Control

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 presents a stark example of GPU-limited performance in Control. The 12-core Alder Lake processor is far more capable than the Polaris 20 GPU, and the measured frame rates at every resolution and settings level reflect this bottleneck. This combination ranks 1566th out of 1636 tested combos in this game, placing it in the bottom 5% of configurations, which signals a severe mismatch for a title demanding both raw compute and memory bandwidth.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a classic GPU-bound curve. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 57.5 FPS average, which is the only playable setting in the entire dataset. Moving to 1440p Low drops the average to 42 FPS, a 27% reduction in performance. The jump to 4K Low yields 32 FPS, which is a further 24% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern—where each resolution step costs roughly a quarter of the frame rate—indicates the GPU is the limiting factor; the CPU has no trouble feeding frames, but the RX 570 cannot keep up with the pixel count.

At High settings, the degradation is even steeper. The 1080p High average is 38.6 FPS, which falls to 27.7 FPS at 1440p High (a 28% loss) and then plummets to 16.3 FPS at 4K High (a 41% loss from 1440p). The 4K High result is essentially unplayable, and the gap between 1080p and 4K High is a 58% reduction. This non-linear drop at higher resolutions and settings confirms that the GPU’s 4 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are overwhelmed by Control's visual demands.

The most telling comparison is between Low and Ultra at the same resolution. At 1080p, Low gives 57.5 FPS while Ultra gives 30.3 FPS—a 47% penalty for maxing out settings. At 1440p, the gap narrows slightly: Low yields 42 FPS versus Ultra’s 25.6 FPS, a 39% penalty. At 4K, Low (32 FPS) and Ultra (18.9 FPS) show a 41% difference. This consistency suggests that the GPU is not just memory-limited but also compute-limited, as raising settings increases the workload on the Polaris 20 chip’s 2048 shading units.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark scores are substantial: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 28979, and single-core hits 4091. In 3DMark, the max-thread score is 9983, while the single-thread score is 1043. These numbers place the CPU in the 89th percentile of all processors, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14400 (0.1% ahead) and the Intel Core i9-12900HX (0.2% behind). The CPU is clearly not the bottleneck here.

In Control, the CPU’s role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls, but the measured FPS does not scale with CPU capability. At 1080p Low, the frame rate is 57.5 FPS, which is well below what this processor could push if paired with a stronger GPU. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2065 and 4-thread score of 4011 suggest strong single-thread performance, which is what most games rely on, but the RX 570 caps the output. The CPU’s Passmark single-thread score of 3984 reinforces that it has ample headroom for this title.

The data indicates that even at the lowest settings and resolution, the CPU is not the limiter. If it were, we would expect 1080p Low to approach the CPU’s potential frame ceiling, but 57.5 FPS is modest for a processor with this power. Instead, the GPU’s 150 W TDP and 5.095 TFLOPS FP32 throughput are the hard ceiling. For this combo, any CPU upgrade would yield zero benefit in Control, while a GPU upgrade would unlock the i7-12700KF’s true gaming potential.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is a 14 nm Polaris 20 chip with 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Its base clock is 1168 MHz with a boost of 1244 MHz, and it has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 880, which is low by modern standards, and its percentile rank is 74th among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (0.2% ahead) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (0.2% ahead), which highlights how dated this architecture is.

In Control, the GPU’s limitations are evident across every measurement. The 4 GB VRAM is likely a major constraint at 4K, where High settings yield only 16.3 FPS and Ultra/Medium both hit 18.9 FPS. The fact that Medium and Ultra produce identical averages at 4K (18.9 FPS) suggests the game is stalling on memory capacity or bandwidth rather than compute, as raising settings does not change the frame rate. At 1080p, the GPU manages 38.6 FPS on High and 30.3 FPS on Ultra, which are playable but far from smooth, especially for an action-adventure title.

The GPU’s 5.095 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 39.81 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for Control’s demanding effects. The texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s also falls short when handling high-resolution assets. The data shows that this GPU is best suited for 1080p Low/Medium, where it can maintain 57.5 FPS and 38.5 FPS respectively. Beyond that, the experience degrades rapidly, and at 4K, no settings level produces a playable result.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combo for this hardware in Control?

A: The data shows 1080p Low is the only configuration exceeding 60 FPS, with an average of 57.5 FPS. For a more visually appealing experience, 1080p Medium (38.5 FPS) or 1440p Low (42 FPS) are the next best options, but both fall short of smooth gameplay.

Q: Why does 4K Medium and 4K Ultra have the same average FPS?

A: At 4K, both Medium and Ultra settings produce an identical average of 18.9 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is bottlenecked by memory bandwidth or capacity (4 GB GDDR5), not compute, since raising settings does not impact the frame rate.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is unequivocally the limiter. The i7-12700KF has a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 and ranks in the 89th percentile, while the RX 570’s 4 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain high frame rates. The FPS scaling with resolution and settings confirms the GPU is saturated.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1566th out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the bottom 4.3% of all configurations. This is a poor result for a CPU that is only 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-14400 in average benchmark score.

Q: Can I play Control at 1440p with this setup?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it averages 42 FPS. At Medium (28.4 FPS), High (27.7 FPS), or Ultra (25.6 FPS), the experience is choppy and not recommended for a fast-paced action game.

Q: What is the GPU’s performance relative to its closest rivals?

A: The RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 30158, which is 0.2% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT. Despite this, its 4 GB VRAM is a severe handicap in modern titles like Control.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 1566th out of 1636 tested configurations in Control, which is a dismal showing. This places it in the 4.3rd percentile of all combos, meaning over 95% of tested systems perform better. The rank is unsurprising given the GPU’s age and memory constraints. For context, the CPU alone sits in the 89th percentile of all processors, while the GPU is in the 74th percentile, but the pairing exacerbates the GPU’s weaknesses in this specific title.

The nearest rivals for the CPU (Intel Core i5-14400, 0.1% ahead) and GPU (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, 0.2% ahead) have similar synthetic scores, but those components would likely pair better with each other. This combo’s low rank is driven by the RX 570’s inability to leverage the i7-12700KF’s processing power. In practical terms, the rank means that a user with this configuration will have to make significant compromises in settings or resolution to achieve playable frame rates, and even then, the experience will be suboptimal compared to mid-range alternatives.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 57.5 FPS, which is the only average above 60 FPS in the entire dataset. High settings yield 38.6 FPS, Medium yields 38.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 30.3 FPS. The close proximity of High and Medium (0.1 FPS difference) suggests a settings threshold where the GPU becomes compute-bound rather than memory-bound.

At 2560x1440, performance degrades noticeably. Low settings average 42 FPS, which is still playable but with noticeable dips. Medium averages 28.4 FPS, High averages 27.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 25.6 FPS. The spread between Medium and Ultra is only 2.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is hitting a hard performance wall around 25-28 FPS regardless of quality presets.

At 3840x2160, the results are largely unplayable. Low settings average 32 FPS, which is borderline playable for slower games but not for Control’s action sequences. Medium and Ultra both average 18.9 FPS, while High averages 16.3 FPS. The fact that High is slower than Medium/Ultra by 2.6 FPS is anomalous but points to inconsistent memory pressure at these extreme resolutions. No 4K preset reaches the 60 FPS target, and even 30 FPS is only achieved at Low.