Control

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti combination delivers a playable but limited experience in Control, with performance that scales predictably with resolution and settings. At 1080p, the combo manages a smooth 94.3 FPS on Low settings, but the frame rate drops significantly as the resolution increases, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in this pairing.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Control?*

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 94.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 90 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average frame rates range from 27.7 FPS on High settings to 47.6 FPS on Low settings. The Ultra preset yields 28.9 FPS, and Medium delivers 31.2 FPS, all of which fall below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces an average of 69.6 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 39.8 FPS. This represents a drop of 29.8 FPS when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

*Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in Control?*

A: The data indicates a GPU limitation. At 1080p, the frame rate drops from 94.3 FPS at Low to 52.4 FPS at Ultra, showing a clear sensitivity to graphics load. Additionally, the GPU's average benchmark score of 13925 places it at the 55th percentile, while the CPU's average score of 19850 places it at the 77th percentile, suggesting the processor has more headroom.

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

A: This combination ranks 1421 out of 1636 tested combos, placing it in the lower percentile of systems. This ranking reflects the GTX 1660 Ti's mid-range position, as the GPU sits at the 55th percentile compared to all other GPUs.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The average frame rate at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 66.4 FPS. This is a solid result for a 60 Hz monitor, though it is nearly 28 FPS lower than the Low preset at the same resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is the defining component in this build for Control. It features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 1500 MHz, with a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The memory operates at 1500 MHz, or 12 Gbps effective, which is sufficient for the game's textures. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, yielding a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is 5.437 TFLOPS.

The benchmark results show that the GTX 1660 Ti is the limiting factor in this pairing. The GPU's average benchmark score is 13925, with a percentile ranking of 55 among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 570X, has an average score of 13871, a delta of 0.4 percent, indicating the 1660 Ti is only marginally faster. The data from Control supports this, as the frame rates scale heavily with resolution. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 28.9 FPS, which is unplayable. This is consistent with the GPU's mid-range position, as it lacks the raw compute power to handle the game's demands at higher resolutions. The 6 GB VRAM buffer is also a consideration; while it is adequate for 1080p, the demands of 4K textures and effects can strain the memory capacity, contributing to the low frame rates observed at 3840x2160.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides a strong foundation for this combo, though its role is secondary to the GPU in Control. This processor features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It is built on the Alder Lake architecture using a 10 nm process node and has a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration.

The CPU's benchmark scores are robust. Its average benchmark score is 19850, placing it at the 77th percentile among all CPUs. In Cinebench R23, it scores 15935 in multi-core and 2249 in single-core. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-9700, has an average score of 19831, a delta of 0.1 percent, showing near-identical performance. The data from Control suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 94.3 FPS, but this drops to 52.4 FPS at Ultra, a difference of 41.9 FPS that is attributable to the GPU's workload. The CPU's 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU in this title, and its high single-thread score of 2249 in Cinebench R23 indicates it can handle the game's logic without holding back the frame rate. The CPU's performance percentile of 77 versus the GPU's 55 reinforces that the graphics card is the component that needs upgrading for higher frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Control, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti ranks 1421 out of 1636 combos. This places the system in the bottom 13 percent of all tested configurations, which is a low position but not the absolute bottom. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range standing, as the GTX 1660 Ti's percentile of 55 is significantly lower than the CPU's percentile of 77. The CPU is a strong performer, but the GPU drags the overall combo down.

When looking at the GPU's nearest rivals, the data shows a tight cluster. The GTX 1660 Ti's average score of 13925 is only 0.4 percent higher than the AMD Radeon RX 570X (13871) and 0.8 percent higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (13812). This indicates that the combo's performance is representative of a specific tier of GPUs, and the rank of 1421 reflects that tier. For context, the CPU's rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and Intel Core i5-11600K (19771), are within 0.4 percent of the i5-12400's score, but this proximity does not help the overall ranking because the GPU is the weaker link. The combo rank is a holistic measure, and the data shows that upgrading the GPU would have a more significant impact on the ranking than changing the CPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 94.3 FPS on Low settings, 66.4 FPS on Medium, 55.6 FPS on High, and 52.4 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, these numbers drop to 69.6 FPS on Low, 50.8 FPS on Medium, 43.6 FPS on High, and 39.8 FPS on Ultra. At 3840x2160, the frame rates fall further to 47.6 FPS on Low, 31.2 FPS on Medium, 27.7 FPS on High, and 28.9 FPS on Ultra.

The scaling behavior indicates that the GPU is the limiting component. From 1080p to 1440p, the Low preset drops from 94.3 to 69.6 FPS, a reduction of 24.7 FPS (26 percent). From 1440p to 4K, the Low preset drops from 69.6 to 47.6 FPS, a reduction of 22 FPS (32 percent). This consistent drop with increasing pixel count is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance, as the CPU's workload does not scale with resolution in the same way. The Ultra preset shows a similar trend, dropping from 52.4 FPS at 1080p to 39.8 FPS at 1440p and then to 28.9 FPS at 4K. The fact that the frame rate at 4K Ultra (28.9 FPS) is only slightly higher than at 4K High (27.7 FPS) suggests that the GPU is saturated at this resolution, and further quality increases have diminishing returns. The data shows that for a smooth 60 FPS experience, the user must stay at 1080p with Medium or Low settings, as even 1440p Low (69.6 FPS) is marginal.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the combo's capabilities across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system is most comfortable. The Low preset delivers 94.3 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. Medium settings yield 66.4 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS standard. High settings produce 55.6 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. Ultra settings drop to 52.4 FPS, showing a 41.9 FPS difference between the lowest and highest quality presets at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the performance becomes more constrained. The Low preset is the only one that stays above 60 FPS, with an average of 69.6 FPS. Medium settings drop to 50.8 FPS, High to 43.6 FPS, and Ultra to 39.8 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1440p is only viable for competitive play on Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is not consistently high. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 29.8 FPS, which is a significant margin that reflects the GPU's limited compute capacity.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates. The Low preset achieves 47.6 FPS, which is the only configuration above 30 FPS. Medium settings produce 31.2 FPS, High produces 27.7 FPS, and Ultra produces 28.9 FPS. The data shows an anomaly where Ultra (28.9 FPS) is slightly higher than High (27.7 FPS), which could be due to specific rendering paths or the game's dynamic resolution scaling, but the difference is within the margin of error. All 4K results fall below the 60 FPS target, and most fall below 30 FPS, making the experience stuttery and visually inconsistent. The data clearly shows that 1080p is the only resolution where this combo can provide a consistently smooth experience, and even then, only with lower settings.