Control

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 is a combination that struggles to deliver a fluid experience in Control at most settings, with the data showing a clear ceiling at 1080p Low. The measured frame rates indicate that this pair is severely bottlenecked by the GPU, particularly at higher resolutions, making it a legacy configuration best suited for lower fidelity targets.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for this combination in Control presents a stark reality: playable frame rates are only achievable at the lowest settings tier. The only measured configuration that consistently breaks the 60 FPS threshold is 1080p Low, which delivers an average of 57 FPS. This is the sole point in the dataset where the system approaches a smooth experience, and it is the recommended target for any user prioritizing responsiveness over visual fidelity.

Moving up to 1080p Medium yields an average of 40 FPS, which is a significant drop from the Low preset. While this is technically playable, it is a 30% reduction in performance and may feel less fluid during intense action sequences. The measured minimum for this setting is 34 FPS, indicating that there are moments where the frame rate dips further, potentially causing noticeable stutter. For those who value consistency, the 1080p Low preset is the safer choice.

At 1440p, the situation becomes more challenging. The Low preset produces an average of 43 FPS, which is a playable, if not ideal, experience. However, the High and Medium presets at this resolution drop to 27 and 30 FPS respectively, which are generally considered too low for a fast-paced action-adventure game. The Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 24 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The data suggests that 1440p should only be considered with the Low preset, and even then, users should be prepared for a less smooth experience than at 1080p.

The 4K resolution is effectively unplayable with this hardware configuration in Control. The best result at 4K comes from the Low preset, which averages only 29 FPS. All other settings at 4K—Medium (21 FPS), High (18 FPS), and Ultra (16 FPS)—result in frame rates that are too low for a responsive gaming experience. The data is clear: this combination is not designed for 4K gaming in this title. The optimal experience, balancing playability and visual quality, is definitively the 1080p Low preset, as it is the only measured configuration that provides a frame rate high enough for smooth, responsive gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

Benchmark results indicate that this specific configuration is positioned at the very bottom of the performance spectrum for Control. The combo rank is 2768 out of 2888 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 4% of all systems tested. This is a very low standing that underscores the hardware mismatch for this particular game, which is known to be demanding on GPU resources.

The ranking is primarily a reflection of the GPU's age and limitations. The AMD Radeon RX 570, while a capable card in its era, is now considered entry-level, and its performance in Control is severely limited. The CPU, on the other hand, is a modern and powerful processor. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 sits in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, indicating that it is a high-performing processor that is likely not the primary constraint in this system.

This creates a significant imbalance. The CPU is overqualified for the task, while the GPU is underpowered. The data confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rates scale directly with resolution and settings, which are GPU-bound workloads. The CPU's high benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4394, suggest it has ample headroom to feed a more powerful graphics card. In this pairing, the RX 570 is the bottleneck, preventing the system from achieving higher performance levels.

The GPU's own percentile ranking is 74th, which is far below the CPU's 90th percentile. This discrepancy is the core issue. The system is effectively held back by the graphics card, and the data shows that its performance in Control is at the lower end of the spectrum when compared to all other tested combinations.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570's role in this configuration is the primary determinant of the gaming experience, and the data shows it is the limiting component. The GPU features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. In a game like Control, which features complex textures and environments, this memory capacity and bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p but become a significant constraint at higher resolutions, where the demand for frame buffer memory increases substantially.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 1168 MHz and a boost of 1244 MHz, are relatively modest by modern standards. The data shows that this combination of clocks and memory is not powerful enough to maintain high frame rates in Control. The FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS is the raw compute power available, and the measured results suggest that this is insufficient for the game's rendering demands at higher settings.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly telling. At 4K resolution, the Low preset averages 29 FPS, which is a 50% drop from the 1080p Low result of 57 FPS. This sharp decline is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of memory bandwidth and capacity. The 4 GB frame buffer is likely being maxed out at 4K, causing the GPU to spill over into system memory or reduce texture quality, which in turn impacts performance. The 256-bit bus, while respectable, cannot provide enough bandwidth for the massive data throughput required at 4K.

