Control

# Control: Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + AMD Radeon RX 9060

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 produces a mid-pack result in Control, ranking 1632nd out of 2888 tested combos. This places the combination in the 56th percentile of all tested systems, indicating a configuration that handles the game at mainstream resolutions but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The data shows a system that is consistently playable at 1080p and 1440p across most settings, with a noticeable performance cliff appearing at 2160p that aligns with the GPU's hardware characteristics.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1632 out of 2888, this pairing sits slightly above the median of all tested configurations for Control. The ranking reflects a balanced but not exceptional system: the CPU is a strong performer relative to its peers, while the GPU is decidedly mid-range. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 achieves a 90th percentile score against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48995. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (scoring 49196, a -0.4% delta), the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228, -0.5%), the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698, +0.6%), and the Intel Core i5-14600K (48618, +0.8%). This clustering within a 1.3% range shows the Ultra 5 245 is effectively equivalent to several strong desktop and workstation chips in raw compute.

The GPU, however, anchors the combo's overall position. The Radeon RX 9060 ranks in the 59th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 16014. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129, -0.7%), the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862, +1.0%), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15852, +1.0%), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679, +2.1%). The RX 9060 is effectively a peer of the RTX 3060 Ti in overall GPU compute, which aligns with the measured frame rates in Control. The combination of a top-decile CPU with a mid-pack GPU means the system's ranking is largely dictated by the graphics card, a pattern that becomes evident when examining resolution scaling.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the configuration delivers solid performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 130 FPS, which is the highest measured result for this combo. Medium settings yield 92 FPS with a minimum of 78 and a maximum of 106. High settings drop to 82 FPS average, while Ultra settings produce 71 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 59 FPS, representing a 45% reduction in frame rate when maxing out settings. All 1080p results are comfortably above 60 FPS, making this resolution fully playable even at the highest preset.

Moving to 1440p, the frame rates remain respectable but begin to show the GPU's limitations. Low settings average 98 FPS, Medium averages 70 FPS (with a range of 59 to 80), High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra drops to 54 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs 8 FPS, while High to Ultra costs another 8 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the average dips below 60 FPS, suggesting that users targeting a 60 FPS experience may need to settle for High settings or lower. The minimum FPS of 59 at Medium settings indicates that even this preset can occasionally touch the 60 FPS threshold.

At 4K, the system struggles significantly. Ultra settings average only 36 FPS, High averages 42 FPS, Medium averages 47 FPS (with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 54), and Low averages 66 FPS. The only 4K preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS is Low. The difference between 4K Low and 4K Ultra is 30 FPS, a 45% drop. More telling is the comparison across resolutions: at High settings, the system delivers 82 FPS at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K, illustrating the GPU's difficulty with the higher pixel counts.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm process. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. This memory configuration is notable for Control, as the game's asset streaming and texture requirements can be demanding at higher resolutions. The 8 GB frame buffer is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p in this title, but the measured data suggests it may be a limiting factor at 4K, where the GPU also has to contend with the memory bandwidth constraints of a 128-bit bus.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 191.4 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 334.9 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 21.43 TFLOPS. These specifications place the RX 9060 in a class similar to the RTX 3060 Ti, as evidenced by the benchmark delta of -0.7% between the two. In Control, the GPU's performance at 4K Ultra (36 FPS) versus 4K Low (66 FPS) shows that the card is heavily taxed by the game's visual effects at maximum settings. The 8 GB memory, paired with a 288 GB/s bandwidth, appears sufficient for 1440p but becomes a bottleneck at 4K, where the gap between Low and Ultra is wider than at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60 FPS on High settings?

A: At 1440p High, the system averages 62 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K High, it drops to 42 FPS, so 1440p is the highest resolution that delivers a playable High preset experience.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to the RTX 3060 Ti in overall GPU performance?

A: The RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, while the RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129, a delta of -0.7%. This makes the two GPUs statistically equivalent in raw compute performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 92, while at 1440p Medium it is 70. This represents a 24% reduction in frame rate when increasing resolution from 1080p to 1440p.

Q: Does the Core Ultra 5 245 bottleneck the RX 9060 in Control?

A: The CPU ranks in the 90th percentile of all CPUs with strong multi-threaded performance, and the GPU ranks in the 59th percentile. The measured FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K suggests the GPU is the limiting component, as frame rates drop more sharply than would be expected from a CPU bottleneck.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 36, recorded at 4K resolution with Ultra settings. This is the only preset where the average drops below 40 FPS.

Q: How much faster is 4K Low compared to 4K Ultra?

A: At 4K Low, the average FPS is 66, while at 4K Ultra it is 36. This means Low settings are 83% faster than Ultra at 4K resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing a consistent 60 FPS experience, the data points to 1440p High as the optimal configuration, delivering 62 FPS average. At 1080p, all settings maintain averages above 70 FPS, with Ultra at 71 FPS, so 1080p Ultra is viable for those who prefer maximum visual quality at standard resolution. The 1080p Medium preset offers a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS (92 FPS) and is recommended for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 1440p, Medium settings (70 FPS) provide a better safety margin than High (62 FPS) and are advisable if frame time consistency is a concern, especially given the minimum FPS of 59 at Medium. For 4K, only Low settings achieve an average above 60 FPS (66 FPS). Users attempting 4K should accept that visual fidelity will be significantly reduced, as Medium drops to 47 FPS and High to 42 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended for playable frame rates, averaging only 36 FPS.

The measured data suggests that the sweet spot for this combo is 1440p Medium to High, depending on whether visual quality or frame rate stability is prioritized. At 1080p, the system has ample headroom to run Ultra settings without dropping below 71 FPS, making it the best choice for experiencing Control's full graphical feature set.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The processor features 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core, along with 192 KB of L1 cache per core. It supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The CPU's benchmark results show strong single-threaded performance, scoring 4648 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 32924 in multi-core, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs.

In Control, the CPU's capabilities are more than sufficient to feed the RX 9060 at 1080p and 1440p. The measured frame rates at 1080p Low (130 FPS) and 1440p Low (98 FPS) indicate that the CPU can drive high frame rates when the GPU is not the limiting factor. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, scores nearly identically (49228 vs 48995, a -0.5% delta), confirming that the Ultra 5 245 is a high-end desktop processor. The 14 cores and 14 threads are fully utilized in multi-threaded workloads, as evidenced by the PassMark multithread score of 38706 and the Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 32924.

The processor's 5.10 GHz boost clock provides excellent single-thread performance, which is relevant for Control's game logic and physics. The data shows that at 4K, the frame rates are consistently lower regardless of the CPU's compute headroom, confirming that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU is capable of producing over 130 FPS, meaning it does not constrain the GPU at standard resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At Low settings, the average frame rates are 130 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. This represents a 25% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 33% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 49%. At Medium settings, the averages are 92 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, and 47 FPS at 4K, with corresponding drops of 24% and 33%. High settings show 82 FPS, 62 FPS, and 42 FPS across the same resolutions, while Ultra settings produce 71 FPS, 54 FPS, and 36 FPS.

The scaling factor from 1080p to 1440p is relatively consistent across settings, ranging from 24% to 26%. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is larger, ranging from 32% to 36%. This asymmetry indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput become increasingly stressed as resolution increases. The 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely contributing factors to the steeper decline at 4K. The data shows that the system loses roughly half its frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at every setting level, confirming that the RX 9060 is the primary limiting component. The CPU's performance remains constant across resolutions, so the frame rate drops are attributable to the GPU's rendering workload. This behavior is typical of a balanced system where the GPU is the weaker component relative to the CPU, and it suggests that users should target 1080p or 1440p for optimal experiences with this configuration.