Control

The Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Control. The data shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary performance limiter, as frame rates scale dramatically with resolution. At 1080p, the combo is capable of high refresh rates, but at 4K, it falls below the 60 FPS threshold at most settings. The i5-13400F provides sufficient headroom to avoid bottlenecking the GPU, making this a balanced pairing for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring compromises.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and steep performance drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 74 FPS at 1080p to 56 FPS at 1440p, a 24% reduction, and then plummets to 38 FPS at 4K, which is 49% lower than the 1440p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput is the limiting factor; the RTX 2060 SUPER's 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are insufficient to maintain performance at higher pixel counts.

The Low preset shows the most extreme scaling, with average FPS dropping from 118 at 1080p to 89 at 1440p and finally 60 at 4K. The 4K Low result is exactly half the 1080p Low figure, demonstrating that the GPU is working at its absolute limit. Conversely, the Ultra preset shows the least relative drop in percentage terms, moving from 65 FPS at 1080p to 49 FPS at 1440p and 33 FPS at 4K, but this is because the starting point is already low, with the GPU heavily taxed at every resolution.

The 1440p to 4K transition is particularly punishing across all settings. At Medium, the average FPS drops from 63 to 43, a 32% loss, while at High it drops 32% as well. This steep decline at 4K is characteristic of a GPU that has exhausted its memory bandwidth and raw compute resources. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on the RTX 2060 SUPER is sufficient for capacity, but the 256-bit bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become a bottleneck at 4K resolutions, where texture and shading demands increase exponentially.

The data suggests the i5-13400F is not the limiting component in this scenario. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most likely to bottleneck, the combo achieves 118 FPS, indicating the processor's 10 cores and 16 threads are more than capable of feeding the GPU. The 3DMark scores support this: a 16-thread score of 7314 and a max-thread score of 7307 show strong multi-core performance, while the single-thread score of 960 indicates adequate per-core speed for gaming. The 13400F's 4.60 GHz boost clock provides enough single-thread performance to keep up with the RTX 2060 SUPER's demands.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve 60 FPS in Control?*

A: The data shows that 1440p with Low settings is the highest resolution that reliably hits 60 FPS, achieving an average of 89 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 63 FPS, which is still above 60 but closer to the threshold. For 4K, only Low settings reach 60 FPS on average, but this is a marginal result.

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

A: Benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 118 FPS, which is a high frame rate, but the performance drops sharply as resolution increases. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain more consistent across resolutions. The i5-13400F's 3DMark scores (7314 in 16-thread, 960 single-thread) suggest it has ample headroom.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The nearest rivals are all other GPUs, not CPUs. The RTX 2060 SUPER's average benchmark score of 18093 is within 0.4% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (18159) and 0.5% of the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189). It is slightly behind the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18373) and Intel Arc A770M (18383) by 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively.

Q: What is the difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The difference is substantial. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 118 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 65 FPS. This is a 45% reduction in performance, highlighting the significant graphical workload increase from Low to Ultra settings in Control.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM on the RTX 2060 SUPER limit performance at 4K?

A: The data does not directly measure VRAM capacity limits, but the performance drop at 4K is severe. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 33, and at 4K High it is 38. While the 8 GB capacity may be adequate, the memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s appears insufficient for 4K workloads, as evidenced by the steep scaling from 1440p to 4K.

Q: Can this combo handle 1080p Ultra with a high refresh rate monitor?

A: The measured average at 1080p Ultra is 65 FPS, which is above 60 FPS but below 100 FPS. For a 60 Hz monitor, this is sufficient. For a 144 Hz monitor, the combo would not consistently reach the refresh rate at Ultra settings, but lowering to High (74 FPS) or Medium (84 FPS) would improve the experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1080p, the Medium preset offers the best compromise, delivering an average of 84 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS and a maximum of 96 FPS. This provides a smooth experience on standard 60 Hz displays and is also viable for 120 Hz panels, though it will not hit the full refresh rate. The High preset at 74 FPS is also acceptable, but Medium provides a 13.5% performance boost with likely minimal visual difference in fast-paced action.

At 1440p, the choice is more constrained. The Low preset achieves 89 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, but sacrifices visual quality. The Medium preset at 63 FPS is the highest quality setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for a balanced experience. The High preset at 56 FPS dips below the 60 FPS target, which can cause noticeable stuttering in a game like Control that features intense physics and particle effects. The Ultra preset at 49 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

At 4K, the situation is dire. The Low preset is the only setting that reaches an average of 60 FPS, but this is a bare minimum. The Medium preset at 43 FPS and High at 38 FPS are playable but will feel sluggish, and the Ultra preset at 33 FPS is below the threshold for a consistent frame pacing. For a playable 4K experience, the data suggests using Low settings and accepting the visual compromise, or alternatively, dropping to 1440p Medium for a much better experience.

