Control

Control with an Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT presents a balanced pairing for this 2019 Action Adventure title, with the data showing a clear preference for 1080p and 1440p gameplay. The measured results indicate that the CPU’s 10 cores and the GPU’s 16 GB of memory create a system capable of high frame rates, though 4K resolution demands significant compromises in visual fidelity. The benchmark database places this combination at rank 2363 out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the pack, a position that reflects its performance ceiling at higher resolutions. This analysis will break down the measured FPS data, explore scaling behavior, and contextualize the CPU’s role in the results.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combo reveals a stark trade-off between visual quality and frame rate, making the Medium preset the most balanced choice for most users. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS, providing a smooth experience that stays comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for most of the frame time. The High preset at the same resolution drops to 78 FPS average, which is still playable, but the 10 FPS loss from Medium to High is not accompanied by a proportional visual leap in the data.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset again emerges as the sweet spot, with an average of 67 FPS, a minimum of 57 FPS, and a maximum of 76 FPS. The minimum frame rate here dips just below 60 FPS, which may introduce occasional stutter on 60 Hz displays, but the average remains respectable. The High preset at 1440p yields 59 FPS average, which is borderline for smooth gameplay, while Low pushes to 94 FPS for those prioritizing performance over visuals. Ultra at 1440p falls to 51 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for fast-paced action.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset is the only option that maintains a playable average at 63 FPS, while Medium drops to 45 FPS and High falls to 40 FPS. Ultra at 4K is the worst performer at 35 FPS average. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo is only viable at Low settings, which undercuts the visual benefits of the resolution. For the best experience across resolutions, Medium at 1080p or 1440p offers the strongest combination of smoothness and visual quality, with the 1080p Medium result being the most consistent in the dataset.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the strongest resolution, with the Low preset hitting 124 FPS average and Medium at 88 FPS. The 1440p results are also solid, but 4K performance drops significantly, with only the Low preset exceeding 60 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1080p?

A: Ultra at 1080p averages 68 FPS, which is 10 FPS lower than High at 78 FPS. The minimum frame rates are not listed for either, but the average gap suggests Ultra demands a notable performance cost without a clear benefit in the data.

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, but only at Medium and Low settings. Medium averages 67 FPS, while Low averages 94 FPS. High at 1440p averages 59 FPS, which just misses the 60 FPS mark.

Q: What settings should I use for 4K gaming?

A: The only preset that maintains a playable average at 3840x2160 is Low at 63 FPS. Medium at 45 FPS and High at 40 FPS are below the smoothness threshold, while Ultra at 35 FPS is not recommended.

Q: How does the CPU's core count affect performance in this game?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has 10 cores and 10 threads, which the data indicates is sufficient for this title. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25891 and single-core score of 3655 suggest it can feed the GPU adequately, as frame rates scale primarily with resolution changes.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 2363 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 63rd percentile of the database. This ranking reflects its mid-tier position, driven by strong 1080p performance but weaker 4K capabilities.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K in this dataset is steep, indicating that the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT becomes the limiting component as resolution increases. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 78 at 1920x1080 to 59 at 2560x1440, a 24% reduction, and then to 40 at 3840x2160, a 49% reduction from the 1440p figure. This pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load at higher pixel counts outstrips the GPU’s capabilities.

The Low preset shows a similar trend but with a shallower curve: 124 FPS at 1080p drops to 94 FPS at 1440p (24% less) and then to 63 FPS at 4K (33% less than 1440p). The relative drop from 1440p to 4K is less severe at Low settings, suggesting that the GPU has more headroom when the visual workload is reduced, but the absolute numbers still show a clear ceiling.

The scaling behavior points to the GPU as the primary bottleneck at 4K, while the CPU’s role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 124 FPS average indicates that the CPU can drive high frame rates, but the GPU’s 2048 shading units and 128-bit memory bus limit performance as resolution climbs. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is ample for this game, but the 22.57 TFLOPS FP32 compute is insufficient for demanding 4K workloads. The data suggests that users targeting 4K should consider lower settings or a more powerful GPU, as the scaling curve shows diminishing returns beyond 1440p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the dataset provides four settings points. Low delivers the highest average at 124 FPS, followed by Medium at 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS. High averages 78 FPS, while Ultra trails at 68 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 36 FPS, indicating a significant jump in visual workload, while the gap from Medium to High is 10 FPS, and from High to Ultra is another 10 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the pattern holds with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 94 FPS, Medium averages 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS, High averages 59 FPS, and Ultra averages 51 FPS. The 1440p results show a 27 FPS difference between Low and Medium, with a 8 FPS difference between Medium and High, and another 8 FPS between High and Ultra. The minimum frame rate data for Medium at 1440p (57 FPS) is the only sub-60 FPS minimum recorded in the dataset, highlighting potential stutter in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the results compress further. Low averages 63 FPS, Medium averages 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS, High averages 40 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 38 FPS is the lowest recorded frame time in the entire dataset, indicating severe drops during intensive moments. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 28 FPS total drop, with the largest single step being the 18 FPS loss from Low to Medium. This breakdown illustrates that the combo’s performance is highly dependent on resolution, with 1080p offering the most headroom and 4K requiring minimal settings for playability.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2363 out of 3720 tested configurations in Control, placing it in the 63.5th percentile of the database. This rank suggests that while the system is capable, it sits below the median performance tier for this game, meaning a majority of tested combos deliver higher frame rates. The ranking is likely driven by the GPU’s mid-range positioning, as the Radeon RX 7600 XT holds a 60th percentile rank among all GPUs, while the CPU ranks in the 85th percentile.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 with an average score of 17037 (0.3% higher), the AMD Radeon HD 7970M at 17019 (0.4% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 at 17208 (0.7% higher). These deltaPct values are minimal, indicating that the RX 7600 XT’s raw compute performance is closely matched by older and newer cards alike. The CPU’s rivals show a similar pattern, with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36945 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D at 37018 (-0.2%), and the Intel Core i9-12900T at 37112 (-0.5%).

The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-percentile GPU results in a system that performs well at lower resolutions but falls behind at 4K. The rank of 2363 reflects this imbalance: the CPU is not the limiting factor, but the GPU’s performance ceiling restricts the overall combo to the lower-middle of the rankings. Users comparing this setup to others in the database should note that it outperforms combos with weaker CPUs but is outpaced by those with more powerful GPUs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 features 10 cores and 10 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its Arrow Lake architecture on a 3 nm process node from TSMC provides strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4412. The multicore results are equally robust, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25891 and a Passmark multithread score of 30459.

In the context of Control, the CPU’s role appears secondary to the GPU, as the game’s frame rates scale more dramatically with resolution changes than with CPU-bound scenarios. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 124 FPS, which indicates the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently at high frame rates. However, the 4K results show that the GPU becomes the bottleneck, as the CPU’s performance remains constant while frame rates drop.

The CPU’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample storage for game data, while its DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures the GPU receives data without stalling. The 65 W TDP and 10 cores make it a power-efficient choice, but the lack of hyperthreading (10 threads for 10 cores) means it may not excel in heavily threaded workloads. For Control, this is not an issue, as the game’s engine appears to scale well with the available cores, and the CPU’s 85th percentile rank among all CPUs confirms its capability. The benchmark results indicate that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this combo, and users should focus on GPU settings to improve performance at higher resolutions.