Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, remains a demanding showcase for GPU-heavy effects like ray tracing and physics-based destruction. The measured data for the Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 provides a clear picture of how this mid-range combination handles the game across resolutions and presets. The results show a system that is consistently capable, though the balance between CPU and GPU shifts dramatically as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that the Medium preset is the optimal balance for most users, particularly at higher resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 105 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over the 93 FPS seen at High. More importantly, the Medium preset at 1080p shows a minimum FPS of 89, ensuring smoother frame pacing than the High preset, for which no minimum is recorded. This makes Medium the most reliable choice for high-refresh-rate 1080p displays.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again proves its value, averaging 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS. This is a playable and stable experience for most action sequences. While High settings at 1440p reach 71 FPS average, the lack of a recorded minimum makes Medium the safer recommendation for consistent performance. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 61 FPS average, which is borderline for a fast-paced game.

For 4K (3840x2160), the data reveals that the Low preset is the only sensible choice for maintaining fluid gameplay, yielding an average of 76 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K averages only 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 FPS, which will likely feel sluggish during intense combat. High and Ultra at 4K are not viable for a good experience, averaging 48 FPS and 41 FPS respectively. The performance cliff between Medium and Low at 4K is steep, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by the render resolution.

FAQ

Q: Does the Intel Core i5-12600KF bottleneck the AMD Radeon RX 7700 in Control?

A: The data indicates the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the gap between Low (148 FPS) and Ultra (81 FPS) settings is 67 FPS, showing the GPU is the primary limiter. At 4K, the gap widens to 35 FPS between Low (76 FPS) and Ultra (41 FPS), which further confirms that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU workload remains constant while the GPU load scales with resolution.

Q: What is the best resolution for a 144Hz monitor with this combo?

A: Based on the measured averages, 1920x1080 on the Medium preset is the only configuration that comes close to 144Hz, with an average of 105 FPS. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 148 FPS, but this requires sacrificing visual fidelity. At 1440p, the maximum average is 112 FPS on Low, which is still short of 144Hz.

Q: Is the RX 7700's 16 GB of VRAM necessary for this game?

A: While the game data does not list VRAM usage, the 16 GB GDDR6 memory buffer and 256-bit bus provide ample bandwidth. The results show that the RX 7700 can handle the Ultra preset at 1080p (81 FPS), which typically increases memory footprint. The GPU's 624.1 GB/s bandwidth likely prevents any memory-related stutters that could occur on lower-bandwidth cards.

Q: How does the CPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks relate to Control's gameplay?

A: The i5-12600KF scores 23,391 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,302 in single-core. Control benefits from strong single-thread performance, and the 3.70 GHz base and 4.90 GHz boost clocks provide the high-frequency response needed for game logic, while the 10 cores and 16 threads ensure background tasks do not interfere with frame pacing.

Q: Should I use the High or Ultra preset at 1440p?

A: The measured data shows a 10 FPS difference, with High averaging 71 FPS and Ultra averaging 61 FPS. The High preset is preferable for maintaining a frame rate closer to 60 FPS with more headroom, while Ultra may dip below 60 FPS in demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 80 FPS is the recommended middle ground.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the decisive component in this configuration for Control. The GPU's specifications directly explain the measured frame rates. With a boost clock of 2459 MHz and a game clock of 2041 MHz, the card sustains high throughput. The 2560 shading units and 96 ROPs are tasked with rendering the game's complex lighting and particle effects, which is reflected in the significant frame rate drops when moving from Low to Ultra presets.

The memory subsystem is also critical. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a high figure that prevents memory bandwidth from becoming a bottleneck, even at 4K resolutions where the pixel throughput demands are massive. The data supports this: at 4K, the average frame rate drops from 76 FPS on Low to 48 FPS on High, a 37% reduction. This scaling is consistent with a GPU that is compute-bound rather than memory-bound, as the memory bandwidth remains constant while the shading workload increases.

