Control

Control with the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 shows a predictable scaling pattern across resolutions, with the data indicating that the graphics card becomes the primary constraint as pixel count rises. At 1080p, the combination delivers high frame rates that suggest a balanced workload, but stepping up to 4K reveals a sharp decline that points squarely at GPU limits. The measured results provide a clean dataset for analyzing how this specific pairing behaves in a demanding action-adventure title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is steep and consistent across all settings presets. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 88 at 1080p to 67 at 1440p, then further to 45 at 4K. This represents a 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is a significant hit that indicates the rendering workload scales heavily with pixel count. The Low preset shows an even larger absolute drop: 140 FPS at 1080p, 106 at 1440p, and 71 at 4K — a 49% decrease from 1080p to 4K as well, though the starting point is much higher.

The pattern is similar for Medium and Ultra presets. Medium goes from 99 FPS at 1080p to 75 at 1440p and 51 at 4K, a 48% drop. Ultra goes from 77 to 58 to 39, a 49% reduction. The uniformity of this ~49% scaling across all settings suggests that resolution is the dominant variable here, independent of the graphical preset. When the resolution increases, the GPU must process four times the pixels at 4K versus 1080p, and the data reflects that near-linear relationship in frame time impact.

What does this say about the limiting component? At 1080p, the RTX 4060 is able to push well over 100 FPS on Low and nearly 90 FPS on High, which indicates that neither the CPU nor the GPU is severely bottlenecked at this resolution. However, at 4K, even the Low preset only manages 71 FPS, and High drops to 45 FPS. This steep falloff is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario — the i7-12700KF has enough headroom to feed the graphics card at lower resolutions, but at 4K the RTX 4060’s rendering throughput becomes the ceiling. The fact that the percentage drop is nearly identical across all presets reinforces this interpretation: the GPU is the limiting factor regardless of how the visual quality is configured.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. Its boost clock is rated at 2460 MHz, and it carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In this game, the memory capacity and bandwidth appear adequate for the measured frame rates, but the core clock and shading resources determine the raw throughput.

The GPU’s benchmark profile places it in the 61st percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17639. Its closest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (with a deltaPct of -0.2), the AMD Radeon 780M (deltaPct 0.3), the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (deltaPct 0.5), and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (deltaPct 0.7). These are all within a fraction of a percent in average score, meaning the RTX 4060 sits in a very tightly contested performance band. In Control, the measured FPS at 1080p High (88 FPS) and 4K High (45 FPS) are consistent with a mid-range GPU that handles 1080p well but struggles at 4K.

The 8 GB VRAM is worth noting in the context of this game. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 39, and while the pack does not list VRAM usage, the frame rate decline from Medium (51 FPS) to Ultra (39 FPS) at 4K suggests that higher settings place additional stress on the memory subsystem. The 128-bit bus and 272 GB/s bandwidth are modest by modern standards, but they are sufficient for the measured results — the data does not show any anomalous min FPS spikes that would indicate a memory capacity overflow. The GPU’s pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s provide the theoretical foundation for the observed scaling behavior.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific CPU-GPU combination holds a combo rank of 2008 out of 3720 tested combos in Control. That places it in the 54th percentile of all tested pairings, meaning just over half of the combos in the database perform better. Given that the RTX 4060 is a mid-range GPU and the i7-12700KF is a high-end desktop processor, the ranking reflects the GPU’s limitations in this title rather than any CPU deficiency.

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals for context, the i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35365, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its closest competitors are the Intel Core i7-13700T (avgScore 35403, deltaPct -0.1), the Intel Core i5-13600T (avgScore 35305, deltaPct 0.2), the Intel Core 5 213PE (avgScore 35428, deltaPct -0.2), and the Intel Core i7-12700K (avgScore 35287, deltaPct 0.2). These deltas are all under 0.5%, so the CPU is not a differentiator in this comparison — the combo rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU’s performance tier.

The GPU’s nearest rivals show a similar clustering. The RTX 4060’s average benchmark score is 17639, with the AMD Radeon HD 7790 at 17666 (deltaPct -0.2), the AMD Radeon 780M at 17588 (deltaPct 0.3), the AMD Radeon Pro 560 at 17551 (deltaPct 0.5), and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 at 17509 (deltaPct 0.7). These are all within 0.7% of each other, which is remarkable clustering. In Control, the combo rank of 2008 out of 3720 suggests that while the GPU is average, the high-end CPU prevents the combination from falling into the lower quartile — many cheaper CPU pairings would likely score lower due to CPU bottlenecks at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 140 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium drops to 99 FPS, High to 88 FPS, and Ultra to 77 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 63 FPS, which is substantial but not unusual for a game with scalable settings. The Medium preset has a min FPS of 84 and max FPS of 114, showing a 30 FPS variance that indicates some scene complexity swings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 106 FPS, Medium 75 FPS, High 67 FPS, and Ultra 58 FPS. The Medium preset shows a min of 64 and max of 86, a 22 FPS variance. At this resolution, even Ultra maintains nearly 60 FPS, which is playable for most users, but the headroom for high refresh rate monitors is limited to the Low and Medium presets.

