Control

Control is an action-adventure title that demands a lot from a graphics card, and the data for the Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 shows a system that is consistently bound by its GPU. The measured FPS across all resolutions and settings reveals a predictable pattern of performance degradation as pixel count increases, with the frame rate dropping by roughly half when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same quality preset. This indicates that the GTX 1650 is the primary limiting component, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed the GPU but cannot overcome the raw pixel-pushing limitations of the graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is severe and consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 57.9 FPS at 1080p to 29.5 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 28.4 FPS or roughly 49%. This pattern holds for other presets: High settings drop from 38.4 FPS to 20.3 FPS (a 47% decrease), Medium from 41.1 FPS to 18.5 FPS (a 55% decrease), and Ultra from 28.8 FPS to 16 FPS (a 44% decrease). The fact that the percentage drop is similar across all settings strongly suggests that the GPU is running out of fillrate and memory bandwidth as resolution increases, rather than being limited by any specific graphical feature.

The transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a more moderate decline, with Low settings going from 57.9 FPS to 42.2 FPS (a 27% drop) and High settings from 38.4 FPS to 27 FPS (a 30% drop). This intermediate step confirms that the scaling is not linear but accelerates at higher resolutions. The data implies that 4K is simply not viable for this combination, as even the lowest settings fail to reach 30 FPS. The 1440p results are borderline, with only Low settings achieving a playable 42.2 FPS, while all other presets fall below 30 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a Turing-architecture card with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. Its base clock of 1485 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz are modest, and the card has 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The measured FPS data indicates that the card's memory capacity and bandwidth are the bottlenecks, particularly at higher resolutions where the demand for texture data and frame buffer space increases exponentially.

At 1080p, the card manages to deliver 57.9 FPS on Low settings, which suggests it can handle the game's core rendering workload when the resolution is manageable. However, the drop to 28.8 FPS at Ultra settings at the same resolution shows that the card's 4 GB VRAM is likely being exhausted by higher-quality textures and effects. The pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s are also limiting factors, as evidenced by the steep decline in performance at 1440p and 4K. The GPU's benchmark scores, including a Passmark G3D score of 7880 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305, place it in the 43rd percentile of all GPUs, confirming its entry-level status.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data clearly shows that Low settings at 1920x1080 is the only configuration that approaches a smooth experience, with an average of 57.9 FPS. This is the only preset across all resolutions that exceeds 50 FPS, making it the recommended choice for users who prioritize fluid gameplay over visual fidelity. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops to 41.1 FPS at 1080p, which is still playable but noticeably less smooth, while High settings yield 38.4 FPS and Ultra falls to 28.8 FPS.

For users who insist on higher resolutions, the data suggests that 1440p with Low settings is the only viable option, delivering 42.2 FPS. However, this is still below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider ideal. At 4K, no settings preset achieves a playable frame rate, with even Low settings struggling at 29.5 FPS. The recommendation is clear: stick to 1080p and use Low settings for the best balance of performance and playability, as the GPU simply lacks the resources to handle higher quality presets without significant frame rate penalties.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 57.9 on Low settings to 28.8 on Ultra. Medium settings achieve 41.1 FPS, while High settings reach 38.4 FPS. The progression shows a consistent decline of roughly 10-13 FPS per quality tier, indicating that each preset level adds a similar amount of graphical workload to the GPU. At 2560x1440, the numbers drop significantly: Low settings deliver 42.2 FPS, Medium falls to 29.4 FPS, High reaches 27 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 23.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at this resolution is 12.8 FPS, which is the largest single-tier drop in the entire dataset.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low settings average 29.5 FPS, which is the only preset to exceed 20 FPS. High settings achieve 20.3 FPS, Medium drops to 18.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 16 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 13.5 FPS, showing that even the most aggressive quality reductions cannot rescue the experience. The data reveals that the GPU's performance ceiling is reached at 1080p, and any increase in resolution or quality settings beyond that point results in sub-30 FPS gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested combinations for Control, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 1574 out of 1636 tested combos. This places it in the bottom 4% of all configurations, confirming that it is not well-suited for this game. The rank reflects the GPU's limitations, as the CPU is actually quite capable — the i5-12600KF scores in the 84th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 27827, nearly identical to the Intel Core i9-10900K which is only 0% faster.

The low rank is entirely attributable to the GTX 1650's performance ceiling. The GPU's average benchmark score of 8713 places it in the 43rd percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (0.5% faster) and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (0.5% slower). This suggests that the GTX 1650 is a bottom-tier card for modern gaming, and its pairing with a high-end CPU creates a significant bottleneck that prevents the system from achieving higher frame rates in Control.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It features a 20 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. The CPU's benchmark results are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23444 and a single-core score of 3309, placing it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13700H (0.4% faster) and the Intel Core i5-12600K (0.1% slower), indicating that it is a very capable processor.

However, in Control, the CPU's role is largely secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows no signs of CPU limitation, as the frame rates are consistently low across all settings and resolutions, which is a classic symptom of GPU bottlenecking. The CPU's high single-thread performance (Passmark single-thread score of 3925) and multi-thread capabilities (Passmark multi-thread score of 27575) are more than sufficient to handle the game's physics and AI workloads, but they cannot compensate for the GPU's inability to render frames quickly enough. The data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield significant performance gains, while the CPU would remain a stable foundation.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings is the only configuration that achieves a smooth experience, averaging 57.9 FPS. All other presets and resolutions fall below 50 FPS, with 4K being entirely unplayable.

Q: Why does performance drop so much at 1440p and 4K?

A: The GTX 1650 has only 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and a 128-bit bus, limiting its bandwidth to 128.1 GB/s. At higher resolutions, the GPU runs out of memory bandwidth and fillrate, causing frame rates to drop by 27-55% when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The Intel Core i5-12600KF ranks in the 84th percentile of CPUs, while the GTX 1650 ranks in the 43rd percentile of GPUs. The frame rates remain low regardless of settings, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation.

Q: Can this combo run Control at 60 FPS at any setting?

A: No. The highest measured average FPS is 57.9 at 1080p Low settings, which falls just short of 60 FPS. All other configurations produce lower frame rates, with the next best being 42.2 FPS at 1440p Low.

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

A: It ranks 1574 out of 1636 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 4% of all configurations. This is primarily due to the GPU's limitations, as the CPU's performance is nearly identical to the Intel Core i9-10900K.

Q: What GPU benchmark scores support the observed performance?

A: The GTX 1650 has a Passmark G3D score of 7880 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305. These scores are below average, confirming that the card is not designed for demanding games like Control at high resolutions.