Control

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 produces a classic mid-range 1080p setup in Control, where the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The data shows a system that delivers smooth performance at 1080p and playable frame rates at 1440p, but it struggles to maintain consistency at 4K. The measured results indicate that this combination ranks in the 1303rd position out of 1636 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database for this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals a clear GPU bottleneck. At 1080p High settings, the combo achieves 68.2 FPS, which drops to 53.5 FPS at 1440p (a 21.5% reduction) and further to 32.5 FPS at 4K (a 52.3% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a graphics-card-limited scenario; the CPU has ample headroom, as evidenced by its strong multi-threaded scores, but the Radeon RX 6600's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens significantly at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the spread from Low (110.2 FPS) to Ultra (60.1 FPS) is 50.1 FPS, but at 4K, the same settings span only 29.6 FPS (from 57.3 FPS on Low to 27.7 FPS on Ultra). This compression at 4K indicates that the GPU is saturated even at Low settings, where it can only muster 57.3 FPS, leaving little room for additional graphical fidelity without sacrificing frame rate. The 1440p results show a more balanced curve, with Low hitting 84.2 FPS and Ultra still maintaining 47.8 FPS, suggesting that this resolution is the practical ceiling for the combo when aiming for high refresh rates.

The data suggests that the i5-12600KF is not the limiting component in this pairing. Its benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 23444 and a single-core score of 3309, indicate processing power that far exceeds what Control demands at these settings. The bottleneck shifts entirely to the GPU, particularly at 4K where even the lowest settings fail to approach the 60 FPS threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1303 out of 1636 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the 20th percentile of all tested hardware configurations for Control. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than any CPU deficiency. The Radeon RX 6600 holds a percentile rank of 69 against all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 25235 places it nearly identical to the AMD Radeon 890M (deltaPct of 0) and just 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. This tight clustering indicates that the RX 6600 performs at par with these rivals in synthetic tests, but in Control's specific rendering workload, the 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a notable factor at higher resolutions.

The CPU side of the equation is more robust. The i5-12600KF achieves a percentile rank of 84 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27827 that is statistically indistinguishable from the Intel Core i9-10900K (deltaPct of 0) and the Intel Core i5-12600K (deltaPct of -0.1). This means the processor is not holding back the graphics card in any measurable way; the combo's overall rank is dragged down almost entirely by the GPU's performance ceiling in Control. In practical terms, the system behaves as a GPU-bound platform where upgrading the graphics card would yield far greater FPS gains than swapping the processor.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip manufactured on a 7 nm process. Its memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 across a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The GPU's clocks are set with a base of 1626 MHz and a boost of 2491 MHz, with a game clock of 2044 MHz. These specifications are modest by current standards, and the measured frame rates in Control reflect that.

The 8 GB VRAM is the most critical specification for this game, as Control's High and Ultra presets at 4K likely exceed this capacity, causing the GPU to rely on slower memory paging. The data supports this: at 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 27.7 FPS, while dropping to Low settings (which reduces texture memory pressure) jumps to 57.3 FPS. This 29.6 FPS swing is the largest of any resolution, indicating that VRAM capacity, not raw compute, is the primary limiter at 4K. At 1080p, the VRAM is sufficient, and the GPU's compute power (8.928 TFLOPS FP32) allows for a 50.1 FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings.

The GPU's pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s are adequate for 1440p but fall short at 4K. The 64 ROPs and 112 TMUs are the hardware constraints that manifest in the measured scaling. Compared to its nearest rivals, the RX 6600's performance is nearly identical to the Radeon 890M in synthetic tests, but its dedicated GDDR6 memory gives it an edge in real-world gaming where integrated graphics would share system memory.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce 110.2 FPS, Medium hits 77.5 FPS, High reaches 68.2 FPS, and Ultra maintains 60.1 FPS. The 1080p resolution is the sweet spot, with all presets except Ultra exceeding the 60 FPS threshold. The progression from Medium to High to Ultra shows diminishing returns, with only a 8.1 FPS difference between High and Ultra, suggesting that the GPU is already near its compute limit at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop predictably. Low settings yield 84.2 FPS, Medium produces 60.2 FPS, High achieves 53.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 47.8 FPS. The 1440p results show a clear division: Low and Medium are playable, while High and Ultra require compromises. The jump from Medium to High costs 6.7 FPS, and from High to Ultra another 5.7 FPS, indicating that each preset tier adds meaningful graphical load.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses. Low settings manage 57.3 FPS, Medium drops to 40.3 FPS, High falls to 32.5 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 27.7 FPS. The 4K results are only suitable for Low settings if the target is 60 FPS, and even then, the margin is slim. The gap between Medium and High is 7.8 FPS, while High to Ultra is only 4.8 FPS, showing that the GPU is heavily throttled by memory bandwidth and capacity at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target, the 1080p High preset is the optimal choice, delivering 68.2 FPS with a comfortable margin. At 1080p Ultra, the combo hits 60.1 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves no headroom for demanding scenes. The data suggests that 1080p High offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance stability, as the 8.1 FPS difference to Ultra is not worth the additional load.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point, producing 60.2 FPS. This provides a smooth experience without the visual degradation of Low settings, which hit 84.2 FPS but lack the graphical features that make Control's environments compelling. For users with a 144 Hz monitor, the 1440p Low preset at 84.2 FPS is the only option that approaches high refresh rates, though it sacrifices significant visual quality.

The 4K resolution is not suitable for this combo beyond Low settings. The 57.3 FPS on Low is the only configuration that approaches playability, and even that is borderline. The 40.3 FPS on Medium and 32.5 FPS on High are below the minimum threshold for smooth gameplay, making 4K a poor choice for this hardware pairing. Overall, the measured data indicates that 1080p High is the definitive recommendation, with 1440p Medium as a viable alternative for users prioritizing resolution over ultra settings.