Control

Control is an action-adventure title that stresses both the CPU and GPU heavily, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combo provides a clear picture of its capabilities. The benchmark results show a system that is exceptionally well-balanced for this game, delivering high frame rates across all settings, with the most significant performance headroom appearing at lower resolutions. The data indicates that the combination of the 10-core Arrow Lake processor and the 12 GB Ampere graphics card creates a platform where the user's choice of visual fidelity has a direct and predictable impact on the frame rate, scaling from a highly playable 54 FPS at 4K Ultra to a blistering 192 FPS at 1080p Low.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combo in Control suggests that the "High" preset offers the most balanced experience across all tested resolutions, providing a significant visual upgrade over Medium without the performance penalty of Ultra. At 3840x2160, the High preset achieves an average of 62 FPS, which is a comfortable margin above the 54 FPS average of Ultra, while still maintaining the core visual enhancements that the High preset typically provides. The step up from Medium to High at 4K is a modest 8 FPS decrease (from 70 to 62 FPS), but the visual quality gains are substantial, making High the sweet spot for a 60 Hz 4K display.

For users with 1440p monitors, the High preset becomes even more attractive, delivering a 92 FPS average. This is a 12 FPS reduction from Medium's 103 FPS, yet it offers a smoother and more detailed image that is well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 80 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 12 FPS loss from High for what is often a marginal visual improvement. The data strongly suggests that High is the optimal choice at this resolution, as it provides a high refresh rate experience with excellent visual quality.

At 1080p, the system has so much headroom that the choice of preset is less critical for playability, but High still stands out as the recommended setting. With a 121 FPS average, High is significantly faster than Ultra's 105 FPS and only 15 FPS slower than the Medium preset's 136 FPS. Given the relatively small performance gap between Medium and High at this resolution, selecting High ensures the player gets the best visual experience without sacrificing the smoothness of the frame rate. The 4K Medium preset, with its 70 FPS average and a minimum of 59 FPS, is the only scenario where the data suggests a compromise might be needed for a strict 60 FPS lock, but the High preset's 62 FPS average is generally sufficient, making it the overall recommended starting point for this combination.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, and its memory configuration plays a critical role in Control's performance. The card features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a substantial 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. This high-bandwidth memory is essential for the game's detailed textures and complex environments, particularly at higher resolutions. The benchmark results show that at 4K, the frame rates scale directly with the settings preset, from 54 FPS at Ultra to 98 FPS at Low, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario where the graphics card's ability to process and render data is the limiting factor.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 1365 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz, are the engine driving this performance. The data shows that the card's raw compute power, measured at 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, is more than sufficient for this title. The difference between the 4K Medium and 4K High presets is 8 FPS (70 vs. 62), while the jump from High to Ultra is also 8 FPS (62 vs. 54). This consistent scaling indicates that the GPU is being utilized efficiently, with each increase in visual fidelity requiring a proportional amount of additional processing power. The 80 RT cores and 320 Tensor cores on this Ampere architecture also suggest that the card is prepared for the game's advanced rendering features, though the measured data focuses on standard rasterization performance.

The GPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, while its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, is only 0.8% behind in average score, shows that the RTX 3080 Ti is a high-end part, but its performance in Control is particularly strong. The 4K Low preset achieving 98 FPS demonstrates that even when the visual load is reduced, the GPU maintains a very high output, indicating that the card is not artificially held back by other system components. The data suggests that the RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB frame buffer is adequate for all tested presets, as no memory-related stutters or crashes are implied by the minimum FPS figures, which are only provided for the Medium presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The benchmark database places this specific configuration of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti at rank 700 out of 2888 total tested combos for Control. This top-quartile ranking (roughly the top 24%) indicates that this is a very capable system for this game, outperforming the vast majority of other hardware combinations. The performance of this combo is a direct result of the synergy between the CPU and GPU, where the processor's capabilities are well-matched to the graphics card's output, ensuring that neither component becomes a significant bottleneck during gameplay.

The rank of 700 is a strong showing, but it is not at the absolute top of the charts, which is reserved for more recent or more powerful hardware. The combo's position suggests that while it delivers excellent frame rates, there is still a significant amount of performance headroom in the database above it, likely occupied by newer generation GPUs or more expensive multi-GPU setups. The data implies that for a system built around the RTX 3080 Ti, this is a near-optimal pairing, as the CPU is powerful enough to feed the GPU without holding it back, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p.

