Control

Control pairs a 14-core Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, creating a system that leans on a modern Arrow Lake CPU and an older Ampere GPU. The measured frame rates show a consistent pattern: this combo handles the game smoothly at 1080p, remains playable at 1440p, and only starts to strain at 4K with the highest presets. The data suggests a balanced pairing where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strong single-thread performance keeps minimums respectable. This analysis breaks down exactly how each component contributes to the experience in Control, using only the measured results and specifications provided.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 brings 14 cores and 14 threads to the table, a configuration that relies on a 3.40 GHz base clock and a 5.00 GHz boost clock. This is a desktop part from the Arrow Lake-S architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache. For a game like Control, which is an Action Adventure title from 2019, the CPU's job is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data; the benchmark results indicate this processor handles that task effectively across all tested resolutions.

Looking at the CPU's synthetic performance, the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769 and single-core score of 2085 show a part that excels in both threaded and lightly-threaded workloads. The PassMark single-thread score of 4516 reinforces this, and the 89th percentile ranking versus all CPUs suggests the Core Ultra 5 235 sits well above most processors in overall capability. In Control, where frame pacing and consistent frame delivery matter more than raw core counts, the high boost clock is likely the key factor; the game's engine benefits from strong single-thread performance to avoid CPU-bound stutters.

The nearest rivals for this CPU are interesting: the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46030 (0.1% lower), the Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098 (0.1% higher), and the AMD EPYC 4364P scores 45970 (0.2% lower). These deltas are minuscule, meaning the Core Ultra 5 235 effectively trades blows with a high-end laptop chip and server parts in average benchmark score. For Control, this translates to a CPU that is unlikely to be the limiting factor at any resolution in this test, as the measured FPS scales predictably with GPU load.

The 65W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (102.4 GB/s bandwidth) provide enough headroom for gaming, though the data shows the CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU's single-thread strength helps push average FPS to 185 on Low settings, but at 4K, the same CPU is paired with a GPU that struggles to maintain 60 FPS on Ultra. The architecture's 14 cores are more than sufficient for Control's threading model, which typically uses fewer than eight threads; the extra cores likely provide headroom for background tasks without impacting frame times.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in Control, and at what settings?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 185, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This drops to 101 FPS at the same resolution with Ultra settings, showing a significant performance penalty for higher quality presets.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rival, and does this matter for Control?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i9-13900HX. This near-identical performance means any of these CPUs would deliver similar frame rates in Control, as the game is not heavily CPU-bound at higher resolutions.

Q: At which resolution does the combo fail to maintain 60 FPS on any settings preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 52, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. All other resolution and settings combinations in the measured data stay at or above 60 FPS, with 4K High being exactly 60 FPS.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce an average of 140 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 77 FPS. This represents a 63 FPS drop, or approximately 45% lower performance, when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: How does the GPU's average benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 23172, which is 0.3% lower than the NVIDIA P106-100 (23249) and 0.4% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23273). These rivals are not gaming-grade GPUs in the same class, indicating the RTX 3080's raw compute scores are uncharacteristically low relative to its gaming performance.

Q: Does the combo's ranking in Control suggest it is a good match for this game?

A: The combo ranks 771 out of 2888 tested combinations, placing it in the top 26.7% of all systems tested. This suggests the pairing performs well above average for Control, even though the GPU is several generations old.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured data shows a clear trend: as resolution increases, average FPS drops substantially, and the drop is more pronounced at higher settings. At Low settings, the combo delivers 185 FPS at 1080p, 140 FPS at 1440p, and 94 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24% decline from 1080p to 1440p, and a 33% decline from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is roughly proportional to pixel count, which strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions when using Low settings.

Moving to Ultra settings, the pattern becomes even more telling. At 1080p, the combo achieves 101 FPS; at 1440p, it drops to 77 FPS (a 24% decline); and at 4K, it falls to 52 FPS (a 32% decline from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops across settings suggest the CPU is not introducing a bottleneck, as the relative performance penalty tracks almost exactly with the increased pixel workload. If the CPU were limiting, the FPS drops would flatten out at higher resolutions, but they do not.

The Medium settings data includes min and max FPS values, which offer insight into frame consistency. At 1080p Medium, the average is 131 FPS with a min of 111 and max of 151, showing a relatively tight 40 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 99 FPS with a min of 84 and max of 114, a 30 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the average is 67 FPS with a min of 57 and max of 77, a 20 FPS spread. The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates the GPU becomes more consistently the bottleneck, reducing CPU-induced frame time variance.

The 4K High setting is particularly notable: it averages exactly 60 FPS, which is the target for many console ports and a common V-sync threshold. The fact that this combo hits 60 FPS at 4K High suggests the RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory is sufficient for this game's textures at that resolution, and the GPU's 760.3 GB/s bandwidth handles the data throughput without choking. However, the 52 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates the game's highest preset pushes beyond what this GPU can sustain, likely due to more demanding effects rather than memory capacity.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo ranks 771 out of 2888 tested combinations in Control, which places it in the 73rd percentile of all systems tested. This is a strong showing for a pairing that combines a 2025 CPU with a 2020 GPU, and it suggests the RTX 3080 still has significant life for this generation of games. The ranking implies that roughly 73% of tested combos perform worse, while 27% perform better, placing this system in the upper-middle tier of the database.

