Control

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti delivers a mid-table showing in Control, ranking 1161 out of 1636 tested combos. This places the pairing in the 29th percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that while it is far from the top tier, it sits comfortably above the majority of alternatives. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically bottlenecks the other, though the data suggests the system is more competitive at lower resolutions than at the demanding 4K tier.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1161 out of 1636 places it in the lower half of the field, but the context of the GPU and CPU’s individual standings helps clarify this position. The RTX 3060 Ti holds a 69th percentile rank among all GPUs, while the i5-11400F sits at the 75th percentile among CPUs. The combination of two above-average components should theoretically place the system higher, yet the measured results indicate that Control’s specific demands—likely its heavy reliance on GPU compute and memory bandwidth—cap the overall performance.

When isolating the GPU, the RTX 3060 Ti’s average benchmark score of 25120 places it nearly level with the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, which scores 25180 (a -0.2% delta). It also trails the AMD Radeon RX 6600 (25235, -0.5%) and the AMD Radeon 890M (25246, -0.5%). These are narrow margins, suggesting the GPU is operating at its expected performance envelope. The CPU, meanwhile, posts an average score of 17181, which is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i7-1260P (17212, -0.2%). Neither component is an outlier in its class, so the mid-pack game ranking is a product of their aggregate behavior in this specific title.

GPU Role

The RTX 3060 Ti brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a key factor in Control, a game known for its dense particle effects and destructible environments that stress memory throughput. The GPU’s base clock of 1410 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz, paired with 4864 shading units, provide the raw compute headroom needed for the game’s physics-heavy scenes. Its 38 RT cores also enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing, though the measured FPS data does not isolate ray tracing performance.

At 1080p, the GPU is clearly the dominant contributor to frame rates, as evidenced by the substantial gap between Low and Ultra settings (116.3 FPS versus 66.6 FPS). The 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is ample for this resolution, allowing the card to push well beyond 60 FPS at High settings. However, the GPU’s 69th percentile rank suggests it is not a top-tier part, and the data shows that its performance degrades predictably as resolution increases. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the card’s memory bandwidth and compute limits become apparent, with average FPS falling below the 60 FPS threshold even at Medium settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Rocket Lake chip, built on a 14 nm process, has a 12 MB shared L3 cache. Its 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and multi-thread score of 5652 indicate solid per-core performance, which is crucial for Control’s game logic and physics calculations. The CPU’s 75th percentile rank among all processors means it outpaces a significant majority of alternatives, making it a capable partner for the RTX 3060 Ti.

In practice, the CPU’s role becomes more pronounced at lower resolutions where the GPU is less burdened. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 116.3 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is keeping up with the GPU’s output without creating a significant bottleneck. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 and single-core score of 2029 further indicate that it can handle the game’s threading demands. However, the data does not show a scenario where the CPU becomes the primary limiter, as the FPS drops consistently with resolution increases, pointing to the GPU as the main constraint at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data is presented across four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system produces 116.3 FPS on Low, 87.1 FPS on Medium, 72.5 FPS on High, and 66.6 FPS on Ultra. These figures show a smooth scaling curve, with the gap between Low and Ultra representing a 42.8% reduction in frame rate. The 1080p High setting, at 72.5 FPS, comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS target, while Ultra remains playable at 66.6 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the FPS drops to 91.7 on Low, 61.6 on Medium, 53.7 on High, and 50.9 on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant, with High settings losing 18.8 FPS (from 72.5 to 53.7). At this resolution, only Low and Medium settings maintain an average above 60 FPS, while High and Ultra fall below the threshold. The 4K results at 3840x2160 show further degradation: 58.5 FPS on Low, 44.1 FPS on Medium, 39.2 FPS on High, and 35.8 FPS on Ultra. None of the 4K presets reach 60 FPS, with even Low settings struggling to hold above 58.5 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance. At 1080p Low, the system produces 116.3 FPS; at 1440p Low, it drops to 91.7 FPS (a 21.2% decrease); and at 4K Low, it falls to 58.5 FPS (a 36.2% decrease from 1440p). This progressive decline is consistent with the GPU’s compute and memory bandwidth limits becoming the dominant factor as pixel count increases. The RTX 3060 Ti’s 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K, even at the lowest settings.

The scaling pattern is more pronounced at higher settings. From 1080p Ultra (66.6 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (50.9 FPS), the drop is 23.6%; from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra (35.8 FPS), the drop is 29.7%. This suggests that as the GPU is tasked with more complex shading and effects, its performance degrades at an accelerating rate with resolution. The CPU’s role in this scaling is minimal, as the consistent FPS reductions track the GPU’s workload rather than any CPU-side limitation. The data strongly indicates that the RTX 3060 Ti is the limiting component at 1440p and above, while the i5-11400F has sufficient headroom to avoid becoming a bottleneck at any tested resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS values, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and frame rate preference. For 1080p, the High preset delivers 72.5 FPS, which is the best balance of visual fidelity and smoothness, as Ultra only yields 66.6 FPS—a marginal gain of 5.9 FPS that may not justify the additional graphical load. Players prioritizing frame rate can drop to Medium at 87.1 FPS, but High offers the most stable experience above 70 FPS.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 61.6 FPS is the only setting that maintains a playable average above 60 FPS. High and Ultra fall to 53.7 and 50.9 FPS respectively, which are playable but may introduce noticeable stutter in fast-paced combat. For a consistent experience, Medium is recommended, with Low (91.7 FPS) serving as a high-refresh-rate alternative. At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS, but Low at 58.5 FPS is the closest approximation. Medium (44.1 FPS) and High (39.2 FPS) are playable for slower-paced exploration but will struggle in combat scenes. Ultra at 35.8 FPS is only suitable for players who prioritize image quality over frame rate and are willing to accept significant performance compromises.