Control

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a robust 1080p experience in Control, but the data reveals a clear shift in performance dynamics as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces an average of 111.1 FPS. Dropping to Low settings at the same resolution yields 175.8 FPS, while Medium and Ultra produce 124 FPS and 93.1 FPS, respectively. This spread at 1080p—a 82.7 FPS gap between Low and Ultra—indicates that the GPU has substantial headroom and that the processor is capable of feeding frames efficiently at lower graphical loads.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the average FPS at High settings falls to 83.1, a 28 FPS reduction from the 1080p High result. Low settings at 1440p still manage 133.6 FPS, but the scaling is steeper: Medium drops to 91.6 FPS and Ultra to 71.7 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 3840x2160 (4K) is where the GPU begins to assert its dominance as the primary bottleneck. At 4K High, the average FPS plummets to 53.4, and Ultra settings push that down further to 46.8 FPS. Low settings at 4K still deliver 87 FPS, but the gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 40.2 FPS, nearly matching the 1080p spread despite the absolute numbers being lower.

This resolution scaling pattern is textbook GPU-bound behavior. The percentage drop from 1080p High (111.1 FPS) to 4K High (53.4 FPS) represents a 51.9% reduction in frame rate. Similarly, from 1440p High (83.1 FPS) to 4K High, the loss is 29.7 FPS, or 35.7%. The CPU’s role becomes less significant as pixel count rises, which is typical for a game like Control that leans heavily on rasterization throughput. The data suggests that at 1080p, the i5-12400F’s six cores are sufficient to keep the RX 7800 XT occupied, but at 4K, the GPU’s raw compute limits are the definitive factor.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the workhorse in this configuration, and its specifications align closely with the observed 4K performance. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This memory capacity is substantial for Control, a title that can be demanding on VRAM at higher resolutions, and it helps explain why the 4K Low preset still achieves 87 FPS—the card is not being starved for memory. The 60 ray tracing cores and 3840 shading units provide the architectural foundation for the game’s rendering, though the measured data does not isolate ray tracing performance specifically.

Clock speeds are a critical factor in the GPU’s scaling behavior. The base clock is 1295 MHz, with a boost clock of 2430 MHz and a game clock of 2124 MHz. The boost clock represents the maximum potential under load, and the difference between base and boost—1135 MHz—indicates significant dynamic range that allows the card to adapt to workload intensity. In Control, the transition from 1080p Ultra (93.1 FPS) to 4K Ultra (46.8 FPS) shows that the GPU is being pushed to its limits at higher resolutions, where the boost clock may not be sustained as consistently due to power and thermal constraints inherent to its 263 W TDP.

The GPU’s benchmark scores provide context for its position in the broader market. It achieves a Passmark G3D score of 24176 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4157, with a percentile rank of 76 versus all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (with a deltaPct of 0.2) and the NVIDIA P104-100 (deltaPct of -0.4), indicating that the RX 7800 XT sits within a tight performance band relative to those cards. For Control specifically, the GPU’s 16 GB frame buffer is a clear asset; even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS remains playable at 46.8, suggesting that VRAM allocation is not causing a catastrophic drop, which would manifest as stuttering or min-FPS anomalies (though min-FPS data is not provided in the measured results).

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F provides the computational backbone for this combo, and its specifications indicate a balanced pairing with the RX 7800 XT. The processor has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This dual-threaded architecture is well-suited for Control, which benefits from multi-threaded workloads but does not require extreme core counts. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, which is crucial for maintaining consistent frame pacing in action sequences.

The CPU’s benchmark results underscore its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 16518 in multi-core and 2332 in single-core; these figures place it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score is 19221, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i7-8700K (deltaPct of 0.1) and the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS (deltaPct of -0.7). This proximity to the i7-8700K is notable—the 12400F matches a former flagship in synthetic tests, which translates to solid real-world gaming performance.

In Control at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 175.8 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. The data shows that even at 1080p Ultra (93.1 FPS), the CPU’s boost clock of 4.40 GHz is sufficient to keep up with the GPU’s output. However, as resolution increases to 4K, the CPU’s role diminishes. The frame rate drops from 111.1 FPS at 1080p High to 53.4 FPS at 4K High, a reduction of 57.7 FPS that is attributable almost entirely to GPU load. The 12400F’s 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node contribute to efficient operation, but the benchmark results indicate that its multi-threaded ceiling—scoring 5912 in 3DMark Max Threads—is not being saturated by Control at higher resolutions. The processor is a capable partner, but the data clearly assigns the performance ceiling to the graphics card.

FAQ

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

A: The measured average FPS is 111.1 at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: How does the CPU’s multi-core performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19221, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700K’s 19210.

Q: Does the GPU’s VRAM capacity impact 4K performance in this game?

A: The 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth supports a 4K Low average of 87 FPS, indicating that VRAM is not a bottleneck at that preset.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K on High settings?

A: The average FPS falls from 111.1 at 1080p to 53.4 at 4K, a reduction of 57.7 FPS or approximately 51.9%.

Q: How does the GPU rank relative to other tested cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT has a percentile rank of 76 versus all GPUs, and its nearest rival is the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 with a deltaPct of 0.2.

Q: What is the CPU’s single-threaded performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F scores 2332 in Cinebench R23 single-core.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT achieves a rank of 595 out of 1636 combos for Control. This places it in the upper-middle tier of tested systems, which is consistent with the measured FPS results. The rank of 595 represents the 36.4th percentile of all combos, meaning that approximately 63.6% of tested configurations outperform it in this specific game.

This ranking is particularly informative when compared to the individual component percentiles. The GPU sits at the 76th percentile against all GPUs, while the CPU is at the 77th percentile against all CPUs. The combo’s rank of 595 in a pool of 1636 suggests that while each part is individually strong, the overall system performance in Control is moderated by the resolution and settings tested. At 1080p, the combo’s 111.1 FPS average (High settings) is well above playable thresholds, but the 4K Ultra score of 46.8 FPS is below the 60 FPS target many users prefer.

The data shows that the combo’s ranking improves at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 175.8 FPS is competitive, but the 4K High result of 53.4 FPS drags the average down. The gap between the GPU’s 76th percentile and the combo’s 36.4th percentile ranking indicates that Control is a demanding title that leverages the GPU heavily, and the RX 7800 XT’s performance, while strong, does not push the combo into the top tier when paired with this mid-range CPU. The nearest rival combos in the database would include systems with higher-end GPUs, which explains the disparity. For users targeting 1440p gaming, this combo’s 83.1 FPS average at High settings is a strong result, but at 4K, the system falls short of the highest-tier configurations, as the rank of 595 reflects a middle-ground position in the overall distribution.