Control

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a combination that heavily skews toward CPU capability in synthetic benchmarks, but in Control, the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck. This pairing produces a playable experience only at the lowest settings and resolution, with the data showing a clear and consistent performance ceiling imposed by the graphics card. The measured results indicate that while the processor holds up its end of the bargain, the 4 GB graphics card struggles to maintain frame rates that would be considered smooth by modern standards, placing this combo near the very bottom of the database rankings for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals a purely GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 46 FPS. Moving to 1440p at Low settings, that average falls to 34 FPS, a 26% reduction. At 4K Low, the average plummets to 23 FPS, which is exactly half of the 1080p Low result. This steep curve is characteristic of a graphics card that is overwhelmed by pixel count, with the data showing that the GTX 1050 Ti simply does not have the rendering throughput to handle higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern holds true across all settings presets. For High settings, the average drops from 29 FPS at 1080p to 22 FPS at 1440p (a 24% decrease) and then to 15 FPS at 4K (a 48% decrease from 1080p). The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 32 FPS at 1080p, 24 FPS at 1440p, and 17 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, starts at a barely playable 25 FPS at 1080p, falls to 19 FPS at 1440p, and becomes a slideshow at 13 FPS in 4K. These numbers indicate that the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU, as the CPU’s performance is not the variable causing these massive frame rate swings.

The difference between 1080p and 1440p is substantial, but the jump to 4K is catastrophic for this hardware. The data shows that at 4K, even the Low preset cannot maintain an average above 23 FPS, which is below the threshold for acceptable motion fluidity in an action game. This suggests that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combo under any settings, as the GPU’s fillrate and memory bandwidth are insufficient. The 1440p results, while better than 4K, are still marginal, with the best case scenario (Low preset) only reaching 34 FPS. The only resolution where this combo can approach a consistently smooth experience is 1080p, and even then, only with the Low preset.

GPU Role

The GTX 1050 Ti’s specifications directly explain its performance in Control. The card features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. In a game like Control with its complex environments and physics effects, this memory capacity and bandwidth are quickly saturated, especially at higher resolutions and settings. The card’s base clock is 1291 MHz with a boost clock of 1392 MHz, and it has 768 shading units, but these are not enough to compensate for the memory limitations. The data shows a stark difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p (46 FPS vs 25 FPS), which is a direct consequence of the increased memory pressure and shader workload.

The GPU’s overall benchmark percentile is 25, meaning it performs better than only a quarter of all GPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 4193, and it sits near rivals like the AMD Radeon R5 M330 (0.6% faster) and the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (1% faster). This places the GTX 1050 Ti in the entry-level tier of graphics hardware, which is consistent with its in-game performance. The card’s FP32 performance is 2.138 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 44.54 GPixel/s, but these figures translate to an average of just 29 FPS at 1080p High in Control, which is a demanding title.

The 4 GB VRAM is a critical constraint. As settings increase from Low to Ultra, the game likely attempts to load more textures and effects into memory, and the card’s 4 GB capacity becomes a wall. This is evidenced by the fact that the FPS drop from Low to Medium at 1080p is 14 FPS (46 to 32), which is a significant hit. The card’s architecture, Pascal, is from 2016, and it was not designed for the demands of modern games at high presets. The data confirms that this GPU is the sole reason the combo ranks so low, as the CPU’s own benchmarks show it is a capable mid-range processor.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average FPS this combo can achieve in Control?*

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 46 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

*Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400 the bottleneck in this system for Control?*

A: No. The data shows that frame rates scale heavily with resolution and settings, which is a sign of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU’s benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15989, are strong, indicating it is not the limiting factor in this game.

*Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for Control?*

A: It ranks 3670 out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 1.5% of all configurations in the database for this specific game.

*Q: Can this system run Control at 4K?*

A: Technically yes, but not playably. The best 4K result is 23 FPS on Low settings, and the worst is 13 FPS on Ultra. All 4K averages are below 24 FPS, which is not a smooth experience.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: The Low preset achieves an average of 46 FPS, which is 84% higher than the Ultra preset’s 25 FPS at the same resolution.

