Control

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Control, clearing the 60 FPS threshold at every resolution and preset tested. The data shows a system with substantial headroom, where even the most demanding settings at 4K produce an average of 74.8 FPS, making this a straightforward recommendation for high-refresh-rate play across all common monitor resolutions.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU and GPU each have near-neighbor alternatives that would produce statistically similar results in this pairing. For the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, benchmark data places it at the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70879. The nearest rival is the Intel Xeon 6511P, which scores 71051, a delta of -0.2 percent — meaning the Xeon is effectively identical in raw compute performance. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 scores 71370, putting it 0.7 percent ahead of the Ultra 7, again a marginal difference that would not manifest as a measurable FPS change in Control. On the AMD side, the Ryzen 7 9700F scores 69996, trailing by 1.3 percent, while the Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 70163, trailing by 1.0 percent. Any of these four CPUs would behave indistinguishably from the Ultra 7 265K in this game, given that Control’s frame rates are largely GPU-bound at higher presets.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, the GPU sits at the 87th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 56083. The closest rival is the AMD Radeon 8060S, scoring 55757, a 0.6 percent delta that places it slightly behind but within noise. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698, trailing by 0.7 percent. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, a 2.3 percent gap. Interestingly, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 57367, which is 2.2 percent ahead of the RTX 5080 in the aggregate benchmark. In practical terms, swapping the RTX 5080 for any of these rivals would yield frame rates within a few percent of the measured values — the RX 9070 GRE might edge out the 5080 by a small margin, while the Pro W5700X would be the slowest of the group, though still likely to exceed 60 FPS at most settings given the large headroom observed.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results reveal a clear GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, with CPU influence diminishing as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the scaling from Low to Ultra presets shows a range from 262.9 FPS down to 145.8 FPS — a 44.5 percent drop that reflects the GPU struggling more with the increased graphical load. This suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately even at the lowest preset, where the frame rate reaches 262.9 FPS, a value that would challenge many CPUs but the Ultra 7 265K handles without bottlenecking.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same preset scaling produces 199.0 FPS at Low and 107.4 FPS at Ultra, a 46.0 percent reduction. The absolute frame rates remain high, but the proportional drop from Low to Ultra is consistent with the 1080p results, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor in both cases. At 3840x2160, the Low preset yields 133.8 FPS and Ultra drops to 74.8 FPS, a 44.1 percent reduction. The consistency of this percentage across resolutions — roughly 44-46 percent from Low to Ultra — points to the GPU being the primary performance driver, as the CPU workload does not scale significantly with resolution while the GPU workload does.

The CPU’s role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and lower presets. At 1080p Low, the system produces 262.9 FPS, which is 1.97 times the 4K Low result of 133.8 FPS. This near-doubling suggests that at 1080p Low, the GPU is no longer saturated and the CPU’s performance ceiling is being approached. The Ultra 7 265K’s strong single-threaded performance — evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2020 and Geekbench single-core score of 2713 — supports this, as Control’s engine relies on a few primary threads. However, the fact that 1080p Ultra still reaches 145.8 FPS indicates that even at the highest settings, the CPU has ample headroom and the GPU remains the bottleneck. Gamers targeting 1080p with this combo will find the CPU adequate for even the most extreme frame rates, while 4K players will be entirely GPU-limited.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Control at 4K with the highest settings?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the average frame rate is 74.8 FPS, which exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold by 24.7 percent. The verdict lists all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) as playable at 4K.

Q: What is the best settings preset at 1440p for maximum visual quality?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 produces an average of 107.4 FPS, making it the best choice for both visual fidelity and smooth gameplay. This is 79 percent faster than the 60 FPS threshold, leaving significant headroom for potential frame drops.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: At the High preset, the frame rate drops from 165.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 87.1 FPS at 3840x2160, a 47.2 percent reduction. At the Ultra preset, the drop is from 145.8 FPS to 74.8 FPS, a 48.7 percent reduction. The proportional loss is consistent across presets, confirming GPU-bound scaling.

Q: Is the Ultra preset at 1080p worth using over High?

A: The Ultra preset at 1920x1080 averages 145.8 FPS compared to 165.1 FPS for High, a difference of 19.3 FPS (11.7 percent slower). Both are far above the 60 FPS threshold, so the choice depends on whether the visual improvements of Ultra justify the 11.7 percent frame rate cost.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K plus RTX 5080 combination ranks 167th out of 3720 tested combos for Control, placing it in the top 4.5 percent of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: What is the least demanding preset that still hits 60 FPS at 4K?

