Control

Control, the 2019 action-adventure from Remedy Entertainment, stresses hardware in a manner distinct from typical shooters, relying heavily on physics-based destruction and complex particle effects. For the combination of an Intel Core i5-13400F and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, the benchmark data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet still delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested configurations. The measured results show a platform capable of pushing well past the 144 Hz threshold at 1440p in most settings, while 4K Ultra remains the only scenario where the frame rate dips below the 100 FPS mark.

FAQ

Q: What is the peak performance of this CPU-GPU combination at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 243.1 FPS at 1080p with Low settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system still maintains a robust 144.2 FPS average.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K resolution with maximum settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 70.6 FPS. This is the lowest recorded performance in the dataset, but it remains playable.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-13400F a bottleneck for the RTX 5080 in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor at higher resolutions. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Ultra settings shows a performance drop from 111.5 FPS to 70.6 FPS, indicating the GPU is the primary constraint as resolution scales.

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

A: The delta between the lowest and highest quality presets at 2560x1440 is substantial. Low settings produce an average of 198 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 111.5 FPS, a difference of 86.5 FPS.

Q: How does this system's average benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 25236 places it slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D by 0.5%, but marginally behind the Intel Core i7-13620H by 0.1%. The GPU's average score of 59188 is 1.6% ahead of the Intel Arc A570M.

Q: Does the RTX 5080's memory bandwidth support high-resolution textures in Control?

A: The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This configuration is well-suited for the high-resolution asset streaming required by the game's detailed environments.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2617 MHz, with memory running at an effective 30 Gbps. The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory, paired with a 256-bit bus, yields a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This high bandwidth is critical for Control, as the game’s shifting environments and detailed textures demand rapid data transfer.

In terms of raw compute, the RTX 5080 boasts 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units. It also includes 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores, which are relevant for the game's use of ray-traced reflections and DLSS capabilities. The card's FP32 performance is rated at 56.28 TFLOPS, with a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s. These specifications translate directly to the measured frame rates. The benchmark results show a clear scaling pattern: at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 243.1, which suggests the GPU is not fully saturated. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 70.6 FPS, indicating the GPU is being pushed to its limits by the combination of high resolution and demanding visual effects.

The GPU's performance percentile of 89 among all GPUs underscores its high-end positioning. When compared to its nearest rivals based on average benchmark scores, the RTX 5080's score of 59188 is 1.6% higher than the Intel Arc A570M and 2.5% higher than the Intel Arc A580. This lead in synthetic benchmarks is reflected in the real-world gaming results, where the card maintains high frame rates across all settings. The data indicates that the GPU is the primary driver of performance in Control, especially as resolution and graphical fidelity increase.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F serves as the supporting component, providing sufficient processing power to feed the RTX 5080. This Raptor Lake-S architecture CPU features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. The hybrid design includes performance and efficiency cores, though the benchmark data does not specify the exact distribution. The CPU has a 20 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, which helps with game logic and physics calculations.

The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21279 and a Geekbench multicore score of 10971. Single-thread performance is also competent, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3004 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2301. In Control, which can utilize multiple cores for physics and AI, the 16 threads ensure that the CPU does not become a bottleneck. The CPU's percentile of 82 among all CPUs places it in the upper tier, though its average benchmark score of 25236 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals. For instance, it is only 0.1% behind the Intel Core i7-13620H and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D.

The data suggests that the CPU's role is more passive in this configuration. At 1080p with Low settings, the frame rate of 243.1 FPS could potentially be limited by the CPU's single-thread performance, but this is not discernible from the provided data alone. As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the CPU's workload becomes less demanding relative to the GPU, and the frame rates scale accordingly. The CPU's support for dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory, along with PCIe Gen 5 lanes, ensures it does not hinder the GPU's data throughput. The 65 W TDP also indicates that thermal throttling is unlikely to be a concern in a standard desktop configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's capabilities across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance, with an average of 243.1 FPS on Low settings. This drops to 185 FPS on Medium, 165.5 FPS on High, and 144.2 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a performance reduction of 98.9 FPS, or roughly 40%, indicating that the GPU is handling the increased graphical load while the CPU remains capable of keeping up.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains high but shows the expected impact of increased pixel count. Low settings average 198 FPS, which is a drop of 45.1 FPS from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings at 1440p average 139.5 FPS, High settings average 124.3 FPS, and Ultra settings average 111.5 FPS. The difference between 1080p and 1440p at Ultra settings is 32.7 FPS, demonstrating a significant GPU load increase. At this resolution, the system still comfortably exceeds 100 FPS on all presets, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is fully exercised. Low settings produce an average of 131.1 FPS, which is still very smooth. Medium settings average 92.7 FPS, High settings average 83.2 FPS, and Ultra settings average 70.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 60.5 FPS, showing that the most demanding settings halve the performance compared to the lowest. The 4K Ultra result of 70.6 FPS is the only data point that falls below the 90 FPS threshold, indicating that users seeking maximum visual fidelity at 4K may need to adjust settings or rely on upscaling technologies. The data confirms that the system is well-balanced, with the GPU becoming the clear bottleneck only at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling analysis reveals that the RTX 5080 is the primary performance limiter as resolution increases. Comparing Low settings across all three resolutions, the frame rates are 243.1 FPS at 1080p, 198 FPS at 1440p, and 131.1 FPS at 4K. This represents a 46% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 34% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario.

For Ultra settings, the pattern is even more pronounced. The frame rates are 144.2 FPS at 1080p, 111.5 FPS at 1440p, and 70.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 32.7 FPS (23% reduction), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 40.9 FPS (37% reduction). The larger percentage drop at 4K suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being heavily taxed by the increased pixel throughput and texture detail.

The data also indicates that the CPU is not a significant limiting factor in this game. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions, particularly at lower settings. However, the consistent scaling with resolution points to the GPU as the main constraint. At 1080p Low, the 243.1 FPS result is likely near the CPU's maximum frame rate capability, but this is not a practical limitation given the high performance level. The system's behavior shows a balanced architecture where the i5-13400F provides ample headroom, allowing the RTX 5080 to scale its performance predictably with resolution. For gamers, this means that the system can deliver high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K requires a compromise between settings and frame rate, with Ultra settings providing a still-playable 70.6 FPS.