Control

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB ranks 1908th out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. This rank is heavily influenced by the GPU’s surprisingly low 24th percentile standing among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at a much stronger 73rd percentile. The pairing produces a curious imbalance: the processor has ample headroom, but the graphics card’s measured 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 4093 puts it in the company of much older or integrated parts. Benchmark results indicate this combo is not built for maxing out demanding titles, yet the data shows it can still deliver playable frame rates at certain settings, making it a study in how a modest GPU can cap a capable CPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The 1908th position out of 3720 combos places this system almost exactly at the median, which tells a story of adequacy rather than excellence. Digging into the components, the disparity becomes clear: the i5-12400F’s average benchmark score of 19039 places it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, while the RX 9060 XT’s average score of 4093 lands in just the 24th percentile of all GPUs. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS with a score of 19047 (a 0% delta) and the Intel Core 3 201E at 19056 (-0.1% delta), showing the i5 is right in a competitive cluster. Meanwhile, the GPU’s nearest rivals are far less flattering: the Intel HD Graphics 630 scores 4075 (0.4% delta), and the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M scores 4151 (-1.4% delta), meaning the RX 9060 XT is performing in the same league as those parts in synthetic tests. This rank suggests that in Control, the GPU is the primary bottleneck, dragging down what would otherwise be a solid mid-range pairing.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured FPS data, the sweet spot for this combo is the Medium preset across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 101 FPS average with a minimum of 86 and maximum of 117, which is smooth for action gameplay. Moving to 1440p, Medium still holds at 77 FPS (min 65, max 88), maintaining fluidity. Even at 4K, Medium stays playable at 52 FPS (min 44, max 60), though it dips below the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset is also viable at 1080p with 90 FPS, but at 1440p it drops to 68 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 46 FPS, which feels less stable. Low settings push frame rates dramatically—143 FPS at 1080p and 108 FPS at 1440p—but the visual sacrifice is unnecessary given Medium’s headroom. Ultra is the worst option: it hits 78 FPS at 1080p but plummets to 59 FPS at 1440p and 40 FPS at 4K, making it only suitable for slower-paced moments. Data suggests Medium offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, with High as a fallback for lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, performance falls from 90 FPS at 1080p to 68 FPS at 1440p (a 24% reduction) and then to 46 FPS at 4K (a 49% reduction from 1080p). The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 101 FPS at 1080p, 77 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. Low settings scale even more dramatically, going from 143 FPS at 1080p to 108 FPS at 1440p and 73 FPS at 4K. These steep drops—roughly halving from 1080p to 4K—indicate that the RX 9060 XT’s 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory bus are being saturated as pixel count increases. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is not the limiting factor here; if it were, the scaling would be flatter across resolutions. Instead, the data shows a GPU that struggles to maintain performance as resolution climbs, particularly beyond 1440p, where the bandwidth of 322.3 GB/s becomes a constraint.

FAQ

*Q: Is this combo capable of running Control at 4K?*

A: Yes, but only at lower presets. At Medium settings, the average FPS is 52 with a minimum of 44, which is playable but not consistently smooth. Low settings improve this to 73 FPS, while High and Ultra drop to 46 and 40 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400F’s average score of 19039 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047, 0% delta) and the Intel Core 3 201E (19056, -0.1% delta). It slightly edges out the Intel Core i5-1335U (18982, 0.3% delta) and the AMD EPYC 7773X (18979, 0.3% delta).

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing if targeting 60+ FPS?

A: 1080p is the safest bet. At High settings it achieves 90 FPS, and at Medium it hits 101 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (108 FPS) and Medium (77 FPS) surpass 60 FPS, while High (68 FPS) barely does and Ultra falls short at 59 FPS.

Q: Why does the GPU’s rank seem so low compared to its modern architecture?

A: The RX 9060 XT scores 4093 in 3DMark Steel Nomad, placing it in the 24th percentile. Its nearest rivals are the Intel HD Graphics 630 (4075, 0.4% delta) and NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (4151, -1.4% delta), indicating that despite being a new RDNA 4.0 part, its measured performance aligns with much older or integrated solutions.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: No, the data suggests the opposite. The CPU’s 73rd percentile ranking and strong multi-threaded scores (e.g., 12380 in Cinebench R23) contrast with the GPU’s 24th percentile, and the FPS scaling across resolutions points to the GPU as the limiting component.

Q: Are there any settings where the combo excels?

A: At 1080p Low, it hits 143 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays. Even at 1440p Low, it manages 108 FPS. These settings show the combo can perform well when the graphical load is reduced.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB is the defining component in this combo, and its specs tell a mixed story. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the bandwidth is 322.3 GB/s, which is modest for modern standards. The clocks are high—boost up to 3130 MHz and game clock at 2530 MHz—but the 2048 shading units and 64 ROPS are limited. The GPU’s measured performance in Control reflects this: at 4K Medium, it averages 52 FPS, and the minimum of 44 FPS suggests occasional stutters. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 4093 places it in the 24th percentile, with rivals like the Intel HD Graphics 630 (delta 0.4%) and NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (delta -1.4%) showing it’s not competitive with dedicated gaming GPUs from the same era. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at Medium settings, but the 4K results indicate the memory bus width and bandwidth are bottlenecks, not the clock speeds. The GPU’s 64 ROPS limit pixel throughput, which explains why the pixel rate of 200.3 GPixel/s translates to sub-60 FPS at 4K even on Medium.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a workhorse that is largely underutilized in this pairing. With 6 cores and 12 threads, a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost up to 4.40 GHz, it provides ample processing power. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it flexible, but in Control, its role is to feed the GPU without becoming a bottleneck. Benchmark results show strong performance: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380 and single-core of 1680, plus a PassMark multithread score of 19433. The CPU’s 73rd percentile rank and average score of 19039 put it ahead of rivals like the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047, 0%) and Intel Core i5-1335U (18982, 0.3%). In practical terms, the FPS data shows that resolution scaling is purely GPU-bound—if the CPU were the limit, we would see similar FPS across 1080p and 1440p, but instead we see consistent drops. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 10 nm process make it efficient, but its performance headroom is wasted with this GPU, as even at 1080p Low (143 FPS), the CPU is unlikely to be maxed out.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a clear picture of this combo’s capabilities across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results are strong: Low settings deliver 143 FPS average, Medium hits 101 FPS (min 86, max 117), High achieves 90 FPS, and Ultra manages 78 FPS. This resolution is where the combo shines, with all presets above 75 FPS, making it suitable for high-refresh gaming. Moving to 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably: Low still impresses at 108 FPS, but Medium falls to 77 FPS (min 65, max 88), High drops to 68 FPS, and Ultra struggles at 59 FPS. The 60 FPS threshold is only crossed by Low and Medium, with High just barely missing it. At 3840x2160, the GPU’s limitations become stark: Low averages 73 FPS, Medium drops to 52 FPS (min 44, max 60), High falls to 46 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 40 FPS. The minimum FPS data for Medium settings across all resolutions—44 at 4K, 65 at 1440p, and 86 at 1080p—shows that while averages are playable, dips can occur, particularly at 4K. This breakdown underscores that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p viable only at lower presets, and 4K reserved for Low settings if smoothness is the priority.