Control

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this combo at 1080p with High settings?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers an average of 75 FPS at 1920x1080 on High settings, placing it comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play in Control.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Radeon RX 7600 has an average benchmark score of 15171, which is effectively tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (average score 15199, deltaPct -0.2%). It also sits within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon Pro 560X and within 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested systems for Control?

A: This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 2608 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower third of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: What is the CPU's multithreaded performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i5-12400F's average benchmark score is 19039. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, scores 19047 (deltaPct 0%), meaning they are statistically identical. The Intel Core 3 201E trails by -0.1%, while the Intel Core i5-1335U and AMD EPYC 7773X both lead by 0.3%.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 89 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 49 FPS. That is a 40 FPS drop, representing a 45% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the 4K Medium preset maintain playable frame rates?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the combo averages 43 FPS with a minimum of 36 FPS and a maximum of 49 FPS. The minimum can dip below the 40 FPS threshold that some players consider the lower bound for acceptable action-game performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Control clearly indicates that the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset provides an average of 75 FPS, which is a strong balance of visual fidelity and performance. The Ultra preset at the same resolution drops to 65 FPS, a 13% reduction in average frame rate for what is often a marginal visual improvement in this title. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 84 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS, offering a wider safety margin for demanding scenes.

For 2560x1440 users, the High preset yields an average of 56 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for drops during intense physics sequences common in Control's combat. The Medium preset at this resolution averages 64 FPS with a minimum of 54 FPS, representing the most consistent experience for 1440p displays. The Low preset at 1440p achieves 89 FPS, but the visual downgrade in a game known for its atmospheric lighting and particle effects is substantial.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset is the only setting that achieves a 60 FPS average, while Medium drops to 43 FPS and High falls to 38 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K averages just 33 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable play in a fast-paced action title. For 4K users, the data suggests that Low settings are the only viable path to smooth performance, while Medium could be considered if the player accepts occasional frame rate dips to the mid-30s.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is the High preset at 1080p, which provides 75 FPS average without the performance overhead of Ultra. For those prioritizing frame rate consistency, the Medium preset at either 1080p or 1440p shows the tightest min-max range relative to its average, indicating fewer frame time spikes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 2608 out of 3720 tested combos in Control. This places it in the 70th percentile from the bottom, meaning roughly 70% of tested configurations outperform it in this specific game. The rank reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than the CPU, as the Radeon RX 7600 sits at the 57th percentile among all GPUs, while the Core i5-12400F sits at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs.

The GPU's nearest rival data provides context for this ranking. The Radeon RX 7600's average benchmark score of 15171 is within 0.2% of the RTX 3050 OEM (15199), yet the ranking in Control suggests that game-specific optimization favors the NVIDIA card slightly, or that the test methodology captures differences not visible in synthetic benchmarks. The 0.7% delta to the Radeon Pro 560X and GTX 660 Ti indicates that the RX 7600 is not dramatically ahead of much older or lower-tier hardware in raw compute terms, which explains why the combo does not rank higher among the 3720 tested configurations.

The CPU's position is more favorable. With an average benchmark score of 19039 and a percentile ranking of 73, the i5-12400F outperforms the majority of CPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals show near-identical scores, with the Ryzen 5 7535HS at 19047 (0% delta) and the Core 3 201E at 19056 (-0.1%). This suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor in the combo's overall ranking; the GPU's mid-pack performance is what drags the combined rank down to 2608.

The gap between the CPU's strong percentile (73) and the GPU's weaker percentile (57) indicates a system that is processor-heavy relative to its graphics capability. In a game like Control, which relies heavily on GPU rendering for its physics-driven destruction and reflective surfaces, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, and the combo's rank reflects that imbalance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS values show a clear progression across quality presets. The Low preset averages 118 FPS, providing a high-refresh-rate experience. The Medium preset averages 84 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS and a maximum of 97 FPS, indicating stable frame delivery. The High preset averages 75 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 65 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 53 FPS, representing a 45% reduction in average frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the same progression holds but with lower absolute values. The Low preset averages 89 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset averages 64 FPS with a minimum of 54 FPS and a maximum of 73 FPS. The High preset averages 56 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset averages 49 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 40 FPS, a 45% reduction, identical to the percentage drop seen at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the data shows significant performance degradation. The Low preset averages 60 FPS, which is exactly at the standard target. The Medium preset averages 43 FPS with a minimum of 36 FPS and a maximum of 49 FPS. The High preset averages 38 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 33 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 27 FPS, a 45% reduction, again matching the pattern seen at lower resolutions.