To contextualize this rank, consider that the CPU alone sits in the 89th percentile versus all CPUs, while the GPU sits in the 68th percentile versus all GPUs. The combo's 73rd percentile ranking falls between these two figures, which is logical given that the GPU is the weaker link and will drag the overall performance down from the CPU's potential. The data suggests that if this CPU were paired with a stronger GPU, the combo rank would likely improve significantly, as the Core Ultra 5 235 has headroom to drive faster frame rates.

The 2888 total combos include a wide range of hardware, from budget systems to high-end enthusiast builds. Being in the top 27% means this combo outperforms most systems in the database, which is noteworthy because the RTX 3080 is now several generations old and the CPU is a mid-range desktop part. The ranking also indicates that Control is not an overly demanding game for this hardware; the 2019 release date means it was designed for earlier GPUs, so the RTX 3080's Ampere architecture handles it with relative ease.

The deltaPct values for the GPU's nearest rivals are all negative (-0.3% to -0.4%), meaning the RTX 3080 scores slightly lower than those components in average benchmarks. However, those rivals include the NVIDIA P106-100, which is a mining card, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, which is a mobile workstation GPU. In real gaming scenarios, the RTX 3080 far outperforms these parts, so the combo rank likely understates its actual gaming capability.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 131 FPS average with a min of 111 FPS, which is smooth and well above the 60 FPS threshold. At 1440p, Medium drops to 99 FPS average with a min of 84 FPS, still maintaining a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. At 4K, Medium produces 67 FPS average with a min of 57 FPS, which dips slightly below the 60 FPS target but remains playable.

For users with 1080p monitors, High settings are also a strong choice, delivering 117 FPS average. This is only 14 FPS lower than Medium but offers better visual fidelity, and the lack of min FPS data suggests the frame rate is stable enough to not cause issues. However, the jump from High to Ultra at 1080p costs 16 FPS (from 117 to 101), which is a notable penalty for marginal visual gains in most games.

At 1440p, High settings produce 88 FPS average, which is still excellent, but Ultra drops to 77 FPS. The 11 FPS difference between High and Ultra at this resolution is less significant than at 1080p, but the Medium preset's 99 FPS provides more headroom for demanding scenes. For 4K users, the choice is clear: High settings at 60 FPS exactly is the sweet spot, as Ultra drops to 52 FPS, which may cause noticeable stuttering on V-sync displays.

The Low preset is only recommended for competitive play or very high refresh rate monitors, as it delivers 185 FPS at 1080p and 140 FPS at 1440p. However, the visual downgrade is usually substantial, and the Medium preset's 131 FPS at 1080p is likely sufficient for most high-refresh displays. Given the data, Medium is the safest recommendation for a consistent experience, with High as an alternative for those prioritizing visuals over raw frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 185 FPS, Medium produces 131 FPS (with a min of 111 and max of 151), High produces 117 FPS, and Ultra produces 101 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 84 FPS, showing that settings have a massive impact at this resolution. The Medium preset's min FPS of 111 indicates the system rarely drops below that threshold, making it suitable for 144Hz monitors.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. Low settings average 140 FPS, Medium averages 99 FPS (with a min of 84 and max of 114), High averages 88 FPS, and Ultra averages 77 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 63 FPS, which is proportionally similar to the 1080p spread. The Medium preset's min FPS of 84 is still well above the 60 FPS target, making 1440p a comfortable resolution for this combo.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 3080 begins to show its age. Low settings average 94 FPS, Medium averages 67 FPS (with a min of 57 and max of 77), High averages exactly 60 FPS, and Ultra averages 52 FPS. The Medium preset's min FPS of 57 is below 60, which could cause minor stutters on a 60Hz display, while the High preset's 60 FPS average is borderline. Ultra is not recommended at 4K, as the 52 FPS average is below the standard refresh rate target.

The data reveals an interesting anomaly: at every resolution, the jump from Low to Medium costs more FPS than the jump from Medium to High or High to Ultra. For example, at 1080p, Low to Medium costs 54 FPS, Medium to High costs 14 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 16 FPS. This suggests the Low preset disables many GPU-intensive features, while the Medium preset enables them, and subsequent presets add diminishing returns.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the primary driver of Control's visual performance, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU features 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This is ample for Control, a 2019 game, as the 4K High preset maintains 60 FPS without apparent memory pressure. The boost clock of 1710 MHz and 8704 shading units deliver the raw compute needed for the game's effects.

The RTX 3080's 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores are relevant for Control, which was one of the first games to feature real-time ray tracing. However, the measured FPS data does not specify whether ray tracing is enabled, so the results likely reflect standard rasterization. The GPU's 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is more than sufficient for this game's non-ray-traced rendering, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p.

The GPU's 68th percentile ranking versus all GPUs places it below the CPU's 89th percentile, confirming that the GPU is the limiting component in this combo. The nearest rivals in benchmark scores are the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, which are not gaming GPUs and highlight that the RTX 3080's average score is dragged down by compute workloads it is not optimized for. In gaming, the RTX 3080 far exceeds these parts, and the measured FPS in Control confirms this.

The 8 nm Samsung process and 320W TDP indicate the RTX 3080 is a power-hungry part, but the 700W suggested PSU provides enough headroom. The 10 GB VRAM is the most likely long-term limitation, as newer games may require more memory, but Control's 4K High result shows this is not an issue here. The GPU's end-of-life production status and 2020 release date mean it is older technology, yet the data shows it still handles this game admirably at all but the most demanding 4K preset.