The GPU's architecture, GCN 4.0, is an older design that lacks modern features like dedicated ray tracing cores. Control is a game that can utilize advanced rendering techniques, but this GPU must rely on traditional rasterization methods. The measured data shows that the GPU's raw performance is the deciding factor, and its limitations are exposed at every resolution above 1080p Low. The performance is directly tied to the GPU's compute and memory capabilities, and the results clearly show that it is the bottleneck in this system for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of this combination's performance across different resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the performance spans a wide range depending on the preset. The Low preset delivers an average of 57 FPS, which is the best result in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS, showing some fluctuation. The High preset drops to 36 FPS, and the Ultra preset is near the edge of playability at 31 FPS.

Moving to 1440p, the performance takes a significant hit. The Low preset averages 43 FPS, which is a 25% reduction from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 30 FPS, with a minimum of 26 FPS and a maximum of 35 FPS. The High preset falls to 27 FPS, and the Ultra preset is at 24 FPS. The data shows a clear trend: at 1440p, the system struggles to maintain 30 FPS on anything but the Low preset.

At 4K, the performance is critically low across all settings. The Low preset averages 29 FPS, which is the only result above 20 FPS at this resolution. The Medium preset averages 21 FPS, with a minimum of 17 FPS and a maximum of 24 FPS. The High preset averages 18 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the worst result in the dataset at 16 FPS. The data shows that this configuration is not viable for 4K gaming in Control, as even the lowest settings do not produce a consistently playable frame rate.

The differences between settings within each resolution are also instructive. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 26 FPS (57 vs. 31), which is a substantial 46% performance loss for higher visual fidelity. At 1440p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 19 FPS (43 vs. 24). At 4K, the gap is only 13 FPS (29 vs. 16), indicating that the GPU is so saturated at this resolution that changing settings has a diminishing impact on performance. This is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck, where the hardware is working at its maximum capacity and cannot be pushed further.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K provides critical insight into the system's limiting component. At Low settings, the performance drops from 57 FPS at 1080p to 43 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 29 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 49% drop from 1080p to 4K. This steep decline is a strong indicator that the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

The scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU that is overwhelmed by the increasing pixel count. The number of pixels at 4K is four times that of 1080p, and the data shows that the frame rate does not scale linearly with the pixel count. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the frame rate to remain relatively constant across resolutions, as the CPU's workload is primarily related to game logic and draw calls, which do not increase with resolution. However, the data shows a significant drop, confirming that the GPU's rendering capabilities are being exhausted.

This is further emphasized by the diminishing returns at higher settings. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra is only 13 FPS, while at 1080p, the difference is 26 FPS. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so memory and compute bound that it cannot effectively translate the increased visual workload from higher settings into a proportionally higher frame rate cost. The GPU is already at its limit, and the settings changes have less of an impact because the hardware cannot keep up.

The data points to the AMD Radeon RX 570 as the definitive limiting factor. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245, with its high Passmark multi-thread score of 38706 and 90th percentile ranking, has more than enough processing power to handle the game's CPU demands. The frame rates are being dictated entirely by the GPU's ability to render frames, and as the resolution increases, this limitation becomes more pronounced. The result is a system that is playable at 1080p Low, but quickly becomes unplayable as the resolution target increases.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows that 1920x1080 with the Low preset is the only configuration that delivers a frame rate suitable for smooth gameplay, averaging 57 FPS. All other settings at this resolution are below 40 FPS, and higher resolutions result in average frame rates in the 20s or lower.

*Q: Can this system run Control at 4K?*

A: No. The benchmark results show that at 3840x2160, the best average frame rate is 29 FPS with the Low preset. The Medium, High, and Ultra presets all produce average frame rates below 22 FPS, which is not a playable experience.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The data indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 570 GPU is the primary bottleneck. The GPU's 74th percentile ranking is significantly lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245's 90th percentile ranking. Furthermore, the frame rates drop sharply with increasing resolution, which is a characteristic of a GPU-bound system.

Q: How does the RX 570's performance in this game compare to its closest rivals?

A: The average benchmark score for the RX 570 is 28766. This is 0.8% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 470, which has an average score of 28996, and 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon R9 M295X, which scores 28580. The data shows it performs in line with these older cards.

Q: What is the average FPS at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS for 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 30 FPS. The minimum FPS is 26 and the maximum is 35, showing some inconsistency in frame pacing.

Q: Is there a setting where the frame rate is consistently above 60 FPS?

A: No. The only measured setting with an average above 60 FPS is absent from the data. The highest average FPS is 57, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the closest the system gets to a consistent 60 FPS experience.