Control

# Control with Intel Core Ultra 5 135H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The benchmark data for Control with this combination of an Intel Core Ultra 5 135H mobile processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti desktop GPU shows a system that is firmly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but begins to reveal CPU limitations at 1080p. The measured frame rates across four settings presets and three resolutions provide a clear picture of how the game scales, with the RTX 5070 Ti delivering strong performance while the mobile CPU's characteristics become more relevant as resolution drops.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K follows a predictable pattern, but the magnitude of the drops reveals where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the average FPS at 1920x1080 is 102, dropping to 77 at 2560x1440, and then to 52 at 3840x2160. This represents a 24.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 49% drop from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, with the step from 1440p to 4K carrying a larger relative penalty (32.5% reduction from 77 to 52) than the step from 1080p to 1440p.

Looking at Low settings, the pattern shifts. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 162 FPS, which drops to 123 at 1440p and 83 at 4K. The percentage drops here are 24.1% and 48.8% respectively, very similar to the High settings pattern. This consistency suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor across all resolutions, even at Low settings where the CPU might be expected to play a larger role.

The Medium settings data includes min and max FPS values for each resolution, which adds detail to the scaling analysis. At 1080p Medium, the average is 115 with a range of 98 to 132. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 87 with a range of 74 to 100. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 59 with a range of 50 to 68. The min-to-max spread narrows as resolution increases, with a 34 FPS spread at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K. This narrowing indicates that at lower resolutions, where frame rates are higher, there is more variability in frame delivery, likely due to CPU involvement in frame pacing.

The Ultra settings preset shows the steepest scaling curve. Starting at 89 FPS at 1080p, the average drops to 67 at 1440p (24.7% reduction) and then to 45 at 4K (32.8% reduction from 1440p, 49.4% from 1080p). The 4K Ultra result of 45 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this preset at maximum resolution pushes the system to its limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The system achieves 45 FPS on average at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the lowest measured result across all configurations, falling below the 60 FPS mark that many players target.

Q: How much performance is gained by switching from Ultra to Low at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the average FPS increases from 89 at Ultra to 162 at Low, representing a 73 FPS improvement. This is a substantial gain of approximately 82% over the Ultra preset.

Q: Does the system maintain 60+ FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, all four settings presets at 2560x1440 stay above 60 FPS. The lowest result is Ultra at 67 FPS, while Low reaches 123 FPS, High hits 77 FPS, and Medium achieves 87 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 102 at 1920x1080 to 52 at 3840x2160. This is a 50 FPS reduction, meaning 4K delivers roughly half the frame rate of 1080p.

Q: Which resolution offers the best balance of frame rate and visual quality?

A: The data suggests 2560x1440 at High settings provides a solid balance, with an average of 77 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS mark while offering a higher resolution than 1080p, and it stays well ahead of the 4K results at the same settings.

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

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 49957 places it slightly below the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, which scores 50001 with a deltaPct of -0.1%. It is 3.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (score 48477) and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Arc A550M (score 49737).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is the dominant component in this system for Control, as the resolution scaling analysis demonstrates. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Control, which launched in 2019 and is not known for extreme VRAM demands. The 16 GB capacity ensures that even at 4K Ultra settings, memory capacity is unlikely to be a limiting factor.

The GPU's clock speeds are relatively modest for a high-end card, with a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2452 MHz. The memory operates at 1750 MHz, which translates to 28 Gbps effective. The Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process, contains 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. The RTX 5070 Ti achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6604, which places it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs.

In Control, the GPU's role is evident in the frame rate scaling. The consistent ~49-50% performance drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings presets indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. Even at Low settings, where the CPU could theoretically become a limiting factor, the 4K result of 83 FPS is still substantially lower than the 162 FPS at 1080p, showing that the GPU remains in control.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 32974 and PassMark GPU Compute score of 20203 provide context for its overall capabilities. The GPU's average benchmark score of 49957 places it in the 86th percentile, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (score 50951, deltaPct -2%) and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (score 48477, deltaPct 3.1%). This positioning suggests the RTX 5070 Ti is competitive with previous generation high-end cards.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 1036 out of 2888 tested combos for Control, placing it in the 64th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the unusual pairing of a mobile CPU with a desktop-class GPU, which creates an imbalanced system where the GPU's capabilities are partially constrained by the processor.

