Control

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 delivers a playable, though not flawless, experience in Control. The data set reveals a system that scales predictably with resolution, but the relationship between settings and frame rate is not always linear, indicating a mix of GPU and CPU limitations depending on the configuration. This analysis walks through the measured FPS rows to detail exactly how this combination behaves across the tested spectrum.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 highlights a classic GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, though the CPU begins to assert itself at lower ones. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 124 at 1080p to 94 at 1440p, a 24.2% reduction, and then to 63 at 4K, a further 33% drop. This steep decline as pixel count increases strongly indicates that the RTX 5050's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint at 4K, as the workload scales directly with resolution.

However, the scaling pattern changes when examining High settings. The average FPS falls from 78 at 1080p to 59 at 1440p (a 24.4% drop), but the transition to 4K High yields only 40 FPS, a 32.2% drop from 1440p. This is a substantial performance hit, but the absolute numbers suggest that the GPU is still the limiting factor, albeit with diminishing returns as the resolution demands more from the 8 GB frame buffer.

The most telling data point for CPU involvement comes from the Medium preset. At 1080p Medium, the average is 88 FPS, but at 1440p Medium it drops to 67 FPS, and at 4K Medium it falls to 45 FPS. The frame time data (min 38, max 52 at 4K Medium) shows a 14 FPS spread, which is tighter than the 26 FPS spread at 1080p Medium (min 75, max 101). This tightening indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU is working closer to its limit, reducing the variance caused by CPU frame pacing.

At 1080p Ultra, the system achieves 68 FPS, which is only 10 FPS lower than 1080p High. This small delta suggests that the CPU, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, is not the main bottleneck at this resolution for Ultra settings, as the GPU is still able to push out a playable frame rate. The real bottleneck emerges at 4K Ultra, where the average collapses to 35 FPS. This is a 48.5% drop from 4K High, showing that the combination of maximum settings and 4K resolution overwhelms the RTX 5050's capabilities.

The data shows that the transition from 1080p to 1440p is generally smooth, with FPS remaining playable across all settings. The jump to 4K, however, is where the system struggles, particularly on Ultra and High presets. The limiting component at 4K is clearly the GPU, as the CPU's performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629) is unlikely to be the sole cause of the 40 FPS average at High settings. The low FPS at 4K Ultra (35 FPS) is a definitive sign that the RTX 5050's 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 320 GB/s memory bandwidth are insufficient for maxed-out 4K gaming in this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, all four presets are technically playable, but the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. The data shows 1080p Medium averaging 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without dipping below the 60 FPS threshold. While High and Ultra provide higher visual quality at 78 and 68 FPS respectively, the Medium preset's 88 FPS average provides more headroom for demanding scenes, which is crucial in a game like Control with its physics-heavy combat.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only one that consistently maintains high frame rates, averaging 94 FPS. The High preset at 1440p averages 59 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS mark, making it a borderline choice for players with 144Hz monitors. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 67 FPS, which is acceptable, but the minimum of 57 FPS indicates occasional dips below 60. The data suggests that for a stable 1440p experience, Low or Medium is the safer choice, as High and Ultra (52 FPS) will not provide a consistently smooth frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset averages 63 FPS, which is technically playable, but the High preset drops to 40 FPS and Ultra falls to 35 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K averages 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. For 4K gaming with this combo, the Low preset is the only one that hits the 60 FPS average, though it will likely experience dips in heavy scenes. Players prioritizing visual quality at 4K would need to accept sub-50 FPS averages, which the data shows is the case for High and Medium presets.

The best experience per the measured rows is the Medium preset at 1080p, as it delivers an 88 FPS average with a minimum of 75 FPS, providing a smooth and responsive experience without sacrificing too much visual detail. For 1440p, the Low preset is the most reliable for high refresh rate displays, while the Medium preset is acceptable for 60 Hz displays. The data clearly indicates that Ultra settings are not recommended for this combo at any resolution above 1080p, as the FPS drops to 52 at 1440p and 35 at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination ranks 1756 out of 2888 tested combos for Control, placing it in the 39th percentile of all configurations. This ranking puts it in the lower half of the tested pool, indicating that while this combo is capable of running the game, it is not a high-performance pairing for this specific title. The percentileVsAllGpus for the RTX 5050 is 66, meaning the GPU is better than 66% of all GPUs, but the combo's overall rank is dragged down by the CPU's performance.

The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus is 47, which is below average, and this is reflected in the combo's rank. The i5-9400's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (deltaPct -0.2), Intel Core i7-10710U (deltaPct 0.3), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (deltaPct 0.4), and Intel Core i3-10305 (deltaPct -0.4). These deltas are all within 0.4%, meaning the i5-9400's CPU performance is essentially equivalent to these processors in general benchmarks, but the game's specific demands may vary.

The GPU's nearest rivals present a more interesting picture. The RTX 5050's average benchmark score of 21035 is compared against the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (deltaPct -0.6), AMD Radeon HD 8970M (deltaPct -1), AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (deltaPct 1.6), and NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (deltaPct -1.6). The RX 5600 XT is 1.6% faster in synthetic benchmarks, but the RTX 5050 outperforms the others. This suggests that the GPU is a mid-range performer, and the combo's rank of 1756 likely reflects the CPU's inability to fully feed the GPU in Control, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU is more likely to be the bottleneck.

