Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, is not a typical showcase for brute-force hardware, but the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across its settings and resolutions. This analysis walks through the measured frames per second (FPS) data to determine the optimal configuration, the role of the GPU and CPU, and how this specific pairing stacks up against the broader test pool.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide four quality presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—across three resolutions. The data suggests that the "High" preset offers the most balanced experience for this combo, delivering high frame rates without the steep cost of the Ultra preset. At 1920x1080, High produces an average of 188 FPS, which is 25 FPS lower than Medium’s 211 FPS but 25 FPS higher than Ultra’s 163 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra is a 15.3% performance drop, while the jump from Medium to High is a 12.3% drop, making High a more efficient step for the visual uplift it likely provides.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats. High averages 142 FPS, while Medium averages 160 FPS and Ultra drops to 124 FPS. The High preset remains comfortably above the 120 FPS threshold, which is critical for high-refresh-rate monitors. In contrast, the Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 124 FPS, which is closer to the edge of that comfort zone. The 4K data reinforces this recommendation: at 3840x2160, High averages 96 FPS, while Medium averages 108 FPS and Ultra falls to 83 FPS. While Ultra is technically playable, the 13.5% drop from High to Ultra at 4K is substantial, and the 96 FPS High average is closer to the 100 FPS mark than the 83 FPS Ultra figure.

For players with high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p displays, High is the sweet spot. It avoids the diminishing returns of Ultra while maintaining a significant margin over the 60 FPS baseline. The Low preset, while yielding 298 FPS at 1080p, 225 FPS at 1440p, and 152 FPS at 4K, is only relevant for competitive play or for pushing refresh rates beyond 240 Hz, which is a niche use case for a game like Control. Medium is a viable fallback if frame times are a concern, but the measured average FPS at Medium (211 FPS at 1080p, 160 FPS at 1440p, 108 FPS at 4K) does not offer a proportional visual benefit over High to justify the lower frame rate headroom. Thus, High is the recommended preset for the best experience.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and the benchmark results reflect its massive resource pool. The GPU’s specs include 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This memory configuration is critical for Control, which is known for its heavy use of physics and particle effects that can strain memory bandwidth at high resolutions. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the combo averages 83 FPS, which reflects the GPU’s raw compute power.

The GPU’s clock speeds are listed as a base of 2017 MHz and a boost of 2407 MHz. These clocks, combined with 21760 shading units, drive the FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS. In the measured results, the GPU’s headroom is evident when comparing Low to Ultra settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low (298 FPS) and Ultra (163 FPS) is 135 FPS, a 45.3% drop. This scaling shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is not fully saturating the CPU, but rather the settings are dictating the workload. At 4K, the drop from Low (152 FPS) to Ultra (83 FPS) is 69 FPS, a 45.4% drop, which is nearly identical in percentage terms. This consistency indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter as resolution scales, with the VRAM and bandwidth being sufficient to avoid any memory-related bottlenecks.

The GPU’s benchmark scores further contextualize its role. The PassMark G3D score is 44065, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 14326. These scores place the RTX 5090 D in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. When compared to its nearest rivals, it sits close to the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (deltaPct of 1.1) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (deltaPct of -1.6), though those are mobile parts with lower power envelopes. The data shows that this GPU is not the limiting factor in any of the measured rows; instead, it provides the headroom to run Control at high settings and resolutions with ease.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks first out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This top-tier ranking is unsurprising given the GPU’s performance, but it also highlights the CPU’s ability to keep up. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 46062, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (deltaPct of 0.1), the Intel Core i9-13900HX (deltaPct of -0.1), and the AMD EPYC 4364P (deltaPct of 0.2), all of which are within a fraction of a percent in average score. This indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck, as its performance is statistically tied to other high-end processors.

