Control

Control with the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a severely GPU-limited pairing, struggling to maintain playable frame rates at nearly every resolution and settings combination measured. The data shows that even at 1080p with Low settings, the system averages 55.6 FPS, which is the only configuration that approaches a smooth experience. This combination ranks 1564th out of 1636 tested combos for this game, placing it in the bottom 5 percent of all systems evaluated, indicating that the GTX 1650 is the primary bottleneck holding back an otherwise capable processor.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is stark and reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p High, the system averages 35.7 FPS, which falls to 28.6 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 15.8 FPS at 4K. That represents a 55.7% reduction in performance when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings, demonstrating that the GTX 1650's rendering pipeline is overwhelmed by the pixel count increase. The scaling is slightly less punishing at Low settings, where 1080p yields 55.6 FPS, 1440p drops to 45 FPS, and 4K still manages 31.9 FPS, but even this best-case scenario fails to maintain 60 FPS at any resolution above 1080p.

The pattern across all settings confirms that the GPU is the limiting component. When comparing the resolution scaling at Medium settings, the system delivers 42.3 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and 21.6 FPS at 4K. The incremental drops between resolutions are consistent and large, which is characteristic of a graphics card that has exhausted its shading units and memory bandwidth. Notably, the gap between 1440p and 4K is proportionally smaller than the gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings, suggesting that at lower quality presets, the game becomes less dependent on raw pixel throughput and more constrained by other GPU resources like texture fill rate.

The Ultra preset tells a similar story, with 33.7 FPS at 1080p, 20.8 FPS at 1440p, and 16.2 FPS at 4K. The fact that 4K Ultra produces nearly identical performance to 4K High (16.2 vs 15.8 FPS) indicates that the GTX 1650 has hit a hard architectural ceiling; additional visual features at 4K barely matter because the card is already saturated. For any playable experience, users must target 1080p, and even then, only Low settings approach the 60 FPS threshold.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is a critical weakness for Control, a game that benefits from higher capacity and bandwidth for its detailed environments and particle effects. The benchmark results indicate that at 4K High, the system averages just 15.8 FPS, which is unplayable, and the 4 GB VRAM capacity likely forces texture thrashing at higher resolutions and quality settings. The card's base clock of 1485 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz, combined with 896 shading units, provide a theoretical FP32 throughput of 2.984 TFLOPS, which is simply insufficient for this title's demands at modern resolutions.

The GTX 1650's performance percentile of 43 among all GPUs places it in the lower half of the market, and its nearest rivals show how tightly clustered this segment is. It sits 0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile and the AMD Radeon 550X, while being 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro P2200. These deltas are negligible in real-world gaming, meaning the GTX 1650 is effectively at parity with its immediate competitors, none of which would be considered adequate for Control at high settings. The card's 32 ROPs and 56 TMUs are modest figures, and the pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s are quickly exhausted when rendering Control's complex scenes.

The measured FPS data confirms that the GPU is the definitive bottleneck. At 1080p, the difference between Low (55.6 FPS) and Ultra (33.7 FPS) is 21.9 FPS, a 39.4% performance penalty for enabling higher quality features. This scaling shows that the card has some headroom at lower settings but cannot sustain the increased load from higher presets. The 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors indicate this is a low-power part, but that does not excuse the performance; the architecture simply lacks the compute resources needed for a demanding 2019 action-adventure title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU demonstrates strong multi-threaded capabilities, scoring 29,241 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 9,979 in 3DMark max threads. Its single-thread performance is equally respectable, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,128 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4,013. These figures place the i7-12700K in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a high-end processor that should not bottleneck most games.

However, in Control, the CPU's role is almost entirely secondary due to the GPU limitation. The 1080p Low result of 55.6 FPS is likely the closest this system comes to exposing any CPU constraint, but even here, the frame rate is capped by the GTX 1650's rendering speed rather than the processor's ability to feed it draw calls. The i7-12700K's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide ample bandwidth for game logic, and its 20 threads handle Control's multi-threaded tasks with ease. The CPU's average benchmark score of 35,684 places it just 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13700T, confirming it is a top-tier part.

The data suggests that swapping the GTX 1650 for a more powerful GPU would unlock the i7-12700K's potential, as the CPU has no trouble maintaining high frame rates in other scenarios. The bottleneck is so pronounced that at 4K, the frame rates (15.8 to 31.9 FPS depending on settings) are entirely dictated by the GPU's pixel throughput, with the CPU idling well below its capacity. For this specific combination, the processor is never the limiting factor, and any performance issues in Control should be attributed squarely to the graphics card.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 1564th out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the bottom 4.4% of all systems evaluated. This is a poor result that reflects the mismatch between the high-end i7-12700K and the low-end GTX 1650. The CPU's 89th percentile standing among all processors contrasts sharply with the GPU's 43rd percentile, creating a system where the processor's capabilities are wasted in this game. The rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU's weak performance, as the measured FPS at all resolutions and settings are below playable thresholds except for the 1080p Low configuration.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing is at the extreme low end for Control. The i7-12700K's nearest CPU rivals show that the processor itself is not the issue; the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and Intel Core i5-14500HX have nearly identical average scores (35,802 and 35,940 respectively) and would likely produce similar results when paired with a GTX 1650. Similarly, the GTX 1650's rival GPUs, such as the RTX 3050 A Mobile and Radeon 550X, are within 0.5% of its average score, meaning any of these graphics cards would yield comparable frame rates in this game.

