Control

Control is an action-adventure title from 2019 that stresses both the GPU and CPU depending on how it is configured. The pairing of an Intel Core i5-13400F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a wide spread of frame rates across resolutions and settings, and the data reveals a system that scales predictably with graphical load. The measured results show a clear hierarchy: lower resolutions and settings push the CPU harder, while higher resolutions and settings shift the burden squarely onto the RTX 4060. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to explain where the bottleneck lies and how this specific combination ranks against other tested hardware pairings.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior of this combo is steep and consistent. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 142.2 FPS. Moving to Medium drops the average to 99.4 FPS, High yields 86.6 FPS, and Ultra lands at 79.1 FPS. That is a 44.4% reduction in frame rate from Low to Ultra at 1080p, indicating that even at the lowest resolution, the RTX 4060 is already being tasked with meaningful work. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is similar: 107.3 FPS on Low, 74.1 FPS on Medium, 68.9 FPS on High, and 60.5 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 43.6%, nearly identical to the 1080p scaling, which suggests the GPU is the primary limiter across these settings.

At 4K, the scaling becomes more dramatic. Low settings average 74.2 FPS, Medium drops to 50.7 FPS, High falls to 44.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 36.8 FPS. The transition from Low to Ultra at 4K represents a 50.4% performance loss, a larger relative drop than at lower resolutions. This indicates that at 4K, the RTX 4060 is being pushed to its limits, and the frame rate is almost entirely dictated by the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth. The 4K Low result of 74.2 FPS is notable because it is actually higher than the 1440p Ultra result of 60.5 FPS, showing that the CPU can feed the GPU enough frames when the pixel workload is reduced, but the GPU cannot sustain high frame rates when both resolution and settings are maxed out.

The data shows that this combination is well-balanced for 1440p gaming. At 1440p High, the system averages 68.9 FPS, which is comfortably playable, while 1440p Ultra still manages 60.5 FPS. At 1080p, the system is capable of high refresh rate play, with Low hitting 142.2 FPS, but Ultra at 79.1 FPS falls short of a 144Hz target. At 4K, the system is only suitable for lower settings, with High and Ultra both dipping below 45 FPS. The limiting component shifts from the CPU at 1080p Low to the GPU at 4K Ultra, with the crossover point appearing somewhere around 1440p Medium to High, where neither component is clearly saturated.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node, featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus. The memory runs at 2125 MHz with an effective data rate of 17 Gbps, providing a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. This bandwidth is a critical factor in the game’s performance scaling, particularly at 4K where the 8 GB capacity and 128-bit bus become limiting. The GPU’s boost clock is 2460 MHz, and it has a rated FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS, which is moderate for a desktop card. The pixel rate is 118.1 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 236.2 GTexel/s, figures that directly influence how quickly the card can process the high-resolution textures and effects used in Control.

The measured FPS data shows the RTX 4060’s strengths and weaknesses. At 1080p Low, the card produces 142.2 FPS, but this drops to 79.1 FPS at Ultra, a 44% reduction that is primarily due to increased shading and texture work. At 4K, the card’s limitations are more apparent: even on Low settings, the average is just 74.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 36.8 FPS. The step from 4K Medium (50.7 FPS) to 4K High (44.7 FPS) is only 6 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra (36.8 FPS) is nearly 8 FPS, indicating that the most demanding settings introduce effects that disproportionately tax the GPU. The 8 GB VRAM buffer is likely a constraint at 4K Ultra, where texture streaming and high-resolution assets can exceed the available memory, causing the card to rely on slower fallback paths.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reflect its mainstream positioning. It scores 19,545 in passmark_g3d and 101,030 in geekbench_opencl, placing it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which scores 23,321 (0.6% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti at 23,338 (0.7% higher). The Intel Arc B580 is just 0.7% slower with a score of 23,021. These margins are razor-thin, suggesting that the RTX 4060 is not a performance outlier but rather a solid mid-pack contender. In Control specifically, the data confirms that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K, where the frame rates are consistently below 75 FPS regardless of settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the measured performance is independent of memory type in this data. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 21,279 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,004 in single-core, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score is 25,236, which is remarkably close to its nearest rivals: the Intel Core i7-13620H scores 25,201 (0.1% lower), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D scores 25,365 (0.5% higher).

