Control

Control, the 2019 action-adventure title, presents a demanding environment that scales heavily with both resolution and graphical presets. When paired with the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, the benchmark data reveals a configuration that is largely GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the processor’s six threads become a more significant factor at 1080p. The measured frame rates show a clear hierarchy, with the 4K Ultra preset dipping into the low 60s, while the 1080p Low preset pushes past 160 FPS. This analysis breaks down the specific performance characteristics of this combo, focusing on where the bottlenecks lie and how the hardware components contribute to the final results.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a substantial drop in average frame rates, indicating that the rendering load scales aggressively with pixel count. At the High preset, the average FPS falls from 134.9 at 1920x1080 to 106.9 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 28.0 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average drops to 70.2 FPS, which represents a 64.7 FPS decrease from the 1080p figure. This pattern is consistent across all settings, with the Low preset showing the most dramatic absolute decline, from 163.9 FPS at 1080p down to 112.1 FPS at 4K. The scaling suggests that the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the primary limiting component as resolution increases, with its 24 GB of GDDR6 memory and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth being tasked with handling the larger frame buffers.

The relative performance drop between 1440p and 4K is more pronounced than the drop between 1080p and 1440p. For instance, at Ultra settings, the average FPS goes from 120.6 at 1080p to 94.1 at 1440p, a 26.5 FPS loss. Continuing to 4K, the average plummets to 64.4 FPS, a further 29.7 FPS loss. This steeper decline at the highest resolution points to the GPU's compute resources, specifically its 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, being saturated by the increased pixel shader workload. The data shows that while the combo is capable of high refresh rate gaming at 1080p, the 4K experience is firmly in the field of 60-70 FPS territory for most presets, requiring lower settings to achieve smoother performance.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested configurations, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX holds a rank of 345 out of 1636 combos for this game. This places the pairing in the top 21 percent of all tested systems, indicating a strong overall capability for Control. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU, where the high-end graphics card is able to push substantial frame rates, but the older six-core processor may prevent the system from reaching the absolute top tier of performance. The percentile ranking for the CPU alone is 50, positioning it as a median performer, while the GPU sits at the 85th percentile, showcasing a significant disparity in their relative standings.

The combination’s rank of 345 suggests that while the RX 7900 XTX is a powerhouse, the i5-9400 holds the system back from matching the top 20 percent of configurations. The data implies that systems with more modern processors capable of higher single-threaded performance would likely achieve better results in Control, which is known to be sensitive to CPU throughput. Despite this, the combo still outperforms the vast majority of tested setups, demonstrating that the GPU’s raw power is sufficient to overcome many potential bottlenecks. The rank reflects the fact that even with a mid-range processor from its era, the sheer graphical capability of the RX 7900 XTX ensures a highly playable experience.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications directly correlate with the measured performance. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1929 MHz and a boost clock of 2498 MHz, with a game clock of 2365 MHz, providing substantial compute throughput for the game’s physics and visual effects. Its 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s, which is critical for handling the high-resolution textures and complex scenes in Control at 4K. The data shows that even at the highest settings, the GPU is able to maintain an average of 64.4 FPS, which is a strong result for a demanding title.

The memory capacity also ensures that the game does not run into VRAM limitations, allowing for smooth texture streaming at all resolutions. The GPU’s RDNA 3.0 architecture, with 96 ray accelerators, is also relevant, though the measured FPS data does not specify whether ray tracing was enabled. The 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is a key driver of the high frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p, where the processor is less of a limiting factor. The performance scaling from Low to Ultra settings at each resolution shows a consistent pattern, with the Ultra preset costing roughly 40 FPS compared to Low at 1080p, and about 48 FPS at 4K, highlighting the GPU’s workload under different graphical loads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset yields an average of 120.6 FPS, while dropping to Medium provides 145.1 FPS, and Low settings reach 163.9 FPS. The High preset sits between at 134.9 FPS. This range shows that the CPU is capable of driving the GPU to very high frame rates, but the scaling between settings is not perfectly linear, suggesting a growing CPU influence at lower graphical loads. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 94.1 FPS for Ultra, 106.9 FPS for High, 119.9 FPS for Medium, and 149.4 FPS for Low. The gap between High and Ultra at this resolution is 12.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the performance is more constrained by the GPU. The Ultra preset averages 64.4 FPS, High settings reach 70.2 FPS, and Medium achieves 79.5 FPS. The Low preset is the only one to break the 100 FPS barrier at 4K, with an average of 112.1 FPS. This data indicates that for a smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K, the High or Medium presets are recommended, while Ultra will require some compromises or a tolerance for frame rates in the low 60s. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a performance cost of 47.7 FPS, which is a significant drop and underscores the heavy demand of the game’s higher-quality effects on the GPU’s resources.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth provide adequate support for the GPU, but the lack of Hyper-Threading limits its ability to handle heavily threaded workloads. The benchmark data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU begins to influence the maximum frame rates. The jump from High to Low settings at 1080p results in a 29.0 FPS increase, which is a larger relative gain than what is seen at higher resolutions, indicating that the CPU is able to feed the GPU more frames when the graphical load is lighter.

The CPU's performance is reflected in its Cinebench R23 scores, with a multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125. These scores place it near the median of all CPUs, with a percentile of 50. In the context of Control, this means that the i5-9400 provides a solid baseline but will not unlock the absolute maximum potential of the RX 7900 XTX. The nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-10305 with a similar average benchmark score, show that the processor is positioned in a competitive mid-range bracket. The data implies that the combo’s rank of 345 is largely due to the GPU’s high performance, but the CPU’s six threads prevent it from reaching the top 100, where newer processors with higher single-threaded performance and more threads would be more effective.