Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, is a demanding title that stresses both the CPU and GPU, but the data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile shows a configuration that scales predictably across resolutions and settings. The benchmark results reveal a system capable of delivering high refresh rate gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K remains a viable target only when settings are moderated. The measured frame rates indicate a clear hierarchy where the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor as resolution increases, a typical pattern for a modern, visually rich game like Control. The following analysis breaks down the performance data, focusing on resolution scaling, the role of the GPU, and practical settings for the best experience.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is stark, illustrating the heavy load placed on the GPU. At 1080p with High settings, the system achieves an average of 112 FPS. Moving to 1440p High, that figure drops to 84 FPS, a 25% reduction, and at 4K High, it further falls to 57 FPS, representing a 49% decrease from the 1080p result. This scaling curve is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions; the RTX 4080 Mobile's compute and memory bandwidth are being pushed harder as pixel count rises.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For instance, at Medium settings, the frame rate goes from 126 FPS at 1080p to 95 FPS at 1440p, and then to 64 FPS at 4K. At Low settings, the drop is similar: from 177 FPS at 1080p to 134 FPS at 1440p, and 90 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K is about 49% at High, 49% at Medium, and 49% at Low, showing that the GPU's performance ceiling is being hit consistently, regardless of the preset. This suggests that the game is not CPU-limited in these scenarios; the 14-core, 18-thread Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is feeding the GPU adequately, and the frame rate is dictated by the graphics card's ability to render the scene.

The data also shows that 4K Ultra is the most demanding setting, yielding an average of 50 FPS. This is the only configuration in the measured set that dips below the 60 FPS threshold, which is a common target for a smooth experience. The difference between 4K High and 4K Ultra is only 7 FPS, whereas the gap between 4K Medium and 4K High is also 7 FPS. This indicates that the step from Medium to High to Ultra at 4K has a mild impact on performance, but the biggest jump is between Low and Medium, which costs 26 FPS. The scaling suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading capacity are the primary constraints at this resolution, with the 12 GB of GDDR6 memory proving sufficient but not overly generous for the highest settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is a high-end mobile GPU with 7424 shading units, 232 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs. It has a base clock of 1290 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, and it is paired with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The 4K results, particularly at Medium and High, show that the GPU's memory subsystem and raw compute are the primary drivers of frame rate. The 4K Medium result of 64 FPS and the 4K High result of 57 FPS are both respectable, but they are below the 1440p results, which are 95 FPS and 84 FPS respectively.

The benchmarks for the GPU show a Passmark G3D score of 24926, which places it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce MX570, which has a similar average score with a -0.4% difference, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile, with a -0.6% difference. This suggests that the RTX 4080 Mobile is a solid mid-to-high range performer, though not the absolute top tier. In Control, the GPU's VRAM usage is not a constraint in the data, as even the lowest 4K setting of 90 FPS does not show any signs of memory bottleneck. The 12 GB capacity is more than sufficient for the game at these settings.

The GPU's 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores support the game's real-time ray tracing features, but the benchmark data does not specify the ray tracing settings. The standard rasterization performance is what the measured FPS reflect. The GPU's FP32 performance of 24.72 TFLOPS and texture rate of 386.3 GTexel/s are the raw figures that translate into the frame rates seen. When comparing to the nearest rival, the RTX 4080 Mobile is just 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 in average score, indicating that in a game like Control, the performance difference might be minimal.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable in Control with this configuration?

A: The highest average frame rate is 177 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 134 FPS at 1440p Low, and 112 FPS at 1080p High.

Q: How does the performance change when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 112 FPS at 1080p to 84 FPS at 1440p, and then to 57 FPS at 4K. This represents a 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the system capable of maintaining 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Only at Low and Medium settings does the system exceed 60 FPS at 4K, with 90 FPS and 64 FPS respectively. At High settings it averages 57 FPS, and at Ultra it drops to 50 FPS.

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

A: At 1440p, the average frame rate drops from 134 FPS at Low to 73 FPS at Ultra, a difference of 61 FPS, or a 46% reduction.

Q: Does the CPU become a bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor, as the frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings. The 14-core, 18-thread Intel Core Ultra 5 135H has a high multithreaded score, and the frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are more consistent with a GPU limitation.

Q: What is the rank of this combination in Control?

A: The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile ranks 1234th out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the 87th percentile.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). The average frame rates are as follows:

• 1080p: Low: 177 FPS; Medium: 126 FPS (min 107, max 144); High: 112 FPS; Ultra: 97 FPS.
• 1440p: Low: 134 FPS; Medium: 95 FPS (min 81, max 109); High: 84 FPS; Ultra: 73 FPS.
• 4K: Low: 90 FPS; Medium: 64 FPS (min 55, max 74); High: 57 FPS; Ultra: 50 FPS.

The minimum and maximum FPS are only provided for the Medium settings at each resolution, which show a variance of about 37-39 FPS between the minimum and maximum at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. This indicates that the frame time is more stable at higher resolutions, likely due to the GPU being the bottleneck and the CPU having less influence.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth 60 FPS experience at 4K, the Medium preset is the optimal choice, as it delivers an average of 64 FPS. The High preset is just below 60 FPS at 57 FPS, which might be a target for those who prefer higher fidelity, but the data shows that the Medium preset offers a more consistent experience. At 1440p, the High preset provides 84 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS, and the Ultra preset at 73 FPS is also viable for high refresh rate displays. At 1080p, the Ultra preset achieves 97 FPS, which is ideal for a 144Hz monitor, though the High preset at 112 FPS is the best balance of quality and speed.

For competitive play, the Low preset at 1080p offers 177 FPS, which is excellent for 165Hz or 240Hz displays. However, the visual compromise is significant, and the Medium preset at 126 FPS might be a better compromise for most users. The data suggests that the game is well optimized for this hardware, with the 4K Medium setting being the sweet spot for a high-fidelity experience, while 1440p Ultra is the best for a balance of graphics and performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is a 14-core, 18-thread processor with a base clock of 3.6 GHz and a boost clock of 4.6 GHz. It has an 18 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR5 memory. In the CPU benchmarks, it scores 11875.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1700 in single-core, which places it in the 81st percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, which has a similar average score with a -0.1% difference, and the Intel Core i5-13500HX, which is -0.6% slower.

In Control, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The frame rates at 1080p, which are the highest, indicate that the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution. The drop from 112 FPS at 1080p High to 84 FPS at 1440p High is a 25% reduction, which is a typical GPU-bound scaling. If the CPU were the limiter, the frame rate would be more consistent or drop significantly at lower resolutions. The data shows that the CPU has sufficient headroom to handle the game's demands, even at the highest settings.

The CPU's 14 cores and 18 threads are more than adequate for Control, which is a DirectX 12 title that can utilize multiple threads. The strong multi-core performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench scores, ensures that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's rendering. The performance of the CPU, when compared to its rivals, shows that it is a capable performer, but the game's performance is still dominated by the GPU's rendering capabilities.