Control

The Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination delivers a robust Control experience, with benchmark data showing a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and settings. The i5-12600KF, built on the Alder Lake architecture, provides a 10-core, 16-thread configuration with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This CPU sits in the 84th percentile versus all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 27827 places it in a tight cluster with rivals: the Intel Core i9-10900K (27829, 0% delta), Intel Core i5-12600K (27851, -0.1%), Intel Core Ultra 5 125H (27872, -0.2%), and Intel Core i7-13700H (27716, 0.4%). The near-zero deltaPct values among these processors indicate that the i5-12600KF’s compute potential is effectively interchangeable with its closest competitors in this range.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

Control is an action-adventure title that relies on a mix of physics-driven combat and environmental destruction, which can stress multiple threads. The i5-12600KF’s 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample parallelism for such workloads. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core help maintain data locality, which is critical for the game’s streaming assets and particle effects. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.90 GHz ensures strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Geekbench single-core score of 2529 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3309. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle the game’s primary game-thread responsibilities without becoming a bottleneck in most scenarios.

The benchmark data supports this interpretation. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 184.9 FPS, which is a frame rate that far exceeds typical display refresh rates. This high ceiling suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls and physics calculations to maintain very high frame rates. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23444 and Passmark multithread score of 27575 further reinforce the CPU’s ability to handle the game’s background tasks, such as AI and level streaming, without degrading frame pacing. However, the data also shows that the CPU’s influence wanes as resolution increases; at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 52.6, which is more indicative of GPU limits than CPU limits. The i5-12600KF’s performance in the 3DMark 16-thread test (7956) versus its 2-thread test (1995) shows good scaling, but Control’s engine doesn’t appear to require extreme multi-threading to achieve playable results, as the CPU remains well ahead of the GPU’s needs in lower-resolution settings.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in Control at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 184.9 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This figure demonstrates the CPU-GPU pairing’s headroom for high-refresh-rate displays when graphical load is minimized.

Q: How does the i5-12600KF compare to its nearest CPU rival in raw benchmark scores?

A: The i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27827, which is effectively identical to the Intel Core i9-10900K’s score of 27829 (0% delta). The deltaPct values for all nearest rivals are within ±0.4%, indicating that there is no meaningful performance difference among these processors in synthetic tests.

Q: What is the RTX 3080’s percentile ranking among all GPUs, and what does that imply for Control?

A: The RTX 3080 is in the 80th percentile versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35787. This high placement suggests it has substantial rendering resources, which is consistent with the measured FPS remaining above 50 at 4K Ultra settings.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo fall below 60 FPS?

A: The only configuration that dips below 60 FPS is 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, where the average frame rate is 52.6 FPS. All other tested settings and resolutions maintain averages above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3080’s memory bandwidth compare to its nearest GPU rival’s average score?

A: The RTX 3080 has a memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s, and its average benchmark score is 35787. The nearest rival, AMD Radeon Pro Duo, scores 35860 (-0.2% delta), but the fact pack does not include that rival’s memory bandwidth. The RTX 3080’s bandwidth is a fixed specification that contributes to its measured performance in Control.

Q: Is the data for this combo measured or estimated?

A: The data is measured (dataIsMeasured: true), meaning the FPS figures are from actual testing rather than theoretical projections.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound pattern. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 117.9 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High drops the average to 86.5 FPS, a reduction of 31.4 FPS (about 26.6%). At 3840x2160 High, the average falls further to 62.3 FPS, which is 55.6 FPS lower than the 1080p result. This scaling trend is consistent with the GPU being the primary limiter: as pixel count increases, the RTX 3080’s rendering workload grows, while the CPU’s contribution remains relatively constant.

This interpretation is reinforced by the Low settings data. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 184.9 FPS; at 1440p Low, it drops to 137.6 FPS; and at 4K Low, it falls to 92.6 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 92.3 FPS, which is a larger absolute drop than at High settings (55.6 FPS). This is because at Low settings, the GPU is less saturated at lower resolutions, allowing the CPU to push higher frame rates, but the 4K pixel count still overwhelms the GPU. The fact that 4K Low (92.6 FPS) is higher than 1080p Ultra (101.2 FPS) but lower than 1080p High (117.9 FPS) shows that settings have a significant impact on GPU load, but resolution is the dominant factor in limiting performance.