The CPU's benchmark performance helps contextualize this ranking. The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H has an average benchmark score of 29093, placing it in the 81st percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (score 29123, deltaPct -0.1%), the Intel Xeon Phi 7210 (score 29245, deltaPct -0.5%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (score 28940, deltaPct 0.5%). This puts the Ultra 5 135H in similar territory to desktop processors from a few generations ago, but it lacks the sustained performance of modern desktop CPUs.

The combo ranking of 1036 out of 2888 suggests that while this system performs well in absolute terms, many other combinations achieve higher frame rates in Control. The GPU's 86th percentile ranking is higher than the combo's 64th percentile ranking, indicating that the CPU is holding back the overall performance. In a game like Control, which can be CPU-intensive in certain scenes, this imbalance becomes apparent.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is a mobile processor from the Core Ultra Series 1, built on Intel's 7 nm Meteor Lake architecture. It features 14 cores and 18 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. The 28 W TDP is typical for a mobile chip, but this power envelope means the CPU cannot sustain high clocks under heavy load for extended periods, which affects gaming performance.

The CPU's cache configuration includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. This is a modest amount of L3 cache compared to modern desktop processors, and Control's engine may not benefit as much from the cache hierarchy as it would from higher single-thread performance. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate but not exceptional.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ultra 5 135H scores 1718 in Cinebench R15 multicore and 244 in single-core, 7834 in R20 multicore and 1105 in single-core, and 11875.5 in R23 multicore and 1700 in single-core. These scores show reasonable multithreaded performance for a mobile chip, but the single-core scores are more relevant for gaming. The PassMark single-thread score of 3521 and multithread score of 22422 further illustrate the CPU's capabilities.

In Control, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 162 FPS while 1080p Ultra achieves 89 FPS suggests that the CPU can handle the game's demands when the GPU is not the limiting factor. However, the CPU's mobile nature means it likely cannot push frame rates much higher than the 162 FPS observed, even with a more powerful GPU. The 14 cores and 18 threads provide enough parallelism for the game's engine, but the boost clock of 4.60 GHz is modest by desktop standards.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across all nine configurations (three resolutions × three settings, plus additional Ultra presets for each resolution).

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 162 FPS, which is the single highest result in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 115 FPS with a range of 98 to 132 FPS, showing a 34 FPS spread between minimum and maximum. High settings average 102 FPS, and Ultra settings average 89 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 73 FPS drop, representing a 45% reduction in performance from the lowest to highest quality preset.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are substantially lower but still respectably high. Low settings average 123 FPS, Medium averages 87 FPS with a range of 74 to 100 FPS, High averages 77 FPS, and Ultra averages 67 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 56 FPS, a 45.5% reduction. The Medium settings range of 26 FPS is narrower than at 1080p, indicating more consistent frame delivery.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to struggle with the highest quality presets. Low settings still deliver 83 FPS, which is playable, but Medium drops to 59 FPS with a range of 50 to 68 FPS. High settings average 52 FPS, and Ultra settings average 45 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 38 FPS, an 45.8% reduction. Notably, the 4K Medium range of 18 FPS is the narrowest in the dataset, suggesting that the GPU is fully saturated at this resolution and producing more consistent frame times.

The Ultra settings at each resolution show a clear pattern: 89 FPS at 1080p, 67 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K. This represents a 49.4% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is consistent with the scaling seen at other settings presets.

Settings Recommendations

For players aiming for the highest frame rates, the Low settings preset at 1080p delivers 162 FPS, which is well beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. Even at 1440p, Low settings achieve 123 FPS, making this a viable option for high-refresh-rate displays. However, the visual compromises at Low settings may not be worth the frame rate gains for a game like Control, which features atmospheric environments and detailed textures.

The Medium settings preset appears to offer the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. At 1440p, it averages 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS, which stays comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K, it averages 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS, which is borderline playable but may experience noticeable drops during intense action.

For players with 1080p monitors, Ultra settings at 89 FPS are a strong choice, as this remains well above 60 FPS and delivers the full visual experience the game offers. At 1440p, Ultra settings at 67 FPS are also viable, though the margin above 60 FPS is thinner. At 4K, Ultra settings at 45 FPS are not recommended for smooth gameplay, and High settings at 52 FPS are also below the 60 FPS mark.

The data suggests that the optimal experience depends on the display resolution. At 1080p, Ultra settings provide a complete visual experience without sacrificing smoothness. At 1440p, High settings at 77 FPS offer a good compromise between visual fidelity and frame rate, though Medium at 87 FPS provides more headroom. At 4K, Medium settings at 59 FPS is the highest preset that approaches 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for players who prioritize frame rate over maximum visual quality.