Control

Control on the Intel Core i7-12700KF and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT combination shows a system where the GPU is the primary scaling factor, yet the CPU’s architecture ensures that even at lower resolutions, frame rates remain high enough to avoid bottlenecking the experience. The measured data indicates a clear hierarchy: as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, average frame rates drop by roughly half across all settings, confirming that the Radeon RX 7600 XT is the limiting component in this pairing for this title. The Intel Core i7-12700KF, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, provides ample headroom, as evidenced by the 124 FPS average at 1080p Low settings, which is a strong indicator that the processor is not the constraining factor in this scenario.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a classic resolution scaling curve for the RX 7600 XT in Control. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system delivers an average of 78 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High settings, the average drops to 59 FPS, a 24% reduction in performance. The step to 3840x2160 High settings results in a further decline to 40 FPS, which is a 32% drop from the 1440p result. This pattern shows that the GPU’s rendering load is scaling almost linearly with pixel count, a typical characteristic for a game like Control that emphasizes visual effects and lighting.

The scaling from Low to Ultra settings at each resolution provides further insight into the GPU’s limits. At 1080p, the spread from Low (124 FPS) to Ultra (68 FPS) is 56 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution to handle increased graphical fidelity. However, at 4K, the same settings spread shrinks to a 28 FPS difference, from 63 FPS on Low to 35 FPS on Ultra. This compression of the performance envelope at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming saturated, and the cost of Ultra settings becomes prohibitive for maintaining smooth gameplay.

The data suggests that for a 60 FPS target, the RX 7600 XT is well-suited to 1080p and 1440p gaming with High settings. At 4K, the system falls short of 60 FPS on all tested settings, with only the Low preset achieving a playable 63 FPS average. The medium preset at 4K shows a 45 FPS average with a minimum of 38 FPS, indicating that even moderate settings can cause noticeable frame pacing issues. The scaling behavior points to the GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus being sufficient for capacity but ultimately limited by the raw compute performance of the Navi 33 chip.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for a consistent 60 FPS experience with this hardware?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with High settings achieves a 59 FPS average, which is very close to the 60 FPS target. For a more comfortable margin, 1920x1080 with High settings delivers 78 FPS, and even Ultra settings at 1080p maintains a 68 FPS average.

Q: How much of a performance drop is there from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 78 FPS at 1920x1080 to 59 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 40 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 49% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the Ultra preset viable for this GPU in Control?

A: The Ultra preset is only recommended at 1920x1080, where it achieves a 68 FPS average. At 2560x1440, the average drops to 51 FPS, and at 3840x2160, it falls to 35 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the RX 7600 XT’s 16 GB VRAM provide any advantage at 4K?

A: While the 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Control at 4K, the benchmark results show that the GPU’s compute performance, not memory capacity, is the limiting factor. The 4K Ultra setting still only achieves 35 FPS, indicating the core GPU is the bottleneck.

Q: How does the system perform on Low settings at 4K?

A: The Low preset at 3840x2160 yields a 63 FPS average, which is the only 4K configuration that reaches above 60 FPS. This suggests that lowering graphical quality is the only way to achieve smooth 4K gameplay with this hardware.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the data for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 shows a minimum FPS of 38, which is a significant drop from the 45 FPS average. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset has a minimum of 57 FPS, and at 1920x1080, the minimum is 75 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is the definitive performance driver in this benchmark configuration. The GPU’s benchmark results show a Passmark G3D score of 17132, placing it in the 60th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17083. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, which scores 17208, a 0.7% difference, showing that the RX 7600 XT is competitive with that higher-tier card in synthetic tests. The GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Control’s texture streaming, but the 2048 shading units and 32 ray accelerators are what determine the frame rates in this game.

The clock speeds of the RX 7600 XT are notable, with a base clock of 1980 MHz and a boost clock of 2755 MHz, with a game clock of 2470 MHz. These high clocks help offset the relatively modest 128-bit memory interface. In Control, the impact of these clocks is visible in the scaling between Low and Medium settings. At 1080p, the jump from Low (124 FPS) to Medium (88 FPS) is a 29% drop, which is more significant than the drop from Medium to High (78 FPS, an 11% drop). This suggests that the Medium preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU’s compute units, while High settings add less demanding features.