The Ultra settings data provides the clearest evidence of GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 101.2 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it’s 75.5 FPS; and at 4K Ultra, it’s 52.6 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Ultra is 25.7 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K Ultra is 22.9 FPS. This near-linear scaling with pixel count indicates that the RTX 3080’s compute units and memory bandwidth (760.3 GB/s) are being fully utilized, and the CPU’s 10 cores are not creating a significant ceiling. The i5-12600KF’s 3DMark max-thread score of 7952 and single-thread score of 1016 suggest it can keep up with the GPU’s frame generation demands, as the FPS drops are proportional to resolution increases rather than showing a sudden cliff that would indicate a CPU stall.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 ranks 506 out of 1636 tested combos in Control. This places it in the upper-third of all tested configurations, which is a strong showing given that the ranking includes both older and newer hardware. The rank of 506 means that 1130 combos perform worse, while 505 perform better. Given the GPU’s 80th percentile ranking and the CPU’s 84th percentile ranking, the combo’s position is slightly lower than the average of those percentiles would suggest, indicating that Control’s specific engine characteristics may favor other architectures or that the game’s optimization for certain GPU features plays a role.

The combo’s performance relative to its component scores is noteworthy. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 27827 is comparable to the Intel Core i9-10900K (27829), and the GPU’s score of 35787 is close to the AMD Radeon 880M (35646, 0.4% delta) and AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36101, -0.9%). However, the combo rank of 506 out of 1636 suggests that some combinations with similar or lower individual component scores may achieve better results in Control due to factors like driver optimization or memory configuration. The data does not include specific rival combo ranks, so a direct comparison is limited, but the rank indicates that this pairing is well-balanced for the game, with neither component severely underperforming relative to the other. The measured FPS at 1440p High (86.5 FPS) and 4K High (62.3 FPS) are both above 60 FPS thresholds that many users target, which is consistent with a rank in the top 31% of all combos.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the primary driver of Control’s visual fidelity and frame rates. It features 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is crucial for Control’s high-resolution textures and effects, as the game’s surreal environments often feature detailed surfaces and volumetric lighting. The GPU’s boost clock of 1710 MHz, combined with its 8704 shading units and 68 RT cores, allows it to handle the game’s DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) features, which include ray tracing and mesh shaders. The 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 465.1 GTexel/s texture rate provide the raw compute needed for the game’s physics-heavy combat.

The benchmark data shows the GPU’s influence on performance. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 52.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS mark but still playable. The drop from High (62.3 FPS) to Ultra (52.6 FPS) at 4K is 9.7 FPS, indicating that Ultra settings impose a significant additional load on the GPU, likely from increased shadow quality and post-processing effects. The RTX 3080’s 80th percentile ranking versus all GPUs is reflected in its ability to maintain high frame rates at 1440p, where it achieves 86.5 FPS at High settings. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36101, -0.9% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (35435, 1% delta), but the fact pack does not provide their specific Control performance, so the RTX 3080’s role is best understood through its own measured FPS.

The GPU’s memory clock of 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective) and 10 GB capacity are sufficient for Control at all tested settings, as there is no evidence of texture thrashing or stuttering in the average FPS data. The transition from 1080p Medium (131.4 FPS) to 4K Medium (64.8 FPS) shows a 66.6 FPS drop, which is a 50.7% reduction. This is consistent with the GPU’s pixel fill rate of 164.2 GPixel/s being the limiting factor as resolution scales. The RTX 3080’s 320 W TDP and dual-slot design are physical characteristics that enable its sustained performance, but the measured FPS data is the definitive indicator of its capabilities in Control. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 25086 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407 provide synthetic benchmarks that correlate with the in-game results, confirming that the GPU is the dominant component in determining frame rates across all resolutions and settings tested.