Control

# Control with Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 1339th out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems. The rank reflects a balanced pairing where the GPU's 75th percentile standing among all GPUs and the CPU's 90th percentile among all CPUs combine to deliver solid, though not top-tier, performance in this Action Adventure title. The gap between the two components' relative standings suggests the RTX 3070 Ti is the more limiting factor in this pairing, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU's workload intensifies.

FAQ

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

A: The combo ranks 1339th out of 3720 tested combos, meaning it sits in the 64th percentile of all tested systems. This places it comfortably above the median but well below top-tier configurations, consistent with the GPU's 75th percentile standing versus the CPU's 90th percentile.

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 166 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Medium settings, the average drops to 118 FPS, while High yields 105 FPS and Ultra produces 91 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Control?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 54 FPS on High settings, 60 FPS on Medium, and 85 FPS on Low. Ultra settings drop to 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold typically desired for smooth gameplay.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, which is 0.4% below the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, 0.5% below the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, 0.6% above the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, and 0.8% above the Intel Core i5-14600K.

Q: Is there a significant FPS difference between Medium and High settings at any resolution?

A: Yes. At 1080p, the drop from Medium (118 FPS) to High (105 FPS) is 13 FPS. At 1440p, the drop is 10 FPS (89 to 79). At 4K, the drop is 6 FPS (60 to 54). The relative percentage loss increases with resolution, indicating growing GPU pressure.

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to its closest competitors?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 29945. It is 0.1% above the RTX 5070 Mobile, 0.5% below the RX 6800, 0.5% above the RTX 2080 Ti, and 1.6% below the RX 6700.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how this combo scales across resolutions, with the GPU increasingly becoming the bottleneck as pixel count rises. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 105 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 79 FPS, a 24.8% reduction. At 4K, the average falls to 54 FPS, which is 48.6% below the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB of GDDR6X memory and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily at higher resolutions.

The Low settings preset shows a similar trend but with higher absolute numbers: 166 FPS at 1080p, 126 FPS at 1440p (a 24.1% drop), and 85 FPS at 4K (a 48.8% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that resolution scaling is uniform regardless of graphical load, pointing to a GPU-limited scenario rather than a CPU bottleneck.

Ultra settings exhibit the steepest relative decline: 91 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p (a 24.2% drop), and 47 FPS at 4K (a 48.4% drop). The fact that Ultra at 4K falls below 50 FPS indicates that this combo cannot maintain smooth frame rates at maximum settings in 4K. The data suggests that the CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads handle the game's logic well at all resolutions, as the FPS drops align almost perfectly with the pixel count increase from 1080p to 4K (roughly 4x pixels, roughly 2x FPS drop).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings produce 166 FPS average, providing a highly responsive experience for fast-paced action. Medium settings yield 118 FPS with a minimum of 101 and maximum of 136, showing good frame time consistency. High settings reduce the average to 105 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 91 FPS. The 75 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p demonstrates the significant impact of graphical presets on this title.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings maintain 126 FPS, which remains smooth for competitive play. Medium settings produce 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 and maximum of 103, indicating some frame time variance but generally stable performance. High settings drop to 79 FPS, while Ultra settings fall to 69 FPS. At 1440p, even Ultra settings remain above 60 FPS, making this resolution a viable option for high-quality gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings achieve 85 FPS, which is still playable but notably lower than lower resolutions. Medium settings produce 60 FPS exactly, with a minimum of 51 and maximum of 69, meaning some scenes will dip below the 60 FPS threshold. High settings drop to 54 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 47 FPS. The 4K results show that this combo is best suited for Medium or Low settings at this resolution, as High and Ultra cannot maintain consistent frame rates.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions, allowing for frame time analysis. At 1080p, the range is 101 to 136 FPS (a 35 FPS spread). At 1440p, the range narrows to 76 to 103 FPS (a 27 FPS spread). At 4K, the range is 51 to 69 FPS (an 18 FPS spread). This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated, reducing frame time variance as it approaches its limits.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 brings 14 cores and 14 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The CPU's architecture, Arrow Lake on TSMC's 3 nm process, delivers strong single-thread performance as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648 and multi-core score of 32924. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache provides ample capacity for game data, while the dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures the GPU receives data without starvation.

