Control

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT delivers a highly playable Control experience across most settings, but the data reveals a clear sweet spot that balances visual fidelity with frame rate headroom. This combination lands at rank 1047 out of 1636 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database, with the CPU holding a 77th percentile standing against all processors and the GPU at a 72nd percentile against all graphics cards. The measured results show a system that can comfortably handle 1080p and 1440p gaming, though 4K demands careful settings selection.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data points to Medium settings at 2560x1440 as the optimal experience for this pairing, delivering 66.5 FPS average. This setting strikes the best balance between the 57.2 FPS seen at High and the 94.7 FPS achieved at Low at the same resolution. At 1440p, the jump from Medium to High costs 9.3 FPS (from 66.5 to 57.2), while the drop from Medium to Low gains 28.2 FPS (from 66.5 to 94.7). The Medium preset keeps the frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold that many displays target, while still providing substantially better visuals than Low.

For 1920x1080 users, the recommendation shifts to High settings, which produce 79.8 FPS average. This is particularly compelling because the gap between High and Ultra at 1080p is only 8.6 FPS (79.8 vs 71.2), meaning High offers nearly all of Ultra's visual quality with better frame pacing. The 1080p Low setting reaches 120.6 FPS, which suggests the CPU-GPU combination has headroom for esports-style play, but for a game like Control, the visual atmosphere is integral to the experience.

At 4K, the data strongly discourages Ultra settings, which bottom out at 31.9 FPS — below playable thresholds for most action games. Even High at 3840x2160 only manages 40.1 FPS, making 4K a compromised experience. The 4K Low setting achieves 60.6 FPS, which is technically playable, but the visual downgrade is significant. The pragmatic choice for 4K owners is to accept Medium at 44.8 FPS or drop resolution.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 6650 XT's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for Control's demands at 1080p and 1440p, but becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's boost clock of 2635 MHz and game clock of 2410 MHz drive its 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, and the benchmark results show how this compute power translates to real-world frame rates. The card's 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s, which explains the steep drop-off between 1440p and 4K — the fill rate requirements at 3840x2160 exceed what this mid-range GPU can sustain at high quality settings.

The GPU's RDNA 2.0 architecture with 32 ray accelerators helps with Control's use of ray-traced reflections, though the measured data does not isolate ray tracing performance. The 7 nm process from TSMC, with 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, keeps power draw at a 176 W TDP. The card's PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides adequate bandwidth for the 8 GB frame buffer. Comparing to its nearest rivals, the RX 6650 XT's average benchmark score of 29024 sits essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (29011, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 470 (28996, 0.1% delta), while marginally trailing the Intel Arc A370M (29175, -0.5% delta).

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Control at 4K?

A: Yes, but with significant compromises. The data shows 4K Low achieves 60.6 FPS and 4K Medium reaches 44.8 FPS, while High drops to 40.1 FPS and Ultra falls to 31.9 FPS. For a smooth experience, 4K Low is the only preset that clears 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: The measured FPS indicates 1920x1080 is the strongest resolution, with all presets exceeding 71 FPS. The 2560x1440 resolution remains highly playable at Medium (66.5 FPS) and Low (94.7 FPS), but High (57.2 FPS) and Ultra (53.7 FPS) dip below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i5-12400F's average benchmark score of 19221 places it 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210) and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U (19167). It trails the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS by 0.7% (19364) and the AMD EPYC 7773X by 1.3% (18979).

Q: Is the GPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary constraint even at 1920x1080. The frame rate scales consistently with settings (71.2 FPS at Ultra versus 120.6 FPS at Low), indicating that reducing graphical load yields proportional gains rather than CPU limitations.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p High settings?

A: The measured average is 57.2 FPS at 2560x1440 High. This is below the 60 FPS target but remains smooth for a single-player action-adventure title, especially given Control's slower-paced exploration segments.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This pairing ranks 1047 out of 1636 total tested combinations in Control. This places it in the 64th percentile of all combos, indicating that roughly two-thirds of tested systems perform better, but the measured FPS shows it remains capable for mainstream gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. Low settings produce 120.6 FPS average, Medium reaches 89 FPS, High hits 79.8 FPS, and Ultra maintains 71.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 49.4 FPS spread, with each settings tier costing roughly 10-17 FPS. The transition from Low to Medium is the steepest single drop at 31.6 FPS, while Medium to High loses 9.2 FPS and High to Ultra loses 8.6 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results show a similar pattern but with compressed numbers. Low settings achieve 94.7 FPS, Medium delivers 66.5 FPS, High produces 57.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 53.7 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 41 FPS. Notably, the gap between High and Ultra narrows to just 3.5 FPS at this resolution, suggesting diminishing returns from the highest preset. The step from Low to Medium costs 28.2 FPS, which is the largest single-tier penalty in the dataset.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings manage 60.6 FPS, Medium drops to 44.8 FPS, High reaches 40.1 FPS, and Ultra slumps to 31.9 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 28.7 FPS, but the more telling figure is that even Medium fails to hit 45 FPS. The 4K Low result of 60.6 FPS is the only preset at this resolution that clears the 60 FPS mark, and it does so barely.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1047 out of 1636 tested systems places it in the lower half of the upper two-thirds of the database. This positioning is consistent with the component-level percentiles: the CPU sits at the 77th percentile against all processors, while the GPU holds the 72nd percentile against all graphics cards. The measured FPS data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor in Control, as the CPU's strong single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 909 and passmark single-thread score of 3481) provides ample headroom for the game's physics and logic.

The GPU's nearest rival comparisons reinforce its mid-range positioning. The RX 6650 XT's average benchmark score of 29024 is statistically identical to the RX 6800M (29011, 0% delta) and RX 470 (28996, 0.1% delta), and it trails the Arc A370M by only 0.5% (29175) and the RX Vega M GH by 0.6% (29197). This means the 6650 XT sits in a tightly clustered performance band where component selection matters less than settings optimization.

Within the context of Control specifically, the combo's ranking reflects the game's demanding nature at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 31.9 FPS is particularly weak, dragging down the overall ranking. At 1080p Ultra, the 71.2 FPS result is respectable, but the system's inability to maintain 60 FPS at 1440p High (57.2 FPS) and 4K Medium (44.8 FPS) positions it as a 1080p-first configuration. Users targeting higher resolutions would need to rely on the Low preset at 1440p (94.7 FPS) or accept frame rates below 60 FPS. The data indicates that this pairing is best suited for 1080p gaming with high detail settings, or 1440p gaming with medium detail settings, making it a versatile but not high-end option in the benchmark database.