The combo's rank is not catastrophic, but it is firmly in the lower half. Players using this configuration should expect to play Control at medium settings for a playable experience, as the data shows that the system cannot sustain high frame rates at high or ultra settings across most resolutions. The ranking also implies that many other tested combos, likely those with stronger CPUs or higher-tier GPUs, achieve significantly better performance in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides a complete matrix of average FPS across four resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 124 FPS, followed by Medium at 88 FPS, High at 78 FPS, and Ultra at 68 FPS. The Medium preset has a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS, showing a 26 FPS variance. This indicates that the system can handle 1080p gaming with ease, even at Ultra settings, which maintain an average above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 94 FPS, Medium averages 67 FPS (min 57, max 77), High averages 59 FPS, and Ultra averages 52 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 57 FPS shows that the system can dip below 60 FPS, which is a concern for smooth gameplay. The High and Ultra presets at 1440p are not ideal for 60 Hz displays, as their averages are below or right at the threshold.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 63 FPS, Medium averages 45 FPS (min 38, max 52), High averages 40 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The 4K Low preset is the only one that maintains a playable average, but the 4K Medium preset's minimum of 38 FPS shows severe dips. The Ultra preset at 4K is effectively unplayable, with an average of 35 FPS.

The exact numbers reveal a consistent pattern: for every 1.78x increase in pixel count (from 1080p to 1440p), the average FPS drops by approximately 24% across Low and High settings. The drop from 1440p to 4K (a 2.25x pixel increase) results in a 33-35% FPS reduction at Low and High settings. This non-linear scaling suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth (320 GB/s) and 8 GB frame buffer are becoming saturated at 4K, causing the performance to degrade more than proportionally.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is the primary driver of performance in this combo, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 320 GB/s of bandwidth. In Control, which features complex textures and particle effects, the 8 GB frame buffer is likely a limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 35. The memory bandwidth of 320 GB/s is moderate for a modern GPU, and at 4K, the demands on texture streaming likely exceed this bandwidth, causing the steep FPS drops.

The GPU's clock speeds are 2317 MHz base and 2572 MHz boost, which are relatively high for a mid-range card. The 2560 shading units and 80 TMUs provide a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming. However, at 4K, the 32 ROPs and 82.30 GPixel/s pixel rate become a bottleneck, as the GPU cannot fill the screen fast enough to maintain high frame rates. The FP32 performance of 13.17 TFLOPS is solid for a mid-range card, but it is not enough to handle the compute demands of Control at 4K with high settings.

The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its mid-range positioning. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502 and PassMark G3D score of 17326 place it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, is 1.6% faster in synthetic benchmarks, which explains why the RTX 5050 cannot achieve higher frame rates in Control. The GPU's 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores are present, but Control does not heavily utilize ray tracing in the measured presets, so their impact is minimal.

The GPU's TDP of 130 W and PCIe 5.0 x8 interface are not directly relevant to the FPS numbers, but they do indicate that the card is designed for efficiency. The 5 nm process node and 16,900 million transistors on a 149 mm² die suggest a dense, efficient chip. However, the data shows that this efficiency does not translate to high-end performance in Control, particularly at 4K where the GPU is clearly the limiting component.

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. Its role in Control is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, and the data suggests it is adequate but not outstanding. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 124 FPS, which indicates that the CPU can handle the game's single-threaded demands at lower settings. However, at 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 68 FPS, which is a significant reduction that may be partially due to CPU limitations.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and single-core score of 935 place it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. This is below average, and it shows in the game's performance at lower resolutions. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-10710U, is 0.3% faster in synthetic benchmarks, but the i5-9400's 6 threads (versus the i7's 12 threads) may cause more significant differences in Control's multi-threaded scenes.

The CPU's 9 MB of shared L3 cache is relatively small by modern standards, but it is sufficient for Control's data sets. The memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, provided by DDR4 dual-channel memory, is not a bottleneck at 1080p, but it could be a factor at higher resolutions if the GPU is waiting on data from the CPU. However, the data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, not the CPU, as the FPS drops are consistent with GPU-bound scaling.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent when comparing the 1080p Medium and High presets. The Medium preset averages 88 FPS, while High averages 78 FPS, a 10 FPS difference. This suggests that the CPU can handle the increased draw calls at High settings without major issues. However, at 1080p Ultra, the FPS drops to 68, which is a 20 FPS reduction from Medium. This indicates that the CPU is struggling to keep up with the increased object counts and physics calculations at Ultra settings, even at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all presets (Low 124 FPS, Medium 88 FPS, High 78 FPS, Ultra 68 FPS) maintain an average above 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset (94 FPS) and Medium preset (67 FPS) achieve an average above 60 FPS, while High (59 FPS) and Ultra (52 FPS) fall short.

*Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Control?*

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, only the Low preset (63 FPS) achieves an average above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 45 FPS, High averages 40 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS, indicating that 4K gaming is only viable on the lowest settings.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rival, the RX 5600 XT?

A: The RTX 5050 has an average benchmark score of 21035, while the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is 1.6% faster with a deltaPct of 1.6. This indicates that the RX 5600 XT is slightly more powerful in synthetic tests, which likely translates to slightly higher FPS in Control.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has a percentileVsAllCpus of 47, meaning it performs better than 47% of all CPUs. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 6629, and its single-core score is 935.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the 4K Medium preset?

A: For the 3840x2160 Medium preset, the minimum FPS is 38, with an average of 45 and a maximum of 52. This shows significant frame dips that could cause stuttering.

*Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combos for Control?*

A: The combo ranks 1756 out of 2888 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of all configurations. This rank reflects the CPU's below-average performance (47th percentile) and the GPU's mid-range performance (66th percentile).