The combo rank of 1 out of 2888 is a definitive statement about the pairing’s capability. It means that, in the measured database, no other CPU-GPU combination delivers higher average FPS in Control. This is likely driven by the GPU’s dominance, as the RTX 5090 D’s 92nd percentile rank among GPUs is higher than the CPU’s 89th percentile rank. The data suggests that if you were to pair this CPU with a lesser GPU, the rank would drop, but with this specific GPU, the combination is unmatched. The deltaPct values for the CPU’s rivals are all within 0.2%, meaning that swapping the Core Ultra 5 235 for a comparable CPU would not materially change the combo’s ranking, as the GPU would still carry the load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed view of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the averages are 298 FPS for Low, 211 FPS for Medium, 188 FPS for High, and 163 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset includes a min FPS of 180 and a max FPS of 243, indicating a frame time variance of 63 FPS, which is relatively tight. The Low preset has no min or max data, but the 298 FPS average suggests it is CPU-bound in certain scenes, as the GPU is unlikely to be the limiter at such a high frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the averages drop to 225 FPS for Low, 160 FPS for Medium, 142 FPS for High, and 124 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset shows a min of 136 FPS and a max of 184 FPS, a variance of 48 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 24-25% across all settings, which is less than the resolution scaling would suggest (a 33% reduction in pixel count). This indicates that the GPU is still the primary driver, but the CPU is starting to show its influence at the lower settings.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 152 FPS for Low, 108 FPS for Medium, 96 FPS for High, and 83 FPS for Ultra. The Medium preset has a min of 92 FPS and a max of 124 FPS, a variance of 32 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is approximately 32-33% across all settings, which aligns with the pixel count increase from 3.7 million to 8.3 million. This consistency suggests that the GPU is the sole limiter at 4K, as the CPU’s influence diminishes with the higher workload.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals how the limiting component shifts as pixel count increases. From 1080p to 1440p, the FPS drops by an average of 24.5% across the four settings. Specifically, Low drops from 298 to 225 FPS (a 24.5% decrease), Medium from 211 to 160 FPS (a 24.2% decrease), High from 188 to 142 FPS (a 24.5% decrease), and Ultra from 163 to 124 FPS (a 23.9% decrease). These near-uniform percentages indicate that the workload is scaling predictably with pixel count, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

From 1440p to 4K, the FPS drops by an average of 32.3% across the settings. Low drops from 225 to 152 FPS (a 32.4% decrease), Medium from 160 to 108 FPS (a 32.5% decrease), High from 142 to 96 FPS (a 32.4% decrease), and Ultra from 124 to 83 FPS (a 33.1% decrease). The larger percentage drop from 1440p to 4K (32.3%) compared to 1080p to 1440p (24.5%) is expected, as the pixel count increases by 2.25x from 1080p to 4K, but the intermediate step is only a 1.78x increase. The fact that the FPS drops are proportional to the pixel count increase confirms that the GPU is the limiting component across all resolutions.

The data also shows that the CPU’s role is more pronounced at 1080p Low, where the 298 FPS average is likely hitting a CPU ceiling. At this setting, the GPU is underutilized, and the Core Ultra 5 235’s 14 cores and 14 threads (with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz) are working to feed frames. However, as resolution increases, the GPU’s workload grows, and the CPU’s influence wanes. By 4K, the CPU is not a factor, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates across settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo in Control?

A: The High preset offers the best balance, averaging 188 FPS at 1080p, 142 FPS at 1440p, and 96 FPS at 4K. It provides a 15.3% performance uplift over Ultra at 1080p and maintains frame rates above 90 FPS at 4K.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 D’s 32 GB of VRAM matter for Control?

A: The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that memory is never a bottleneck. The data shows consistent frame rates across settings, indicating that VRAM capacity and bandwidth are sufficient for all measured rows.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1st out of 2888 tested combos in Control, making it the highest-performing pairing in the database for this game.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the 298 FPS average suggests the CPU is the limiting factor, as the GPU has ample headroom. The Core Ultra 5 235’s 5.00 GHz boost clock helps, but the data indicates a CPU ceiling at this specific setting.

Q: How does the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K?

A: The FPS drops by an average of 24.5% from 1080p to 1440p, and by an additional 32.3% from 1440p to 4K. This scaling is proportional to the pixel count increase, confirming the GPU as the primary limiter.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking?

A: The RTX 5090 D is in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77712, indicating it is a top-tier component for this workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has a 24 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth. In the context of Control, the CPU’s role is to handle the game’s physics and AI calculations, which can be demanding in action sequences.

The benchmark data for the CPU shows a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14769 and a single-core score of 2085. The PassMark single-thread score is 4516, and the multithread score is 37816. These scores place the CPU in the 89th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 46062. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.2% in average score, meaning that the CPU’s performance is competitive with other high-end processors.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU’s influence is most visible at 1080p Low, where the 298 FPS average is likely constrained by the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls and process game logic. At this setting, the GPU is not the bottleneck, as evidenced by the fact that the FPS does not scale linearly with the GPU’s raw power. However, as resolution increases, the GPU’s workload becomes the dominant factor, and the CPU’s role diminishes. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 83 FPS, which is a strong result that would not be possible if the CPU were a significant bottleneck.

The CPU’s 14 threads, rather than 14 cores with hyperthreading, is a notable design choice. For Control, which is not heavily multithreaded, the single-thread performance (boost clock of 5.00 GHz) is more critical. The Cinebench R20 single-core score of 875 and R15 single-core score of 210 support this, indicating strong single-thread capability. The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s is also sufficient to feed the GPU’s 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, as the data shows no memory-related stutters or frame drops. Overall, the Core Ultra 5 235 plays a supporting role, providing enough headroom to avoid being the primary limiter in most scenarios, with the exception of the extreme 1080p Low case.