Control

Control is a demanding action-adventure title, and the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 produces a highly resolution-dependent experience. The data indicates that this pairing is strictly for 1080p gaming, where it can deliver playable frame rates, but it struggles significantly at higher resolutions. Benchmark results show a clear pattern: the GTX 1070 becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases, making 1440p a compromise and 4K largely unplayable.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 61 FPS, which drops to 46 FPS at 1440p and plummets to 31 FPS at 4K. This represents a 25% performance hit when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 49% hit from 1080p to 4K at the same settings. The scaling is not linear, indicating that the GPU is being saturated by the increased pixel workload.

The pattern becomes even more pronounced at lower settings. At Low settings, the combo produces 97 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is only half of the 1080p score, demonstrating that the GTX 1070's memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s and its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory are insufficient to maintain performance when rendering four times the pixels. The GPU's pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s is simply overwhelmed at 4K, regardless of the graphical preset.

Looking at Medium settings, which provides the only complete dataset with min and max FPS, the scaling is equally telling. The average FPS goes from 69 at 1080p to 52 at 1440p and 35 at 4K. The minimum FPS at 4K drops to 30, which is below the threshold for comfortable playability. This data strongly suggests that the limiting component at 1440p and above is the GPU, not the CPU. The Core Ultra 5 245, with its 14 cores and boost clock of 5.10 GHz, is more than capable of feeding frames to the GTX 1070 at lower resolutions, but the GPU's compute throughput of 6.463 TFLOPS becomes the bottleneck as resolution scales.

The Ultra preset at 4K produces an average of just 27 FPS, which is barely a slideshow. Even at 1080p, Ultra settings yield only 53 FPS average. The performance delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 44 FPS, showing that the GPU has headroom at this resolution but is still not a high-refresh-rate powerhouse. For this combination, 1080p is the only resolution where the frame rate consistently stays above 60 FPS, and that is only at Low and High settings. The data clearly indicates that this hardware pairing is designed for 1080p gaming, with any move to higher resolutions resulting in a significant loss of fluidity.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience for this combo is at 1920x1080 with High settings. This preset delivers an average of 61 FPS, which is the sweet spot between visual fidelity and performance. The Medium preset at 1080p offers 69 FPS, but the 8 FPS gain does not justify the graphical downgrade from High to Medium. The Low preset at 1080p provides 97 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, but it sacrifices too much visual quality for a single-player action-adventure game like Control.

At 1440p, the data suggests that High settings are not viable, as the 46 FPS average is below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 1440p achieves 52 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. The Low preset at 1440p produces 73 FPS, making it the only 1440p option that approaches a comfortable experience. However, this still requires a significant visual compromise. For users who prioritize frame rate over resolution, 1080p High is the recommended configuration.

The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution. At 1080p it only manages 53 FPS, and at 1440p it drops to 40 FPS. The performance cost of Ultra settings is disproportionate to the visual benefit, especially given the GTX 1070's age and the game's demanding effects. The data shows that the jump from High to Ultra at 1080p incurs an 8 FPS penalty, which is a 13% reduction in performance for marginal graphical improvements. The Medium preset at 1080p, with its 69 FPS average and min FPS of 58, offers a more stable experience than High, which has no recorded min FPS but is likely to dip below 60 in intense scenes.

Given the data, the best balance of performance and quality is achieved at 1080p High. This setting leverages the GPU's capabilities without overextending them. If a higher frame rate is desired, 1080p Medium provides a 13% boost over High, but the visual difference in a game like Control, which relies heavily on atmospheric effects and destructible environments, is noticeable. The 4K and 1440p options should be avoided for serious gameplay, as the average FPS falls below 50 in all presets except 1440p Low.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the primary bottleneck in this configuration for Control. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is insufficient for 4K textures and high-resolution rendering. The GPU's 1920 shading units and 64 ROPs are tasked with rendering the game's complex physics and particle effects, and the data shows they struggle at resolutions above 1080p. The boost clock of 1683 MHz is respectable for a Pascal architecture card, but it cannot compensate for the lack of raw compute power.

The GTX 1070's 47th percentile ranking among all GPUs, based on an average benchmark score of 9780, places it in the lower-middle tier of graphics cards. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the AMD FirePro W5000 (avg score 9803, deltaPct -0.2%) and the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (avg score 9832, deltaPct -0.5%), which are professional-grade cards with similar performance. This indicates that the GTX 1070 is not a high-end gaming GPU by modern standards, and its performance in Control reflects this.

