Control

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti delivers a smooth experience in Control, with benchmark results showing that the GPU handles the heavy lifting at higher resolutions while the CPU becomes a factor at 1080p. The data indicates that this combination ranks in the 84th percentile among all tested combos for this title, placing it well above average. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets show a clear pattern of performance scaling that favors high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 150 FPS with a minimum of 127 FPS and a maximum of 172 FPS, which provides a comfortable margin above typical 144Hz display refresh rates. This preset keeps the frame rate consistently high while offering more visual fidelity than the Low preset, which reaches 170 FPS at 1080p but sacrifices substantial graphical detail.

For users prioritizing maximum smoothness at 1440p, the High preset is the optimal choice. The data shows an average of 111 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings, which is well-suited for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 1440p yields 125 FPS average with a minimum of 106 FPS, but the High preset’s visual improvements come at a cost of only 14 FPS on average, making it a worthwhile trade-off for most players. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 96 FPS, which is still playable but begins to approach the threshold where frame pacing issues can become noticeable on 120Hz displays.

At 4K resolution, the Medium preset is the recommended choice. It achieves an average of 84 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS and a maximum of 97 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that maintains a minimum above 60 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 75 FPS but lacks reported minimum and maximum values, suggesting less consistent frame delivery. The Ultra preset at 4K falls to 65 FPS average, which is below the ideal threshold for smooth gameplay, while the Low preset at 4K reaches 119 FPS but severely compromises visual quality.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the “sweet spot” across all resolutions, delivering frame rates that are at least 60% higher than the Ultra preset at each resolution tier. For example, at 1080p, Medium produces 150 FPS compared to Ultra’s 127 FPS, a difference of 23 FPS. At 1440p, the gap widens to 29 FPS (125 vs 96), and at 4K it reaches 19 FPS (84 vs 65). This consistent advantage makes Medium the most efficient settings choice for this hardware combination.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are critical for Control, which is known for its dense particle effects and physics-based destruction sequences that place significant demands on texture memory and bandwidth. The GPU’s boost clock of 2452 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz, combined with 8960 shading units, deliver the raw compute power needed to maintain high frame rates at demanding settings.

The GPU’s performance characteristics are clearly visible in the measured data. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is only 43 FPS (170 vs 127), indicating that the GPU has ample headroom to handle increased visual complexity without substantial frame rate penalties. This suggests that the RTX 5070 Ti is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions, as it can process the additional shader work and texture loads required by higher presets with relative ease.

At 4K resolution, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced. The frame rate drops from 119 FPS at Low to 65 FPS at Ultra, a reduction of 54 FPS or approximately 45%. This scaling demonstrates that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and processing power are being fully utilized at higher resolutions, where the increased pixel count places greater stress on the rendering pipeline. The 16 GB VRAM capacity ensures that even the Ultra preset at 4K does not exceed memory limits, as evidenced by the playable 65 FPS average.

The RTX 5070 Ti’s 43.94 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 70 RT cores provide substantial headroom for Control’s graphical effects. The GPU’s 686.6 GTexel/s texture rate and 235.4 GPixel/s pixel rate contribute to its ability to maintain high frame rates across all settings. The benchmark data shows that the GPU ranks in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49957, placing it in the upper tier of graphics cards tested.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. This Comet Lake processor features 12 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel configuration, offering a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. The CPU’s benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10283 and a single-core score of 1451, indicating a balanced capability for gaming workloads.

In Control, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p resolution. The data shows that at 1920x1080, the frame rate difference between Low (170 FPS) and Ultra (127 FPS) is 43 FPS, which is a larger gap than at higher resolutions. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is able to feed the GPU with enough draw calls and game logic updates to reach very high frame rates, but the GPU’s rendering load becomes less dominant. The 6-core/12-thread configuration provides adequate parallelism for Control’s physics and AI systems, which can utilize multiple threads effectively.

At 1440p and 4K, the CPU’s influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 1440p at High settings shows a decrease of 33 FPS (144 to 111), and from 1440p to 4K a further decrease of 36 FPS (111 to 75). This pattern indicates that the CPU is capable of maintaining high frame rates without becoming a limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the GPU’s rendering workload grows faster than the CPU’s game logic requirements.

