Control

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Control with the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 107.7 FPS, but dropping to 1440p reduces this to 82.1 FPS, and at 4K it falls further to 54.8 FPS. This represents a 49% reduction from 1080p Low to 4K Low, indicating that the rendering load scales substantially with pixel count.

The scaling behavior changes notably when moving up the settings ladder. At High settings, the transition from 1080p (66.8 FPS) to 1440p (49 FPS) is a 26.6% drop, while 1440p to 4K (32.5 FPS) is another 33.7% reduction. The Ultra preset shows a similar trend: 61.9 FPS at 1080p, 45.3 FPS at 1440p, and 27.5 FPS at 4K. The fact that even the lowest settings at 4K only reach 54.8 FPS suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution, since reducing graphical complexity cannot compensate for the sheer pixel throughput required.

At 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is notable: 107.7 FPS versus 61.9 FPS, a 45.8 FPS gap. This wide range indicates that the CPU has enough headroom to push higher frame rates when the GPU is not heavily taxed. However, at 4K, the same settings spread narrows to 27.3 FPS (54.8 FPS Low versus 27.5 FPS Ultra), confirming that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution climbs. The data shows that this combination performs best at 1080p, where the RTX 2060 can maintain playable frame rates even at Ultra settings, while 4K gaming requires significant settings compromises to stay above 30 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The GPU has a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs handle rasterization, while 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores provide ray tracing and AI acceleration capabilities, though Control’s benchmark results here do not isolate those features.

The GPU’s memory configuration is relevant to the measured results. With 6 GB of VRAM, the RTX 2060 must manage texture data carefully at higher resolutions. The benchmark data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo only reaches 27.5 FPS, which likely reflects both compute limitations and memory pressure. The 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is modest by modern standards, and the 192-bit bus width means that higher-resolution textures can exceed the available memory pool, potentially causing stutters or reduced performance beyond what raw compute would suggest.

The GPU’s percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 58, placing it in the lower half of the database. Its average benchmark score of 16074 sits close to the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996, deltaPct 0.5) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, deltaPct -1.7). This positioning explains why the combo struggles at 4K: the RTX 2060 is a mid-range card from the GeForce 20-series, and Control’s demanding rendering at high resolutions pushes it beyond its comfort zone. At 1080p, however, the GPU delivers 61.9 FPS at Ultra, indicating it has sufficient throughput for lower pixel counts. The data suggests the RTX 2060 is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p with medium settings, where its 6 GB VRAM and 1680 MHz boost clock can operate within their intended envelope.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 18 MB of shared L3 cache and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the memory bus is dual-channel. The CPU’s benchmark results show strong single-thread performance, with a 3dmark single-thread score of 910 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2249, while multi-threaded scores like Cinebench R23 multi-core at 15935 indicate solid scaling across its 12 threads.

In the context of Control’s measured FPS, the CPU’s role becomes apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 107.7 FPS, which is substantially higher than at 4K Low (54.8 FPS). This gap suggests that at 1080p, the i5-12400 can feed frames to the GPU quickly enough to avoid bottlenecking, allowing the RTX 2060 to run closer to its maximum output. The CPU’s percentile ranking versus all CPUs is 77, placing it above the 75th percentile, and its average benchmark score of 19850 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831, deltaPct 0.1) and the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894, deltaPct -0.2). This indicates the i5-12400 performs comparably to older 8-core parts in synthetic tests, which translates to adequate gaming headroom.

The boost clock of 4.40 GHz is particularly relevant for Control, a game that benefits from high single-thread performance. The 3dmark 2-thread score of 1692 and 4-thread score of 3012 show that the CPU maintains strong performance across the first few cores, which is typical for game workloads. At 1440p High, the combo hits 49 FPS, and the fact that this is lower than 1080p High (66.8 FPS) by 17.8 FPS indicates the GPU is beginning to limit performance, but the CPU is still contributing meaningfully. The data shows no evidence of the CPU becoming a bottleneck at 4K, where the GPU is clearly the constraining factor, but at 1080p with Low settings, the CPU’s ability to push 107.7 FPS demonstrates that it can keep pace with mid-range GPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1367 out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower 17th percentile of the database. This ranking reflects the GPU’s mid-range positioning, as the CPU is comparatively stronger. The i5-12400’s average benchmark score of 19850 is within 0.4% of the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771, deltaPct 0.4) and 0.1% of the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831, deltaPct 0.1), showing that it competes well with older high-end parts. However, the RTX 2060’s average score of 16074 is only 0.5% above the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.7% below the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351), indicating it is a modest performer.

The rank of 1367 out of 1636 means that 269 combos perform worse in Control, but the vast majority of tested configurations outperform this pairing. This is unsurprising given that the RTX 2060 was released in 2019 and is now end-of-life, while Control is a demanding title that stresses GPUs heavily. The combo’s measured FPS at 1080p Ultra (61.9 FPS) is playable but not high-refresh-rate territory, and 4K performance is marginal at best. The data suggests that this pairing is better suited for 1080p gaming, where the CPU’s strength can partially compensate for the GPU’s limitations. The ranking also implies that users with this combo should focus on optimizing settings rather than expecting high frame rates at high resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 66.8 FPS, which is smooth for most gaming scenarios, while Ultra only drops to 61.9 FPS — a 4.9 FPS difference that may not justify the extra graphical fidelity. The Medium preset at 75.8 FPS offers a better balance for those seeking higher frame rates, and Low at 107.7 FPS is ideal for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 1440p, the choices become more constrained. High produces 49 FPS, which is borderline for action games, while Medium at 56.8 FPS is more comfortable. Low at 82.1 FPS is the clear recommendation for 1440p gaming, as it maintains smooth performance without the visual degradation of Ultra, which only manages 45.3 FPS. For 4K, the data shows that only Low settings (54.8 FPS) approach playable territory, with Medium at 38.8 FPS and High at 32.5 FPS being marginal, and Ultra at 27.5 FPS being effectively unplayable.

The best experience per the measured rows is at 1080p with Medium or High settings, where the combo achieves 75.8 FPS and 66.8 FPS respectively. These settings provide a good balance between visual quality and performance, and the i5-12400’s strong single-thread performance ensures that frame pacing remains consistent. For users willing to accept lower visual fidelity, 1440p Low at 82.1 FPS is also a viable option, but 4K gaming should be avoided unless playing at Low settings is acceptable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 107.7 FPS, Medium produces 75.8 FPS, High achieves 66.8 FPS, and Ultra reaches 61.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 45.8 FPS, showing significant scaling with graphical complexity.

At 2560x1440, Low drops to 82.1 FPS, Medium yields 56.8 FPS, High reaches 49 FPS, and Ultra falls to 45.3 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra narrows to 36.8 FPS, indicating the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, Low produces 54.8 FPS, Medium provides 38.8 FPS, High manages 32.5 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 27.5 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 27.3 FPS, the smallest of the three resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset always provides the highest frame rate, and Ultra always provides the lowest. The data shows that the RTX 2060 can handle 1080p Ultra at 61.9 FPS, but 4K Ultra is only 27.5 FPS, a 55.6% reduction. The i5-12400’s performance remains consistent throughout, as evidenced by the fact that the 1080p Low result (107.7 FPS) is nearly double the 4K Low result (54.8 FPS), which is expected given the GPU’s pixel throughput limitations. These measured values provide a comprehensive picture of how this hardware combination handles Control across the full spectrum of settings and resolutions.