Control

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Control, though the performance curve clearly identifies the GPU as the primary scaling factor. At 1080p High settings, the combo produces 144 FPS, which drops to 109 FPS at 1440p High, a 24% reduction. Moving to 4K High, the average falls further to 73 FPS, representing a 49% decrease from the 1080p figure. This steep decline as resolution increases points directly to the graphics card being the limiting component, as the CPU's workload remains relatively constant while the GPU's rendering load expands with pixel count. The pattern intensifies at Ultra settings, where the frame rate descends from 125 FPS at 1080p to 94 FPS at 1440p and finally 64 FPS at 4K. Interestingly, the drop from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra is 25%, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 32%, showing that the GPU's bandwidth and compute resources become increasingly strained at higher pixel densities. In contrast, the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads, boosting up to 5.00 GHz, provide ample headroom, as evidenced by the minimal performance gap when lowering resolution at the same settings—the 1080p to 4K delta at High is 71 FPS, which is almost entirely attributable to GPU load rather than processor limitations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a consistent pattern where the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's capabilities are stretched thinner as pixel count rises. At Low settings, the combo achieves 228 FPS at 1080p, 172 FPS at 1440p, and 116 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K drop of 112 FPS (49%) at Low settings is nearly identical in percentage to the High preset's 49% decline, suggesting that raw resolution scaling is independent of graphical complexity—the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth dictate the ceiling. The Medium preset shows similar behavior: 162 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K, with the min FPS values of 137 at 1080p and 70 at 4K indicating that frame pacing remains stable even under load. What is notable is that the 4K Medium result (83 FPS) is actually higher than the 4K High result (73 FPS), confirming that the game's higher-quality shaders and effects at High settings add significant GPU overhead. The 4K Ultra result of 64 FPS sits just below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth console-like play, though it remains playable on high-refresh displays with adaptive sync. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 672.3 GB/s bandwidth become the deciding factors, as the 256-bit bus width must feed increasingly complex scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific CPU-GPU combination achieves a combo rank of 443 out of 3720 tested combinations in Control, placing it in the top 12% of all possible pairings. This percentile positioning is strong, though not elite, reflecting the balance between the i7-12700K's 84th percentile standing among all CPUs and the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 76th percentile among all GPUs. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i5-13600T with an average score of 35305 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core i7-12700KF at 35365 (0.2% higher), and the Intel Core i7-13700T at 35403 (0.3% higher), all within a tight margin that suggests the 12700K is well-positioned in its class. The GPU's nearest rivals, however, are less relevant—the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (0.4% lower), GRID M60-1Q (0.4% lower), and RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell (1.4% lower) are not gaming-focused products, indicating the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's synthetic score of 31087 is more indicative of compute-heavy workloads than gaming rasterization. In actual game performance, the combo's 443rd rank out of 3720 means it outperforms approximately 88% of tested configurations, which aligns with the high FPS figures observed at 1440p and the playable 4K results.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER serves as the dominant performance driver in this pairing, with its Ada Lovelace architecture and 5 nm process node from TSMC providing the foundation for its 44.10 TFLOPS FP32 compute throughput. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 21 Gbps effective, delivering 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth across a 256-bit bus—this configuration proves sufficient for Control's demanding effects, as evidenced by the 4K Medium result of 83 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS. The boost clock of 2610 MHz, up from a 2340 MHz base, allows the card to maintain high utilization during intense particle effects and physics simulations characteristic of the game's supernatural combat. The 66 RT cores and 264 tensor cores are leveraged by Control's ray tracing options, though the measured data does not specify RT settings; the standard rasterization results show the GPU scaling predictably with resolution. The 8448 shading units and 264 texture mapping units provide a pixel rate of 250.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 689.0 GTexel/s, which explains the smooth frame rates at 1440p Ultra (94 FPS) where texture-heavy environments are common. The GPU's 285 W TDP and triple-slot cooler design indicate it is built for sustained performance, but the measured FPS data shows no thermal throttling artifacts, as the 4K Medium min FPS of 70 FPS is 84% of the average, suggesting stable operation.

