Control

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti delivers a solidly playable experience in Control, though the data reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution increases. At 1080p, the combination produces high frame rates, but the scaling to 4K shows a significant performance drop that points to the GPU as the primary limiting factor. This analysis breaks down the measured average FPS across three resolutions and four quality presets, contextualizes the combo’s standing among other tested systems, and offers guidance on optimizing settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a predictable decline as resolution rises, but the magnitude of the drop between 1080p and 4K is substantial. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 104.4 at 1920x1080 to 77.7 at 2560x1440, and finally to 55.4 at 3840x2160. This represents a 47% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the rendering load is scaling heavily with pixel count. The pattern is consistent across all presets: at Low settings, the system goes from 166.6 FPS at 1080p down to 85.5 at 4K, a drop of nearly half. At Medium, the figures are 116.5 FPS at 1080p versus 61.6 at 4K, and at Ultra, 93.5 FPS at 1080p falls to 47.4 at 4K.

The scaling behavior suggests that at 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU, but as resolution climbs, the GPU’s workload increases disproportionately. The RTX 3070 Ti’s 8 GB of GDDR6X memory and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily at 4K, where the average FPS at Ultra (47.4) barely crosses the threshold for smooth gameplay. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 38.1 FPS, which is smaller in absolute terms than the 73.1 FPS gap seen at 1080p. This compression of frame rates at higher resolutions is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the card’s compute and memory throughput become the dominant constraint.

Interestingly, the 1440p results show a more moderate decline from 1080p, with High settings dropping from 104.4 to 77.7 FPS. This suggests that 1440p is a sweet spot for this combo, offering a balance where the CPU can still contribute meaningfully while the GPU handles the increased pixel load. The 4K results, however, indicate that the RTX 3070 Ti is not fully equipped for ultra-high-resolution gaming in Control, particularly at higher presets where the average FPS dips below 60.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the i5-12400F and RTX 3070 Ti ranks 644th out of 1,636 tested combos in Control. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations, indicating that while it is not a top-tier setup, it outperforms a majority of systems. The percentile ranking for the CPU alone is 77, meaning it beats 77% of all tested processors, while the GPU sits at the 74th percentile. These individual strengths combine to produce a system that is well above average for this game, though not exceptional.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-8700K, which scores nearly identically with a delta of 0.1%, and the Intel Core i5-1335U, which trails by 0.3%. The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS is slightly ahead at 0.7%, while the AMD EPYC 7773X is 1.3% behind. These small deltas suggest that the i5-12400F’s 6-core, 12-thread configuration is competitive with older high-end parts and modern mid-range chips, providing ample processing power for Control’s physics and AI workloads. The GPU’s nearest rivals are more varied, with the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME scoring 0.3% higher, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 trailing by 0.8%, and the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 and GRID M60-1Q within 1.2% of its score.

The combo’s rank of 644 out of 1,636 suggests that many other pairings achieve higher frame rates in Control, likely due to more powerful GPUs or CPUs with higher clock speeds. However, the data indicates that this combination is far from a low-end option, and its position is respectable given the mid-range nature of both components. The measured FPS at 1080p High (104.4) places it well ahead of the bottom quartile, while the 4K results show its limitations compared to top-tier systems.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, manufactured on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It features 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, along with 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores. The card’s base clock is 1575 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, which is modest for a high-end GPU but sufficient for the workload presented by Control. The memory subsystem is a key spec: 8 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus provides 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for handling the game’s high-resolution textures and effects.

At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 47.4, which is below the 60 FPS target that many players prefer. This suggests that the GPU’s 8 GB frame buffer is a limiting factor, as Control’s highest settings likely require more than 8 GB of VRAM at 3840x2160. The gap between Low (85.5 FPS) and Ultra (47.4 FPS) at 4K is 38.1 FPS, indicating that the GPU’s shading and memory resources are heavily taxed by the Ultra preset’s additional visual features. In contrast, at 1080p, the same preset difference is 73.1 FPS (166.6 vs 93.5), showing that the GPU has more headroom at lower resolutions.

The card’s FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS is substantial for rasterization, but Control’s use of ray tracing and other advanced effects can stress the RT cores. The 48 RT cores are present, but the data shows that at 4K, the GPU struggles to maintain high frame rates even without ray tracing enabled, as the measured results are for standard rendering. The memory clock of 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective) contributes to the high bandwidth, but it is not enough to overcome the VRAM capacity limitation at 4K Ultra. For users targeting 4K, the data suggests that dropping to High settings (55.4 FPS) or Medium (61.6 FPS) is necessary to achieve smoother gameplay, as the difference between these presets is less than 10 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured average FPS, the best experience depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, all presets are playable, with Low achieving 166.6 FPS and Ultra at 93.5 FPS. The jump from High (104.4) to Ultra (93.5) is only 10.9 FPS, so users with high-refresh-rate monitors may prefer High to stay closer to 100 FPS, while those wanting maximum visual quality can use Ultra without sacrificing fluidity. Medium at 116.5 FPS offers a balanced middle ground, but the visual difference between Medium and High is often more noticeable than the 12 FPS loss.

At 2560x1440, the options narrow. Low produces 123.8 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, but most users will want better visuals. Medium (89.5 FPS) and High (77.7 FPS) are both viable for a smooth experience, with High providing a more polished image at a cost of 11.8 FPS. Ultra drops to 66.5 FPS, which is still playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. For a 1440p setup, High is the recommended preset, as it offers a good balance of visual fidelity and performance, staying above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the data clearly shows that Ultra is not optimal, with an average of 47.4 FPS. High (55.4 FPS) and Medium (61.6 FPS) are closer, with only a 6.2 FPS difference. Low achieves 85.5 FPS, but the visual downgrade is significant. For 4K users, Medium is the best choice, as it maintains an average above 60 FPS while preserving more detail than Low. High is a reasonable alternative for those who can tolerate slightly lower frame rates, but the 6 FPS gain from Medium to High is not substantial enough to justify the performance hit. In summary, the data suggests using High at 1080p and 1440p, and Medium at 4K, to achieve the best trade-off between image quality and smoothness.

FAQ

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

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 104.4 FPS.

*Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in Control?*

A: This combination ranks 644th out of 1,636 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier.

Q: Is the RTX 3070 Ti’s 8 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data shows an average of 47.4 FPS at 4K Ultra, suggesting the 8 GB frame buffer is a limiting factor for the highest preset at this resolution.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low averages 123.8 FPS while Ultra averages 66.5 FPS, a difference of 57.3 FPS.

Q: Which preset provides the best experience at 4K?

A: Medium settings at 3840x2160 yield an average of 61.6 FPS, which is the highest preset to maintain above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K?

A: The i5-12400F scores 0.1% higher than the i7-8700K in synthetic benchmarks, indicating nearly identical performance.