Control

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Control, but the data shows a sharp performance cliff at 4K. Benchmark results indicate that this combination ranks 1632nd out of 2888 tested combos for this title, placing it in the middle of the pack. The measured FPS reveals a system that is clearly capable of high refresh rate gaming at lower resolutions, yet struggles to maintain playable frame rates at Ultra settings in 4K. This analysis breaks down the specific bottleneck behaviors, the role of each component, and the optimal settings for this hardware pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K in Control shows a classic pattern of GPU-bound behavior as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the system achieves 82 FPS, which drops to 62 FPS at 1440p and further down to 42 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The pattern is consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the Radeon RX 9060's rendering throughput is the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The scaling curve becomes steeper with higher quality settings. At Low settings, the system produces 130 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 64 FPS, whereas the same resolution jump at Ultra settings only costs 35 FPS (from 71 down to 36). This suggests that at Ultra settings, the GPU is already saturated at 1080p, so the additional pixel workload at higher resolutions has a relatively smaller absolute impact. Conversely, at Low settings, the GPU has more headroom, making the resolution scaling more pronounced.

The 4K results are particularly revealing for this pairing. Even at Low settings, the RX 9060 only manages 66 FPS at 3840x2160, which is below the 70 FPS threshold often considered smooth for action games. At Medium settings, the average drops to 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS, which will produce noticeable stutter in fast-paced combat. The Ultra preset at 4K yields just 36 FPS, rendering the game essentially unplayable for competitive or action-oriented play. The data strongly indicates that 4K is not a viable resolution for this GPU in Control unless the user is willing to accept Low settings and even then, performance is marginal.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 44 chip manufactured on a 4 nm process. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical factor in Control's texture-heavy environments. The GPU's boost clock of 2990 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz allow it to achieve a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 21.43 TFLOPS.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 59th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 16014. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129, which is just 0.7% higher. This near-parity is reflected in the measured FPS, where the RX 9060's performance in Control aligns closely with what would be expected from that performance tier. The Radeon R9 370X and RX 7700 are also within 1% of the RX 9060's average score, though these comparisons are based on synthetic benchmarks rather than in-game results.

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is a potential concern for Control at higher resolutions. The game's use of high-resolution textures and complex particle effects can push memory usage, and the data shows that the 4K Ultra preset only achieves 36 FPS. While this is primarily a compute limitation, the 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth may also contribute to the performance drop at 4K, where the GPU must access significantly more texture data per frame. The G3D benchmark score of 17631 and the DirectX 12 score of 44 suggest that the GPU is well-optimized for modern APIs, but the raw throughput is not sufficient for 4K Ultra in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF provides a strong foundation for gaming with 10 cores and 16 threads based on the Alder Lake architecture. Its boost clock of 4.90 GHz and base clock of 3.70 GHz deliver strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1016 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3302. This is important for Control, which relies on a single primary game thread for many gameplay systems.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23391 and a 3DMark max-thread score of 7952. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample capacity for game data, and the dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 gives flexibility for system builders. The CPU sits at the 79th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27799, placing it just 0.3% below the Intel Core i9-10900K and AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D in aggregate performance.

In the context of Control's measured FPS, the CPU does not appear to be a bottleneck at any resolution. At 1080p Low settings, the system reaches 130 FPS, which is well within the CPU's capability to feed the GPU. Even at 4K Ultra with only 36 FPS, the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor, as the GPU is saturated by the pixel workload. The PassMark single-thread score of 3925 indicates strong per-core performance, which is sufficient to handle the game's physics and AI calculations without constraining the GPU. The data suggests that the i5-12600KF has ample headroom for this GPU pairing, and users could potentially upgrade to a more powerful graphics card without immediate CPU limitations.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Control?*

A: The measured data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot. At High settings, the system achieves 62 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1080p, High settings yield 82 FPS, but the visual fidelity improvement at 1440p is substantial for only a 20 FPS cost.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Control?*

A: Only at Low settings, where it averages 66 FPS. At Medium settings, the average drops to 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS, which will result in noticeable frame pacing issues. Ultra settings at 4K are not viable, with an average of just 36 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 3060 Ti?

A: The RX 9060's average benchmark score is 16014, which is 0.7% lower than the RTX 3060 Ti's score of 16129. This indicates nearly identical performance levels, so users should expect similar frame rates in Control between these two GPUs.

Q: Is the i5-12600KF a bottleneck for the RX 9060 in this game?

A: No. The CPU's performance is well ahead of what the GPU requires. At 1080p Low settings, the system reaches 130 FPS, and the CPU's single-thread score of 3302 in Cinebench R23 indicates it can handle the game's physics and AI without limiting the GPU.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Low settings produce 98 FPS while Ultra settings produce 54 FPS. This is a 44 FPS difference, representing a 45% performance reduction for the highest visual quality preset.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM limit performance at 4K?

A: The data shows a significant performance drop at 4K, but this is primarily due to the GPU's compute throughput rather than VRAM capacity alone. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth on the 128-bit bus may contribute to the 4K bottleneck, but the 36 FPS at Ultra settings is more indicative of raw rendering limitations.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this hardware. At 1080p, Medium settings produce 92 FPS with a minimum of 78 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. At 1440p, Medium settings yield 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS, keeping the experience fluid. The Medium preset provides the highest minimum frame rates across all resolutions, which is critical for maintaining consistent gameplay in Control's action sequences.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate stability. At 1080p, it delivers 82 FPS, and at 1440p it achieves 62 FPS. However, the lack of minimum FPS data for High settings makes it harder to guarantee smoothness. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p, where it still produces 71 FPS, but the 4K Ultra result of 36 FPS should be avoided entirely.

For users with 1440p monitors, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation, as it maintains an average of 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS. The Low preset offers 98 FPS at 1440p, which is excellent for competitive play, but sacrifices significant visual quality. The data indicates that pushing beyond Medium at 1440p introduces frame rate variability that could detract from the experience, particularly in the game's intense combat scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for the Intel Core i5-12600KF and AMD Radeon RX 9060 in Control is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low settings: 130 FPS average
• Medium settings: 92 FPS average, 78 FPS minimum, 106 FPS maximum
• High settings: 82 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 71 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low settings: 98 FPS average
• Medium settings: 70 FPS average, 59 FPS minimum, 80 FPS maximum
• High settings: 62 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 54 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low settings: 66 FPS average
• Medium settings: 47 FPS average, 40 FPS minimum, 54 FPS maximum
• High settings: 42 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 36 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern where Medium settings provide the most complete data set, including minimum and maximum frame rates. The minimum FPS values at Medium settings are particularly telling: 78 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 40 FPS at 4K. These minimums indicate that the GPU can maintain playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the 40 FPS minimum at 4K confirms that resolution is not suitable for this GPU in Control.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 59 FPS (130 to 71). At 1440p, the difference is 44 FPS (98 to 54). At 4K, the difference narrows to 30 FPS (66 to 36), which further confirms that the GPU is becoming the dominant constraint at higher resolutions, limiting the impact of settings changes. This breakdown provides clear guidance for users: 1080p and 1440p are the target resolutions, and Medium settings offer the best compromise between visual quality and frame rate stability across both.