Control

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers a strong Control experience, with measured results showing playable frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings. This combination lands at rank 86 out of 1636 tested combos, placing it comfortably in the top tier for this title. The data shows that the RTX 5080’s Blackwell architecture and the i5-12400F’s six-core design create a balanced platform, though the balance shifts predictably as resolution and settings change.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows reveal that the High preset is the sweet spot for this combo across most resolutions. At 1920x1080, High delivers 164.5 FPS, which is 19.3% ahead of Ultra’s 145.2 FPS and only 24.5% behind Low’s 234.7 FPS. The visual fidelity gain from High to Ultra is minimal in many action scenes, but the frame rate cost is substantial. At 2560x1440, High produces 124.9 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while Ultra drops to 109.2 FPS. At 3840x2160, High hits 86.6 FPS, which is still playable, but Ultra falls to 70.8 FPS—closer to the edge of acceptable for fast-paced action.

For users prioritizing frame rate above all, Medium is a reasonable compromise. It yields 189 FPS at 1080p, 138.8 FPS at 1440p, and 94.2 FPS at 4K. The jump from Medium to High costs roughly 24 FPS at 1080p, 14 FPS at 1440p, and 8 FPS at 4K—a relatively modest penalty for better visuals. Low settings are only recommended for competitive play or extremely high refresh rate displays, as it pushes 1080p to 234.7 FPS and 1440p to exactly 200 FPS. The data suggests that High is the best overall experience: it maintains high frame rates while preserving enough graphical detail for a visually demanding game like Control.

GPU Role

The RTX 5080’s 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Control’s texture-heavy environments. The GPU’s 10752 shading units and 84 RT cores handle the game’s physics and particle effects without bottlenecking at most settings. The boost clock of 2617 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz indicate a high-frequency design that scales well with the game’s workload.

The GPU’s role becomes more dominant as resolution increases. At 1080p, the frame rate gap between Low and Ultra is 89.5 FPS (234.7 vs 145.2), but at 4K, that gap narrows to 61.3 FPS (132.1 vs 70.8). This suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU becomes a limiting factor, while at 4K, the GPU is clearly the primary driver. The RTX 5080’s percentile ranking of 89 versus all GPUs supports its strong position—it outperforms the Intel Arc A570M by 1.6%, the Intel Arc A580 by 2.5%, and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X by 2.6% in average benchmark scores, while trailing the Intel Arc Pro A60 by 1.9%. These rival deltas are small, indicating that the 5080 sits in a competitive performance band, but its raw power is evident in the 4K Ultra result of 70.8 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L2 cache of 1.25 MB help feed the RTX 5080 efficiently in Control’s CPU-bound scenes, such as the game’s destructible environments and AI-driven encounters. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 19221 places it at the 77th percentile versus all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the majority of processors on the market.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400F is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-8700K, 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U, and 1.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7773X in average score, while trailing the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS by 0.7%. These margins are tiny, indicating that the CPU is not a differentiator in this combo. In Control, the CPU’s role is most visible at 1080p, where the frame rate ceiling appears to be around 234.7 FPS on Low settings—a clear sign that the i5-12400F’s six cores are keeping up with the GPU’s output. At higher resolutions, the CPU headroom grows, as evidenced by the smaller FPS drops between settings when moving from 1440p to 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 86 out of 1636 tested combos places this pairing in the top 5.3% of all systems evaluated for Control. This is an excellent result, though not surprising given the GPU’s 89th percentile standing and the CPU’s 77th percentile ranking. The data indicates that the RTX 5080 is the primary driver of this ranking, as the CPU’s rivals show only marginal score differences. The rank suggests that users with this setup will experience frame rates that rival much more expensive configurations, particularly at 1440p and 4K where the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading power shine.

The gap between this combo and the top-ranked systems likely stems from CPU limitations at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the i5-12400F’s 6 cores may not fully saturate the RTX 5080’s capabilities, leaving performance on the table compared to higher-core-count processors. However, at 1440p and above, the combo’s rank is justified by the measured FPS, which remains competitive even at Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear picture of the limiting component. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 164.5 FPS at 1080p to 124.9 FPS at 1440p (a 24.1% decrease) and then to 86.6 FPS at 4K (a 30.7% decrease from 1440p). This pattern shows that the GPU becomes progressively more critical as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the drop is steeper: 234.7 FPS at 1080p falls to 200 FPS at 1440p (a 14.8% decrease) and then to 132.1 FPS at 4K (a 34% decrease from 1440p). The larger percentage drop at 4K on Low settings indicates that even with reduced graphical load, the RTX 5080 is working hard to fill those pixels.

The scaling behavior suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary bottleneck, especially on Low settings where the frame rate hits 234.7 FPS—a value likely limited by the i5-12400F’s single-thread performance. At 1440p, the balance shifts toward the GPU, and at 4K, the GPU is unequivocally the limiting factor. Users targeting 4K should expect to use High or Medium settings, as Ultra’s 70.8 FPS may dip below the smoothness threshold for some players.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 234.7 FPS on Low, 189 FPS on Medium, 164.5 FPS on High, and 145.2 FPS on Ultra. The spread of 89.5 FPS between Low and Ultra is the largest of any resolution, reflecting the CPU’s ability to push high frame rates when the GPU is not fully taxed. The Medium setting at 189 FPS is a strong middle ground, offering a 24.5 FPS improvement over High while still maintaining visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the results are 200 FPS on Low, 138.8 FPS on Medium, 124.9 FPS on High, and 109.2 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 90.8 FPS, but the relative ordering remains consistent. High at 124.9 FPS is ideal for 1440p gaming on high-refresh-rate monitors, while Ultra at 109.2 FPS still clears 100 FPS for a smooth experience.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are 132.1 FPS on Low, 94.2 FPS on Medium, 86.6 FPS on High, and 70.8 FPS on Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra is 61.3 FPS, the smallest of the three resolutions, confirming the GPU’s dominance. For 4K users, High at 86.6 FPS provides the best balance, while Ultra’s 70.8 FPS is acceptable for slower-paced sections but may feel less responsive during intense combat. The data overall shows that this combo is versatile, capable of hitting high refresh rates at 1080p and maintaining playable frame rates at 4K across all settings.