Control

Control, a 2019 Action Adventure title, stresses hardware in a way that is heavily dependent on resolution and graphical preset. The measured data for the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination reveals a system that is capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p but begins to show its limitations as pixel count and visual fidelity increase. This analysis examines the recorded FPS across all settings and resolutions to characterize the balance between CPU and GPU workload in this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 clearly indicates a shift in system bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 130 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 98 FPS, a 24.6% reduction, and then to 66 FPS at 4K Low, a further 32.7% reduction from the 1440p figure. This significant drop at 4K even on Low settings shows that the rendering resolution is heavily taxing the GPU.

For High settings, the scaling is similar but with lower absolute numbers. The 1080p High average of 82 FPS falls to 62 FPS at 1440p (a 24.4% drop) and then to 42 FPS at 4K (a 32.3% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops between Low and High settings suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor when scaling resolution, as the CPU overhead remains relatively constant while the pixel fill rate demand increases dramatically.

The 4K Medium and Ultra results confirm this trend. At 4K, Medium averages 47 FPS while Ultra drops to 36 FPS. The gap between the 1080p High (82 FPS) and 4K High (42 FPS) is exactly 50%, which indicates a near-linear scaling with pixel count for this workload. The data shows that the Radeon RX 9060's 8 GB memory buffer and 128-bit bus are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming at most settings, but the 4K results, particularly the Ultra preset's 36 FPS average, indicate the GPU is overwhelmed by the sheer pixel throughput required at that resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 130 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the 1440p Medium performance compare to 1080p Medium?

A: At 1440p Medium, the system averages 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average is 92 FPS with a minimum of 78 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS. This represents a 22 FPS average decrease when moving to the higher resolution.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable with this hardware?

A: The data shows a 4K Ultra average of 36 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS threshold typically desired for smooth gameplay, indicating that the Ultra preset at 4K is not a playable option for this combination.

Q: Which settings preset provides the closest performance to a 60 FPS average at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 yields an average of 62 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS mark. The Ultra preset falls to 54 FPS, making High the highest visual quality setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 130 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 71 FPS. This is a 59 FPS difference, demonstrating a significant performance cost for the higher visual quality settings.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum frame rates recorded for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset has recorded min/max data for all three resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 78 to 106 FPS. At 1440p, it is 59 to 80 FPS. At 4K, the range narrows to 40 to 54 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060, based on the Navi 44 chip with RDNA 4.0 architecture, is the primary driver of frame rate differences across settings. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The measured frame times show this configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 1080p High, the average of 82 FPS suggests the GPU is handling the rendering load without being bottlenecked by memory capacity.

The GPU's clock speeds are notable, with a base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. The game clock is listed at 2400 MHz, which is the expected sustained frequency during gaming loads. The high boost clock allows the GPU to maintain performance in less demanding scenes, but the data shows that at 4K, the average frame rates drop below 60 FPS for all settings except Low, which hits 66 FPS. This indicates that the GPU's raw compute power, rated at 21.43 TFLOPS FP32, is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The GPU's 64 ROPs and 112 TMUs contribute to its pixel and texture fill rates of 191.4 GPixel/s and 334.9 GTexel/s, respectively. These figures are more than adequate for 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the high average FPS at those resolutions. However, the 4K Ultra result of 36 FPS suggests that the GPU's bandwidth and compute resources are stretched thin when rendering at 3840x2160 with maximum visual effects. The 4K Low result of 66 FPS versus the 4K High result of 42 FPS shows a 24 FPS difference purely from settings, which points to the GPU's shading and texture units being the bottleneck rather than the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers excellent performance across all presets. The Low setting achieves an average of 130 FPS, providing a very high refresh rate experience. Medium increases visual quality while still maintaining a 92 FPS average, with a minimum of 78 FPS ensuring smooth gameplay. High drops to an 82 FPS average, still well above the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 71 FPS, which is a 45% reduction from Low but still playable on most displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. Low averages 98 FPS, which is a solid result for competitive play. Medium averages 70 FPS with a recorded minimum of 59 FPS, putting it right at the edge of the 60 FPS threshold. High averages 62 FPS, making it the highest preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS. Ultra drops to a 54 FPS average, which may be acceptable for slower-paced games but is not ideal for fast action.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low is the only preset that averages above 60 FPS, with a 66 FPS result. Medium averages 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS, showing noticeable frame time variance. High averages 42 FPS, and Ultra drops to 36 FPS. The 4K results, particularly the 36 FPS Ultra, indicate that this resolution is not suitable for this hardware configuration in Control if a consistent 60 FPS experience is desired.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1632 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places it in the 43rd percentile of all combinations, indicating that it performs below the median for this specific game. The ranking suggests that while the combo is capable of playable frame rates at lower resolutions, it is not a top-tier performer in this title.

The CPU's percentile ranking is 72, which is above average compared to all CPUs. However, the GPU's percentile ranking is 59, which is closer to the middle of the pack. This discrepancy suggests that the GPU is the weaker link in this system for Control, which aligns with the resolution scaling analysis that showed the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The GPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 0.7% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 7700, which scores 1% higher. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643, which is 0.1% slower, and the Intel Core i3-14100F, which is 0.9% faster. These close scores indicate that the combo is competitive with systems built around similar-tier components, but the in-game ranking shows that Control's specific workload favors other configurations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 features 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake architecture processor has an 18 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 or DDR5 memory. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance with a 3dmark single-thread score of 910 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2257.

In Control, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The data suggests that the i5-12400 is not the limiting factor at 1080p, as the frame rates scale significantly with resolution. At 1080p Low, the 130 FPS average indicates the CPU is capable of pushing high frame rates. The 3dmark 16-threads score of 5873 and max-threads score of 5890 show that the CPU has sufficient multi-threaded capacity for modern game engines.

The CPU's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, with a dual-channel bus, provides adequate bandwidth for the GPU. The fact that the frame rates drop consistently from 1080p to 1440p to 4K, regardless of settings, confirms that the CPU is not introducing a bottleneck at higher resolutions. The 4K Low result of 66 FPS versus the 4K Ultra result of 36 FPS shows a 30 FPS difference, which is entirely attributable to GPU workload rather than CPU limitations. The CPU's performance is sufficient to maintain playable frame rates even when the GPU is heavily loaded, as evidenced by the 4K results being limited by GPU capabilities rather than CPU draw call processing.

Settings Recommendations

For a 1080p display, the High preset at 82 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. Users with high refresh rate monitors may prefer the Low preset at 130 FPS or Medium at 92 FPS, but the visual fidelity increase from High is significant. The Ultra preset at 71 FPS is also viable, providing the best image quality while still maintaining a frame rate above 60 FPS.

For 1440p, the High preset at 62 FPS is the recommended choice, as it is the highest quality setting that maintains an average above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 70 FPS provides a more comfortable margin for frame time consistency, with a minimum of 59 FPS. The Ultra preset at 54 FPS is playable but may result in noticeable stuttering in fast-paced combat sequences. The Low preset at 98 FPS is unnecessary for most users unless they prioritize maximum frame rate over all else.

The 4K resolution is not recommended for this combo. The Low preset at 66 FPS is the only playable option, but it sacrifices most visual effects. The Medium preset at 47 FPS and the High preset at 42 FPS are below the 60 FPS threshold and may cause input lag. The Ultra preset at 36 FPS is not recommended. For the best experience on a 4K display, users should consider lowering the resolution to 1440p and using the High preset, which provides a 62 FPS average with significantly better visual quality than the 4K Low preset.