The minimum FPS data, available only for Medium settings across all resolutions, provides insight into frame consistency. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 71 FPS against an average of 84 FPS, a 15% deviation. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 54 FPS against an average of 64 FPS, a 16% deviation. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 36 FPS against an average of 43 FPS, a 16% deviation. This consistent ~15-16% gap between average and minimum suggests the game's frame pacing is stable regardless of resolution, with the limiting factor being raw throughput rather than spikes.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 2250 MHz, which translates to 18 Gbps effective. The GPU's base clock is 1720 MHz, with a game clock of 2250 MHz and a boost clock of 2655 MHz. These specifications place the RX 7600 in the mid-range segment, with a 57th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a relevant factor for Control at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU maintains consistent scaling from 1080p to 1440p, but the drop to 4K is steep: the High preset goes from 75 FPS at 1080p to 56 FPS at 1440p to 38 FPS at 4K. This 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K on High settings suggests that the GPU is running into memory bandwidth or capacity limits at 4K, as the 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is modest for that resolution.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS is typical for this class of card. The 32 ray accelerators support DirectX 12 Ultimate, which is relevant for Control's use of ray-traced reflections, though the measured FPS data does not indicate whether ray tracing was enabled in the tested presets.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a passmark G3D score of 16634 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2310. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 88051 and Vulkan score of 34401 indicate that the card performs better in OpenCL workloads than in Vulkan, which may have implications for games that utilize Vulkan rendering paths. The GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 3050 OEM, has a nearly identical average benchmark score (15199 vs 15171), yet the measured FPS in Control suggests the RX 7600 holds its own at lower resolutions but struggles to maintain the same scaling to 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. 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 dual-channel configuration.

The CPU's benchmark scores demonstrate strong multithreaded performance for its class. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 12380 and the Geekbench multicore score of 9472 indicate robust parallel processing capability. The single-thread scores are also respectable, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1680 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1964. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 1699 for 2 threads to 5912 for max threads, indicating efficient thread utilization.

The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs is notably higher than the GPU's 57th percentile. This disparity suggests that in Control, the CPU is likely not the bottleneck at most settings. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 118 FPS, which is well above what the GPU typically delivers in this game, indicating the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them.

However, the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration may become a factor at very high frame rates. The Passmark multithread score of 19433 and the 3DMark max threads score of 5912 show that the CPU has limits, but these are unlikely to be reached in Control given that the GPU caps performance at 118 FPS even on Low settings. The CPU's nearest rivals, including the Ryzen 5 7535HS and Core 3 201E, show virtually identical average benchmark scores, confirming that this processor is well-matched to its peers in this performance tier.

The CPU's TDP of 65W and support for DDR4/DDR5 memory give it flexibility, but the 18 MB L3 cache is modest compared to higher-end Alder Lake parts. In Control, which features discrete physics objects and destructible environments, the L3 cache size can influence performance in CPU-bound scenes, though the measured data does not show evidence of CPU limitation at the tested settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent scaling pattern across resolutions. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by approximately 25-26% across all settings. For example, High settings go from 75 FPS at 1080p to 56 FPS at 1440p, a 25% reduction. Low settings go from 118 FPS to 89 FPS, a 25% reduction. Medium settings go from 84 FPS to 64 FPS, a 24% reduction. Ultra settings go from 65 FPS to 49 FPS, a 25% reduction.

From 1440p to 4K, the scaling becomes more severe. High settings drop from 56 FPS to 38 FPS, a 32% reduction. Low settings drop from 89 FPS to 60 FPS, a 33% reduction. Medium settings drop from 64 FPS to 43 FPS, a 33% reduction. Ultra settings drop from 49 FPS to 33 FPS, a 33% reduction. This consistent ~33% reduction from 1440p to 4K, compared to the ~25% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly bandwidth-limited at 4K.

The pixel throughput analysis supports this interpretation. Moving from 1080p to 1440p increases pixel count by 78%, yet the FPS only drops by 25%. This suggests the GPU has spare compute capacity at 1080p and is not fully utilized until 1440p. Moving from 1440p to 4K increases pixel count by 125%, and the FPS drops by 33%, which is less than the pixel increase would suggest. This indicates that the GPU is not purely pixel-bound but is instead limited by memory bandwidth or other factors at higher resolutions.

The 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth becomes a critical constraint at 4K, especially with the High and Ultra presets that likely increase texture quality and memory pressure. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is also a factor, as 4K textures in Control can approach this limit. The fact that the Low preset at 4K achieves exactly 60 FPS suggests that reducing texture quality and other memory-intensive settings alleviates the bandwidth constraint enough to reach the frame rate target.

The scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component across all resolutions, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom. The consistent percentage drops across settings within each resolution change confirm that the bottleneck scales with resolution rather than with quality preset, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario in a rasterized rendering workload.