The GPU's percentile rank of 58 vs all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 15,852 place it in the mid-range tier. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, has a score of 16,129, which is only 1.7% higher. This marginal difference in synthetic benchmarks translates to the RX 7700 being able to handle Control's Ultra preset at 1080p with 81 FPS, a respectable result for a modern title.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF and AMD Radeon RX 7700 combination ranks 1756 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 53rd percentile of all systems. This is a solidly mid-pack position, indicating that while this system is not at the bleeding edge of performance, it is far from the bottom. The rank suggests that a significant portion of tested systems outperform this combo, likely due to higher-end GPUs, but it also means this setup outpaces a large number of lower-spec configurations.

The CPU's contribution to this rank is moderate. The i5-12600KF has a percentile rank of 79 vs all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 27,799 is remarkably close to its nearest rivals. For instance, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D scores 27,896, a mere 0.3% higher. This indicates that the CPU is not a weak link in the system. Instead, the GPU's percentile rank of 58 vs all GPUs holds the combo back in the overall ranking. The RX 7700's average score of 15,852 is significantly lower than its CPU counterpart's standing, making the GPU the primary factor in the combo's mid-pack placement.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF plays a supporting role in Control, providing enough processing headroom to keep the GPU fed. The CPU features a hybrid architecture with 10 cores (6 performance and 4 efficient) and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boosting up to 4.90 GHz. This high boost clock is crucial for the game's single-threaded game logic, which often dictates frame times in CPU-bound scenarios.

The synthetic benchmark data shows the CPU's strong multi-threaded capability, scoring 23,391 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 27,575 in Passmark multithread. However, Control is not a heavily multi-threaded game in its core loop. The single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,302, is more relevant. This high single-core score ensures that the game's main thread does not become a bottleneck, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU can produce very high frame rates.

The data confirms this. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 148 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate that the CPU's processing of game logic is likely the limiting factor. If the CPU were weaker, we would expect this frame rate to be lower. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache also help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's asset streaming. The CPU's TDP of 125 W and support for DDR4/DDR5 memory allow for flexible system builds, though the memory type is not detailed in the performance data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete matrix of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 148 FPS on Low, 105 FPS on Medium, 93 FPS on High, and 81 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has the only recorded minimum and maximum at 1080p, with 89 FPS and 121 FPS respectively, indicating a stable frame rate window. The 67 FPS spread between Low and Ultra is substantial, showing the GPU's performance scales significantly with settings.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 112 FPS on Low, 80 FPS on Medium, 71 FPS on High, and 61 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset again shows a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS, suggesting that the experience remains smooth without major dips. The drop from 1080p to 1440p on the same settings is consistent, with the Low preset losing 36 FPS and the Ultra preset losing 20 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance falls sharply. The Low preset averages 76 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS, High averages 48 FPS, and Ultra averages 41 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 46 FPS and a maximum of 62 FPS, showing that while the average is playable, the minimum can dip below 50 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 41 FPS, is not suitable for a smooth experience. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a 49% reduction in performance on Low settings (148 to 76 FPS) and a 49% reduction on Ultra settings (81 to 41 FPS).

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. When increasing from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the Low preset, the average frame rate drops from 148 FPS to 112 FPS, a 24% reduction. Further scaling to 3840x2160 results in 76 FPS, a 32% reduction from 1440p and a 49% reduction from 1080p. This scaling is not linear, which is typical for GPU-bound workloads where the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

The Ultra preset shows a similar trend. From 1080p (81 FPS) to 1440p (61 FPS), the drop is 25%. From 1440p to 4K (41 FPS), the drop is 33%. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 49%. This consistent ~50% reduction across all settings indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller reduction at higher resolutions, as the GPU workload increases while the CPU workload stays the same. Instead, the proportional drops confirm that the RX 7700 is fully utilized at all resolutions, and the i5-12600KF is providing ample headroom.

The implication is that users with a 4K display will need to use the Low preset to approach 60 FPS, while users with a 1080p display can comfortably use the Ultra preset. The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1440p gaming, where the Medium preset offers a solid 80 FPS average and the High preset offers a playable 71 FPS. The system's performance at 1440p is the sweet spot, balancing visual quality and frame rate.