Control

# Control — Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

Control, the 2019 action-adventure from Remedy Entertainment, is a game that rewards both GPU and CPU investment, with its physics-heavy environments and ray-traced reflections creating a demanding workload. The measured data for this Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination shows a system that scales predictably across resolutions, but with interesting inflection points that reveal which component is doing the heavy lifting at each setting tier. At 1080p Low, the pair produces 193 FPS average, which drops to 106 FPS at 1080p Ultra, a 45% reduction that hints at the growing burden on the graphics card as visual fidelity increases. The story at 4K is steeper: 98 FPS at Low falls to 54 FPS at Ultra, a 45% decrease that confirms the RTX 4070 is the primary limiter in the most demanding scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where this system's bottleneck resides. At 1080p Low, the average frame rate is 193 FPS, which drops to 146 FPS at 1440p Low (a 24% reduction) and then to 98 FPS at 4K Low (a 49% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior; the CPU has enough headroom at lower resolutions to feed the graphics card, but the pixel count at 4K nearly halves the frame rate. The same trend appears at High settings: 122 FPS at 1080p, 92 FPS at 1440p (a 25% drop), and 62 FPS at 4K (a 49% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage reductions across different quality presets strongly suggests that resolution scaling is dictated by the RTX 4070's fill rate and bandwidth, not by the processor.

However, the data also reveals that the CPU begins to matter more as settings are lowered. At 4K Ultra, the system averages 54 FPS, while at 4K Low it reaches 98 FPS — nearly double. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 44 FPS, whereas at 1080p that gap is 87 FPS (193 vs 106). This compression at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is saturated at 4K regardless of settings, while at 1080p the CPU can push enough frames that the graphics card becomes the sole limiting factor even on Low. The Medium preset at each resolution shows a similar delta: 137 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 70 FPS at 4K, with the 1440p-to-4K drop of 33% being the largest step, again pointing to the memory bandwidth wall of the 192-bit bus.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070's specifications directly explain the measured performance. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, the card provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial but not limitless. The boost clock of 2475 MHz, combined with 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs, yields a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s. These figures suggest a card designed for high frame rates at 1440p, and the data confirms this: 92 FPS at 1440p High is a strong result, and 80 FPS at 1440p Ultra is playable. The 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS, however, shows the card nearing its practical ceiling, as the FP32 throughput of 29.15 TFLOPS is spread thin across 8.3 million pixels.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB appears sufficient for Control at these settings, since the measured frames at 4K Ultra (54 FPS) and 4K High (62 FPS) do not show catastrophic drops that would indicate memory swapping. The GDDR6X memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) feeds the 192-bit interface, and the bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s is likely the limiting resource at 4K, where the delta between High (62 FPS) and Ultra (54 FPS) is a modest 8 FPS — suggesting that increased texture detail and effects at Ultra are constrained more by bandwidth than by compute. The card's 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present, but the measured data does not isolate ray tracing performance, so their impact is included in the overall scores.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, built on a 3 nm process from TSMC. Its L3 cache is 24 MB shared, and it supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 14769 multicore and 2085 single-core, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. This single-core strength is critical for Control, which, like many action games, relies heavily on a few threads for game logic and physics. The 5.00 GHz boost clock ensures that these primary threads are fed, which explains why the 1080p Low result reaches 193 FPS — a frame rate that requires the CPU to prepare frames faster than the GPU can render them.

The processor's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (deltaPct 0.1), Intel Core i9-13900HX (deltaPct -0.1), and AMD EPYC 4364P (deltaPct 0.2). These deltas are within 0.2% of the Ultra 5 235's average score of 46062, indicating that the CPU is competitive with top-tier mobile and server parts in synthetic tests. In gaming, the 14 cores (with no hyperthreading, meaning 14 threads) provide enough parallelism for background tasks, while the high single-thread speed handles the primary game thread. The PassMark multithread score of 37816 and single-thread score of 4516 support this dual-role capability. At 1080p, the CPU is not the bottleneck — the 193 FPS at Low is near the practical limit for many displays — but the data shows that the CPU must be strong enough to avoid capping the GPU at lower resolutions, and this processor clearly is.

FAQ

Q: Why is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K so large at Low settings?

A: At 1080p Low, the system averages 193 FPS, while at 4K Low it drops to 98 FPS, a 49% reduction. This indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor even at low settings, as the RTX 4070's 504.2 GB/s bandwidth and 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient to maintain the same frame rate when the pixel count quadruples.

