Control

# Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates for Control with the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 reveal a clear hierarchy across the four available presets. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 207 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. However, the jump from Low to Medium costs 56.5 FPS, bringing the average down to 150.5 FPS, while High settles at 133.3 FPS and Ultra drops further to 114.9 FPS. The data indicates that the step from Medium to High is relatively modest (17.2 FPS), whereas the gap between Low and Medium is substantial (56.5 FPS), suggesting that Medium represents the sweet spot for visual fidelity without sacrificing the high-refresh-rate experience.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. Low produces 159.1 FPS, Medium drops to 109.4 FPS, High reaches 102.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 84.5 FPS. The difference between Medium and High here is only 6.7 FPS, which is negligible in practical terms. Given that the RTX 5070's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for this 2019 title, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance, keeping frame rates comfortably above 100 FPS while providing noticeably improved visuals over Low.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. Low achieves 103.7 FPS, Medium drops to 73.5 FPS, High reaches 65.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 58.4 FPS. The gap between Medium and High here is 8.4 FPS, which is more meaningful at this resolution since every frame counts when approaching 60 FPS territory. For 4K users, Medium is the recommended preset, as it maintains playable performance while the Ultra preset dips below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth action-adventure gameplay.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently provides the best experience per the measured rows, offering frame rates that are 45-50% higher than Ultra while retaining most of the visual quality improvements over Low. The data shows that High and Ultra deliver diminishing returns in this game, with the RTX 5070's 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 compute being the constraining factor at higher settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate measured for this CPU-GPU combo in Control?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 207, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only setting that breaks the 200 FPS barrier in the dataset.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 4K compared to 1080p?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 58.4, which is roughly half of the 114.9 FPS seen at 1080p Ultra. This represents a 56.5 FPS reduction, indicating that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the RTX 5070 capable of 60 FPS at 4K in Control?

A: Yes, but only with the Low and Medium presets. Low achieves 103.7 FPS at 4K, while Medium reaches 73.5 FPS. The High preset (65.1 FPS) barely clears 60 FPS, whereas Ultra (58.4 FPS) falls short of the 60 FPS mark.

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

A: At 1440p, Low achieves 159.1 FPS while Ultra drops to 84.5 FPS, a difference of 74.6 FPS. This means Ultra delivers roughly 53% of the frame rate of Low at this resolution.

Q: How does the CPU's core configuration affect Control's performance?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 3DMark 16-thread score of 5895 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 indicate sufficient thread throughput for this game, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p where CPU load is relatively higher.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 336 out of 1636 tested combinations for Control, placing it in the top 20% of all tested systems for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveals how the system's performance scales with resolution. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 207 FPS at 1080p to 159.1 FPS at 1440p (a 47.9 FPS reduction) and then to 103.7 FPS at 4K (a further 55.4 FPS reduction). This progressive decline indicates that the RTX 5070's rendering workload scales almost linearly with pixel count at the Low preset, where the GPU is not heavily taxed by shading complexity.

The scaling pattern changes at higher settings. At Ultra, the frame rate falls from 114.9 FPS at 1080p to 84.5 FPS at 1440p (a 30.4 FPS drop) and then to 58.4 FPS at 4K (a 26.1 FPS drop). The percentage reduction from 1080p to 4K is 49.2% at Ultra, compared to 49.9% at Low. This similarity suggests that the limiting component remains consistent across settings, with the GPU being the primary constraint.

However, the absolute FPS values tell a more nuanced story. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset achieves 114.9 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. This indicates that the CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is capable of feeding the GPU enough data at this resolution. The 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and PassMark single-thread score of 3481 suggest that per-core performance is adequate for Control's engine, which was designed for 2019-era hardware.