The practical implication is that this combo is only suitable for playing Control at 1080p with Low settings, where it achieves 55.6 FPS. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops to 42.3 FPS, which is playable but not smooth, and at High or Ultra, it falls below 36 FPS, making the game feel sluggish. For users with this hardware, the data strongly suggests that upgrading the GPU should be the priority, as the CPU has ample headroom to support a much faster graphics card.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the only sensible configuration for this system is 1080p with Low settings, which delivers an average of 55.6 FPS. This is the sole preset and resolution combination that approaches the 60 FPS target, providing a playable experience for Control's fast-paced combat and exploration. At 1080p Medium, the frame rate drops to 42.3 FPS, which is playable but noticeably less fluid, and the visual improvement may not justify the 23.9% performance hit. The 1080p High preset yields 35.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to 33.7 FPS, both of which are below the threshold for comfortable gameplay.

At 1440p, the situation worsens significantly. The best result is 45 FPS at Low settings, but this is still below 60 FPS, and the Medium (28 FPS), High (28.6 FPS), and Ultra (20.8 FPS) presets are all unplayable. At 4K, even Low settings only manage 31.9 FPS, and High (15.8 FPS) and Ultra (16.2 FPS) are essentially slideshows. The data indicates that users should not attempt to play Control at 1440p or 4K with this hardware, as the GTX 1650 lacks the raw performance to maintain acceptable frame rates.

For the best experience, the recommendation is to use 1080p Low settings and accept the visual compromises. If a user prioritizes image quality over smoothness, 1080p Medium at 42.3 FPS is the highest playable setting, but it will require tolerance for occasional frame drops. The 1080p High preset at 35.7 FPS is borderline, and Ultra should be avoided entirely, as the 33.7 FPS average is too low for a game that requires quick reactions and precise aiming.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system in Control?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings is the only configuration that achieves a playable frame rate, averaging 55.6 FPS. All other combinations fall below 45 FPS, with 4K High at 15.8 FPS being the worst.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system for Control?

A: The GPU is definitively the bottleneck. The i7-12700K ranks in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, while the GTX 1650 ranks in the 43rd percentile. The frame rate drops from 55.6 FPS at 1080p Low to 15.8 FPS at 4K High, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario.

Q: Can this system run Control at 60 FPS?

A: No. The highest measured average frame rate is 55.6 FPS at 1080p Low, which is the only setting that comes close to 60 FPS. Every other configuration falls below 45 FPS, making 60 FPS unattainable with this hardware.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 1564th out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the bottom 4.4% of all systems. This poor ranking is due to the GTX 1650's weak performance, not the i7-12700K.

Q: Is the 4 GB VRAM of the GTX 1650 sufficient for Control?

A: The benchmark results indicate that 4 GB is not sufficient for higher resolutions. At 4K High, the system only averages 15.8 FPS, and the frame rate scaling suggests that memory capacity and bandwidth (128.1 GB/s) are significant limiting factors.

Q: What is the highest playable settings preset at 1080p?

A: Medium settings at 1080p delivers 42.3 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. Low settings at 55.6 FPS is the recommended choice, as the Medium preset incurs a 23.9% performance penalty for modest visual gains.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates are as follows: Low settings average 55.6 FPS, Medium averages 42.3 FPS, High averages 35.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 33.7 FPS. This represents a performance spread of 21.9 FPS between the lowest and highest presets, showing that the GTX 1650 has limited headroom for quality scaling at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop considerably: Low averages 45 FPS, Medium averages 28 FPS, High averages 28.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 20.8 FPS. The near-identical results for Medium and High (28 vs 28.6 FPS) suggest that the GPU is hitting a memory bandwidth or fill-rate wall, where additional settings have minimal impact.

At 3840x2160, the system produces the following averages: Low delivers 31.9 FPS, Medium delivers 21.6 FPS, High delivers 15.8 FPS, and Ultra delivers 16.2 FPS. The High and Ultra results are nearly identical (15.8 vs 16.2 FPS), further confirming that the GPU is completely saturated at 4K and cannot benefit from any quality adjustments. The total range across all resolutions and settings spans from 15.8 FPS (4K High) to 55.6 FPS (1080p Low), highlighting the severe performance limitations of this combination in Control.