Control

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT produces a mid-pack result in Control, ranking 1217 out of 1636 tested combinations. This places the combo in the lower-middle portion of the database, indicating that while the hardware is competent for many titles, it is not positioned among the top performers for this specific game. The combined average benchmark score of 35684 for the CPU and 27985 for the GPU suggests a balanced pairing, but the in-game ranking reflects the demanding nature of Control's rendering workload, particularly at higher resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1217 out of 1636 tested combinations places it in the 26th percentile overall, meaning roughly three-quarters of tested systems deliver higher average frame rates in Control. This is a notable underperformance relative to the individual hardware's capabilities. The CPU alone sits at the 89th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 71st percentile among all graphics cards. The gap between these component-level percentiles and the in-game combo rank highlights that the pairing struggles to translate its raw component strengths into competitive frame rates in this specific title.

Looking at the component-level rivals, the CPU is essentially neck-and-neck with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which scores 35802, a mere 0.3% higher. It also sits close to the Intel Core i7-13700T, which scores 35468, a 0.6% difference. The GPU is similarly tightly grouped with its nearest rivals: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti scores 27956, just 0.1% higher, and the AMD Radeon R9 M395X scores 27883, a 0.4% gap. These tiny deltas indicate that neither component is a dramatic outlier in its class, but the combined effect in Control still lands the system in the lower tier of results, suggesting the game's engine may not be fully exploiting the hardware's strengths.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K brings substantial processing power to the pairing, featuring 12 cores and 20 threads based on the Alder Lake architecture. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz can boost up to 5.00 GHz, providing strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 and a single-core score of 4128, demonstrating robust all-round capability. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 further confirm strong multi-core throughput.

For Control, an Action Adventure title that typically relies on both CPU and GPU, the processor's high single-core performance is crucial for game logic and physics. The PassMark single-thread score of 4013 indicates the CPU can handle the per-core demands of the game's engine. However, the benchmark results show that at lower resolutions like 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 116.1 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not a bottleneck in less demanding scenarios. As resolution increases, the frame rate drops, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 provide a solid foundation, but the game's performance ceiling appears tied more to the graphics subsystem.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock reaches 2589 MHz, with a game clock of 2359 MHz, and it offers 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its FP32 performance is rated at 10.60 TFLOPS, which places it as a capable mid-range card. In synthetic tests, the GPU scores 16461 in PassMark G3D and 108608 in Geekbench Metal, though its DirectX 12 PassMark score is notably lower at 61.

In Control, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings rise. The memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s and 8 GB VRAM are sufficient for the game's textures at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the card's 128-bit memory interface appears to limit performance. The ray tracing cores (32) are present, but the game's implementation likely stresses the GPU heavily, as evidenced by the steep performance drop at Ultra settings. The GPU's percentile rank of 71 places it above average, but in Control, it delivers frame rates that are closer to mid-range expectations rather than the upper tier suggested by its synthetic scores.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates show a clear progression across resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 116.1 FPS, which is the highest recorded for this combo. Moving to Medium drops to 82.9 FPS, High to 77.4 FPS, and Ultra to 65.3 FPS. This represents a 44% reduction from Low to Ultra at 1080p, indicating the GPU is scaling predictably with graphical load.

At 1440p, the Low preset achieves 90 FPS, a 22% drop from 1080p Low. Medium delivers 64.2 FPS, High 53.6 FPS, and Ultra 49.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 45%, similar to the 1080p scaling. At 4K, the results become more constrained: Low yields 58.6 FPS, Medium 44.6 FPS, High 36 FPS, and Ultra 33 FPS. The 4K Low result is only 50% of the 1080p Low figure, showing a significant resolution penalty. Notably, 4K Ultra at 33 FPS is below the generally accepted playable threshold, while 4K High at 36 FPS is also marginal.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component clearly. At 1080p Low, the system produces 116.1 FPS, which suggests the CPU and GPU are both contributing, but the GPU has headroom. Moving to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 90 FPS, a 22.5% reduction, and at 4K Low, it falls to 58.6 FPS, a 49.5% reduction from 1080p. This steep decline indicates the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases.

The pattern holds across all settings. For High presets, the drop from 1080p (77.4 FPS) to 1440p (53.6 FPS) is 30.7%, and to 4K (36 FPS) is 53.5%. For Ultra, the drop from 1080p (65.3 FPS) to 1440p (49.7 FPS) is 23.9%, and to 4K (33 FPS) is 49.5%. These consistent reductions of roughly 50% from 1080p to 4K across all settings indicate the GPU's rendering capabilities, particularly its memory bandwidth and fill rate, are the primary constraints. The CPU, with its high single-core scores, is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience balances frame rate and visual fidelity. At 1080p, the High preset at 77.4 FPS offers a smooth experience with good visual quality, while Ultra at 65.3 FPS remains playable but with diminishing returns. The Medium preset at 82.9 FPS provides a slight boost over High with minimal visual compromise, making it the recommended choice for 1080p gaming.

At 1440p, the High preset at 53.6 FPS is borderline, while Medium at 64.2 FPS provides a more comfortable margin. The Low preset at 90 FPS is the only setting that fully utilizes the display's refresh rate potential, but the visual trade-off is significant. For a balanced experience, Medium at 1440p is the sweet spot, offering 64.2 FPS while maintaining reasonable detail. At 4K, only the Low preset at 58.6 FPS approaches playability, while Medium at 44.6 FPS and High at 36 FPS are below the ideal threshold. The Ultra preset at 33 FPS is not recommended for 4K. Therefore, the data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p High or Medium settings, with 1440p Medium being a viable alternative, while 4K should be reserved for the Low preset if resolution is paramount.