Control

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a highly playable Control experience at 1080p and 1440p, but demands careful settings management at 4K. Benchmark data shows this combination ranks 1326th out of 1636 tested combos for this title, placing it in the lower-mid tier of configurations. The RTX 2060’s 6 GB GDDR6 VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth become the primary performance governors, while the i5-12600KF’s 10 cores and 16 threads (boost clock 4.90 GHz) prove more than sufficient to feed the GPU at every resolution tested.

Settings Recommendations

The data reveals a clear sweet spot between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 79.3 FPS average, which is a 13% improvement over High (70.1 FPS) while sacrificing only modest visual detail. The Low preset at 107.2 FPS offers the highest headroom for competitive play, but Medium provides the best balance for most users seeking smooth gameplay without the visual degradation of Low. At 2560x1440, Medium again emerges as the optimal choice, achieving 61 FPS average—exactly at the threshold for smooth action gameplay. High at 49.3 FPS remains playable but dips below the 60 FPS target that action-adventure titles benefit from.

For 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The Ultra preset produces only 30.1 FPS, which is borderline unplayable for a game requiring precise timing. High at 34.1 FPS offers marginal improvement, while Medium reaches 39.3 FPS—still below 40 FPS but approaching playability for less demanding sequences. The Low preset at 53 FPS is the only 4K option that approaches a comfortable frame rate, though it requires significant visual compromise. The recommendation hierarchy is clear: 1080p Medium for the best experience, 1440p Medium for higher resolution, and 4K Low if resolution is paramount. The RTX 2060’s 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs simply cannot sustain high-quality rendering at 4K with acceptable performance.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060’s specifications directly explain the measured FPS patterns. The GPU boosts to 1680 MHz (base 1365 MHz) and provides 6 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s bandwidth. This memory configuration is the critical bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU’s 6.451 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 201.6 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient to maintain strong frame rates across all presets. The data shows a 36.8 FPS difference between Low (107.2) and Ultra (61.4) at 1080p, indicating the GPU has headroom but the memory bandwidth limits Ultra settings.

At 1440p, the gap between Low (81.5 FPS) and Ultra (45 FPS) widens to 36.5 FPS, but the average frame rates remain playable through Medium. The 4K results expose the VRAM limitation: the 6 GB buffer becomes saturated, with Ultra dropping to 30.1 FPS and High only reaching 34.1 FPS. The 30 RT cores (Turing architecture) and 240 tensor cores do not provide meaningful assistance in this non-ray-traced workload, as the game’s rasterization demands exceed the GPU’s fill rate at high resolutions. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p but insufficient for 4K at high quality settings. The GPU’s 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs underscores its mid-range positioning, with nearest rival AMD Radeon RX 7600S trailing by only 0.5% in average benchmark score.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 at Medium settings provides 79.3 FPS average, offering the best balance of visual quality and performance. 1440p Medium achieves 61 FPS, which is playable, while 4K requires Low settings (53 FPS) for acceptable frame rates.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 handle Ultra settings in this game?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the combo delivers 61.4 FPS average, which is smooth. At 1440p Ultra, performance drops to 45 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 30.1 FPS, making Ultra only viable at 1080p.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12600KF a bottleneck for the RTX 2060?

A: No. The CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample processing power, as evidenced by its 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs. The GPU is the limiting factor, particularly at higher resolutions where VRAM capacity becomes constrained.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and High settings at 1440p?

A: Low settings yield 81.5 FPS average, while High produces 49.3 FPS. This represents a 32.2 FPS difference, or approximately 65% more performance from Low settings, making Low the choice for maximum fluidity at 1440p.

Q: Can this combo run Control at 4K smoothly?

A: Not at high quality. The best 4K result is 53 FPS on Low settings. Medium reaches 39.3 FPS, High 34.1 FPS, and Ultra 30.1 FPS. Only Low provides a playable experience at 4K.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1326th out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the 81st percentile from the bottom. This indicates it is a lower-mid-range configuration for this specific title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range is playable. Low produces 107.2 FPS, Medium 79.3 FPS, High 70.1 FPS, and Ultra 61.4 FPS. The transition from Low to Ultra costs 45.8 FPS (43% reduction), with the largest single-step drop occurring between Low and Medium (27.9 FPS). This suggests diminishing returns from visual upgrades beyond Medium, making it the most efficient preset.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low delivers 81.5 FPS, Medium 61 FPS, High 49.3 FPS, and Ultra 45 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs 11.7 FPS, while High to Ultra only costs 4.3 FPS, indicating that the GPU struggles more with resolution than settings at this point. The 4K results show the most dramatic scaling: Low achieves 53 FPS, Medium 39.3 FPS, High 34.1 FPS, and Ultra 30.1 FPS. The total spread from Low to Ultra is 22.9 FPS, with the GPU clearly VRAM-limited beyond Low settings.

Resolution scaling reveals the GPU’s limits. At Medium settings, 1080p (79.3 FPS) drops to 1440p (61 FPS) and then 4K (39.3 FPS). The 1080p to 1440p transition costs 23% performance, while 1440p to 4K costs 36%. This non-linear scaling indicates that the 6 GB VRAM buffer becomes a hard constraint at 4K, regardless of settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination ranks 1326th out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the 19th percentile (from the top). This is a below-average ranking, reflecting the GPU’s age and mid-range positioning. The CPU itself is strong—its average benchmark score of 27827 places it nearly identical to the Intel Core i9-10900K (27829, 0% delta) and Intel Core i5-12600K (27851, -0.1% delta). The GPU’s average benchmark score of 16074 is comparable to the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996, 0.5% delta) but trails the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, -1.7% delta).

The ranking disparity between the CPU (84th percentile) and GPU (58th percentile) confirms that the RTX 2060 is the limiting component. In Control, this manifests as playable 1080p and 1440p performance but sub-40 FPS at 4K with medium or higher settings. The combo’s rank places it well below the median tested configuration, but the measured FPS data shows that it still delivers a smooth experience at 1080p Medium (79.3 FPS) and 1440p Medium (61 FPS). For users targeting 1080p or 1440p gaming, this rank understates the practical playability, while 4K users would find the performance insufficient for this title’s action-heavy sequences. The 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores provide no measurable benefit in this workload, as Control’s standard rendering path does not leverage them in the measured presets.