notably low, which could impact games with heavy physics simulation.

At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 130 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor. The frame rate is more likely constrained by the GPU's ability to process the geometry and effects at that resolution. However, the game's action-adventure nature, with its destructible environments and physics-based combat, does rely on CPU performance, and the i5-10400F's six physical cores provide a solid base for these tasks without exhibiting the stutter that can occur with fewer cores.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The system achieves an average of 82 FPS at 1920x1080 on High settings, which is a smooth experience for most players.

Q: Can this combination handle 4K gaming in Control?

A: At 3840x2160, the average frame rate is 42 FPS on High settings and 36 FPS on Ultra, indicating that 4K is only playable on Low settings, where it reaches 66 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14185, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Xeon 6756E and 0.5% higher than the AMD EPYC 7552, but 0.3% lower than the Intel Core 7 160UL.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The only minimum FPS values provided are for Medium settings: 40 FPS at 4K, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 78 FPS at 1080p.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as evidenced by the 36 FPS drop from Low to Ultra settings (98 to 54 FPS), indicating the GPU struggles with higher quality presets.

Q: What is the system's rank among all tested combos for this game?

A: This specific combo ranks 1632nd out of 2888 tested combinations in Control, placing it in the middle of the performance distribution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 82 FPS offers a compelling balance of visual fidelity and smoothness, while the Ultra preset at 71 FPS is also viable for players who prioritize image quality over a higher frame rate. The Medium preset at 92 FPS provides a significant boost in performance over High, making it a good choice for competitive play or for users with high refresh rate monitors.

At 1440p, the High preset at 62 FPS is playable but may not be ideal for fast-paced action sequences. The Medium preset at 70 FPS provides a better frame rate experience, though the minimum FPS of 59 suggests occasional dips near the edge of playability. The Low preset at 98 FPS is the most responsive option, but the visual compromise is significant. For a balanced experience at 1440p, Medium settings are recommended, as they offer a 12.9% improvement over High while maintaining a reasonable visual quality.

For 4K resolution, the options are limited. The Low preset at 66 FPS is the only setting that provides a consistently playable experience, while the Medium preset at 47 FPS is marginal and the High and Ultra presets at 42 and 36 FPS, respectively, are below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that 4K is not a practical target for this hardware combination in Control, and users should either lower the resolution or accept significant compromises in visual quality.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1632 out of 2888 tested combinations places this system in the 56.5th percentile of all tested hardware pairings for Control. This is a mid-table result, indicating that while the system is capable of running the game, it does not stand out as a high-performance configuration. The rank reflects the balance between the i5-10400F's solid CPU performance and the RX 9060's mid-range GPU capabilities.

The CPU's individual percentile rank of 68th out of all CPUs is notably higher than the combo's overall rank, suggesting that the processor has more headroom than the GPU is able to utilize. Conversely, the GPU's percentile rank of 59th out of all GPUs is closer to the combo's overall standing. This discrepancy reinforces the conclusion that the Radeon RX 9060 is the limiting component in this pairing for Control.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 16014 places it within 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and 1% of the AMD Radeon RX 7700, showing that it is competitive with other mid-range cards. However, the combo's rank is influenced by the specific demands of Control, which appears to be more sensitive to GPU memory bandwidth and capacity. The RX 9060's 8 GB memory configuration is a potential weakness for this game, which is known for its detailed textures and particle effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are: 130 FPS on Low, 92 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 78 and maximum of 106), 82 FPS on High, and 71 FPS on Ultra. This represents a 45.4% performance difference between the lowest and highest quality presets, giving users a wide range of options to balance visual quality and performance.

At 2560x1440, the average frame rates drop to: 98 FPS on Low, 70 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 59 and maximum of 80), 62 FPS on High, and 54 FPS on Ultra. The performance spread from Low to Ultra is 44.9%, slightly narrower than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 59 is close to the 60 FPS target, suggesting some instability in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are: 66 FPS on Low, 47 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 54), 42 FPS on High, and 36 FPS on Ultra. The performance spread from Low to Ultra is 45.5%, maintaining a similar relative gap to lower resolutions, but the absolute values are all significantly lower. The Medium preset's minimum of 40 FPS indicates that even this setting can experience noticeable drops during intense gameplay moments.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060, built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, is the primary driver of frame rates in this analysis. With a boost clock of 2990 MHz and a game clock of 2400 MHz, the GPU has substantial compute power, but its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus is a limiting factor for high-resolution textures. The memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s is modest by modern standards, and this is reflected in the significant performance drop at 4K.

The GPU's 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs provide a raw pixel throughput of 191.4 GPixel/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but struggles at 4K. The 21.43 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is competitive for its class, placing it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in average benchmark score. However, the GPU's performance in Control is more heavily influenced by memory capacity than raw compute, as evidenced by the steep scaling from 1440p to 4K.

The RX 9060's Passmark G3D score of 17631 and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 are respectable, but the VRAM limitation becomes apparent in a game like Control with its complex visual effects. The 8 GB memory is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but at 4K, the game's texture streaming requirements likely exceed the available memory, causing the GPU to rely on slower system memory and resulting in the observed frame rate drops. The GPU's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs reflects this mid-range positioning, and the performance data suggests that users should not expect 4K Ultra settings to be viable with this card in Control.