Q: Is the RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM enough for Control at 4K Ultra?

A: The measured 4K Ultra average is 54 FPS, with no min FPS data to indicate stutter, suggesting that 12 GB is sufficient for this game. The card's GDDR6X memory at 21 Gbps effective across a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s, which appears adequate for Control's textures and effects at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU's single-core performance affect the results?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 has a boost clock of 5.00 GHz and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085. This high single-thread performance allows the CPU to keep up with the GPU at 1080p, where the system reaches 122 FPS at High settings, ensuring the processor is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if targeting 60 FPS?

A: The data shows that 4K High yields 62 FPS, which is just above 60 FPS, while 4K Ultra drops to 54 FPS. For a consistent 60 FPS experience, 1440p Ultra at 80 FPS or 4K High at 62 FPS are the viable options, with the latter being the closest match to a 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the Ultra 5 235 compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 46062, while the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46030 (deltaPct 0.1), the Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098 (deltaPct -0.1), and the AMD EPYC 4364P scores 45970 (deltaPct 0.2). These differences are negligible, meaning the Ultra 5 235 is effectively tied with these competitors in synthetic tests.

Q: Does the game show CPU or GPU bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system hits 193 FPS, which is very high and suggests the GPU is the limiter. However, at 1080p Ultra, the frame rate drops to 106 FPS, a 45% reduction, indicating that the GPU is still the primary constraint across all settings at this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 193 FPS, Medium settings average 137 FPS with a minimum of 116 and maximum of 157, High settings average 122 FPS, and Ultra settings average 106 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 56 FPS drop, while the step from High to Ultra is a 16 FPS drop, showing diminishing returns as settings increase.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease proportionally. Low settings average 146 FPS, Medium averages 104 FPS with a minimum of 88 and maximum of 119, High averages 92 FPS, and Ultra averages 80 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at each setting tier results in a 24-27% reduction in average FPS, consistent with the 77% increase in pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 98 FPS, Medium averages 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 and maximum of 80, High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 59 FPS is notable, as it dips below the 60 FPS threshold, while Ultra's 54 FPS average indicates a borderline playable experience. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 44 FPS, compared to 87 FPS at 1080p, showing that the GPU's limitations compress the range at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, the 4K High preset at 62 FPS is the most demanding configuration that meets this goal, though it offers no headroom for drops. The 4K Medium preset at 70 FPS provides a safer margin, with a minimum of 59 FPS that still occasionally dips below 60. At 1440p, the Ultra preset at 80 FPS is the clear choice for maximum visual quality without sacrificing smoothness, while the High preset at 92 FPS is ideal for those who prefer a higher refresh rate experience. At 1080p, all presets exceed 100 FPS, with Ultra at 106 FPS being the best balance of fidelity and speed, while Low at 193 FPS is suited for esports-style play or high-refresh displays.

The data suggests that the Medium preset at each resolution offers the most consistent experience, as it is the only tier with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the range is 116-157 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 88-119 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 59-80 FPS. These ranges indicate that Medium provides predictable performance without the spikes and drops that can occur at other settings. For a locked 60 FPS experience, 4K Medium is the recommended preset, while 1440p Ultra offers a superior visual experience at 80 FPS for those with adaptive sync displays.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 650th out of 2888 tested combos for Control, placing it in the top 22.5% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the system's ability to handle Control at high settings across most resolutions, though it falls short of top-tier builds that would achieve higher frame rates at 4K Ultra. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs (average score 46062) and the GPU's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs (average score 37648) both contribute to this solid but not elite position.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (avgScore 37628, deltaPct 0.1) and AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (avgScore 37507, deltaPct 0.4), both of which are within 0.4% of the RTX 4070's average score. The RTX 4080 Mobile is 1.3% ahead, while the Radeon PRO W6400 is 1.3% behind. This clustering suggests that the RTX 4070 sits in a competitive mid-range tier, and the rank of 650 reflects that position. The Core Ultra 5 235's nearest rivals are similarly close, with deltas of 0.2% or less, meaning the CPU is not a differentiator in this ranking — the GPU's performance largely determines the combo's position. Given that Control is a demanding title with heavy GPU loads, the 650th rank out of 2888 is a strong result, indicating that this system delivers high frame rates at 1440p and playable performance at 4K, with the bottleneck clearly residing in the graphics card rather than the processor.