In Control, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU across all tested settings. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K closely matches the pixel count increase, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor even at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 160 FPS. The PassMark single-thread score of 4394 and multi-thread score of 38706 place this CPU in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, suggesting it has ample headroom for this game's demands.

The CPU's 14 threads are noteworthy given that Control's genre typically benefits from higher core counts. However, the fact that the Core Ultra 5 245 performs within 0.8% of the Intel Core i5-14600K in average benchmark scores suggests that raw thread count matters less than per-core efficiency for this workload. The 65 W TDP indicates efficient power delivery, though this is not directly tested in the FPS data. The CPU's PCIe Gen 5 support with 20 lanes ensures the RTX 3070 Ti's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface is fully utilized without bandwidth limitations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 118 FPS with a minimum of 101, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. At 1440p, Medium produces 89 FPS with a minimum of 76, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable play. At 4K, Medium hits exactly 60 FPS average, though the 51 FPS minimum means occasional dips below 60.

For players prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, the Low preset is the clear choice. At 1080p, it delivers 166 FPS, which is 48 FPS higher than Medium. At 1440p, Low achieves 126 FPS, 37 FPS above Medium. At 4K, Low produces 85 FPS, 25 FPS above Medium. The jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 29-30% of the frame rate at every resolution, suggesting that Medium's additional graphical features come at a significant performance cost.

The High preset offers diminishing returns over Medium. At 1080p, High is only 13 FPS lower than Medium (105 vs 118). At 1440p, the gap is 10 FPS (79 vs 89). At 4K, the gap narrows to 6 FPS (54 vs 60). The Ultra preset, however, shows a more pronounced drop from High: 14 FPS at 1080p (91 vs 105), 10 FPS at 1440p (69 vs 79), and 7 FPS at 4K (47 vs 54). Given that Ultra at 4K falls below 50 FPS, this preset is only recommended for players at 1080p or 1440p who prioritize maximum visual quality.

The data indicates that Medium provides the most consistent experience, with the smallest relative FPS penalty across resolutions. For 4K gaming, Medium is the highest recommended preset, as High and Ultra cannot maintain 60 FPS averages. For 1440p, both Medium and High are viable, with Medium offering more headroom for demanding scenes. At 1080p, any preset is playable, but Medium or High provide the best balance of visuals and performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, based on the GA104 chip with 8 nm Samsung process, brings 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs to this pairing. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 19 Gbps effective across a 256-bit bus, yielding 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores support DirectX 12 Ultimate, making the GPU capable of handling modern graphical features. The boost clock of 1770 MHz and FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS provide substantial compute throughput for this title.

In Control, the GPU's 75th percentile standing among all GPUs is reflected in the measured FPS results. The GPU's nearest rivals include the RTX 5070 Mobile (0.1% higher average score), RX 6800 (0.5% higher), RTX 2080 Ti (0.5% lower), and RX 6700 (1.6% higher). These small deltas indicate that the RTX 3070 Ti sits in a competitive performance band, and the measured FPS data confirms this positioning.

The GPU's memory configuration plays a critical role in 4K performance. With 8 GB of VRAM, the GPU can handle Control's textures at 4K, but the 608.3 GB/s bandwidth becomes a limiting factor as resolution increases. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K (roughly 48-49% reduction across all settings) align closely with the memory bandwidth available, suggesting that the GPU's memory subsystem is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

The GPU's 290 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate that this is a power-hungry card, though the suggested 600 W PSU provides adequate headroom. The PCIe 4.0 x16 interface ensures full bandwidth to the CPU, and the 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs support high refresh rate displays. The GPU's end-of-life production status means it is no longer manufactured, but its performance in Control remains competitive with newer mobile parts like the RTX 5070 Mobile, as evidenced by the 0.1% average score difference.