Control

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Control with the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 580 shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination achieves 62.9 FPS, which drops to 47.6 FPS at 1440p and further to 33.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 47% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings.

The scaling behavior at High settings follows a similar trajectory. The system produces 40.3 FPS at 1080p, 30.9 FPS at 1440p, and 20.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 23%, while the drop from 1080p to 4K is 49%. These percentage reductions are nearly identical across Low and High presets, indicating that the resolution scaling is dominated by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth constraints rather than setting-specific effects.

The RX 580's 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are the primary factors behind this scaling pattern. As pixel count increases, the demand on memory bandwidth grows proportionally. The GPU's pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s become limiting factors at 4K, where even Low settings only produce 33.3 FPS.

At 1080p, the system appears to be in a more balanced state. The 62.9 FPS at Low settings suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at this resolution. However, the 12-core i7-12700K with its 5.00 GHz boost clock is unlikely to be the bottleneck at any resolution tested. The data indicates that Control at 4K is firmly GPU-bound, while 1080p Low approaches a more balanced workload distribution.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 25.0 FPS (62.9 vs 37.9). At 1440p, this gap narrows to 21.0 FPS (47.6 vs 26.6). At 4K, the gap shrinks further to 15.8 FPS (33.3 vs 17.5). This compression at higher resolutions reinforces that pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint, overwhelming the additional shading work required by higher settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the playable resolution for this configuration in Control?

A: The data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where the system consistently exceeds 30 FPS across all settings. At 1440p, only Low settings achieve above 30 FPS (47.6 FPS), while Medium dips to 36.9 FPS and High drops to 30.9 FPS. At 4K, no setting reaches 30 FPS, with Low being the best at 33.3 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 580's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 13559, which is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 at 13564 (0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 at 13549 (0.1% delta). It sits 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 455 and 1.1% behind the NVIDIA P106-090.

Q: What is the CPU's standing among all processors?

A: The i7-12700K ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 35684 places it 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13700T, 0.7% behind the Intel Core i5-14500HX, and 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13800H.

Q: Which settings preset delivers the best frame rate improvement over Low at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, moving from Low (62.9 FPS) to Medium (47.3 FPS) costs 24.8% of performance. High (40.3 FPS) costs 35.9% relative to Low, while Ultra (37.9 FPS) costs 39.7%. The Medium preset provides the gentlest performance hit while presumably offering visual improvements.

Q: Does the CPU show any signs of bottlenecking in this game?

A: The data does not indicate CPU bottlenecking. The i7-12700K's single-thread benchmark score of 1043 in 3DMark and 4128 in Cinebench R23 suggest ample headroom. The consistent FPS scaling across resolutions points to GPU limitation, particularly at 4K where all presets remain below 34 FPS.

Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU+GPU combination in Control?

A: This combination ranks 1501 out of 1636 tested configurations for Control. While this appears low, it reflects the GPU's position in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, paired with a CPU in the 89th percentile.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that Medium settings at 1080p provide the most balanced experience for this configuration. At 47.3 FPS, Medium delivers 75% of the Low preset's frame rate while likely offering substantially better visual quality. The jump from Low to Medium costs 15.6 FPS at 1080p, while the jump from Medium to High costs only 7.0 FPS but yields diminishing returns.

For players prioritizing frame rate, Low settings at 1080p is the only preset that approaches 60 FPS territory with 62.9 FPS. This may be the preferred choice for fast-paced combat sequences where responsiveness matters more than visual fidelity. The gap between Low and Medium is 15.6 FPS at 1080p, which is the largest single-step drop among all settings tiers at this resolution.

At 1440p, the situation becomes more constrained. Low settings at 47.6 FPS is the only preset that remains comfortably above 30 FPS. Medium at 36.9 FPS is still playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes. High at 30.9 FPS sits right at the edge of playability, while Ultra at 26.6 FPS falls below acceptable thresholds for most players.

