Control

Control is an action-adventure title from 2019 that still stresses modern hardware, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H paired with the AMD Radeon 8060S reveals a system that is firmly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but capable of delivering smooth gameplay when settings are tuned correctly. The benchmark results place this combo at rank 1632 out of 2888 tested combinations, indicating a mid-to-upper tier performance profile for this specific game. The data shows a clear narrative: this integrated graphics solution, despite being an IGP, punches well above its weight class, yet it demands careful settings management to hit high refresh rates at 1440p or 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, confirming that the AMD Radeon 8060S is the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 82 FPS at 1920x1080 to 62 FPS at 2560x1440, a 24% reduction, and then to 42 FPS at 3840x2160, which is a 49% drop from the 1440p figure and a 49% drop from 1080p overall. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's rendering throughput, not the CPU, is what governs performance at these resolutions.

The trend is consistent across all settings presets. At Low settings, the system achieves 130 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 98 FPS at 1440p (a 25% decrease) and then to 66 FPS at 4K (a 33% decrease from 1440p). The percentage loss from 1440p to 4K is slightly smaller at Low settings than at High settings, suggesting that at lower graphical loads, the gap between resolutions narrows as other bottlenecks, such as memory bandwidth, come into play. At Medium settings, the 1080p result is 92 FPS, falling to 70 FPS at 1440p and 47 FPS at 4K, showing a 33% and 33% sequential drop.

Ultra settings present the steepest curve, with 71 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. The jump from 1440p to 4K at Ultra is a 33% loss, which is consistent with the other presets, but the absolute numbers are low enough that 4K Ultra is not playable. The data suggests that for a smooth 60 FPS experience, the target resolution must be 1440p or lower, or the settings must be reduced at 4K. The fact that the 4K Medium preset hits 47 FPS, while 1440p High hits 62 FPS, indicates that resolution scaling has a more significant impact on performance than the settings preset itself.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 8060S is the engine driving these results, and its specifications explain the observed behavior. Built on the RDNA 3.5 architecture with a 4 nm process, it features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. The boost clock of 2900 MHz is aggressive for an integrated part, and the pixel rate of 185.6 GPixel/s alongside a texture rate of 464.0 GTexel/s provides the raw throughput needed for a game like Control, which features heavy particle effects and physics-based destruction.

The GPU's memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it uses the same DDR5 memory as the CPU, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This is a critical factor in the 4K performance drop. At 4K, the demand for memory bandwidth increases significantly, and the shared memory subsystem, which is also handling CPU tasks, can become a bottleneck. The fact that the 4K Low preset (66 FPS) performs better than the 4K High preset (42 FPS) suggests that reducing texture quality and effects lowers the memory pressure, allowing the GPU to maintain a higher frame rate.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 55757. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, has an average score of 55698, a delta of 0.1%, meaning the 8060S is virtually identical in synthetic tests to that discrete card. However, the 8060S also sits near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 (score 56083, delta -0.6%), but that comparison is misleading for gaming due to driver and feature differences. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2162 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 84626 provide context for its raw compute capability, but the game-specific data shows that Control is particularly sensitive to memory bandwidth and shader complexity.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to a clear sweet spot for this hardware. For a target of 60 FPS, the High preset at 2560x1440 is the best option, delivering an average of 62 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p also works, with an average of 70 FPS and a minimum of 59 FPS, which provides a more consistent frame pacing for those who prefer a buffer above the 60 FPS threshold. At 1080p, High settings are excellent, hitting 82 FPS, while Medium hits 92 FPS, and even Ultra achieves 71 FPS, making 1080p the resolution for high-refresh-rate gaming.

At 4K, the situation is more restrictive. The Low preset is the only one that approaches playability, with an average of 66 FPS, but this comes with significant visual compromises. The Medium preset at 4K averages 47 FPS, which is playable for a slower-paced action-adventure title but not ideal for fast combat. The High preset at 4K averages 42 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS, both of which are below the smooth threshold. The recommendation is to prioritize 1440p with High settings for the best balance of visual quality and performance, or to drop to 1080p with Ultra settings for a richer visual experience without sacrificing frame rate. The data shows that the difference between Medium and High at 1440p is only 8 FPS, so High is the better choice for visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset provides a comprehensive view of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 130 FPS, which is the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings at 1080p average 92 FPS, with a minimum of 78 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS. High settings at 1080p average 82 FPS, and Ultra settings average 71 FPS. This shows a smooth degradation curve as settings increase, with a 45% drop from Low to Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 98 FPS, which is still very high and suitable for competitive play. Medium settings average 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS. High settings average 62 FPS, and Ultra settings average 54 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p is a 45% drop, mirroring the 1080p scaling, but the absolute numbers are lower, confirming the resolution penalty.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 66 FPS, which is the only playable option for 60 FPS targets. Medium settings average 47 FPS, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS. High settings average 42 FPS, and Ultra settings average 36 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 19 FPS, which is larger than the gap between Medium and High (5 FPS) and High and Ultra (6 FPS), suggesting that the Low preset removes a significant portion of the graphical workload that stresses the GPU. The minimum FPS data is only available for the Medium preset at each resolution, but it shows that the frame pacing is stable, with the 4K Medium minimum of 40 FPS being only 7 FPS below the average.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Control at 4K with High settings?

A: Not at a smooth frame rate. The measured average FPS for 4K High is 42 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. For a playable 4K experience, the Low preset is required, which averages 66 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 is the best balance, delivering an average of 62 FPS. The Medium preset is also viable at 70 FPS, but the visual fidelity gain from High outweighs the 8 FPS loss.

Q: How does the AMD Radeon 8060S compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 55757 is 0.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698), and 0.6% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 (56083). It also outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828) by 1.7%.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H a bottleneck for this game?

A: The data suggests it is not. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent GPU-bound pattern. The CPU scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11875.5 and a single-core score of 1700, are sufficient for the game's physics and AI.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Medium settings at 1080p?

A: The Low preset averages 130 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 92 FPS, a difference of 38 FPS. This indicates that Medium settings introduce a significant graphical load that impacts the GPU.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset?

A: At 1080p, the minimum is 78 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum is 59 FPS. At 4K, the minimum is 40 FPS. These values indicate that frame pacing remains stable, with no severe stutters.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is a 14-core, 18-thread processor from the Meteor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its role in Control is to handle game logic, physics calculations, and AI, while the GPU manages rendering. The benchmark results for the CPU show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11875.5 and a single-core score of 1700, placing it in the 81st percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, has an average score of 29123, which is 0.1% higher, indicating the 135H is competitive with a desktop part from a previous generation.

For a game like Control, which relies heavily on single-threaded performance for its core simulation loop, the single-core score is crucial. A score of 1700 in Cinebench R23 single-core is robust, and the boost clock of 4.60 GHz ensures that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's demands at higher frame rates. The multi-core capabilities, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 22422, are more than adequate for the game's background tasks. The data shows that at 1080p Low, where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU is able to feed frames at 130 FPS without appearing to bottleneck, as the frame rate is still high and consistent.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5, with a dual-channel bus and 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth, is shared with the GPU. This shared memory architecture is a potential limiting factor in CPU-bound scenarios, but the measured FPS data does not show a CPU bottleneck, as the frame rate scales inversely with resolution. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache helps with data reuse for game assets, and the 14 cores ensure that background processes do not interfere with the game's primary threads. The CPU's performance in the Passmark physics test (1482) is adequate for the game's physics engine, which is a significant component of Control's combat and environmental interactions. Overall, the CPU provides a stable foundation, and the performance ceiling in Control is determined by the GPU's capabilities.