Control

The Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination delivers a strong performance profile for Control, a 2019 Action Adventure title. Measured frame rates show this system clearing the 60 FPS threshold at every resolution tested, though the margin shrinks considerably at 4K with Ultra settings. The data indicates a capable pairing for high-refresh 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring a slight settings adjustment for a comfortable frame rate cushion.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU and GPU each have nearby hardware that would behave similarly in this system. For the Intel Core i7-12700KF, the closest alternatives in average benchmark score are the Intel Core i7-13700T, which scores 35403 against the i7-12700KF's 35365 — a delta of -0.1%. The Intel Core 5 213PE is marginally ahead at 35428, a -0.2% delta, while the Intel Core i5-13600T scores 35305 (0.2% delta) and the Intel Core i7-12700K scores 35287 (0.2% delta). All four rivals fall within a 0.4% band of the i7-12700KF, meaning any of these processors would produce nearly identical frame pacing in Control, assuming the GPU remains the limiting factor.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 23172. The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA P106-100 with a score of 23249 (-0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 at 23250 (-0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 6600M at 23273 (-0.4% delta), and the AMD Radeon R9 M290X at 23276 (-0.4% delta). The delta percentages here are small, but the underlying hardware differs substantially in architecture and feature set. In practice, swapping the RTX 3080 for any of these rivals would yield similar average frame rates in synthetic benchmarks, though real-world Control performance could diverge due to driver optimizations and API support differences. The RTX 3080's 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, alongside its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus with 760.3 GB/s bandwidth, suggest it handles the game's physics-heavy combat and particle effects more consistently than the listed rivals, which lack comparable memory bandwidth.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 99.5 FPS. This leaves substantial headroom above the playable threshold. The High preset runs at 116.7 FPS, Medium at 131.4 FPS, and Low at 184.4 FPS. Every setting at 1080p clears 60 FPS by a wide margin.

Moving to 2560x1440, Ultra remains the best playable setting, averaging 74.9 FPS. The High preset achieves 90.5 FPS, Medium hits 98.4 FPS, and Low reaches 140.3 FPS. The 14.9 FPS gap between Ultra and the 60 FPS threshold is comfortable, but not as generous as at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the situation tightens. The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, with an average of 60.4 FPS. The Medium preset runs at 69.2 FPS, and Low at 93.7 FPS. Ultra drops to 51.7 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. For 4K gaming, High is the ceiling if you want to maintain the 60 FPS target, with barely any margin for error — 0.4 FPS above the cutoff.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals how the workload shifts between CPU and GPU across resolutions. At 1920x1080, the CPU plays a more significant role, as evidenced by the wide spread between Low and Ultra settings. Low averages 184.4 FPS, while Ultra drops to 99.5 FPS — a 84.9 FPS difference. This scaling indicates the GPU is the primary constraint even at Low, but the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are sufficient to feed the RTX 3080 at these high frame rates. The i7-12700KF's single-thread performance, reflected in its 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4071, supports high minimum frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

At 2560x1440, the GPU becomes more dominant. The difference between Low (140.3 FPS) and Ultra (74.9 FPS) is 65.4 FPS, still substantial but narrower than at 1080p. The increased pixel count shifts more work to the GPU, and the frame rate gap between presets compresses accordingly. The RTX 3080's 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 465.1 GTexel/s texture rate become more relevant as resolution climbs.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The spread from Low (93.7 FPS) to Ultra (51.7 FPS) is 42 FPS, and the absolute numbers drop significantly across all settings. The CPU's role diminishes at 4K, as the GPU's pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s determine how quickly frames can be rendered. The i7-12700KF's multi-threaded capabilities, such as its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28838, are unlikely to be fully utilized at this resolution since the GPU saturates first.

The Verdict

This PC can run Control successfully, with the data confirming playable frame rates across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, every preset — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — clears 60 FPS, with Ultra averaging 99.5 FPS. At 2560x1440, all four presets also remain above 60 FPS, with Ultra averaging 74.9 FPS. At 3840x2160, the playable settings are High (60.4 FPS), Medium (69.2 FPS), and Low (93.7 FPS); Ultra at 51.7 FPS falls short of the 60 FPS threshold.

The verdictByResolution data lists 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 as fully playable at Ultra, while 3840x2160 maxes out at High. The 0.4 FPS margin at 4K High is tight — any demanding combat sequence with heavy particle effects could dip below 60 FPS momentarily. The measured data only includes average FPS, with no min or max values recorded, so transient drops are not quantified. For a smoother 4K experience, dropping to Medium at 69.2 FPS provides a more comfortable 9.2 FPS buffer. At 1440p and 1080p, the system has ample headroom, making it well-suited for high-refresh-rate monitors where the 90+ FPS averages at High settings would be smooth.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combination is as follows:

At 1920x1080, Low settings produce an average of 184.4 FPS. Medium averages 131.4 FPS. High averages 116.7 FPS. Ultra averages 99.5 FPS. No minimum or maximum FPS values were recorded for any resolution.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 140.3 FPS. Medium averages 98.4 FPS. High averages 90.5 FPS. Ultra averages 74.9 FPS.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 93.7 FPS. Medium averages 69.2 FPS. High averages 60.4 FPS. Ultra averages 51.7 FPS.

The frame rate scaling between presets is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p, the drop from Low to Ultra is 84.9 FPS, or roughly 46%. At 1440p, the drop is 65.4 FPS, about 47%. At 4K, the drop is 42 FPS, approximately 45%. The percentage reduction stays consistent, but the absolute values compress as resolution increases, reinforcing that the RTX 3080's rendering throughput, not the CPU, limits performance at higher pixel counts.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested CPU and GPU combinations in this game, this pairing ranks 1070 out of 3720 total combos. This places it in the 71st percentile of tested systems, meaning roughly 29% of all tested combos perform better in Control. The i7-12700KF itself sits in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 3080 ranks in the 68th percentile among all GPUs. The combo rank of 1070 sits below what the individual component percentiles might suggest, indicating that Control's specific demands — likely its use of physics-based destruction and real-time ray tracing options — do not fully utilize the strengths of either component.

The GPU's percentile rank of 68 versus the CPU's 85 suggests the RTX 3080 is the more limiting factor in this pairing. The nearest GPU rivals, such as the Radeon RX 6600M with a -0.4% delta, would likely produce similar average frame rates in Control but with less consistent performance due to lower memory bandwidth. The combo rank also reflects the game's release date of 2019, predating the i7-12700KF's 2021 launch and the RTX 3080's 2020 debut; newer game engines may exploit the Alder Lake architecture more effectively. For a 2019 title, this combination delivers strong absolute performance, with 1080p and 1440p Ultra well above 60 FPS and 4K High just barely clearing the threshold.