Control

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a smooth experience in Control, but the data shows a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution climbs. At 1080p, the CPU keeps pace, but the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates across all settings. This combo ranks in the 73rd percentile among tested configurations, indicating a strong pairing that handles the game’s demands well, though it’s not at the absolute top of the charts.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound scenario, as expected for a visually intensive title like Control. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls from 107.4 FPS at 1920x1080 to 83.1 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 23%. Pushing further to 3840x2160 brings the average down to 55 FPS, a 33% drop from the 1440p result. This steep decline indicates that the RX 9070 XT’s rendering capabilities are the limiting factor at higher resolutions, not the i5-11400F.

The pattern is consistent across other presets. At High settings, the average goes from 123.6 FPS at 1080p to 92.4 FPS at 1440p, then to 64.5 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 134.5 FPS at 1080p, 100.7 FPS at 1440p, and 68.3 FPS at 4K. Even on Low, which is the least demanding, the frame rate drops from 190 FPS at 1080p to 147 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 95.6 FPS at 4K. The consistent scaling across all presets confirms that pixel throughput is the primary constraint; the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at every resolution tested.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target, the data shows that 4K Ultra is a borderline case, averaging 55 FPS. Dropping to 4K High yields 64.5 FPS, which is comfortably above the threshold. At 1440p, Ultra is the sweet spot, delivering 83.1 FPS on average, which leaves headroom for demanding scenes. The High preset at 1440p offers 92.4 FPS, which is also excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, but given the minimal visual difference between High and Ultra in many games, Ultra is the practical choice here.

At 1080p, even Ultra delivers 107.4 FPS, making it the best experience for smooth gameplay on standard displays. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 190 FPS, which is only relevant for extreme refresh rates or competitive play, but the visual compromise is substantial. The benchmark results indicate that Medium provides a balanced middle ground at 1080p with 134.5 FPS, but since Ultra is so close at 107.4 FPS, there’s little reason to step down unless aiming for 144Hz or higher. Based on the measured rows, Ultra is the recommended preset for 1080p and 1440p, while High is the practical ceiling at 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has a 16 GB GDDR6 memory buffer on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This memory configuration is well-suited for Control’s texture-heavy environments, as the 16 GB capacity prevents VRAM-related stutters at 4K. The GPU’s boost clock is 2970 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz, and the base clock sits at 1660 MHz. These clocks are high, and the benchmark results show that the GPU scales consistently with resolution, which points to its compute power being the decisive factor.

The GPU’s raw throughput is significant: it has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s. This translates to a FP32 performance of 48.66 TFLOPS. In practice, this means the RX 9070 XT is never the bottleneck at 1080p, where the CPU can push frame rates high, but it becomes the limiting component at 4K, as seen in the FPS scaling. The GPU’s 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs reinforces that it is a high-end part, but the 441st combo rank out of 1636 shows that the CPU pairing is adequate rather than exceptional.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT achieves a rank of 441 out of 1636 tested combos for Control. This places it in the top 27% of configurations, which is a solid result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The CPU’s individual benchmark scores support this: its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 14372, and its single-core score is 2029, which are respectable for a 6-core part. The nearest rivals in terms of CPU average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U and Intel Core i7-1260P, with delta percentages near zero, indicating that the i5-11400F is competitive in general compute but not a leader.

However, the combo rank being in the 441st spot suggests that other pairings—likely with higher-end CPUs—push higher frame rates, especially at 1080p where CPU overhead matters more. The gap is not huge, though. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor, and the i5-11400F’s 12 threads are sufficient to avoid holding back the RX 9070 XT. The data shows that this combo is better suited for high-resolution gaming, where the CPU’s limitations are masked by the GPU’s workload. For 1080p, the frame rates are still high—107.4 FPS at Ultra—but the rank might be higher if paired with a stronger CPU like a Core i7 or Ryzen 7.

FAQ

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

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 55, which is below 60. To stay above 60 at 4K, use High settings, which average 64.5 FPS. At 1440p, all presets exceed 60, with Ultra averaging 83.1 FPS.

Q: How much performance do I lose going from 1080p to 4K on Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 107.4 at 1080p to 83.1 at 1440p, then to 55 at 4K. This is a total reduction of about 49% from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-11400F a bottleneck for the RX 9070 XT?

A: The data suggests it’s not a major bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the CPU can still deliver 107.4 FPS, but the combo rank of 441 out of 1636 indicates that other CPUs might extract slightly higher frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What settings should I use for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1080p, Low settings average 190 FPS, which is the only preset that consistently exceeds 144 Hz. Medium averages 134.5 FPS, and High averages 123.6 FPS, so Low is required for the full refresh rate.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM make a difference in this game?

A: The 16 GB frame buffer on the RX 9070 XT is more than enough for Control at 4K, as the memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s ensures textures load without issue. The FPS drops at 4K are more attributable to compute limits than memory capacity.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to others tested?

A: It ranks 441st out of 1636, which is in the top 27%. This is a strong showing, but not top-tier, meaning there are faster configurations, likely with more powerful CPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS scales from 190 on Low, to 134.5 on Medium, 123.6 on High, and 107.4 on Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra is 82.6 FPS, showing a significant performance cost for higher fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 147 on Low, 100.7 on Medium, 92.4 on High, and 83.1 on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 63.9 FPS as the GPU becomes more stressed.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 95.6 on Low, 68.3 on Medium, 64.5 on High, and 55 on Ultra. Here, the spread is just 40.6 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor across all presets. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only tested configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making High the highest playable setting at this resolution.

These numbers show a predictable pattern: the RX 9070 XT’s performance scales with resolution, but the relative cost of each settings tier shrinks as pixel count rises. For the best experience, prioritize resolution over settings, as the frame rate hit from 1080p to 1440p is about 23% at Ultra, but the visual improvement is substantial.