The data shows a clear pattern: the Medium preset provides the best performance-per-visual-quality ratio at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p, Medium is 13% faster than High and 29% faster than Ultra. At 1440p, Medium is 12.5% faster than High and 28.5% faster than Ultra. The minimum FPS figures for Medium (71 at 1080p, 54 at 1440p) also indicate a more stable frame delivery compared to the higher presets, which lack min FPS data but are likely more variable.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Control, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 2650 out of 3720 tested combos. This places it in the lower third of all configurations, which is consistent with the mid-range nature of both components. The rank reflects the combination's inability to achieve high frame rates at 4K, as well as its mid-tier performance at 1440p.

The ranking position is heavily influenced by the GPU's percentile standing. The RTX 2060 SUPER has a percentile of 62 against all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 18093 is within 1.6% of its nearest rivals, the AMD Radeon RX 460 and Intel Arc A770M. This indicates that the GPU is a solid mid-range performer, but it is not competitive with higher-tier cards that would push this combo higher in the rankings. The i5-13400F, with a percentile of 77 against all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 25292, is a stronger component relative to its class, but it cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations in a GPU-bound title like Control.

The combo's rank of 2650 out of 3720 suggests that many other pairings offer better performance in this specific game. The data implies that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the bottleneck, as the CPU's 3DMark scores (7314 in 16-thread, 7307 in max-thread) are strong, but the GPU's passmark DirectX 12 score of 61 is low, indicating weak DX12 performance. This is a critical factor, as Control uses DX12, and the GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2011 is a modest result for a modern game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER plays the decisive role in this combination's Control performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's base clock of 1470 MHz and boost clock of 1650 MHz are the operating frequencies that determine its throughput, and the data shows that these clocks cannot handle the 4K workload.

The GPU's architecture is Turing, built on a 12 nm process with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. It has 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores. The texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s are the theoretical limits that dictate how quickly it can process textures and pixels. At 4K, the pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s is insufficient, as the resolution requires processing over 8.3 million pixels per frame, and the measured 33 FPS at 4K Ultra confirms this limitation.

The GPU's FP32 compute of 7.181 TFLOPS is a key metric. At 4K, the shader workload increases dramatically, and this compute power is not enough to maintain high frame rates. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support is present, but the passmark DirectX 12 score of 61 is notably low, suggesting that the GPU's DX12 driver and hardware implementation are not optimized for the API's advanced features. The Vulkan score of 77402 is higher, but Control primarily uses DX12, which is a disadvantage.

The memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) is another factor. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is the same as many other mid-range cards, but at 4K, the bandwidth demands are high, and the data shows the GPU struggling. The 8 GB capacity is not exceeded at the tested settings, but the bandwidth is the bottleneck. The GPU's 62nd percentile ranking against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18093, places it just below the RTX 3060 Mobile (18159) and Radeon Pro 5700 (18189), confirming its mid-range status.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all resolution and settings combinations.

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. The Low preset achieves an average of 118 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 84 FPS, with a minimum of 71 and a maximum of 96 FPS. The High preset averages 74 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 65 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 45% performance drop, from 118 to 65 FPS, indicating the significant cost of higher-quality shadows, reflections, and post-processing effects in Control.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. The Low preset averages 89 FPS, which is a 24.5% reduction from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 63 FPS, with a minimum of 54 and a maximum of 73 FPS, showing a 25% drop from 1080p Medium. The High preset averages 56 FPS, a 24.3% drop from 1080p High, and the Ultra preset averages 49 FPS, a 24.6% drop from 1080p Ultra. The consistent percentage drop across all settings at 1440p indicates that the GPU is scaling linearly with pixel count, which is expected for a GPU-bound workload.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes marginal. The Low preset averages 60 FPS, which is exactly the target for smooth gameplay, but it is a 32.6% drop from 1440p Low. The Medium preset averages 43 FPS, with a minimum of 36 and a maximum of 49 FPS, representing a 31.7% drop from 1440p Medium. The High preset averages 38 FPS, a 32.1% drop from 1440p High, and the Ultra preset averages 33 FPS, a 32.6% drop from 1440p Ultra. The 4K results show that the GPU is overwhelmed, with all settings except Low falling below the 60 FPS threshold.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the i5-13400F provides stable performance, but the RTX 2060 SUPER cannot deliver playable frame rates at 4K for most settings. The 1080p and 1440p results are more encouraging, with the Low and Medium presets offering the best balance of performance and visual quality. The minimum FPS data for Medium settings (71 at 1080p, 54 at 1440p, 36 at 4K) show that frame pacing is stable, which is crucial for a game with as much action as Control.