Control

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 produces a consistent, predictable performance profile in Control, one that scales cleanly with resolution and settings. The data indicates a system that is firmly capable of smooth gameplay at 1080p, but which requires careful settings management to maintain frame rates at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear hierarchy across the four preset levels at every resolution. For players targeting the smoothest experience on this hardware, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rates across all tested resolutions, but it comes at the cost of visual fidelity. The Medium preset offers a far more balanced experience, providing a substantial improvement in visual quality over Low while maintaining playable frame rates.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 108 FPS, while Medium drops to 77 FPS—a 31 FPS penalty for the visual upgrade. At 2560x1440, Low averages 82 FPS, and Medium averages 58 FPS. At 3840x2160, the gap narrows to 55 FPS for Low versus 39 FPS for Medium. The High preset sits between Medium and Ultra, averaging 68 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset pushes the hardware hardest, averaging 59 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K.

Given the measured data, the Medium preset provides the best overall experience for this combo. At 1080p, the 77 FPS average is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, and the 65 FPS minimum recorded ensures a stable experience. At 1440p, the 58 FPS average is playable, though the 49 FPS minimum suggests occasional dips. The Medium preset is the sweet spot because it offers a meaningful leap in visual quality over Low while avoiding the performance cliff seen with High and Ultra at higher resolutions. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it achieves 59 FPS, but it offers diminishing returns over Medium for a 18 FPS average cost.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is the central component driving these results, and its specifications explain the performance patterns observed. Built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip, the card features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has a base clock of 1626 MHz and a boost clock of 2491 MHz, with a game clock of 2044 MHz. Its 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs provide the raw compute throughput for this title.

The 8 GB VRAM allocation is sufficient for Control at the tested settings, as the game's demands at 4K Ultra do not appear to exceed this capacity in the measurements. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s is a notable factor, particularly at higher resolutions where texture streaming and memory access become more critical. The data shows the GPU's performance ceiling is reached at 4K Ultra, where the average frame rate falls to exactly 30 FPS—this aligns with the card's position in the market, as its average benchmark score of 19036 places it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs.

The measured FPS deltas across settings at each resolution highlight the GPU's scaling efficiency. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra costs 49 FPS (108 to 59). At 1440p, the cost is 37 FPS (82 to 45). At 4K, the cost is 25 FPS (55 to 30). This pattern shows the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, with the absolute performance gap between settings narrowing because the card is already near its maximum output.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 combination ranks 2248 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places the pairing in the lower-middle tier of the database, indicating that while it is not a high-end configuration, it is far from the bottom of the performance stack. The rank reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning more than the CPU's capabilities, as the RX 6600's 63rd percentile standing among all GPUs is the primary constraint for this game.

The CPU itself performs well in synthetic benchmarks, with an average benchmark score of 46062, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, which scores 46030 (a 0.1% delta), and the Intel Core i9-13900HX, which scores 46098 (a -0.1% delta). The EPYC 4364P and EPYC 7303 round out the comparison with scores of 45970 and 45960, respectively. This CPU performance is largely irrelevant to the game's frame rates, as the GPU bottleneck dominates the measured results.

The combo rank of 2248 out of 2888 means that roughly 78% of tested combinations outperform this pairing in Control. This is consistent with the GPU's mid-range status. The data suggests that players using this combo should expect to compromise on graphical settings at higher resolutions, but the 1080p results show the pairing is well-matched for that resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive view of the combo's performance.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields an average of 108 FPS, the highest recorded for this combo. The Medium preset averages 77 FPS, with a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS. High averages 68 FPS, and Ultra averages 59 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 49 FPS, showing significant headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance drops across the board. The Low preset averages 82 FPS, a 26 FPS reduction from 1080p. Medium averages 58 FPS, with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 67 FPS. High averages 52 FPS, and Ultra averages 45 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra narrows to 37 FPS, indicating the GPU is working harder to maintain frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 55 FPS, the only setting above 60 FPS at this resolution. Medium averages 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 45 FPS. High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 25 FPS, the smallest of the three resolutions, confirming the GPU is the limiting factor.

The minimum FPS data is only provided for the Medium preset, but it shows consistent behavior: 65 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and 33 FPS at 4K. These minimums are within 12-15% of the averages, suggesting the game's frame pacing is stable on this hardware when using Medium settings.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all four settings presets maintain average frame rates above 59 FPS. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS, and at 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS on average.

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Control?*

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 55 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. The Medium preset averages 39 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages exactly 30 FPS, which is marginal. The data indicates 4K is only viable with the Low preset.

Q: How much FPS is lost when switching from Low to Medium settings?

A: At 1080p, the difference is 31 FPS (108 to 77). At 1440p, the difference is 24 FPS (82 to 58). At 4K, the difference is 16 FPS (55 to 39). The relative cost of Medium over Low decreases as resolution increases.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The CPU's 89th percentile benchmark standing, with an average score of 46062, far exceeds the GPU's 63rd percentile score of 19036. The measured FPS scaling across resolutions indicates the GPU is the limiting component, not the CPU.

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The only minimum FPS values provided are for the Medium preset. The lowest recorded minimum is 33 FPS at 3840x2160. At 1440p, the minimum is 49 FPS, and at 1080p, it is 65 FPS.

Q: Is the Ultra preset usable at any resolution?

A: At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 59 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold. At 1440p, it averages 45 FPS, and at 4K, it averages 30 FPS. The data suggests Ultra is only marginally viable at 1080p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process node by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, delivering 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 24EU is present but irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. Its Cinebench R23 scores are 2085 for single-core and 14769 for multi-core. The PassMark single-thread score is 4516, and the multi-thread score is 37816. These numbers place the CPU in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46062.

For Control, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The measured data shows the CPU is not a bottleneck, as the frame rates scale predictably with GPU load. The 14 threads are more than sufficient for this game, and the high single-thread performance ensures the game's main thread does not become a limiting factor. The CPU's nearest rivals—the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Core i9-13900HX—show nearly identical average scores, confirming this processor's performance is competitive within its class.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the bottleneck in this system. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 108 at 1080p to 82 at 1440p (a 24% reduction) and then to 55 at 4K (a 49% reduction from 1080p). At Medium settings, the averages are 77, 58, and 39 FPS, representing a 24% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 49% drop from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the averages are 68, 52, and 35 FPS, with drops of 24% and 49% respectively. At Ultra settings, the averages are 59, 45, and 30 FPS, showing slightly larger drops of 24% and 49%.

The consistent percentage drops across all settings indicate a GPU-bound scenario. When resolution increases, the pixel count grows exponentially—4K has 4 times the pixels of 1080p—and the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become the limiting factors. The RX 6600's 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 159.4 GPixel/s pixel rate are the specifications that govern these results.

The scaling pattern also shows that the CPU is not contributing to frame rate limitations. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively constant across resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not change with pixel count. Instead, the FPS drops by roughly half from 1080p to 4K, which is the expected behavior for a GPU-bound system. The 49% average FPS reduction from 1080p to 4K across all settings confirms that the RX 6600 is the component that determines the playable experience in Control, and that the Core Ultra 5 235 provides ample headroom for the GPU to operate at its full potential.