At 3840x2160, the numbers become more constrained. Low averages 71 FPS, Medium 51 FPS (with min 43 and max 58), High 45 FPS, and Ultra 39 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only measured configuration that dips below 40 FPS on average. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 43 is close to the average of the High preset, indicating that frame pacing can be inconsistent at 4K even on lower settings.

The overall pattern is clear: 1080p offers the best performance headroom, 1440p is a compromise zone, and 4K requires dropping to Low or Medium for consistently smooth play. The Medium settings at 1440p (75 FPS) are the sweet spot for balancing visual quality and frame rate, while 4K Low (71 FPS) provides the best 4K experience in terms of raw FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has 25 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus. The CPU’s benchmark results are strong: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 28838 and single-core 4071, while Geekbench multi-core is 14367 and single-core 2255. The 3DMark tests show scaling from 1043 single-thread to 9983 max-threads, indicating good multi-threading efficiency.

In Control, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (140 FPS) is high enough that the CPU is clearly not a bottleneck at that resolution — the i7-12700KF can handle the game’s logic at frame rates well above what the RTX 4060 can render at higher settings. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and max-thread score of 9983 suggest that the processor has ample headroom for multi-threaded workloads, which is typical for a 12-core part.

The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus is 85, meaning it outperforms 85% of all CPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.2% of its average score, so there is no meaningful performance gap between the i7-12700KF and its closest alternatives. In this game, the CPU’s high single-thread performance (Geekbench single-core 2255, Cinebench R23 single-core 4071) is more relevant than its multi-core capability, since Control’s engine typically relies on a few strong threads for rendering. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 confirms that the processor’s single-core strength is sufficient to avoid limiting the GPU at 1080p, where the RTX 4060 is already producing 140 FPS on Low.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings. At 1080p, the High preset (88 FPS) offers a 58% improvement over Ultra (77 FPS) in frame rate, while the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically modest in this title. For players with 60 Hz displays, Ultra at 1080p (77 FPS) is perfectly smooth, but for 144 Hz monitors, High (88 FPS) or Medium (99 FPS) are the better choices. Medium provides a 29% boost over High at 1080p, making it the best option for high-refresh rate gaming.

At 1440p, the Medium preset (75 FPS) is the recommended choice for most users, as it stays comfortably above 60 FPS while offering better visual quality than Low (106 FPS). High (67 FPS) is also viable for 60 Hz displays, but the 11 FPS drop from Medium to High is not worth the marginal visual gain. Ultra at 1440p (58 FPS) is below the 60 FPS threshold and should be avoided unless the user prioritizes image quality over smoothness.

At 4K, the Low preset (71 FPS) is the only configuration that maintains a playable frame rate above 60 FPS. Medium (51 FPS) and High (45 FPS) are borderline, and Ultra (39 FPS) is too demanding for smooth play. The 4K Low experience at 71 FPS is surprisingly good, but it requires sacrificing most visual effects. For 4K gaming, the data suggests using Low or Medium depending on the player’s tolerance for frame drops — Medium’s min FPS of 43 shows that it can dip below 45 FPS in demanding scenes.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the best balance of frame rate and visual fidelity. It always sits between Low and High in performance, but it provides a significant FPS boost over High while retaining most of the visual quality. The min FPS data for Medium (84 at 1080p, 64 at 1440p, 43 at 4K) shows that it maintains reasonable frame pacing without severe dips, making it the safest choice for consistent performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo in Control?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 140, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 39, which is the lowest measured value in the dataset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low (140 FPS) and High (88 FPS), the GPU is the limiting factor, as the i7-12700KF’s single-thread performance is sufficient to feed the RTX 4060 at these frame rates.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 75 FPS average with a min of 64 FPS, making it the best choice for maintaining smooth gameplay above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639, which is within 0.7% of its nearest rivals (AMD Radeon HD 7790 at 17666, AMD Radeon 780M at 17588, AMD Radeon Pro 560 at 17551, AMD Radeon Pro 460 at 17509).

Q: What percentile does this CPU-GPU combo rank in for Control?

A: The combo ranks 2008 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the 54th percentile of all tested combos in this game.