Control

# Control with Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

Control, the 2019 action-adventure from Remedy, remains a demanding title even on modern hardware. This combination of Intel's Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA's RTX 5080 produces a wide range of frame rates depending on resolution and settings, with the data revealing a system that is clearly GPU-bound at 4K but increasingly CPU-limited as resolution drops. The measured results show strong performance across the board, yet the scaling patterns indicate where this pairing excels and where it leaves performance on the table.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about system balance. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 255 FPS, which drops to 193 FPS at 1440p and further to 130 FPS at 4K. This represents a 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, a substantial hit that points to the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck as pixel count rises. The pattern is consistent across all settings levels: the gap between 1080p and 1440p averages around 30-35%, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs another 35-40% of performance.

At High settings, the scaling shows 161 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p, and 82 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 24%, while 1440p to 4K costs 33%. This uneven scaling suggests that at 1080p High, the CPU is starting to limit frame rates—the RTX 5080 has more headroom than the Core Ultra 5 225 can feed at lower resolutions. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 140 FPS at 1080p, 106 FPS at 1440p, and 72 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result, despite being the lowest absolute number, shows the GPU working near its full capacity with less CPU interference.

The Medium settings rows include minimum and maximum frame data that further illuminate scaling behavior. At 1080p Medium, the average is 181 FPS with a minimum of 154 and maximum of 209—a 55 FPS spread that indicates frame time variance. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 137 FPS with a minimum of 117 and maximum of 158, a 41 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the average is 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 107, a 28 FPS spread. The narrowing spread at higher resolutions suggests the GPU becomes more consistently utilized, reducing the CPU-induced frame pacing hiccups that appear at lower resolutions.

The 4K to 1080p scaling ratio at High settings is 1.96x (82 to 161 FPS), while at Low it is 1.96x as well (130 to 255 FPS). This consistent ratio across settings indicates that resolution scaling is uniform regardless of quality preset, reinforcing the GPU-bound nature of this title at higher resolutions. The real insight is at 1080p Low: 255 FPS likely approaches the practical ceiling for this CPU in this game, as the Core Ultra 5 225's 10 cores and 10 threads with a 4.90 GHz boost clock have finite instruction throughput.

GPU Role

The RTX 5080 brings substantial hardware to this title: 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, running at 1875 MHz memory clock with 30 Gbps effective speed. The GPU's 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed for Control's physics-heavy environments and particle effects. Boost clock sits at 2617 MHz, with a base of 2295 MHz, and the card draws up to 360 W under load.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows it performing well above average, with an 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 56083. Its nearest rival in synthetic testing is the AMD Radeon 8060S, which scores 55757—a 0.6% delta that places the RTX 5080 slightly ahead. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 57367, putting it 2.2% ahead of the RTX 5080 in aggregate benchmarks, while the Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB trails by 0.7% with a score of 55698.

In Control specifically, the GPU's 16 GB frame buffer is never a limiting factor at any resolution or settings combination tested. The highest VRAM pressure scenario, 4K Ultra, still delivers 72 FPS average, indicating memory capacity is sufficient for the game's textures and effects. The 960.0 GB/s bandwidth provides ample throughput for the game's streaming needs, even at 4K where texture bandwidth demands are highest.

The GPU's performance in Control aligns with its synthetic ranking. At 4K Ultra, 72 FPS is a playable result for a game of this type, though not the high-refresh experience some might expect from a flagship card. The 4K High result of 82 FPS shows the GPU handling the game's visual complexity well, with the settings reduction from Ultra to High yielding a 14% performance gain. The jump from 4K High to 4K Medium (93 FPS) adds another 13%, while 4K Low (130 FPS) provides an 81% improvement over 4K Ultra—a massive swing that shows how much headroom exists in the settings spectrum.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on TSMC's 3 nm process. It runs at a 3.30 GHz base clock and boosts to 4.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache configuration includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 20 MB shared L3. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s bandwidth, which is adequate for gaming workloads.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark results show it performing in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36938. Its nearest rival is the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36945, showing a 0% delta—essentially identical performance. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018, 0.2% ahead, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 at 37093 is 0.4% ahead. The Intel Core i9-12900T is 0.5% ahead with a score of 37112. This clustering indicates the Core Ultra 5 225 sits in a very competitive performance band, with all four nearest rivals within 0.5% of its score.

In Control, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the frame rate scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 255 FPS result is likely near the CPU's practical limit for this game, as the GPU has far more headroom at this resolution. The 1080p to 1440p scaling at Low settings (255 to 193 FPS, a 24% drop) is smaller than the 1440p to 4K drop (193 to 130 FPS, a 33% reduction), suggesting the CPU is increasingly less relevant as resolution rises.

