Control

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 1039th out of 3720 tested combos in Control. This places the configuration in the 72nd percentile of all tested combinations, meaning it outperforms roughly 72% of the systems benchmarked for this title. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically bottlenecks the other, though the data reveals distinct scaling patterns across resolutions and settings that define the combo's character.

The CPU itself sits in the 84th percentile against all processors, with an average benchmark score of 35287. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-13600T at 35305 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core i7-12700KF at 35365 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core i7-13700T at 35403 (0.3% higher), and the Intel Core 5 213PE at 35428 (0.4% higher). These margins are exceptionally tight, with the entire rival cluster falling within a 0.4% band, indicating that the i7-12700K delivers performance essentially identical to these alternatives in synthetic benchmarks.

On the GPU side, the RTX 3070 Ti achieves a 75th percentile ranking among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 29945. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile at 29928 (0.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6800 at 30095 (0.5% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 29783 (0.5% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 at 30433 (1.6% higher). The GPU's position relative to these competitors suggests it holds its own against both newer mobile parts and previous-generation high-end desktop cards.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA104 chip, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process with 17,400 million transistors across a 392 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1575 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, while memory runs at 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed. The 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for Control but shows strain at higher resolutions.

The GPU's compute resources include 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. It also carries 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, which are relevant for Control's ray tracing and DLSS features, though the measured FPS data does not distinguish between rasterized and ray-traced workloads. The card achieves 169.9 GPixel/s pixel rate and 339.8 GTexel/s texture rate, with FP32 performance rated at 21.75 TFLOPS.

In Control specifically, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution scales upward. At 1080p, the combination produces frame rates that suggest the CPU has headroom to spare, but at 4K the GPU's 8 GB memory capacity and compute throughput become the limiting factors. The measured data shows the GPU's influence clearly: at 4K Ultra, the combo dips to 31 FPS average, while at 1080p Low it reaches 259 FPS, a spread that reflects GPU-bound scaling rather than CPU limitations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound pattern for this title. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 116 FPS average. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 73 FPS, a reduction of 37%. At 4K High, the average falls to 38 FPS, representing a further 48% drop from 1440p. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings shows a total reduction of 67%, which aligns with the pixel count increase of roughly 4x, indicating that the GPU is the primary constraint.

The Low settings data tells a similar story with even higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 259 FPS, while 1440p Low produces 164 FPS (a 37% drop), and 4K Low delivers 86 FPS (a 48% drop from 1440p). The consistent percentage reductions across settings suggest the scaling behavior is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven, reinforcing the GPU-bound interpretation.

Medium settings provide the only complete dataset with min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 164 FPS with a range from 139 to 188 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 103 FPS with a range of 88 to 119 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 54 FPS with a range of 46 to 62 FPS. The frame time consistency, as measured by the spread between min and max, remains proportionally similar across resolutions, suggesting stable performance without severe stuttering.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling curve. The combo delivers 93 FPS at 1080p Ultra, 59 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and 31 FPS at 4K Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 37%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 47%, mirroring the pattern seen at other settings. This consistency indicates that Control's rendering load scales predictably with resolution, and the RTX 3070 Ti's performance ceiling is clearly defined.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates. Low settings yield 259 FPS average, Medium produces 164 FPS with a minimum of 139 and maximum of 188, High delivers 116 FPS, and Ultra drops to 93 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a total reduction of 64%, with each settings tier exacting a substantial toll on performance.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain playable across all settings. Low delivers 164 FPS, Medium produces 103 FPS with a range of 88 to 119, High achieves 73 FPS, and Ultra drops to 59 FPS. The reduction from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 64%, identical to the 1080p scaling, which confirms that the settings multipliers apply consistently regardless of resolution.

At 3840x2160, the combo begins to struggle with higher settings. Low produces 86 FPS, Medium delivers 54 FPS with a range of 46 to 62, High drops to 38 FPS, and Ultra falls to 31 FPS. The Low to Ultra reduction at 4K is 64%, matching the other resolutions. However, the absolute numbers at 4K Ultra (31 FPS) and 4K High (38 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold commonly associated with smooth gameplay, making these configurations marginal for play.

