Control

# Control: Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT — Benchmark Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a playable Control experience across most settings, with the sweet spot clearly at 1080p Medium where the average frame rate reaches 84 FPS. At 1440p, the combo struggles to maintain high refresh rates but remains viable at Medium settings with a 63 FPS average. The Ultra preset is only recommended for users prioritizing visual fidelity over smoothness, as it drops below 50 FPS at both 1440p and 4K. This analysis draws exclusively from measured data for this specific configuration, covering presets from Low to Ultra across three resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that Medium settings at 1920x1080 provide the best balance of visual quality and performance, with an average of 84 FPS and a minimum of 71 FPS. This is the only settings/resolution combination where the minimum frame rate comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for smooth gameplay. High settings at 1080p achieve 74 FPS average, which is acceptable, but the 10 FPS drop from Medium suggests diminishing returns for the visual upgrade. Low settings at 1080p push the average to 118 FPS, ideal for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays, though the visual compromise is significant.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings deliver 63 FPS average with a 54 FPS minimum, which is borderline for demanding action sequences. High settings at 1440p fall to 56 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 49 FPS — both below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider smooth. For 4K, only Low settings achieve a 60 FPS average, while Medium drops to 43 FPS and High to 38 FPS. Ultra at 4K is effectively unplayable at 33 FPS average. The data suggests prioritizing Medium at 1080p or 1440p, with Low reserved for 4K or high-refresh-rate scenarios.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture processor, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC, demonstrates strong single-thread performance with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648 and a multi-core score of 32924. The passmark single-thread score of 4394 places it in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, indicating excellent per-core capability for game logic and physics calculations.

In Control, a game that relies heavily on physics-based destruction and environmental interactions, the CPU's single-thread performance is critical. The 14-core configuration with no hyperthreading (14 threads) provides adequate parallel throughput for background tasks, but the game's engine benefits most from the high boost clock. The L3 cache of 24 MB shared across cores helps reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's streaming of environmental assets. The DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU without bottlenecks, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU is more likely to be the limiting factor.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 48995 places it within 1% of several rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196, -0.4% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228, -0.5% delta). It slightly outperforms the Intel Core i5-14600K (48618, +0.8% delta). This positioning suggests the CPU provides balanced performance that neither bottlenecks nor overshadows the GPU in this configuration.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, based on the Navi 23 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1968 MHz and boost clock of 2589 MHz, with a game clock of 2359 MHz. The 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 10.60 TFLOPS.

In Control, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at Medium settings, but the data shows diminishing returns at higher presets. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1804 and Passmark G3D score of 16461 place the GPU in the 70th percentile among all GPUs. The nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (24277, +0.7% delta) and the Intel Arc A350M (24647, -0.8% delta), though the RX 6600 XT leads the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170, +1.1% delta) in aggregate benchmarks.

The GPU's performance characteristics explain the measured FPS scaling. At 1080p Low, the 118 FPS average indicates the GPU is not fully utilized, suggesting the CPU plays a significant role. However, as resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with 4K Ultra dropping to 33 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM capacity appears adequate for the tested presets, but the memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s may constrain performance at 4K with higher texture loads.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 2650th out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower 29th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than the CPU's strength, as the RX 6600 XT sits in the 70th percentile among GPUs while the CPU ranks in the 90th percentile. The disparity suggests the GPU is the primary performance limiter in this pairing.

The rank of 2650 out of 3720 combos indicates that approximately 1070 tested configurations perform worse in Control, while 2650 perform better. This places the combo in the lower-middle tier of tested systems, consistent with the measured frame rates that show playable but not exceptional performance. The data indicates that the CPU has headroom for a more powerful GPU, as evidenced by the significant FPS increase from Low to Medium settings at 1080p (118 to 84 FPS), which is primarily GPU-driven.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing's ranking suggests it is better suited for 1080p gaming than higher resolutions. The 4K results, with only Low settings achieving 60 FPS, reinforce that this is not a 4K-capable configuration for Control. The combo's rank is likely influenced by the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus, which limit higher-resolution performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear pattern of FPS degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 84 at 1080p to 63 at 1440p (a 25% decrease), then to 43 at 4K (a 32% decrease from 1440p). This scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, as the CPU's performance remains constant across resolution changes.

At Low settings, the FPS drops from 118 at 1080p to 89 at 1440p (a 25% decrease), then to 60 at 4K (a 33% decrease). The fact that 4K Low achieves exactly 60 FPS suggests the GPU is reaching its memory bandwidth or compute limits. High settings show a similar pattern: 74 FPS at 1080p, 56 at 1440p (24% decrease), and 38 at 4K (32% decrease). Ultra settings follow the trend with 65, 49, and 33 FPS respectively.

The consistent 24-33% FPS drops between resolutions indicate that the GPU's performance scales predictably with pixel count, but the relatively small absolute FPS values at 4K (33-60 FPS) confirm that the RX 6600 XT lacks the raw compute power for 4K gaming in Control. The CPU, with its 90th percentile ranking, is unlikely to be the bottleneck at any resolution, as evidenced by the proportional FPS scaling that matches GPU-bound behavior.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: Low settings produce the highest average at 118 FPS, followed by Medium at 84 FPS (minimum 71, maximum 96), High at 74 FPS, and Ultra at 65 FPS. The 53 FPS spread between Low and Ultra highlights the significant impact of graphical settings on performance at this resolution.

2560x1440: Low settings average 89 FPS, Medium averages 63 FPS (minimum 54, maximum 73), High averages 56 FPS, and Ultra averages 49 FPS. The 40 FPS spread between Low and Ultra is smaller than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

3840x2160: Low settings average 60 FPS, Medium averages 43 FPS (minimum 36, maximum 49), High averages 38 FPS, and Ultra averages 33 FPS. The 27 FPS spread between Low and Ultra is the smallest across all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated at 4K and settings have less relative impact.

The Medium preset at each resolution shows the most complete data, with minimum and maximum values recorded. At 1080p Medium, the 71-96 FPS range indicates consistent performance. At 1440p Medium, the 54-73 FPS range shows more variability, likely due to GPU load fluctuations. At 4K Medium, the 36-49 FPS range demonstrates significant frame time variance, which could result in noticeable stuttering during intense scenes.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 60 FPS gameplay?

A: At 1920x1080, Medium settings achieve 84 FPS average with a 71 FPS minimum. At 2560x1440, Medium settings average 63 FPS with a 54 FPS minimum. At 3840x2160, only Low settings reach 60 FPS average.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Control?

A: The data shows 4K Low averages 60 FPS, but Medium drops to 43 FPS and Ultra to 33 FPS. For consistent 4K performance above 60 FPS, the GPU is insufficient.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, which is 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196) and 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228). It is 0.6% higher than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698) and 0.8% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K (48618).

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 24442, which is 0.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (24277) and 0.8% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (24236). It is 0.8% lower than the Intel Arc A350M (24647) and 1.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170).

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

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings average 118 FPS while Ultra averages 65 FPS, representing a 53 FPS difference. The GPU is the primary factor in this scaling, as the CPU's performance is consistent.

Q: Does the combo rank within the top half of tested configurations?

A: No, the combo ranks 2650th out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower 29th percentile. This is primarily due to the GPU's mid-range positioning despite the CPU's 90th percentile ranking.