Control

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti lands at rank 815 out of 1636 tested combos for Control. That places this configuration squarely in the middle of the database, meaning it will handle the game but won’t top any leaderboards. The combo’s percentile standing reflects a balanced pairing where neither component is a glaring bottleneck, though the 3060 Ti’s 69th percentile among all GPUs versus the CPU’s 89th percentile suggests the graphics card is the more limiting factor in this duo.

How This Combo Ranks

At position 815 of 1636, this system sits slightly above the median for Control. The ranking indicates that while many setups outperform it, a substantial number also fall behind. The CPU is the stronger half of this pairing, with an average benchmark score of 35355 placing it in the 89th percentile of all processors. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests include the Intel Core i5-14400 (0.1% faster), Intel Core i9-12900HX (0.2% faster), and Intel Core i5-13600T (0.3% faster), while the Intel Core i7-13800H trails by 0.2%. These margins are negligible, showing the 12700KF delivers compute performance on par with modern mid-range and upper-mid-range chips.

The GPU, by contrast, sits at the 69th percentile with an average score of 25120. Its closest competitors in raw benchmarks are the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (0.2% faster), AMD Radeon RX 6600 (0.5% faster), AMD Radeon 890M (0.5% faster), and AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (0.7% faster). The delta between the 3060 Ti and these rivals is small, but the percentile gap between CPU and GPU is what defines this combo’s mid-pack ranking in Control. The data shows a processor capable of feeding far more frames than this graphics card can render at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Across all three tested resolutions, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rates, but the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1920x1080, Medium produces 106.9 FPS, which is 14.7% faster than High (92.2 FPS) and 35.3% faster than Ultra (79 FPS). The jump from Low (148.3 FPS) to Medium costs 41.4 FPS, but the visual improvement in a game like Control—with its destructible environments and particle effects—is worth that trade-off for most players.

At 2560x1440, Medium delivers 80.7 FPS, staying above the 60 FPS threshold that most consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. High drops to 72.7 FPS, still playable, while Ultra falls to 61.2 FPS—right at the edge. At 3840x2160, Medium manages 53 FPS, which is borderline for action-heavy scenes, while High dips to 46.5 FPS and Ultra to 41 FPS. For 4K, the Low preset (73.5 FPS) becomes the only option that provides comfortable headroom. The recommendation is clear: stick with Medium for 1080p and 1440p, but drop to Low if you insist on 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Medium settings, the system delivers 106.9 FPS at 1080p, drops to 80.7 FPS at 1440p (a 24.5% reduction), and falls to 53 FPS at 4K (a further 34.3% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-limited scenario—the CPU has ample headroom, but the 3060 Ti’s 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth get overwhelmed as pixel count rises.

The Low preset tells a similar story: 148.3 FPS at 1080p, 112.5 FPS at 1440p (24.1% drop), and 73.5 FPS at 4K (34.7% drop from 1440p). The consistent percentage losses across presets indicate the limiting component is the GPU, not the CPU. If the processor were the constraint, you would expect the 1080p numbers to plateau regardless of settings. Instead, Low at 1080p reaches 148.3 FPS, which the 12700KF can easily sustain given its 12 cores and 20 threads. The data points to the RTX 3060 Ti as the ceiling for higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range is playable. Low averages 148.3 FPS, Medium 106.9 FPS, High 92.2 FPS, and Ultra 79 FPS. Even Ultra stays well above the 60 FPS target, making 1080p the resolution where this combo can max out the game without compromise.

At 2560x1440, Low produces 112.5 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play. Medium drops to 80.7 FPS, still smooth. High comes in at 72.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 61.2 FPS—technically playable but with less margin for intense combat scenes. For 1440p, Medium is the sweet spot, offering an 11.8% performance gain over High while looking nearly identical in most scenes.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically. Low averages 73.5 FPS, which is the only preset that clears the 60 FPS bar. Medium manages 53 FPS, High 46.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 41 FPS. These numbers make 4K a challenging target for this GPU, and only the Low preset provides a consistently smooth experience. The 3060 Ti’s 8 GB VRAM and 256-bit memory bus are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but struggle with the pixel throughput demanded at 4K.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Control at 1440p on Ultra settings?

A: Yes, but with a narrow margin. The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings is 61.2 FPS. This clears the 60 FPS threshold, though it leaves little room for frame drops during heavy particle effects or physics-based destruction sequences.

Q: What is the biggest performance difference between Low and Ultra at the same resolution?

A: At 1080p, the gap is 69.3 FPS (148.3 FPS on Low versus 79 FPS on Ultra). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 51.3 FPS (112.5 versus 61.2). At 4K, the difference shrinks further to 32.5 FPS (73.5 versus 41). The diminishing gap at higher resolutions confirms the GPU becomes the dominant constraint.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700KF scores 35355 on average, which is 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-14400 (35336) and 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13800H (35416). The Intel Core i9-12900HX (35289) is 0.2% slower, and the Intel Core i5-13600T (35256) is 0.3% slower. These differences are effectively noise.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to limit performance in Control?

A: The GPU. The RTX 3060 Ti sits at the 69th percentile of all GPUs, while the 12700KF is at the 89th percentile of CPUs. The resolution scaling data supports this: frame rates drop consistently from 1080p to 4K across all settings, indicating the graphics card is saturated before the processor.

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: Medium at 106.9 FPS is the recommended choice. It provides a 14.7% improvement over High (92.2 FPS) and a 35.3% improvement over Ultra (79 FPS), with visual differences that are difficult to spot in fast-paced action. Low (148.3 FPS) is unnecessary unless you have a 144Hz monitor and prioritize frame rate above all else.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on Medium settings?

A: The measured average drops from 106.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 53 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of 53.9 FPS or 50.4%. This halving of performance illustrates the substantial pixel load increase at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is an Alder Lake-S part built on Intel’s 10 nm process, featuring 12 cores and 20 threads. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz boosts up to 5.00 GHz, and it carries 25 MB of shared L3 cache. In Control, which is not particularly thread-hungry, the CPU’s high single-thread performance—evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 4091—ensures that frame pacing remains consistent even when the GPU is the bottleneck.

The processor’s multi-threaded capabilities are substantial, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28979 and a PassMark multithread score of 34092. These figures place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, and the benchmark results show it trading blows with the Intel Core i5-14400 and Intel Core i7-13800H. For Control, this means the CPU will never be the limiting factor at any resolution tested. The 12 cores and 20 threads provide ample parallel processing for background tasks, and the 5.00 GHz boost clock handles the game’s physics calculations without breaking a sweat.

The memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 adds flexibility, though the dual-channel bus width is standard. The 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes from the CPU are more than sufficient for the RTX 3060 Ti, which uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. In synthetic tests, the CPU’s PassMark single-thread score of 3984 and Geekbench single-core of 2526 reinforce its strength in lightly threaded workloads, which is what Control primarily relies on for game logic. The data shows a processor that, while not the newest, remains highly competitive and well-matched to a mid-range GPU like the 3060 Ti for this title.