The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a more pronounced impact on the GPU-bound scenarios. The RTX 5070's 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 201.0 GPixel/s pixel rate become the limiting factors at 4K, particularly at Ultra settings where the 58.4 FPS result is below the 60 FPS target. The data indicates that users seeking 4K Ultra performance would need to accept lower settings or a different GPU, as this combo's measured results show a clear GPU bottleneck at this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the complete set of measurements shows a wide spread across presets. Low delivers 207 FPS, Medium drops to 150.5 FPS, High reaches 133.3 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 114.9 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 92.1 FPS, representing a 44.5% reduction in frame rate when moving to the highest settings. The step between Medium and High (17.2 FPS) is larger than the step between High and Ultra (18.4 FPS), indicating that the rendering cost increases steadily as settings rise.

At 2560x1440, the measured values are 159.1 FPS for Low, 109.4 FPS for Medium, 102.7 FPS for High, and 84.5 FPS for Ultra. The difference between Medium and High narrows to 6.7 FPS, suggesting that these two presets have similar GPU workloads at this resolution. The spread from Low to Ultra is 74.6 FPS, a 46.9% reduction, which is slightly larger than at 1080p due to the increased pixel count amplifying the GPU workload differences.

At 3840x2160, the measurements show 103.7 FPS for Low, 73.5 FPS for Medium, 65.1 FPS for High, and 58.4 FPS for Ultra. The step from Medium to High is 8.4 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 6.7 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 45.3 FPS, a 43.7% reduction. Notably, the 4K Low result (103.7 FPS) is higher than the 1440p Ultra result (84.5 FPS), demonstrating that resolution has a smaller impact on performance than settings in this title.

The data reveals that Control's settings scaling is not uniform across resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Medium is 56.5 FPS, while at 4K it is 30.2 FPS. This compression of performance differences at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck as pixel count increases, mitigating the relative impact of quality settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 achieves a rank of 336 out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the 79.5th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the strong performance of the RTX 5070, which itself ranks in the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, combined with a CPU that sits in the 77th percentile among all processors.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database provide context for its performance. The RTX 5070's average benchmark score of 41687 is 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41610), 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41441), and 0.5% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41897). These minuscule deltas indicate that the RTX 5070 performs in the same tier as these high-end cards, despite being a newer generation product.

For the CPU, the i5-12400F's average benchmark score of 19221 is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210), 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i5-1335U (19167), and 0.7% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS (19364). The near-identical scores to the i7-8700K, a previous-generation flagship, highlight the i5-12400F's strong price-to-performance positioning in the desktop market.

The combo's rank of 336 out of 1636 suggests that while this system is not in the top tier of tested configurations, it delivers excellent performance for Control. The measured frame rates at 1080p and 1440p are well above playable thresholds, and even 4K is viable with medium settings. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component severely bottlenecks the other in this specific game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F brings 6 cores and 12 threads from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide sufficient data locality for Control's engine, which was designed for systems from the game's 2019 release era. The CPU's 3DMark scores show a clear scaling pattern: 909 single-thread, 3067 for 4 threads, 4779 for 8 threads, and 5912 for max threads. This scaling indicates that the CPU gains meaningful performance up to 8 threads, after which additional threads provide diminishing returns.

Control was released in 2019, and its engine was optimized for the CPU architectures of that period. The i5-12400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than sufficient for the game's threading model, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. At this resolution, the CPU's role is more prominent because the GPU can render frames quickly, and the CPU must keep up with draw calls and physics updates. The PassMark physics score of 1202 and the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 indicate robust computational throughput for such workloads.

The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 5895 is nearly identical to its max-thread score of 5912, suggesting that the 12-thread configuration is fully utilized without significant scaling losses. This is important for Control, which can spawn multiple worker threads for particle effects and destructible environments. The Cinebench R20 multicore score of 6937 and the Geekbench multicore score of 9138 both indicate that the CPU maintains strong performance across varied workloads.

At higher resolutions, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The measured FPS drops from 1080p to 4K at each settings tier confirm this pattern, with the percentage reduction being similar across presets. The CPU's single-thread performance, measured at 909 in 3Dmark single-thread and 3481 in PassMark single-thread, is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5070 even at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 200 FPS at Low settings. The data suggests that this CPU-GPU pairing is well-matched for Control, with neither component consistently limiting the other across the tested resolution and settings range.