Ultra settings are not recommended at any resolution. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 37.9 FPS, which is only 6.0 FPS less than High but requires the full visual feature set. The 4K Ultra result of 17.5 FPS is essentially unplayable, and even 1440p Ultra at 26.6 FPS struggles to maintain smooth motion.

The data suggests that the optimal configuration depends on the player's display. For 1080p displays, Medium provides the best compromise between visual quality and performance. For 1440p displays, Low is the only preset that maintains a comfortable frame rate cushion. For 4K displays, the system is not viable for smooth gameplay at any setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its strongest results. Low settings achieve 62.9 FPS, representing the only preset that breaks the 60 FPS barrier. Medium follows at 47.3 FPS, then High at 40.3 FPS, and finally Ultra at 37.9 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 25.0 FPS, with each successive tier costing roughly 7-15 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, all presets shift downward by approximately 20-25%. Low settings produce 47.6 FPS, which remains the strongest result at this resolution. Medium achieves 36.9 FPS, High reaches 30.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 26.6 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra narrows to 21.0 FPS, indicating that the GPU is beginning to saturate its processing capabilities.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles across all settings. Low settings deliver 33.3 FPS, which is the only preset above 30 FPS. Medium falls to 25.6 FPS, High to 20.6 FPS, and Ultra to 17.5 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra compresses to 15.8 FPS, demonstrating that pixel throughput limits the impact of settings adjustments at this resolution.

The percentage loss from 1080p to 4K is remarkably consistent across settings. Low loses 47% of its performance, Medium loses 46%, High loses 49%, and Ultra loses 54%. This consistency suggests that the RX 580's memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate are the primary constraints, rather than any particular settings feature.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the primary limiting component in this configuration for Control. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which becomes insufficient at higher resolutions. The GPU's base clock of 1257 MHz and boost clock of 1340 MHz drive 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units.

The RX 580's benchmark profile shows a mixed performance picture. Its G3D score of 8813 and G2D score of 769 indicate moderate rasterization capability. The DirectX 11 score of 60 is notably higher than the DirectX 12 score of 43, which may explain some of the performance characteristics in Control, a game that supports both APIs. The Vulkan score of 45173 and OpenCL score of 37453 in Geekbench show the GPU's compute capabilities.

The GPU's 53rd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the middle of the performance distribution. Its average benchmark score of 13559 puts it in direct competition with the GTX 570 (13564) and GTX 950 (13549), both of which are older architectures. This positioning explains why the RX 580 struggles with Control at higher resolutions, as the game demands modern GPU features and bandwidth.

The 14 nm Polaris 20 chip, with 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, delivers 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This raw compute is sufficient for 1080p gaming but falls short at 4K. The GPU's 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate and 193.0 GTexel/s texture rate are the concrete limits that manifest in the measured FPS data.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K plays a supporting role in this configuration, providing ample processing headroom that never becomes a bottleneck in Control. With 12 cores and 20 threads, the CPU offers substantial multi-threaded capability, as evidenced by its 3DMark max threads score of 9979 and 16-thread score of 9276. The single-thread score of 1043 in 3DMark and 4128 in Cinebench R23 confirm strong single-core performance.

The CPU's base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz, combined with 25 MB of shared L3 cache, provide the low-latency, high-frequency execution that Control's physics and AI systems require. The 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that this processor is in the top tier of available hardware. Its average benchmark score of 35684 places it within 1% of several competing processors, including the Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and i7-13700T.

The i7-12700K's Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, includes both performance and efficiency cores. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2065 and 4-thread score of 4011 show strong scaling across the first few cores, which is relevant for games like Control that may not fully utilize all 20 threads. The Passmark multithread score of 34404 and single-thread score of 4013 further confirm the CPU's balanced performance profile.

The CPU's integrated UHD Graphics 770 is not relevant for this discrete GPU configuration, but its presence does not interfere with the RX 580's operation. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the GPU, though the RX 580's PCIe 3.0 x16 interface means the CPU's Gen 4 capabilities are not fully utilized. This does not appear to impact performance, as the measured FPS data shows consistent GPU-bound behavior across all tested configurations.