FAQ

Q: What is the playable 4K experience with this combo?

A: At 4K High settings, the combo averages 73 FPS, while Ultra drops to 64 FPS. Medium provides a safer 83 FPS with a 70 FPS minimum, making it the recommended 4K preset for consistent performance.

Q: How does the 1080p performance compare to 1440p?

A: At High settings, 1080p yields 144 FPS versus 109 FPS at 1440p, a 24% reduction. At Ultra, the gap is 125 FPS to 94 FPS, showing that the GPU is the primary bottleneck as resolution increases.

Q: Which preset offers the best frame pacing at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p shows an average of 122 FPS with a minimum of 104 FPS and maximum of 141 FPS, providing the tightest frame time variance among tested settings.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU in this game?

A: No. The i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads with a 5.00 GHz boost clock easily feed the GPU, as evidenced by the 228 FPS at 1080p Low, which is well above typical GPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What is the highest consistent FPS achievable at 1080p?

A: At Low settings, the combo reaches 228 FPS average, while Medium achieves 162 FPS with a 137 FPS minimum. For maximum visual fidelity, Ultra still delivers 125 FPS.

Q: How does 4K Ultra compare to 4K High in terms of performance cost?

A: 4K Ultra averages 64 FPS versus 73 FPS at High, a 12% performance penalty for the highest quality settings, which may be acceptable for players prioritizing visual fidelity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K, built on the Alder Lake architecture with a 10 nm process, provides the computational backbone for this combo, though its role in Control is secondary to the GPU. The processor's 12 cores and 20 threads, configured as performance and efficiency cores, handle the game's physics and AI workloads without becoming a limiting factor. The base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz allow for rapid single-threaded response, which is crucial for the game's action-oriented combat where input latency matters. Synthetic benchmarks show the CPU's multi-threaded capabilities: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19784 and a single-core score of 1850.5, placing it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. The 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core provide adequate data locality for Control's level streaming, while the 80 KB L1 cache per core handles the frequent instruction fetches. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 indicate that the CPU can sustain heavy multi-threaded loads, though the game's engine likely relies more on the GPU for rendering. The processor's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, while not measured in the FPS data, ensures that memory bandwidth is not a bottleneck, as evidenced by the high frame rates even at 1080p Low where CPU overhead would be most apparent. The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it a mainstream enthusiast choice, and its performance relative to rivals like the i5-13600T (0.1% higher average score) and i7-12700KF (0.2% higher) shows it remains competitive in its generation.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p displays with high refresh rates (144 Hz or higher), the Ultra preset delivers 125 FPS, which is sufficient for smooth gameplay on most monitors, while the High preset at 144 FPS offers a slight advantage for those seeking maximum responsiveness. Players with 1440p monitors should consider the High preset, which provides 109 FPS and balances visual quality with performance; the Ultra preset at 94 FPS is still viable for 60 Hz displays but may show occasional dips in demanding scenes. For 4K resolution, the Medium preset is the safest choice, averaging 83 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS, ensuring no significant frame drops during intense combat sequences. The High preset at 4K (73 FPS) is acceptable for players who prioritize graphics over frame rate stability, while the Ultra preset (64 FPS) should only be used on displays with adaptive sync technology to mitigate the lower frame pacing. The Low preset across all resolutions provides the highest frame rates—228 FPS at 1080p, 172 FPS at 1440p, and 116 FPS at 4K—but sacrifices the visual fidelity that Control's atmospheric environments benefit from. Given the data, the recommended balanced configuration is High settings at 1440p for most users, as it offers a 109 FPS average that exceeds the 100 FPS threshold for high-refresh gaming while maintaining the game's intended graphical presentation. For 4K owners, Medium settings provide the best experience with a 83 FPS average and 70 FPS minimum, ensuring consistent performance without the visual degradation of Low settings.