Control

# Control with Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The measured frame rates for this combination show a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but reveals a more balanced profile at 1080p. Across all tested settings, the RTX 5090 D delivers playable to excellent performance, with the Intel Core i5-12400F providing enough throughput to keep the GPU fed at lower resolutions. The data indicates that this pairing excels in high-refresh 1440p scenarios, while 4K Ultra remains fluid but demands the most from the graphics card.

Settings Recommendations

At 3840x2160, the measured results show a clear hierarchy: Low averages 152 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS, High averages 96 FPS, and Ultra drops to 83 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 44 FPS, while moving from Medium to High costs only 12 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 13 FPS. The High preset offers a strong balance, delivering 96 FPS at 4K with visual quality that sits close to the top tier. Given that Ultra only provides diminishing returns over High, the High preset is the recommended choice for 4K gaming on this combo.

At 2560x1440, the picture improves substantially. Low hits 213 FPS, Medium reaches 160 FPS, High achieves 142 FPS, and Ultra manages 124 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 160 FPS, which is well above the threshold for high-refresh monitors, while High at 142 FPS remains extremely smooth. For competitive play, Low at 213 FPS is optimal, but for most users, High at 142 FPS strikes the best compromise between visual fidelity and frame rate. The gap between Medium and High is 18 FPS, while High to Ultra is also 18 FPS, making High the sweet spot.

At 1920x1080, all presets exceed 160 FPS. Low averages 233 FPS, Medium averages 205 FPS, High averages 188 FPS, and Ultra averages 163 FPS. The CPU becomes more relevant here, as the GPU has less work to do. Even Ultra at 163 FPS is exceptionally smooth, and the differences between presets are relatively small in percentage terms. The Medium preset at 205 FPS offers a 17 FPS advantage over High, making it a sensible pick for esports-style play, but High remains the best overall experience for single-player immersion.

Across all resolutions, the High preset consistently provides a balanced experience. The measured data shows that High is never more than 13 FPS behind Ultra at any resolution, while offering meaningful gains over Medium at 4K. For this combination, High is the recommended preset for general use, with Low reserved for maximum frame rates and Ultra for those who prioritize image quality above all else.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake generation, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its architecture is built on Intel's 10 nm process, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel memory bus. The processor has an 18 MB shared L3 cache and per-core L1 and L2 caches of 80 KB and 1.25 MB, respectively. This configuration provides solid multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12380 and a single-core score of 1680.

In the context of Control, the CPU's role varies by resolution. At 1080p, the measured frame rates reach up to 233 FPS on Low, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high rates. The processor's 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and 2-thread score of 1699 indicate decent per-core performance, which is relevant for a game that often relies on a few primary threads. The 4-thread score of 3067 and 8-thread score of 4779 show scaling, but the game does not appear to be heavily multi-threaded based on the benchmark data.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 73 versus all CPUs places it in the upper-middle tier. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS with a delta of 0%, the Intel Core 3 201E at -0.1%, and the Intel Core i5-1335U at +0.3%. These comparisons show that the i5-12400F is competitive with modern mobile and lower-power desktop parts, delivering similar average benchmark scores around 19039. For Control specifically, the CPU appears sufficient to avoid being a bottleneck at 1440p and 4K, where the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p, the CPU is more involved, but the data shows it can sustain over 200 FPS on lower presets, indicating no major constraint.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a flagship graphics card built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs, along with 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The card operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory is accessed via a 512-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The GPU's FP32 compute throughput is rated at 104.8 TFLOPS, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In Control, the GPU's massive memory pool and bandwidth are clear assets. At 4K Ultra, the card produces 83 FPS, which is remarkably high for a demanding title. The GPU's pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s enable it to handle high-resolution rendering with ease. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU scales predictably with resolution: from 1080p High at 188 FPS to 1440p High at 142 FPS and 4K High at 96 FPS, representing drops of 24% and 49% respectively.