Q: What is the closest rival to this GPU in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon R5 M330 has an average score of 4170, which is 0.6% higher than the GTX 1050 Ti’s 4193. The NVIDIA Quadro K2100M is also close with a score of 4151, being 1% slower.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the only configuration that provides a consistently playable experience is 1080p with the Low preset. At this setting, the average FPS is 46, which is fluid enough for an action-adventure title. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to an average of 32 FPS, which is still technically playable but will feel less smooth during intense combat sequences. The High preset at 1080p yields 29 FPS, and Ultra yields 25 FPS, both of which are below the ideal threshold for a game that requires precise timing and awareness.

For users with a 1440p monitor, the Low preset is the only option that approaches playability, with an average of 34 FPS. However, this is still not ideal, and the 1440p Medium preset (24 FPS) and High preset (22 FPS) are too choppy for a good experience. At 4K, no settings preset is recommended, as even the Low preset’s 23 FPS average is not sufficient for enjoyable gameplay. The data clearly suggests that to get the best experience out of this combo, one must prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity.

The gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is 14 FPS, which is a substantial jump. This indicates that the Medium preset introduces a significant amount of additional GPU work that the GTX 1050 Ti cannot handle efficiently. Therefore, the recommendation is to stick with Low settings at 1080p. If a player absolutely must have higher visual quality, the Medium preset at 1080p is the maximum ceiling for a semi-decent frame rate, but the data shows that the Low preset offers the most headroom for stable performance in demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 3670 out of 3720 is a clear indicator of its performance class. It sits in the bottom 50 configurations in the entire database for Control, meaning that roughly 98.6% of all tested CPU and GPU pairings deliver better performance. This is a direct result of the GPU’s limitations, as the CPU is in the 72nd percentile for all CPUs. The GTX 1050 Ti, in contrast, is in the 25th percentile for all GPUs, and its benchmark score of 4193 is near the bottom of the performance spectrum.

When compared to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the data shows that the i5-12400 is not the issue. The AMD EPYC 7643 is 0.1% slower in average benchmark score, and the Intel Core i7-1355U is 0.3% slower. This means that swapping the CPU for one of these would not meaningfully change the frame rates in Control, as the GPU would still be the limiting factor. The combo’s poor ranking is almost entirely attributable to the graphics card, which is end-of-life and was released in 2016.

In practical terms, this rank means that a user with this combo will have to make significant compromises to play Control. The data shows that the experience is more akin to a slideshow at higher settings, and even at the best case scenario (1080p Low), the performance is only adequate, not good. The combo is outclassed by nearly all modern hardware, and its ranking reflects a fundamental mismatch between the game’s requirements and the GPU’s capabilities. This is a legacy configuration for older games, not for a demanding 2019 title like Control.

Measured FPS Breakdown

3840x2160 (4K)

• Ultra: Average 13 FPS
• High: Average 15 FPS
• Medium: Average 17 FPS (min 14, max 19)
• Low: Average 23 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Ultra: Average 19 FPS
• High: Average 22 FPS
• Medium: Average 24 FPS (min 21, max 28)
• Low: Average 34 FPS

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Ultra: Average 25 FPS
• High: Average 29 FPS
• Medium: Average 32 FPS (min 27, max 37)
• Low: Average 46 FPS

The data shows a consistent hierarchy: Low is always the fastest, followed by Medium, then High, and finally Ultra. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS is also recorded, showing that even at 1080p, the frame rate can dip to 27 FPS, which is close to the High preset’s average. This suggests that the Medium preset can have stutters in demanding scenes. At 1440p, the Medium preset’s minimum is 21 FPS, and at 4K it drops to 14 FPS, indicating severe instability. The delta between Low and Ultra grows with resolution: 21 FPS at 1080p, 15 FPS at 1440p, and 10 FPS at 4K, showing that the GPU’s headroom for higher settings shrinks as pixel count increases.