The GPU’s 22.57 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the theoretical ceiling for its rasterization capabilities. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system achieves 35 FPS, which aligns with the GPU’s percentile rank of 60. This indicates that Control is a demanding title that pushes the RX 7600 XT to its limits. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2348 further confirms the GPU’s positioning as a mid-range performer. The data suggests that the 16 GB VRAM is a future-proofing feature, but for Control specifically, the GPU’s raw throughput is the deciding factor in performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this hardware depend heavily on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the High preset offers the best balance, delivering an average of 78 FPS with no recorded minimums below that threshold. The Ultra preset at 1080p achieves 68 FPS, which is still smooth, but the 10 FPS gain from dropping to High is minimal compared to the visual difference. For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p yields 124 FPS, which is beneficial for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is again the recommended choice, with a 59 FPS average that is very close to the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset provides a 67 FPS average and a minimum of 57 FPS, which offers a more consistent experience if slight visual compromises are acceptable. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 51 FPS, which is playable but may show stutters in action-heavy scenes. The Low preset at this resolution provides 94 FPS, but the visual quality reduction is substantial, making it less desirable for a game like Control with its atmospheric environments.

For 3840x2160, the data indicates that only the Low preset is viable for a smooth experience, with a 63 FPS average. The Medium preset at 4K has a 45 FPS average and a concerning 38 FPS minimum, which can lead to noticeable frame drops. The High preset at 4K drops to 40 FPS, and Ultra is at 35 FPS, both of which are below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. Therefore, the recommendation for 4K is to use Low settings, or to consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for better visual quality at playable frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings shows the GPU’s capabilities. The Low preset achieves an average of 124 FPS, making it the only configuration to exceed 120 FPS. The Medium preset has an average of 88 FPS, with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS, indicating a stable performance window. The High preset averages 78 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 68 FPS. The data shows a consistent performance curve, with each settings tier providing a predictable drop in frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset averages 94 FPS, which is a 24% drop from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset at 1440p has an average of 67 FPS, with a minimum of 57 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS. The High preset averages 59 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 51 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 43 FPS, showing that the GPU still has headroom for settings adjustments at 1440p.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. The Low preset averages 63 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 45 FPS, with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS, showing a wide variance that could lead to inconsistent gameplay. The High preset averages 40 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 35 FPS. The data reveals that at 4K, the GPU is severely constrained, with even the Low preset barely maintaining playable frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF plays a supporting role in this benchmark, but its specifications ensure that it does not become a bottleneck. The CPU features 12 cores and 20 threads, based on the Alder Lake architecture with a mix of performance and efficiency cores. Its boost clock of 5.00 GHz and base clock of 3.60 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4071 and the Geekbench single-core score of 2255. The CPU’s percentile rank of 85 among all CPUs indicates that it is a high-end processor, and its average benchmark score of 35365 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700T, which scores 35403, a 0.1% difference.

In Control, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and the max-thread score of 9983 show strong multi-threaded capabilities, which are relevant for the game’s physics and AI systems. The Passmark multi-thread score of 34092 further confirms the CPU’s ability to handle concurrent workloads. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 124 FPS, which is a frame rate that would stress many CPUs, but the i7-12700KF handles it without issue, as there is no recorded minimum FPS that would suggest a CPU bottleneck.

The CPU’s 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide fast access to frequently used data, which is crucial for maintaining consistent frame times. The Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 12111 and R15 multi-core score of 2906 indicate that the CPU can handle heavy workloads, but in Control, the GPU is the limiting factor. The evidence is clear: at 4K Ultra, the system drops to 35 FPS, which is far below what the CPU is capable of producing. The i7-12700KF’s performance in this game is more than sufficient, and the RX 7600 XT is the component that determines the final frame rates.