In Control, the CPU’s role is most evident at low resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system hits 142.2 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate across the entire dataset. This suggests the RTX 4060 is not the bottleneck at this setting; instead, the i5-13400F is feeding frames as fast as the game engine allows. The jump from 1080p Low to 1080p Medium (99.4 FPS) is a 30% drop, which indicates that the GPU begins to take over as the limiting factor once more complex shading is applied. At 1440p Low, the frame rate is 107.3 FPS, a 24.5% drop from 1080p Low, which is less than the resolution difference (2.25x pixel count) would suggest, implying the CPU is still partially involved at 1440p Low.

The CPU’s single-thread performance is a key asset. Its 3dmark_single_thread score of 960 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,004 indicate strong per-core capability, which matters for a game like Control that has moderate thread scaling. The 10 cores and 16 threads provide enough parallelism for the game’s background tasks and physics simulation, but the data shows that even at 4K Low (74.2 FPS), the CPU is not the primary constraint—the GPU is. The only scenario where the CPU might be limiting is at 1080p Low, where the frame rate is high enough that the game’s draw call overhead could become a factor, but the measured 142.2 FPS is still a strong result. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 215 mm² die size suggest it is a power-efficient part that does not generate excessive heat, though this does not directly impact the frame rate data.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core i5-13400F and RTX 4060 ranks 914th out of 1,636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 55.9th percentile of all pairings. This is a slightly above-average result, reflecting the balanced nature of the hardware. The rank is not exceptional, but it is respectable given that the RTX 4060 is a mainstream GPU and the i5-13400F is a mid-range CPU. The combo’s position suggests that there are many faster pairings, but also that this setup outperforms a significant portion of tested systems.

Breaking down the ranking, the CPU’s 82nd percentile and the GPU’s 66th percentile indicate that the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card. This is reflected in the frame rate data: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 142.2 FPS, which is a high number that leans on the CPU’s strong single-thread performance. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls to 36.8 FPS, which is below the average of many higher-end combos. The combo’s rank of 914 suggests that it is competitive with systems that pair similar CPUs with faster GPUs, but it lags behind pairings that use top-tier graphics cards. The nearest rival CPUs, such as the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (0.5% higher average score), would likely push the combo slightly higher in the rankings if paired with the same GPU, but the differences are small.

The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the Intel Arc B580 (0.7% slower) and the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (0.6% faster), indicate that the RTX 4060 is not a clear winner in its class. In Control, this translates to a system that is capable of solid 1080p and 1440p performance but struggles at 4K. The rank of 914 out of 1,636 is a useful reference point: it tells users that this combo is better than 55.9% of tested systems, but there is substantial headroom for improvement by upgrading either component. Given that the CPU is stronger relative to its peers than the GPU, a future upgrade path would likely involve a faster graphics card to improve 4K performance, while the CPU has enough headroom to support such an upgrade without becoming a bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings for this combo?

A: The system averages 86.6 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is a playable frame rate for most titles, though it falls short of high refresh rate displays.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 36.8, which is below the 60 FPS target. The RTX 4060’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are likely constraining factors at this resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 74.1. The data shows that the frame rate drops by 10.8% from 1080p Medium (99.4 FPS) to 1440p Medium, which is less than the pixel count increase, indicating that the CPU still has some influence, but the GPU is becoming the primary limiter.

Q: How does the i5-13400F compare to its nearest rival CPU in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-13400F has an average benchmark score of 25,236, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-13620H (25,201) and 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25,365). These are negligible differences in real-world gaming.

Q: What is the RTX 4060’s percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4060 falls in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23,181. This places it in the upper-middle tier of graphics cards.

Q: What is the combo’s rank in Control out of all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 914th out of 1,636 tested combos, meaning it performs better than roughly 55.9% of all tested systems in this game.