Control

# Control — Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti delivers a broadly capable Control experience across all tested resolutions and settings, with the combo ranking 389th out of 3720 tested combinations. The data reveals a system that scales predictably from 1080p to 4K, with the GPU becoming the dominant constraint at higher resolutions while the CPU's strong multi-threading keeps frame rates high at lower settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, which indicates that the RTX 5070 Ti becomes the primary limiting component at higher pixel counts. At High settings, average FPS falls from 146 at 1080p to 111 at 1440p, a reduction of 24%, and then to 75 at 4K, which is 49% below the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern is typical for a game like Control, where the GPU's fill-rate and shading throughput dominate once the resolution pushes past 1440p.

The Low preset shows even more dramatic scaling, with 232 FPS at 1080p dropping to 176 FPS at 1440p (a 24% decline) and further to 119 FPS at 4K (a 49% decline from 1080p). The consistency of these percentages across settings suggests that the resolution scaling is largely independent of the graphics preset, reinforcing the conclusion that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K. At 1080p with Low settings, the 232 FPS figure is high enough that CPU limitations could begin to appear, but the i7-12700K's performance headroom keeps the system GPU-bound even there.

Medium settings show a similar trend, with 165 FPS at 1080p, 125 FPS at 1440p, and 84 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, delivers 127 FPS at 1080p, 96 FPS at 1440p, and 65 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result dipping below the 70 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. The overall pattern is one of predictable scaling, where each resolution step costs roughly 25-30% of the frame rate, and the 4K results are consistently about half of the 1080p results.

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. Its benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 15790, placing it in the 84th percentile against all CPUs. This level of multi-threading capability is more than sufficient for Control, which is primarily a GPU-bound game, but the CPU's single-thread performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1850.5 and a PassMark single-thread score of 4013.

In the context of this game, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations without becoming a bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 232 FPS, which is approaching the range where CPU limitations could manifest, but the i7-12700K's high boost clock and 20 threads ensure that frame pacing remains consistent. The 25 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4 and DDR5) provide ample bandwidth for the game's asset streaming, and the processor's 84th percentile ranking against all CPUs indicates that it sits comfortably above the median for gaming workloads.

The nearest rivals to the i7-12700K in overall CPU benchmarks include the Intel Core i5-13600T (average score 35305, delta -0.1%), the Intel Core i7-12700KF (35365, -0.2%), and the Intel Core i7-13700T (35403, -0.3%). These deltas are all within 0.4%, meaning that the i7-12700K's performance is statistically indistinguishable from these alternatives in synthetic tests, and the same would be expected in Control. The CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are more than the game can utilize, so the measured FPS at higher resolutions is almost entirely determined by the GPU's capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of how each settings preset affects frame rates, and the optimal choice depends on the target resolution and display refresh rate. At 1080p, all four presets deliver playable frame rates, with Low at 232 FPS, Medium at 165 FPS, High at 146 FPS, and Ultra at 127 FPS. For players with a 144 Hz monitor, the High preset at 146 FPS is the best balance, as it exceeds the refresh rate while maintaining higher visual fidelity than Medium. The Ultra preset at 127 FPS is also viable for 120 Hz displays, but the 13% drop from High to Ultra may not justify the visual gains.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 111 FPS, which is suitable for 100-120 Hz displays, while Medium at 125 FPS is a better choice for 144 Hz panels. The Ultra preset at 96 FPS is still playable but falls short of 100 FPS, and Low at 176 FPS is unnecessarily fast at this resolution. For 4K, the situation is more constrained: High at 75 FPS is the best option for 60-75 Hz displays, while Medium at 84 FPS offers a slight improvement, and Ultra at 65 FPS dips below the 70 FPS comfort zone. The Low preset at 119 FPS is the only 4K option that comfortably exceeds 100 FPS, but it does so at the cost of significant visual quality.

Given these figures, the recommended preset is High for most scenarios. It provides the best balance of visual quality and performance across all three resolutions, with 75 FPS at 4K, 111 FPS at 1440p, and 146 FPS at 1080p. Players with high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p displays may prefer Medium or Ultra depending on their tolerance for frame rate fluctuations, but High is the safest choice for a consistent experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo can achieve in Control?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 232, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 176 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings, followed by 165 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra preset averages 65 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. However, the 4K High preset averages 75 FPS, providing more headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 49957, placing it in the 86th percentile. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, scores 50001 (delta -0.1%), while the Intel Arc A550M scores 49737 (delta 0.4%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT scores 50951 (delta -2%).