The Medium settings rows provide the only min/max data in the measured set, offering insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the spread from min to max is 49 FPS (139 to 188). At 1440p Medium, the spread is 31 FPS (88 to 119). At 4K Medium, the spread is 16 FPS (46 to 62). The narrowing spread at higher resolutions suggests that GPU-bound scenarios produce tighter frame times, while CPU-bound scenarios at lower resolutions introduce more variance.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K gameplay, the data indicates that Medium settings at 54 FPS average provide the best balance between visual quality and playability. High settings at 38 FPS and Ultra at 31 FPS fall below acceptable thresholds for most gaming scenarios, while Low at 86 FPS sacrifices substantial visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 4K offers a frame rate that approaches the 60 FPS target while maintaining a reasonable visual presentation.

At 1440p, High settings at 73 FPS deliver a strong experience with good visual quality. Medium at 103 FPS provides additional headroom for demanding scenes, while Ultra at 59 FPS sits just below the 60 FPS mark. Players prioritizing consistent frame rates might prefer Medium, while those wanting maximum visual quality can opt for High without sacrificing smoothness. Low at 164 FPS is unnecessary for most scenarios given the visual compromises involved.

At 1080p, Ultra settings at 93 FPS provide the best visual experience while maintaining high frame rates. High at 116 FPS offers a slight performance advantage with minimal visual impact, and Medium at 164 FPS ensures maximum smoothness. Low at 259 FPS is only relevant for competitive play where frame rate outweighs visual considerations, which is not typical for a single-player action-adventure title like Control.

The overall recommendation across all resolutions is to prioritize Medium or High settings depending on the target resolution. The data shows that Ultra settings exact a significant performance penalty at every resolution, while the jump from Medium to High is more modest in comparison. For the best experience, Medium at 4K, High at 1440p, and Ultra at 1080p represent the optimal configurations based on the measured FPS data.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K features 12 cores and 20 threads based on the Alder Lake-S architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a 215 mm² die size. It operates with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores demonstrate strong multi-threaded performance. Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 19784, while single-core achieves 1850.5. Geekbench multi-core scores 15790 with single-core at 2308. The 3DMark tests show scaling from 1043 single-thread to 9276 at 16 threads and 9979 at max threads. Passmark multi-thread scores 34404 with single-thread at 4013, while the integer math test reaches 114264 and floating-point math reaches 88035.

In Control, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU across most measured configurations. The FPS scaling patterns show consistent reductions with resolution increases, which would not occur if the CPU were the primary bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 259 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently even at very high frame rates. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 indicate that the CPU's multi-core capabilities are not fully utilized by Control, which is typical for a game that relies more heavily on fewer, faster threads.

The CPU's single-thread performance, as evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1850.5, appears adequate for Control's workload. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz provides the high-frequency headroom that action-adventure titles often require for game logic and physics calculations. However, the measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low with 259 FPS, the CPU does not become a limiting factor, indicating that the RTX 3070 Ti is the defining component in this pairing for Control.

FAQ

Q: What is this combo's ranking among all tested configurations in Control?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 1039th out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all tested configurations.

Q: What frame rate does this combo achieve at 4K with High settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with High settings, the combo produces an average of 38 FPS. For comparison, Medium settings at the same resolution deliver 54 FPS, while Ultra drops to 31 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 Ti compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 29945, which is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile at 29928 and 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 29783. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 scores 0.5% higher at 30095.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gameplay based on the measured data?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings at 73 FPS provide a balanced experience. Medium at 103 FPS offers more headroom, while Ultra at 59 FPS sits just below the 60 FPS threshold. Low at 164 FPS is excessive for typical play.

Q: How much memory bandwidth does the RTX 3070 Ti provide, and what memory type does it use?

A: The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration proves adequate for Control at 1080p and 1440p but shows strain at 4K Ultra settings.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread performance?

A: The i7-12700K scores 1850.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 19784 in multi-core, while Geekbench shows 2308 single-core and 15790 multi-core. The 3DMark tests show a single-thread score of 1043 scaling to 9979 at max threads, indicating robust scaling across its 12 cores and 20 threads.