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is adequate for 1080p gaming, but the 4K results suggest that the memory bandwidth is the limiting factor. The 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is simply not enough to feed the GPU's cores at 4K resolution, resulting in the sharp FPS drops observed in the data. The GPU's DirectX 12 support (12_1) is present, but the card's Pascal architecture lacks the dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores found in newer GPUs, which are relevant for a game like Control that features real-time ray tracing effects. The 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the theoretical peak, but in practice, the card delivers far less in this demanding title.

The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (27 FPS) and 4K High (31 FPS) clearly shows that the GTX 1070 is not a 4K-capable card for this game. Even at 1080p, the FPS does not exceed 97, indicating that the GPU is never fully idle. The data supports the conclusion that the GTX 1070's role in this combo is to provide a baseline 1080p experience, and any expectation of higher resolution performance is unrealistic given its hardware specifications.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 2395 out of 2888 tested combos for Control. This places it in the 17th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning that 83% of other combos perform better in this game. The ranking is a direct consequence of the GTX 1070's age and performance level, as the CPU is a modern, capable processor. The combo rank is significantly dragged down by the GPU, which is in the 47th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 90th percentile of all CPUs.

The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile (90) and the GPU's mid-tier percentile (47) explains the overall combo ranking. The Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (deltaPct -0.4%) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (deltaPct -0.5%). This shows that the CPU is competitive with high-end processors, but it is paired with a GPU that is not in the same performance class. The result is a system that underperforms in GPU-bound scenarios like Control at high resolutions.

The combo's rank of 2395 out of 2888 indicates that there are 493 other tested combinations that perform worse. This places it in the lower half of all configurations, but not at the very bottom. The data suggests that this combo is suitable for 1080p gaming at medium to high settings, but it is not a high-performance setup. Users with this combination should expect to play Control at 1080p with some compromises, as the 4K and 1440p results are below acceptable playability thresholds.

The overall ranking is likely influenced by the fact that many other tested combos include more powerful GPUs, which dominate in a game like Control that is heavily GPU-dependent. The CPU's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648) is not enough to overcome the GPU's limitations. The data clearly shows that the combo's performance is dictated by the graphics card, and the rank reflects this imbalance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 plays a supporting role in this combo, providing ample processing power that is not fully utilized in Control. With 14 cores and 14 threads, the CPU has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and single-core score of 4648 place it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, indicating strong performance for both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads.

In Control, which is a game that scales well with multi-core CPUs, the Core Ultra 5 245 is more than sufficient. The game's physics and AI systems can utilize multiple cores, and the CPU's 14 cores provide ample headroom. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 97 FPS, which is likely near the GPU's maximum output. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would see similar FPS across different resolutions, but the data shows a clear decline as resolution increases, indicating GPU limitation.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with a dual-channel bus provides 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than enough to feed the GPU. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache is also beneficial for gaming, as it reduces latency for frequently accessed data. The CPU's integrated graphics, Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU, are not used in this discrete GPU configuration, but they are available as a fallback. The CPU's launch MSRP is $270, and it is part of the Core Ultra Series 2 based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC.

The nearest CPU rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (avg score 49196, deltaPct -0.4%) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (avg score 49228, deltaPct -0.5%), showing that the Core Ultra 5 245 is within 1% of these competing processors. This indicates that the CPU is not the weak link in this combo. The data suggests that if a user were to upgrade the GPU, the CPU would be able to support a more powerful graphics card without becoming a bottleneck, as its performance is in the top 10% of all CPUs.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with High settings is the optimal configuration, delivering an average of 61 FPS. This is the only resolution and setting combination that provides a smooth, playable experience above 60 FPS without excessive graphical compromises.

Q: Can this combo run Control at 4K?

A: No. At 4K, the highest average FPS recorded is 49 at Low settings, which drops to 27 at Ultra settings. These frame rates are not suitable for a smooth gaming experience, and the 4K Medium preset has a minimum FPS of 30, indicating significant stuttering.

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

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The GTX 1070 ranks in the 47th percentile of all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 5 245 ranks in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. The FPS drops significantly as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 2395 out of 2888 tested combos for Control, placing it in the lower 17% of all configurations. This is primarily due to the GTX 1070's age and performance level, as the CPU is a high-performing component.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, High settings produce an average of 61 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 53 FPS. This is an 8 FPS difference, or a 13% performance penalty for Ultra, which may not be worth the visual improvement in a game like Control.

Q: Is the GTX 1070's 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory is sufficient for 1080p gaming, as evidenced by the playable frame rates. However, at 4K, the memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s is insufficient, resulting in average FPS below 50 across all settings, indicating that VRAM capacity and bandwidth are limiting factors at higher resolutions.