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 176 FPS, while Ultra averages 96 FPS, a difference of 80 FPS (approximately 45% lower). The Medium preset at 125 FPS and High at 111 FPS fall between these extremes.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU remains the primary constraint even at 1080p, as the 232 FPS Low result is very high. However, the i7-12700K's 84th percentile ranking and 20 threads provide enough headroom to avoid CPU limitations.

Q: Does the combo rank well among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 389th out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the top 10.5% of all tested hardware pairings for Control.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB203 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC with 45,600 million transistors. It features 8960 shading units, 280 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines, along with 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores. The GPU's memory subsystem is substantial, with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The core clocks are 2295 MHz base and 2452 MHz boost, which contribute to a peak FP32 performance of 43.94 TFLOPS.

In Control, the GPU's role is dominant, as evidenced by the resolution scaling patterns discussed earlier. At 4K, the frame rates range from 65 FPS on Ultra to 119 FPS on Low, and the gap between presets is narrower than at lower resolutions, indicating that the GPU is fully utilized. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Control, which is a 2019 release, so memory capacity is not a limiting factor. The 896.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and high-resolution assets do not cause stuttering, and the 86th percentile ranking against all GPUs confirms that this is a high-end part.

The RTX 5070 Ti's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (average score 50001, delta -0.1%), the Intel Arc A550M (49737, delta 0.4%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (50951, delta -2%). These small deltas suggest that the RTX 5070 Ti's performance is comparable to these cards in general compute, but in Control specifically, the measured FPS shows that it delivers strong results across all settings. The GPU's 300 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate that it is a power-hungry part, but the performance per frame is in line with its position in the 86th percentile.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5070 Ti and i7-12700K combo delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset averages 232 FPS, which is exceptionally high and suggests the system is approaching CPU limits. The Medium preset averages 165 FPS with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 190 FPS, providing smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate displays. The High preset averages 146 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 127 FPS, both of which are playable but show a clear trade-off between visual quality and speed. The spread from Low to Ultra is 105 FPS, indicating that the GPU has substantial headroom even at the maximum preset.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down proportionally. The Low preset averages 176 FPS, which is still very high, while Medium averages 125 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 143 FPS. The High preset averages 111 FPS, and Ultra averages 96 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all presets, with Low falling by 56 FPS, Medium by 40 FPS, High by 35 FPS, and Ultra by 31 FPS. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint at this resolution, as the CPU has ample headroom.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results show the most significant performance impact. The Low preset averages 119 FPS, which is still playable, while Medium averages 84 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS and a maximum of 97 FPS. The High preset averages 75 FPS, and Ultra averages 65 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 54 FPS, which is narrower than at lower resolutions, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated. The minimum FPS of 72 at 4K Medium indicates that even the lowest frames remain above the 60 FPS threshold, which is a positive sign for gameplay consistency.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 389th out of 3720 tested combinations for Control, placing it in the top 10.5% of all tested hardware pairings. This is a strong result, considering the wide range of CPUs and GPUs that have been benchmarked in this game. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's high multi-threaded performance (84th percentile) and the GPU's strong compute capabilities (86th percentile), which together deliver the measured frame rates.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i5-13600T (delta -0.1%), the Intel Core i7-12700KF (delta -0.2%), and the Intel Core i7-13700T (delta -0.3%), all of which are within 0.4% of the i7-12700K's average score. This suggests that swapping to any of these CPUs would yield nearly identical performance in Control, as the game is not heavily CPU-bound at the tested resolutions. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (delta -0.1%), Intel Arc A550M (delta 0.4%), and AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (delta -2%), indicating that the RTX 5070 Ti's performance is in the same ballpark as these cards.

The rank of 389 out of 3720 is particularly notable because it places this combo ahead of the vast majority of tested systems, which include both older and lower-end hardware. The data shows that this pairing is well-suited for Control, with playable frame rates at all resolutions and settings, and it would be a solid choice for players who want to experience the game at high visual fidelity without sacrificing performance.