Control

Control is a demanding action-adventure title that stresses both the CPU and GPU heavily, and the measured results for the Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT reveal a balanced configuration that shifts its bottleneck characteristics depending on the resolution and quality preset. The data indicates a system that scales predictably, with the most significant performance gains occurring when graphical load is reduced, and with frame rates that remain competitive across the board.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K demonstrates a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, though the degree of the drop varies significantly with the quality settings. At the Low preset, the average frame rate falls from 139.8 FPS at 1920x1080 to 105.7 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 24.4%, and then to 73.8 FPS at 3840x2160, which is 47.2% below the 1080p figure. This steep decline at Low settings indicates that the Radeon RX 6700 XT is the primary limiting factor even when the visual load is minimal, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions.

Under High settings, the scaling is more moderate. The drop from 89.8 FPS at 1080p to 68.2 FPS at 1440p represents a 24.1% decrease, while moving to 4K yields 49 FPS, a 45.4% reduction from the 1080p baseline. The Ultra preset shows the tightest relative scaling: from 75.3 FPS at 1080p to 58.6 FPS at 1440p (a 22.2% decline) and 41.8 FPS at 4K (a 44.5% decline). This pattern suggests that as settings increase, the GPU work becomes more uniform per pixel, and the frame rate drop is more closely tied to the raw pixel count increase rather than other system bottlenecks.

The fact that even at 1080p Low the system only reaches 139.8 FPS, rather than scaling to a much higher figure, suggests that while the GPU is the main constraint, there is a secondary ceiling imposed by the processor’s single-thread performance in this specific title. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings costs 34.1 FPS, whereas the transition from 1440p to 4K at the same settings costs 31.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU is consistently saturated across all tested resolutions when the settings are low.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process, provides 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. The memory operates at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed, and the GPU has a base clock of 2321 MHz, a game clock of 2424 MHz, and a boost clock of 2581 MHz. These specifications place it in a position where it delivers solid, but not exceptional, performance in Control, particularly at higher resolutions where the 12 GB frame buffer and memory bandwidth become more relevant.

The benchmark data shows that the GPU’s 77th percentile ranking among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 33721, aligns with its measured behavior in this game. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 41.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold typically desired for smooth gameplay, and even at 1440p Ultra it only reaches 58.6 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is the definitive bottleneck at these settings, as the shading units and texture rate are being fully exercised. The GPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6800, has an average score of 33493, which is 0.7% lower, yet the RX 6700 XT still cannot achieve playable frame rates at the highest settings in 4K, showing that Control is particularly demanding on the graphics pipeline.

The fact that the GPU’s FP32 performance is listed at 13.21 TFLOPS and its texture rate at 413.0 GTexel/s helps explain why the Low preset at 1080p achieves 139.8 FPS, as the reduced shader and texture work allows the card to operate closer to its theoretical peak. However, the steep drop to 49 FPS at 4K High, a 65% reduction from the 1080p High figure, demonstrates that the memory bandwidth and ROP count become limiting factors when the resolution scales, as the pixel fill rate of 165.2 GPixel/s is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K with demanding effects.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 906 out of 1636 tested combos for Control. This places it in the 55th percentile, meaning that slightly more than half of all tested system configurations achieve higher frame rates in this game. The rank reflects a mid-pack positioning, which is consistent with the individual component rankings: the CPU sits at the 82nd percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 77th percentile, but the combined performance in Control is dragged down by the game’s heavy reliance on both components in tandem.

The combo’s rank of 906 out of 1636 suggests that there are many configurations with faster GPUs or CPUs that outperform it, but also that it beats a substantial number of systems. This is a typical result for a mainstream mid-range pairing, where the GPU is not a high-end part but is recent enough to handle most games at 1080p and 1440p with adjustments to settings. The fact that the data is measured, rather than simulated, adds credibility to the ranking, and it shows that while this combo is not a top performer, it is far from the bottom of the pack.

The delta percentage between this GPU and its nearest rivals in the synthetic benchmarks does not directly translate to the game-specific ranking, as the RX 6700 XT is 1% behind the AMD Radeon HD 7950 and 1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 480 in average score, yet those older cards would likely perform far worse in Control due to architectural differences. The ranking of 906 out of 1636 indicates that the combo is competitive with other mid-range offerings, but it is not a configuration that would be selected for high-refresh-rate 4K gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 139.8 FPS, which is smooth for competitive play. Medium settings produce 99.1 FPS, High settings yield 89.8 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 75.3 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 46.1% reduction in frame rate, which is a substantial hit but still leaves the Ultra preset at a playable level above 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance is still respectable but begins to show the GPU’s limitations. Low settings average 105.7 FPS, which remains above 100 FPS, while Medium settings drop to 75.7 FPS. High settings produce 68.2 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 58.6 FPS, which is just under the 60 FPS mark. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at the Low preset, with a 24.4% decrease, while the Ultra preset sees a 22.2% decrease, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor more uniformly across settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 73.8 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium settings drop to 51.3 FPS, High settings to 49 FPS, and Ultra settings to 41.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 32 FPS, a 43.4% reduction, and even the Low preset cannot reach the 100 FPS mark that is achievable at lower resolutions. The data shows that this combo is only suitable for 4K gaming at the lowest quality settings, and even then, the frame rate is below what many users would consider optimal for a fast-paced action game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F, with 10 cores and 16 threads, operates at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. It has an 80 KB L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB L2 cache per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 21279 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3004 in single-core, placing it at the 82nd percentile among all CPUs. These figures indicate a strong mid-range processor that should not bottleneck a mid-range GPU in most scenarios.

However, the measured frame rates in Control suggest that the CPU does impose some limitations, particularly at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 139.8 FPS, which is high but not exceptionally so for a processor with a 4.60 GHz boost clock. The fact that the frame rate does not scale higher at 1080p Low, where the GPU is not fully saturated, points to the CPU’s single-thread performance as a limiting factor. The PassMark single-thread score of 3634 and the 3DMark single-thread score of 960 both indicate competent, but not class-leading, single-core performance.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-13620H, which is 0.1% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, which is 0.5% slower. These small deltas suggest that the i5-13400F is well-positioned among its peers, and in Control, the CPU is likely providing consistent frame pacing without severe drops. The 10-core, 16-thread configuration is more than sufficient for this title, as the game is not heavily multithreaded, and the processor’s multi-core score of 25032 in PassMark ensures that background tasks do not interfere with gameplay. The data indicates that the CPU’s role is primarily to maintain a steady frame rate floor, while the GPU determines the overall performance ceiling.