A: All presets at 3840x2160 exceed 60 FPS, with the lowest being Ultra at 74.8 FPS. Even the most demanding setting is 24.7 percent above the playable threshold, so no preset requires compromise for playability.

The Verdict

This PC can run Control decisively at every resolution and preset combination tested. At 3840x2160, the verdict lists all four settings — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — as playable, with the best settings being Ultra at an average of 74.8 FPS. This means 4K gamers can enable maximum graphical features without worrying about dropping below the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 107.4 FPS, providing a substantial buffer for demanding scenes or future driver updates. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset reaches 145.8 FPS, which is well-suited for high-refresh-rate monitors up to 144Hz. The data indicates that no resolution or preset tested falls below the playable threshold, making this a system that fully saturates Control’s graphical options at all common display resolutions. The only consideration is that at 1080p Low, the frame rate of 262.9 FPS approaches the limits of most monitors, but this is a surplus rather than a deficiency.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low preset produces 262.9 FPS, Medium produces 189.0 FPS, High produces 165.1 FPS, and Ultra produces 145.8 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 117.1 FPS, representing a 44.5 percent reduction. Each preset step yields diminishing returns: moving from Low to Medium costs 73.9 FPS (28.1 percent), Medium to High costs 23.9 FPS (12.6 percent), and High to Ultra costs 19.3 FPS (11.7 percent). This pattern suggests that the largest performance hit comes from enabling Medium over Low, while the jump from High to Ultra is comparatively modest.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 199.0 FPS for Low, 140.7 FPS for Medium, 126.2 FPS for High, and 107.4 FPS for Ultra. The total reduction from Low to Ultra is 91.6 FPS, or 46.0 percent. The step costs are 58.3 FPS (29.3 percent) from Low to Medium, 14.5 FPS (10.3 percent) from Medium to High, and 18.8 FPS (14.9 percent) from High to Ultra. Notably, the High-to-Ultra cost at 1440p is proportionally larger than at 1080p, indicating that Ultra settings place a heavier relative load on the GPU at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop to 133.8 FPS for Low, 95.6 FPS for Medium, 87.1 FPS for High, and 74.8 FPS for Ultra. The Low-to-Ultra reduction is 59.0 FPS, or 44.1 percent. Step costs are 38.2 FPS (28.6 percent) from Low to Medium, 8.5 FPS (8.9 percent) from Medium to High, and 12.3 FPS (14.1 percent) from High to Ultra. The Medium-to-High cost is smaller at 4K than at lower resolutions, while the High-to-Ultra cost remains around 14 percent, consistent with the 1440p result. Across all resolutions, the Low-to-Medium step is consistently the most expensive in absolute FPS terms, suggesting that Medium settings introduce significant graphical features that heavily impact performance.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the best settings preset that stays above 60 FPS is Ultra, which averages 74.8 FPS. This is the highest visual quality available, and it remains 24.7 percent above the playable threshold, so there is no reason to drop to a lower preset for performance reasons. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset is again the best choice, averaging 107.4 FPS. This provides a 79.0 percent margin over the 60 FPS threshold, making it ideal for 144Hz monitors where the frame rate stays above the refresh rate in most scenarios. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 145.8 FPS, which is 143.0 percent above the 60 FPS threshold. This is the optimal choice for 1080p gamers with high-refresh-rate displays, as it delivers frame rates that can drive 144Hz panels without compromise. In all three resolutions, the Ultra preset is the recommended setting, and the system’s performance headroom is such that even the most demanding configuration never approaches the playability limit.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination ranks 167th out of 3720 tested configurations for Control, placing it in the top 4.5 percent of all combos in the database. This ranking reflects the high absolute performance of both components, but the position within the top 5 percent indicates that there are 166 other configurations that achieve higher frame rates in this specific game. Given that the RTX 5080 sits at the 87th percentile among GPUs and the Ultra 7 265K at the 94th percentile among CPUs, the combo rank of 167 is consistent with expectations for a high-end pairing. The fact that the GPU percentile is lower than the CPU percentile suggests that Control’s performance is more sensitive to GPU choice, and configurations with faster GPUs (such as those in the top 166) would pull ahead. However, the measured frame rates show that this combo already exceeds 60 FPS at all settings and resolutions, so the rank difference is purely academic — the system delivers a fully playable experience with substantial headroom, and the ranking position does not translate into any practical deficiency for Control players.