Control

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Control, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The data shows a smooth, predictable curve from 1080p through 4K, with the pairing exhibiting characteristics typical of a high-end GPU married to a strong mid-range processor.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frames per second data reveals a clear and expected degradation as resolution increases, though the magnitude of the drop is telling. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces an average of 161 FPS. Moving to 1440p High reduces that to 122 FPS, a decline of roughly 24%. The step to 4K High yields 82 FPS, which is approximately 33% lower than the 1440p result and about 49% below the 1080p figure.

This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 5080 is the dominant factor in performance. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p (24%) is slightly less severe than the drop from 1440p to 4K (33%), which suggests that at 1080p, the system is partially limited by the CPU, but by 4K, the GPU is fully saturated. The 4K High average of 82 FPS is still fluid, but the gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is substantial: 130 FPS at Low versus 72 FPS at Ultra, a difference of 58 FPS.

The Low preset at 1080p reaches 255 FPS, which is likely beyond the refresh rate of most standard monitors. This high ceiling shows that the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions. However, the real-world takeaway is that 4K Ultra is demanding, and the 72 FPS average is the only measured row below the 75 FPS threshold, indicating that even this flagship-tier GPU must compromise on settings to maintain high refresh rates at 4K.

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 is an Arrow Lake-S architecture part built on a 3 nm process by TSMC, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache. In the context of Control, the CPU's role is to maintain a solid frame rate floor when the GPU is not the limiting factor.

The benchmark results for this CPU show a strong single-threaded performance profile, which is crucial for game engines that rely on a primary render thread. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648 and the Passmark single-thread score of 4394 indicate that the Ultra 5 245 has excellent per-core capabilities. This is reflected in the 1080p Low result of 255 FPS, which is the highest measured average across all configurations. This suggests that the CPU can push frame rates well beyond typical refresh rates when graphical load is minimal.

However, the CPU's influence wanes as resolution climbs. At 4K, the delta between the Low and High presets is 48 FPS (130 vs 82), which is almost entirely due to GPU load. The processor's 14 threads (equal to its core count, meaning no hyper-threading) are sufficient for Control's engine, as the game does not appear to be heavily multi-threaded based on the scaling data. The CPU sits in the 90th percentile of all CPUs according to the data, and its average benchmark score of 48995 places it within 1% of rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, which are both highly capable gaming processors.

The 65W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support are standard for this class, but the key takeaway is that the Ultra 5 245 provides ample headroom. In Control, the CPU does not bottleneck the RTX 5080 until you reach the extreme low-resolution high-FPS scenarios, which is the expected behavior for a balanced modern desktop platform.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the star of this configuration, and its specifications align perfectly with the measured results. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2617 MHz, and the architecture is Blackwell 2.0 built on a 5 nm process.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is substantial for Control, which is a game from 2019 and does not typically require massive memory pools. The bus width and bandwidth figures are more relevant to 4K performance, where texture streaming and memory bandwidth become critical. The data shows that the GPU scales predictably with settings: at 4K, the average FPS jumps from 72 at Ultra to 82 at High, a 10 FPS improvement, and then to 93 at Medium and 130 at Low. This indicates that the GPU has plenty of raw compute power, but the Ultra preset introduces shading and post-processing effects that tax the silicon heavily.

The GPU's compute capabilities are impressive, with an FP32 throughput of 56.28 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s. The 10752 shading units and 112 ROPs handle Control's visual effects with ease at lower presets. The 4K Medium result of 93 FPS suggests that the RTX 5080 is well-suited for high-fidelity gaming at high resolutions, provided the user is willing to dial back from the absolute maximum preset.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 56083 places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, scores 57367, which is 2.2% higher. This marginal difference in synthetic benchmarks does not translate to a significant real-world gap in Control, as the measured FPS values are consistently smooth across all tested resolutions. The RTX 5080 clearly has enough horsepower to drive 1440p at very high frame rates (193 FPS at Low, 137 FPS at Medium) and 4K at playable levels.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 achieves a rank of 171 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places the pairing in the top 6% of all configurations in the database, which is a strong indicator of high-end performance. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU, where neither component is severely mismatched for this title.

To contextualize this rank, the CPU's nearest rivals show tight competition: the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G is 0.4% lower in average score, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 is 0.5% lower, and the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H is 0.6% higher. These are all within a 1% margin, meaning the CPU choice is unlikely to cause a significant shift in the combo's overall ranking. The GPU side shows a similar story, with the AMD Radeon 8060S scoring 0.6% lower and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scoring 2.2% higher.

The data suggests that the combo sits in a sweet spot for 1440p gaming, where the 1440p High average of 122 FPS is excellent, and even 4K High at 82 FPS is respectable. The rank of 171 indicates that there are 170 other combos that perform better, likely pairing even higher-end CPUs (like flagship Core i9 or Ryzen 9 parts) with the same GPU or possibly with the RTX 5090. However, for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU, this ranking demonstrates that the Ultra 5 245 does not hold back the RTX 5080 significantly in this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 4K displays, the Medium preset at 93 FPS offers the best balance of visual fidelity and smoothness, as it provides a 13% improvement over High (82 FPS) while maintaining a framerate above 90. The Ultra preset at 72 FPS is playable but dips below the 75 FPS threshold, which may be noticeable on high-refresh-rate panels. The Low preset at 130 FPS is fast but sacrifices too much visual quality for a game like Control that relies on atmospheric effects.

For 1440p, the High preset at 122 FPS is the sweet spot. It delivers a high frame rate suitable for 120Hz+ monitors while maintaining the visual quality expected from a modern title. The Medium preset at 137 FPS is also viable for competitive play, but the jump from Medium to High is only a 15 FPS loss, which is a reasonable trade-off for better shadows and reflections. The Ultra preset at 106 FPS is still highly playable and is the best-looking option for those with G-Sync displays.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 140 FPS is the recommended choice. This provides a high frame rate that exceeds most 1080p monitors' refresh rates, and the GPU has enough headroom to handle the full visual package. The Medium preset at 181 FPS is overkill for most displays, and the Low preset at 255 FPS is only useful for esports-style play, which Control is not. The data indicates that the Ultra preset at 1080p gives the most complete experience without any meaningful performance compromise.

FAQ

*Q: Is the RTX 5080 too powerful for 1080p gaming in Control?*

A: The data suggests yes for most displays. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 140 FPS, which is well beyond the 60-75 Hz standard for many monitors. The Low preset reaches 255 FPS, indicating the GPU is heavily underutilized at this resolution.

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

A: Yes, but with caveats. The 4K Medium preset yields 93 FPS, and the High preset yields 82 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 72 FPS, which is below the 75 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Users should stick to Medium or High for 4K.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ultra 5 245 scores 48995 on average, which is 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G and 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900. It is 0.6% higher than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and 0.8% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K.

Q: What is the difference between the Medium and High presets at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset averages 137 FPS, while the High preset averages 122 FPS. This is a 15 FPS difference (approximately 11% lower), which may be worth the visual upgrade for most players.

Q: Does the RTX 5080 outrank its nearest GPU rival?

A: No. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 2.2% higher in average GPU benchmarks. However, the RTX 5080 scores higher than the AMD Radeon 8060S (0.6% higher) and the AMD Radeon PRO W5700X (2.3% higher).

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a 100+ FPS average?

A: Both 1080p and 1440p can achieve 100+ FPS on all presets except the 1440p Ultra setting, which drops to 106 FPS. The 4K resolution only achieves 100+ FPS on the Low preset (130 FPS), with Medium at 93 FPS falling short.