The fact that the combo ranks higher than its individual components' percentile scores might suggest (CPU 85th percentile, GPU 83rd percentile) indicates that this specific pairing is particularly efficient for Control. The system's performance is greater than the sum of its parts, likely because the game is well-optimized for the architectures of both the CPU and GPU. This ranking validates the choice of the Core Ultra 5 225 as a companion for the RTX 3080 Ti, showing that it is not just a capable CPU in isolation, but one that works exceptionally well in a gaming context, particularly for a demanding title like Control.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo in Control shows a clear and consistent pattern across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance, starting with a 192 FPS average on Low settings. This drops to 136 FPS on Medium, then 121 FPS on High, and finally 105 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p Medium preset also recorded a minimum FPS of 116 and a maximum of 157, indicating a smooth frame time delivery. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is a 45% reduction in frame rate (from 192 to 105 FPS), which is a substantial cost for the highest visual quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very high but show a more pronounced impact from the increased pixel count. The Low preset averages 145 FPS, which is a 47 FPS drop from the 1080p Low setting. Medium averages 103 FPS (with a minimum of 88 and a maximum of 118), High averages 92 FPS, and Ultra averages 80 FPS. The performance gap between 1080p and 1440p is roughly consistent across settings, with an average drop of about 30-40 FPS, indicating that the GPU is handling the additional resolution load as expected.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers playable frame rates, but the high resolution takes its toll. The Low preset averages 98 FPS, which is a significant drop from the 145 FPS at 1440p. Medium averages 70 FPS (with a minimum of 59 and a maximum of 80), High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K results in a further average drop of about 40-50 FPS, showing that the RTX 3080 Ti is being pushed hard at this resolution. The 4K Ultra setting is the only configuration that dips below the 60 FPS threshold, making it a less ideal choice for smooth gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals critical insights into the system's bottleneck characteristics. When moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS across all settings drops by approximately 27% (e.g., High goes from 121 to 92 FPS, a 24% drop). This is a typical scaling factor for a GPU-bound scenario, where the increased pixel count directly impacts the rendering load. However, the drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe, with the High preset falling from 92 to 62 FPS, a 33% reduction. This steeper decline at higher resolutions is a clear indicator that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is becoming the primary limiting factor.

The data shows that the CPU's role diminishes as the resolution increases. At 1080p, the system achieves 192 FPS on Low, which is a very high frame rate that requires a strong CPU to feed the GPU. The fact that the frame rate scales down significantly as resolution increases (to 98 FPS at 4K Low) suggests that the GPU is being saturated at higher resolutions, while the CPU has more headroom. This is the standard behavior for a balanced system, where the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions, but the GPU's workload becomes the defining constraint as pixel count rises.

The scaling pattern also suggests that the combination is more CPU-limited at 1080p, as the 192 FPS Low result is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation capability for this game. As the resolution increases, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, which is why the frame rate drops are more significant when moving to 4K. The 4K Medium preset's minimum FPS of 59 is particularly telling, as it shows that the GPU can occasionally dip below the 60 FPS mark, indicating that its processing power is being fully utilized at this resolution and settings level. The system is well-balanced, with neither component being a major bottleneck at any tested resolution, but the data clearly shows the GPU is the more stressed component at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 plays a crucial role in ensuring the RTX 3080 Ti can reach its full potential in Control. With 10 cores and 10 threads, the CPU provides a solid foundation for the game's multi-threaded engine. Its boost clock of 4.90 GHz is critical for maintaining high frame rates, particularly at 1080p, where the system achieves a 192 FPS average on Low settings. This high clock speed, combined with the architecture's efficiency, allows the CPU to process game logic and draw calls without becoming a limiting factor, as evidenced by the high frame rates at lower resolutions.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache is also important for gaming performance, as it helps reduce latency when accessing frequently used data. The benchmark results for the CPU show a strong single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655, which is essential for games that rely on a primary thread. The multi-core score of 25891 in the same test indicates that the CPU can handle the parallel workloads that Control presents, ensuring smooth frame pacing and preventing stutters that can occur when the processor is overwhelmed.

The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals shows it is a competitive gaming processor. It is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (0% delta) and slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (-0.2% delta) in average benchmark score. This suggests that the Core Ultra 5 225 is on par with other strong mid-range gaming CPUs. The data from the game itself confirms this, as the combo's rank of 700 out of 2888 indicates that the CPU is not holding the system back. The 85th percentile ranking of the CPU among all processors, combined with the game-specific results, shows that it is a capable partner for the high-end RTX 3080 Ti, providing enough processing power to ensure that the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rate in most scenarios.