Control

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Control, with the data showing that the pairing ranks in the 72nd percentile of all tested combos. The measured results indicate that this system is well-balanced for the title, though the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions and settings. This analysis breaks down the combo’s standing, the role of each component, and the optimal settings based strictly on the measured frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 achieves a rank of 819 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places the system in the upper quartile of all configurations, indicating a strong overall performance level for this title. The rank reflects the synergy between the CPU and GPU, where neither component appears to be a severe bottleneck in the majority of the tested scenarios.

To contextualize this ranking, the CPU holds an 89th percentile standing among all processors in the database, while the GPU sits at the 69th percentile among all graphics cards. The disparity between these two percentile positions suggests that the GPU is the more limiting factor in this pairing, a conclusion supported by the frame rate data at higher resolutions. The CPU’s higher percentile means it has more headroom than the GPU, which becomes increasingly relevant as the graphical load intensifies.

The measured FPS figures show that the combo is capable of delivering playable frame rates across all tested settings at 1080p and 1440p, with the Ultra preset at 4K dipping to an average of 51 FPS. This consistency across resolutions points to a system that is well-matched for the game’s demands, though the performance ceiling is clearly defined by the graphics card’s capabilities rather than the processor’s.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the primary driver of frame rates in Control, and its specifications directly explain the performance scaling observed. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This ample memory allocation ensures that the game’s assets are handled without issue, even at the highest resolution tested.

Clock speeds for the RX 9070 are notable: a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The boost clock is the figure that matters most for sustained gaming performance, and the data shows that it is sufficient to drive high frame rates at lower resolutions. The GPU’s architecture, RDNA 4.0 on a 4 nm process, includes 3584 shading units and 56 ray accelerators, which are the components responsible for the rasterization and ray tracing workloads in Control.

The GPU’s benchmark scores provide a broader context for its performance. In the Passmark G3D test, it scores 25381, and in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 6290. These figures place the RX 9070 slightly ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z by 0.6% and behind the AMD Radeon RX 6800S by 0.8%, according to the nearest rivals data. This close grouping indicates that the RX 9070 is a mid-to-high-tier performer, which aligns with the observed frame rates in Control.

The GPU’s power characteristics, including a TDP of 220 W, are not directly reflected in the game’s performance but are part of its operational profile. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, where the average FPS drops below the 60 FPS threshold on the High and Ultra presets, confirming that its raw compute power is the ceiling for this combo.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset yields an average of 100 FPS, which is well above the smooth-playability threshold. The High preset at this resolution delivers 115 FPS, and the Medium preset provides 129 FPS. All of these options are viable, but the Ultra preset offers the best visual fidelity without sacrificing playability, as the frame rate remains comfortably high.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves an average of 87 FPS, making it the recommended choice for a balanced experience. The Ultra preset drops to 75 FPS, which is still playable but represents a noticeable step down in smoothness. The Medium preset, at 98 FPS, is the fastest setting that maintains high visual quality, but the High preset strikes the best compromise between image quality and frame rate.

For 3840x2160, the situation changes significantly. The High preset averages 59 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset falls to 51 FPS. The Medium preset, at 66 FPS, is the only 4K option that consistently stays above the 60 FPS mark. Therefore, for 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation, as it provides the best playable experience without requiring a reduction in resolution.

The data also shows that the Low preset offers the highest frame rates at every resolution, but the visual compromise is substantial. For most users, the High preset at 1080p or 1440p, or the Medium preset at 4K, will provide the best overall experience based on the measured performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates reveal a clear pattern of performance scaling across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 182 FPS on Low, 129 FPS on Medium, 115 FPS on High, and 100 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset also shows a minimum of 110 FPS and a maximum of 148 FPS, indicating stable performance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop proportionally. The Low setting averages 137 FPS, Medium averages 98 FPS, High averages 87 FPS, and Ultra averages 75 FPS. The Medium preset again provides min/max figures of 83 and 112 FPS, respectively, showing good consistency.

At 3840x2160, the performance impact is most pronounced. The Low setting still manages 93 FPS, but the Medium preset averages 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS. The High preset falls to 59 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops further to 51 FPS. These figures demonstrate that the GPU’s compute capacity is stretched thin at 4K, particularly on the higher quality presets.

The data shows that the scaling from Medium to High to Ultra is consistent across all resolutions, with each step up in quality costing roughly 10-15% of performance. This linear scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the processor’s performance is sufficient to keep up with the graphics card’s output.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K provides insight into which component is limiting performance. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 115 FPS. At 1440p High, this drops to 87 FPS, a reduction of approximately 24%. At 4K High, the frame rate falls to 59 FPS, a further reduction of about 32% from the 1440p figure. These percentage drops are consistent with a GPU-bound workload, where the rendering resolution directly impacts the graphics card’s output.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K on the Low preset shows a similar trend: 182 FPS at 1080p, 137 FPS at 1440p, and 93 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is about 25%, and from 1440p to 4K is about 32%. This consistent pattern across presets indicates that the resolution is the primary variable affecting performance, and the GPU is the component responsible for handling this scaling.

The CPU’s role in this scaling is minimal. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has 14 cores and 14 threads, with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark scores, such as a Passmark multithread score of 37816 and a single-thread score of 4516, are high enough to avoid becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The fact that frame rates scale predictably with resolution suggests that the GPU is fully utilized, and the CPU is not holding back performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 plays a supporting role in this combo, providing enough processing power to keep the GPU fed with data. The CPU features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration is well-suited for gaming, as the high boost clock ensures strong single-thread performance, which is critical for game logic and physics.

The CPU’s benchmark results support this assessment. It scores 14769 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2085 in single-core. In Passmark tests, it achieves a multithread score of 37816 and a single-thread score of 4516. These figures place the CPU in the 89th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 46062. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, which is 0.1% faster, and the Intel Core i9-13900HX, which is 0.1% slower.

In Control, the CPU’s performance is more than adequate. At 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed, the frame rates are high, indicating that the CPU can handle the game’s processing demands without issue. The fact that the frame rate drops primarily at higher resolutions, where the GPU’s workload increases, confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing.

The CPU’s cache configuration, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache, and its support for DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, further ensure that data can be fed to the GPU efficiently. The processor’s architecture, Arrow Lake on a 3 nm process, is modern and capable, but its role in this combo is clearly secondary to the GPU.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 on the High preset provides an average of 87 FPS, which is a strong balance of visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, all presets are playable, with Ultra averaging 100 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset averages 66 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that consistently stays above 60 FPS. The High preset averages 59 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 51 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this pairing?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU holds an 89th percentile ranking, while the GPU sits at the 69th percentile. Frame rates scale predictably with resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 182 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 100 FPS. This represents a performance difference of 82 FPS between the lowest and highest quality presets.

Q: How does the RX 9070 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 9070 is 0.6% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z and 1.1% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile. It is 0.8% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 6800S and 1.2% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER.

Q: What is the performance consistency like on the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset shows stable performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum FPS is 110 and the maximum is 148. At 1440p, the minimum is 83 and the maximum is 112. At 4K, the minimum is 56 and the maximum is 76.