The CPU’s 3DMark scores provide context for its gaming performance. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 and 8-thread score of 3929 show that the processor scales well with additional threads, while the single-thread score of 688 indicates adequate per-core performance for games that rely on single-threaded game loops. The CPU’s percentile rank of 68 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14185, places it in the upper-middle range of processors, which is sufficient for pairing with a high-end GPU like the RTX 5070 Ti.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti achieves a rank of 611 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 16.4% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the strong performance of this pairing, which benefits from the GPU’s high-end capabilities while the CPU provides sufficient support for most gaming scenarios.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark performance include the Intel Xeon 6756E with an average score of 14163 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core 7 160UL with 14232 (0.3% lower), the AMD EPYC 7552 with 14115 (0.5% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C with 14277 (0.6% lower). These small deltas indicate that the i5-10400F performs within a tight band of comparable processors, none of which would likely change the overall gaming experience significantly in Control.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 with an average score of 50001 (0.1% higher), the Intel Arc A550M with 49737 (0.4% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT with 50951 (2.0% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT with 48477 (3.1% lower). The RTX 5070 Ti’s position among these rivals shows that it outperforms the RX 6800 XT by 3.1% but trails the RX 6900 XT by 2.0%, placing it in a competitive mid-to-high tier for this game.

The combo’s rank of 611 out of 3720 suggests that while this pairing is well above average, it is not at the absolute top of the performance hierarchy. The data indicates that the CPU is the more likely bottleneck for achieving higher ranks, as its 68th percentile performance is lower than the GPU’s 86th percentile. This imbalance means that in CPU-bound scenarios at 1080p, the setup may not fully utilize the RTX 5070 Ti’s potential, but at higher resolutions, the combo performs closer to its theoretical maximum.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with High settings provides the best balance, achieving 111 FPS average. This resolution offers a significant visual upgrade over 1080p while maintaining frame rates suitable for high-refresh-rate displays.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to its nearest rival in this game?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 49957, which is 3.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (48477) and 2.0% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (50951). This places it between these two competing cards in raw performance.

Q: Is the i5-10400F a bottleneck for the RTX 5070 Ti?

A: At 1080p, the CPU’s influence is more apparent, with a 43 FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, suggesting the CPU is adequate for higher resolutions.

Q: What settings preset provides the highest minimum FPS?

A: The Medium preset at 1080p has a minimum FPS of 127, which is the highest reported minimum across all tested configurations. The Medium preset at 1440p has a minimum of 106 FPS, and at 4K it has a minimum of 72 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 144 at 1080p to 111 at 1440p and 75 at 4K. This represents a 48% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU’s rendering load scales significantly with resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the benchmark results show the following average frame rates across settings presets: Low delivers 170 FPS, Medium delivers 150 FPS with a minimum of 127 FPS and maximum of 172 FPS, High delivers 144 FPS, and Ultra delivers 127 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 43 FPS, with Medium sitting nearly halfway between them at 150 FPS.

At 2560x1440 resolution, the performance scales as follows: Low achieves 155 FPS, Medium achieves 125 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS and maximum of 143 FPS, High achieves 111 FPS, and Ultra achieves 96 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 59 FPS, showing a wider spread than at 1080p due to increased GPU load.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the frame rates are: Low reaches 119 FPS, Medium reaches 84 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS, High reaches 75 FPS, and Ultra reaches 65 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is 54 FPS, which is less than at 1440p but still substantial. Only the Medium preset provides a reported minimum FPS (72) that stays above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

The Medium preset consistently shows the most stable frame delivery, as it is the only settings level with reported minimum and maximum values at all three resolutions. This suggests that Medium provides the most consistent experience, with the minimum FPS values of 127 (1080p), 106 (1440p), and 72 (4K) all remaining within 15-20% of their respective averages.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about the limiting component in this system. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 144 FPS at 1080p to 111 FPS at 1440p (a 23% reduction) and then to 75 FPS at 4K (a further 32% reduction). This accelerating decline with resolution indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as the pixel count increases.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern is different: 170 FPS at 1080p drops to 155 FPS at 1440p (a 9% reduction) and then to 119 FPS at 4K (a 23% reduction). The smaller drop at 1440p suggests that at lower settings, the CPU is able to maintain high frame rates, and the GPU’s rendering load increases more gradually. However, the larger drop at 4K shows that even with reduced graphical complexity, the GPU’s pixel processing capability becomes the limiting factor.

The Medium settings show the most linear scaling: 150 FPS at 1080p, 125 FPS at 1440p (a 17% reduction), and 84 FPS at 4K (a 33% reduction). This consistent pattern suggests that Medium settings provide a balanced workload between CPU and GPU, with neither component becoming an extreme bottleneck at any resolution.

The data indicates that the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p, as evidenced by the relatively small frame rate differences between settings presets (170 to 127 FPS). At this resolution, the GPU has enough headroom to render frames quickly, but the CPU’s game logic and draw call processing cap the maximum achievable frame rate. As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU’s rendering workload grows, and it becomes the dominant factor in determining frame rates, as shown by the widening gaps between Low and Ultra presets. This transition point appears to occur between 1080p and 1440p, where the GPU starts to become the primary bottleneck for this particular CPU-GPU combination.