Control

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H paired with the AMD Radeon 8050S delivers a playable Control experience, but the data reveals a system that is firmly constrained by its graphics processor at higher resolutions. The measured frames per second (FPS) across the board show a clear pattern: this is a combination that favors 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K reserved for those willing to compromise on visual fidelity. The benchmark results indicate a well-balanced pairing for mainstream resolutions, though the gap between settings widens substantially as pixel count increases.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a steep performance drop that identifies the AMD Radeon 8050S as the limiting component. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 73 at 1080p to 55 at 1440p, and finally to 37 at 4K. This represents a 49% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, a scaling pattern typical of a GPU-bound scenario where the rendering load quadruples while the CPU workload remains relatively static.

The Low settings preset shows the same trend with even sharper absolute numbers. The system produces 116 FPS at 1080p, drops to 87 FPS at 1440p, and reaches 59 FPS at 4K. The fact that even Low settings cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K strongly suggests that the Radeon 8050S's raw throughput, with its 11.47 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, is insufficient for 4K rendering in this title without significant compromises.

Medium settings provide the only complete data set with minimum and maximum FPS values, offering a clearer picture of frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the average is 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 and maximum of 94. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 62 FPS with a range of 53 to 71. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 42 FPS with a range of 36 to 48. The consistent ~20 FPS gap between minimum and maximum across resolutions suggests that frame pacing remains stable, but the overall headroom is simply not present for 4K.

The scaling efficiency from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At High settings, the drop from 55 to 37 FPS is a 33% reduction, while at Low settings the drop from 87 to 59 FPS is a 32% reduction. This consistent proportional loss across settings confirms that the bottleneck is purely graphical, as the CPU's role does not change with resolution. The Ultra preset shows the worst 4K result at 32 FPS, which is barely above the threshold for playable frame rates and indicates that this preset should be avoided entirely at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H brings substantial processing power to this pairing, and its specifications suggest it is not the limiting factor in Control's performance. With 16 cores and 22 threads, the CPU offers ample parallelism for the game's physics and AI systems. The base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 4.80 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for game logic that often relies on a few primary threads.

The CPU's benchmark scores support this assessment. In Cinebench R23, the processor achieves 15028 points in multi-core and 1743 points in single-core tests. The PassMark single-thread score of 3468 and multithread score of 24873 further indicate a capable processor. The CPU's percentile ranking of 83 against all CPUs places it comfortably in the upper tier, and its nearest rivals show it performing within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H and within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F, demonstrating that it holds its own against comparable mobile and desktop parts.

The cache hierarchy, featuring 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, provides sufficient data locality for game assets. The memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface is adequate for feeding the GPU, though the Radeon 8050S's system-shared memory architecture means the CPU and GPU compete for the same bandwidth pool. This shared memory arrangement could theoretically introduce contention, but the measured FPS data does not show anomalous stuttering or extreme frame drops that would indicate a severe bandwidth bottleneck.

The CPU's production status is Active, and its release date of 2023-12-13 places it as a relatively recent mobile processor. The 7 nm process node from Intel keeps power consumption reasonable at 28 W TDP, which is appropriate for a mobile platform. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG 128EU graphics are present but irrelevant for this discrete GPU configuration. The CPU's performance in this game appears more than sufficient, as the consistent FPS scaling with resolution changes points entirely to GPU limitations.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 8050S is the defining component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the performance ceiling observed in the measured data. Built on the RDNA 3.5 architecture with a 4 nm process node from TSMC, the GPU features 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. The 32 ray tracing cores are present but likely underutilized in Control, which primarily relies on traditional rasterization for its visual effects.

The clock speeds show a base of 1295 MHz and a boost of 2800 MHz, which is a substantial boost headroom indicating good thermal and power management. The GPU's TDP is rated at 55 W, which is modest for a discrete-class solution but appropriate for an integrated form factor marked as IGP. The pixel rate of 179.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 358.4 GTexel/s provide theoretical throughput that translates into the observed FPS numbers.

The GPU's memory configuration is system-shared, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM. This is a critical limitation for higher resolutions, as the GPU must rely on the CPU's dual-channel DDR5 memory. The bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which means actual performance varies based on the system's memory configuration. In this case, the 89.6 GB/s available from the CPU's memory bus is shared between both processors, potentially explaining why 4K performance drops so precipitously—the memory subsystem simply cannot feed the GPU enough data at that resolution.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a Geekbench OpenCL score of 65818 and a Vulkan score of 58398. These place the GPU at the 89th percentile among all GPUs, which is strong overall. However, its nearest rivals reveal its positioning: the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896 (0.3% lower), while the AMD Radeon RX 7600M scores 63775 (2.6% higher). This places the 8050S in a competitive mid-range tier, which aligns with the observed performance in Control.

The GPU's release date of 2025-01-05 makes it a current-generation product, and its predecessor being Polaris Mobile indicates a significant architectural leap. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support with version 12_2, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 ensures full compatibility with modern game APIs. The bus interface of PCIe 5.0 x16 provides ample bandwidth to the CPU, though the system-shared memory still creates a potential bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and AMD Radeon 8050S ranks 2127 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 26th percentile of all configurations. This rank is modest, but it must be interpreted in context: the database includes many high-end desktop combinations with dedicated high-VRAM GPUs, so a mobile IGP solution ranking in the lower third is not surprising.