The RTX 5090 D's percentile ranking of 92 versus all GPUs places it near the top tier. Its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at +1.1%, the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at -1.6%, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at -2.1%, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at -2.4%. These deltas are small, indicating that the average benchmark score of 77712 is closely matched by a few other parts, though the RTX 5090 D's real-world gaming performance in Control is clearly exceptional. The card's 92nd percentile ranking underscores its position as a top-tier solution for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 37th out of 2,888 tested combos in Control. This places it in the top 1.3% of all configurations, which is an outstanding result. The data suggests that while the CPU is mid-range in the broader market, the GPU's dominance in this title boosts the combo to near-elite status. The rank of 37 implies that only 36 other CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher frame rates in this game, which confirms the RTX 5090 D's capability.

The CPU's percentile of 73 and the GPU's percentile of 92 highlight a mismatch in tier, yet the combo still ranks highly. This indicates that Control is not particularly CPU-sensitive at the resolutions tested, allowing the GPU to shine. The combo's rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU's raw performance, as the CPU would likely be a larger bottleneck in more CPU-intensive games. For Control, however, the pairing works harmoniously, with the i5-12400F providing enough single-thread performance to avoid dragging down the GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how this combo scales across resolutions. Moving from 1080p to 1440p, the High preset drops from 188 FPS to 142 FPS, a decrease of 24.5%. From 1440p to 4K, the High preset drops from 142 FPS to 96 FPS, a further decrease of 32.4%. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K is 48.9%, meaning the combo loses roughly half its frame rate when moving to 4K. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card's workload increases with pixel count.

The Low preset shows a similar trend: 233 FPS at 1080p, 213 FPS at 1440p (an 8.6% drop), and 152 FPS at 4K (a 28.6% drop from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 34.8%, which is smaller than the High preset's drop. This suggests that at lower settings, the CPU becomes more of a factor at 1080p, as the GPU has headroom to render more frames. At 4K Low, the GPU is still the primary limiter, but the CPU's influence is reduced.

The Medium preset, which includes min and max FPS data, shows the following: at 1080p, the average is 205 FPS with a range of 175-236 FPS; at 1440p, the average is 160 FPS with a range of 136-184 FPS; and at 4K, the average is 108 FPS with a range of 92-124 FPS. The min FPS values are consistently about 15% below the average, indicating frame pacing stability. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 22% drop, and from 1440p to 4K is a 32.5% drop, mirroring the High preset's behavior. This confirms that the GPU is the dominant limiting component across all settings, with the CPU playing a secondary role.

The data also shows that the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is not linear, with the largest percentage loss occurring between 1440p and 4K. This is consistent with the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute limits becoming more pronounced at higher resolutions. For users with 4K displays, the High preset at 96 FPS is the best balance, while those on 1440p can enjoy High at 142 FPS or push for Ultra at 124 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?

A: The measured data shows that 2560x1440 on the High preset delivers 142 FPS, which combines high visual quality with a frame rate suitable for high-refresh monitors. At 4K High, the average drops to 96 FPS, which is still smooth but less ideal for competitive play.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: On the High preset, the average FPS drops from 188 at 1080p to 96 at 4K, a reduction of 48.9%. On the Low preset, the drop is from 233 to 152 FPS, a 34.8% reduction. This scaling indicates the GPU becomes the primary limiter at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of VRAM necessary for Control?

A: The FACT PACK does not include VRAM usage data, so this cannot be determined from the provided information. However, the GPU's 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 512-bit bus are consistent with the high frame rates observed at 4K Ultra (83 FPS).

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 37th out of 2,888 total combinations in Control, placing it in the top 1.3% of all tested pairings. The GPU's high percentile (92) drives this ranking, while the CPU's percentile (73) is lower.

Q: What is the frame rate range on the Medium preset at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 on Medium, the average FPS is 160, with a minimum of 136 and a maximum of 184. This range shows a consistent frame delivery with a 15% difference between average and minimum.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 233 FPS, which is very high, but the smaller drop to 1440p (8.6%) compared to the drop from 1440p to 4K (28.6%) suggests the CPU becomes more involved at 1080p. However, the GPU still appears to be the dominant factor across all tested settings.