Control

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 is a mid-range combination that, in Control, produces measured average frame rates across four presets and three resolutions. The data set includes 12 measured FPS points, and the combo ranks 1499th out of 1636 tested combinations in this game. This analysis examines the settings, the roles of the CPU and GPU, the overall ranking, and how frame rates scale with resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows show a consistent pattern: the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate at every resolution. At 1920x1080, Low yields 64.7 FPS, which is the only preset above 60. Medium produces 44.7, High 42.4, and Ultra 37.1. The gap between Low and Medium is 20 FPS, while the difference between Medium and High is only 2.3 FPS. This suggests that the Low preset is the most effective for achieving smooth gameplay, and that the step from Low to Medium carries a substantial performance cost. At 2560x1440, Low gives 49.9 FPS, Medium 36.3, High 32, and Ultra 27.4. The same ordering holds, with Low being the only preset that approaches 50 FPS. At 3840x2160, all presets fall below 31 FPS: Low 31, Medium 24.4, High 22.9, and Ultra 20.6. Even the lowest setting cannot reach 30 FPS at 4K, indicating that this resolution is not viable for this combo.

Given these numbers, the Low preset is the recommended choice for all resolutions if the goal is to maximize frame rate. At 1080p, it is the only option that exceeds 60 FPS, which is often considered the threshold for smooth play. At 1440p, Low provides 49.9 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. At 4K, even Low is below 31 FPS, so the user would need to accept a very low frame rate or lower the resolution. The data also shows that the Ultra preset consistently yields the lowest FPS, with a 42.6% reduction from Low at 1080p (37.1 vs 64.7) and a 33.5% reduction at 4K (20.6 vs 31). The relative penalty of Ultra is smaller at 4K, but the absolute numbers are too low for practical use. Therefore, the measured rows indicate that Low is the best balance for this hardware, with Medium as a possible compromise for users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, though the FPS drop from Low to Medium is significant.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is built on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, using a 14 nm process. It has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The base clock is 1257 MHz, with a boost clock of 1340 MHz, and the memory runs at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The GPU's compute capabilities include 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is 6.175 TFLOPS. The GPU has a launch MSRP of 229 USD.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RX 580 scores 1005 in 3DMark Steel Nomad, 8813 in Passmark G3D, and 52176 in Geekbench Metal. Its average benchmark score is 13559, placing it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, which has an average score of 13564 and a deltaPct of 0, meaning the two are statistically tied. The GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the measured FPS in Control shows that at 4K, even the Low preset only reaches 31 FPS. This indicates that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors at high resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU can deliver 64.7 FPS on Low, but at Ultra it drops to 37.1, demonstrating that the game's higher settings place a heavy load on the GPU. The 8 GB VRAM is likely adequate for the tested resolutions, but the raw performance is not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It has a TDP of 65 W and 9 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's memory bandwidth is 42.7 GB/s, and it supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration. In Cinebench R23, it scores 7969 in multi-core and 1125 in single-core. Its average benchmark score is 2305, which places it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core i3-10305, which has an average score of 2300 and a deltaPct of 0.2, meaning the i5-9400 is 0.2% faster.

In Control, the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. The frame rate drops significantly as resolution increases, which is typical of GPU-bound scenarios. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 64.7 FPS, which is above 60, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU at that setting. However, at 1080p Ultra, the FPS falls to 37.1, a drop that is more likely due to the GPU's inability to handle the increased graphical load than to CPU limitations. The CPU's 6 threads may be sufficient for Control, but the data does not include CPU utilization metrics. The synthetic benchmarks show that the CPU is average, and the combo's low rank in the game suggests that the overall performance is constrained by the GPU rather than the CPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 1499th out of 1636 tested combinations in Control. This places it in the lower percentile of performance, as it is better than only 137 other combos. The GPU's percentile is 53, and the CPU's is 50, but the combo rank is much lower, indicating that many other CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher average FPS in this game. The measured FPS at 1080p Ultra is 37.1, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, so even at the most common resolution, the combo cannot maintain high settings. The rank suggests that this combination is not well suited for Control, likely because the game is demanding on the GPU, and the RX 580, while average in synthetic tests, does not provide enough performance for high-quality settings. The data shows that the combo is in the bottom 8.4% of all tested combinations, which is a clear indication of its limited capability in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU limitation. For the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 64.7 at 1080p to 49.9 at 1440p, a 22.9% reduction, and then to 31 at 4K, a 37.9% reduction from 1440p. For Medium, the values are 44.7, 36.3, and 24.4, with drops of 18.8% and 32.8%. For High, they are 42.4, 32, and 22.9, with drops of 24.5% and 28.4%. For Ultra, they are 37.1, 27.4, and 20.6, with drops of 26.1% and 24.8%. The largest relative drop occurs from 1440p to 4K for the Low preset, indicating that the GPU is heavily stressed at 4K. The fact that even Low settings yield only 31 FPS at 4K shows that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are insufficient for that resolution. At 1080p, the combo can achieve 64.7 FPS on Low, which is playable, but at higher settings it falls below 60. The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's performance is independent of resolution. For a smooth experience, the user should stick to 1080p with Low settings, or accept lower frame rates at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS at 1080p?

A: The Low preset yields 64.7 FPS at 1920x1080, which is the highest among the four measured presets.

Q: How does the combo rank in Control?

A: It ranks 1499th out of 1636 tested combinations, placing it in the lower percentile of performance.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 580 has a memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus.

Q: What is the CPU's boost clock?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz.

Q: Which preset gives the highest FPS at 1440p?

A: The Low preset gives 49.9 FPS at 2560x1440, which is the highest among the measured presets.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305's score of 2300.