The data indicates that the combo's ranking is primarily dragged down by the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the combo achieves respectable frame rates across all settings, with Low hitting 116 FPS, Medium at 82 FPS, High at 73 FPS, and Ultra at 63 FPS. These numbers would place the combo much higher in the rankings for 1080p-specific comparisons. The Ultra preset at 1080p remains above 60 FPS, which is a notable achievement for this hardware.

At 1440p, the combo still delivers playable performance, with Low at 87 FPS, Medium at 62 FPS, High at 55 FPS, and Ultra at 48 FPS. The Medium preset manages to stay above the 60 FPS target, but High and Ultra fall below it. This resolution represents the practical ceiling for this combination if a 60 FPS target is desired.

The 4K results are where the ranking suffers most. Even Low settings only achieve 59 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium drops to 42 FPS, High to 37 FPS, and Ultra to 32 FPS. These figures are below the playable threshold for many users, and they likely account for the combo's lower overall rank. The GPU's percentile ranking of 89 against all GPUs seems optimistic when compared to these 4K results, but the average benchmark score of 62108 reflects synthetic workloads that may scale differently than real-world gaming.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 83 is solid, but the combo rank of 2127 suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing. A more powerful GPU would likely boost this combo's rank significantly, as the CPU has headroom to support higher frame rates. The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals are all within 0.4% of its average score, indicating that the CPU is not a differentiator among similar-tier processors.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal setting depends entirely on the target resolution. For 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset is viable with an average of 63 FPS, providing the best visual quality while maintaining a frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold. If a higher refresh rate display is available, dropping to High increases the average to 73 FPS, and Low reaches 116 FPS for competitive or fast-paced play.

For 1440p, the Medium preset is the best balance, delivering 62 FPS average with a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 71 FPS. This provides a stable experience above the 60 FPS target for most of the session. High settings at 55 FPS are acceptable for slower-paced exploration, but Medium is the recommended choice for consistent performance. Low settings at 87 FPS offer headroom, but the visual quality loss may not be worth the frame rate gain at this resolution.

For 4K, the data clearly shows that Low settings are the only viable option, achieving 59 FPS average. This just misses the 60 FPS target, but it is the only preset that approaches smooth gameplay. Medium drops to 42 FPS, High to 37 FPS, and Ultra to 32 FPS, all of which fall below the playable threshold for most users. Users prioritizing 4K should accept the visual compromises of Low settings or consider lowering the resolution.

The Medium preset's complete data set across all resolutions provides the most reliable frame time information. At 1080p Medium, the 70-94 FPS range shows tight frame pacing. At 1440p Medium, the 53-71 FPS range maintains consistency. At 4K Medium, the 36-48 FPS range indicates that even the minimum frame rate is too low for a smooth experience. This consistency suggests that Medium is the most stable preset for this hardware, making it the safest recommendation for users who cannot tolerate frame drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and AMD Radeon 8050S combination in Control is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 116 FPS. The Medium preset averages 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 and maximum of 94. The High preset averages 73 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 63 FPS. This resolution provides the widest range of playable options, with all presets exceeding 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 87 FPS. The Medium preset averages 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 and maximum of 71. The High preset averages 55 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 48 FPS. The Medium preset is the only option that maintains an average above 60 FPS at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 59 FPS. The Medium preset averages 42 FPS with a minimum of 36 and maximum of 48. The High preset averages 37 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 32 FPS. No preset at this resolution achieves an average of 60 FPS, with Low being the only option close to that target.

The progression across resolutions shows a consistent pattern: each step from Low to Ultra costs approximately 20-25% of the average FPS. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 53 FPS (116 to 63). At 1440p, the gap is 39 FPS (87 to 48). At 4K, the gap is 27 FPS (59 to 32). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming fully saturated, and the settings differences have less absolute impact when the rendering load is already high.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination run Control at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Only at Low settings, which achieves an average of 59 FPS. Medium settings drop to 42 FPS, High to 37 FPS, and Ultra to 32 FPS, all below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming?

A: Ultra settings achieve 63 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. If a higher frame rate is preferred, High settings at 73 FPS or Low settings at 116 FPS provide alternatives with diminishing visual quality.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H has an average benchmark score of 32697, which is within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H and within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F. It sits at the 83rd percentile among all CPUs.

Q: Is the GPU the limiting factor in this combination?

A: Yes. The FPS drops proportionally with resolution increases, indicating a GPU bottleneck. The CPU's strong benchmark scores and the consistent scaling pattern confirm that the Radeon 8050S limits performance, particularly at 4K.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the range is 70 to 94 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 53 to 71 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range is 36 to 48 FPS. These are the only settings with complete min/max data.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 2127 out of 2888 total combos, placing it in the lower third of all tested systems for Control. This rank is primarily due to the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions, as the 1080p results are respectable.