The CPU's single-thread performance, measured at 3655 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 4412 in Passmark single-thread, is critical for Control's game logic and physics calculations. The 10-core, 10-thread configuration with no hyperthreading means the CPU relies on raw core count and clock speed rather than simultaneous multithreading. The 4.90 GHz boost clock helps in lightly-threaded scenarios, but the lack of additional threads may limit performance in scenes with heavy background simulation.

The 20 MB shared L3 cache is modest by modern standards but sufficient for Control's working set. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, while lower than the GPU's 960.0 GB/s, is not a bottleneck in this pairing—the measured frame rates show the CPU keeping pace with the GPU at 4K, where the GPU is the clear limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 255 FPS average, Medium hits 181 FPS with a 154-209 FPS range, High reaches 161 FPS, and Ultra manages 140 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 115 FPS, or 45%—a substantial range that gives players significant control over performance versus visual quality.

The 2560x1440 results show a step down across all settings. Low delivers 193 FPS, Medium averages 137 FPS with a 117-158 FPS range, High reaches 122 FPS, and Ultra produces 106 FPS. The Low to Ultra spread here is 87 FPS, or 45%, consistent with the 1080p scaling. The Medium settings' minimum and maximum values at 1440p indicate stable frame delivery, with the 41 FPS spread being narrower than the 55 FPS spread at 1080p Medium.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes more modest. Low settings yield 130 FPS, Medium averages 93 FPS with a 79-107 FPS range, High produces 82 FPS, and Ultra drops to 72 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 79 FPS is noteworthy—it shows the system maintaining playable frame rates even during demanding scenes. The 4K Ultra result of 72 FPS is the lowest average in the dataset, but remains above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

The settings scaling within each resolution shows diminishing returns as quality increases. At 4K, Low to Medium provides a 28% performance hit (130 to 93 FPS), Medium to High costs 12% (93 to 82 FPS), and High to Ultra costs 12% (82 to 72 FPS). This pattern suggests that Medium is the efficiency sweet spot at 4K, offering a substantial visual upgrade over Low with a smaller performance penalty than the jump to High.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 171st out of 2888 tested combinations in Control. This places the combo in the top 6% of all tested systems, indicating strong overall performance for this title. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's 85th percentile standing and the GPU's 87th percentile standing, with the system performing slightly better than either component's individual percentile might suggest.

The high ranking is driven primarily by the GPU's capability at 4K, where the RTX 5080's 16 GB VRAM and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth allow it to maintain high frame rates with demanding settings. The CPU's role in this ranking is more nuanced—at 1080p, the Core Ultra 5 225's performance ceiling may cap frame rates that the GPU could otherwise exceed, but at 1440p and 4K, the CPU provides sufficient throughput to keep the GPU adequately fed.

The combo's position at 171st out of 2888 suggests there are 170 tested combinations that perform better in Control, likely featuring higher-end CPUs with more cores or higher clock speeds, or GPUs with greater raw performance. However, the delta between this combo and those above it is likely small given the performance clustering seen in the CPU and GPU nearest rival data. The 0-0.5% deltas among the CPU's nearest rivals indicate that small synthetic benchmark differences translate to minimal real-world gaming impact.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K Ultra, the 72 FPS average is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The 4K Medium result of 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS provides a better balance, offering a 29% performance improvement over Ultra while maintaining most of the visual fidelity that matters in Control's atmospheric environments. The 4K High setting at 82 FPS splits the difference, but Medium's higher minimum frame rate makes it the safer choice for consistent gameplay.

At 1440p, High settings at 122 FPS provide an excellent experience, with Ultra at 106 FPS still delivering smooth gameplay. The 1440p Medium option at 137 FPS is ideal for players with high-refresh displays who want to maximize frame rates, though the visual trade-off from High is noticeable in this game's detailed environments. The 1440p Low setting at 193 FPS is excessive for most displays and unnecessary given the performance available at higher settings.

At 1080p, High settings at 161 FPS are recommended for the best balance of visual quality and performance. Ultra at 140 FPS is also viable, and the difference between High and Ultra may be worth the 21 FPS cost for players who prioritize visual fidelity. The 1080p Medium setting at 181 FPS is a strong choice for competitive play or high-refresh displays, while Low at 255 FPS is only relevant for extreme refresh rate scenarios that exceed most monitors' capabilities.

The Medium preset stands out as the strongest overall recommendation across all resolutions. At 4K, it provides 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay during intense combat sequences. At 1440p, it delivers 137 FPS with a 117 FPS minimum, and at 1080p, it achieves 181 FPS with a 154 FPS minimum. The consistency of the Medium preset's frame delivery, combined with its reasonable visual quality, makes it the default choice for players who want reliable performance without sacrificing too much graphical detail. For players with 144Hz or higher displays, High settings at 1440p or 1080p offer the best experience, while 4K players should stick with Medium to maintain frame rates above 90 FPS.