Control

Control is an Action Adventure title from August 2019 that remains a demanding showcase for modern hardware, particularly with its physics-heavy combat and destructible environments. For this entry, the database pairs the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H mobile processor with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile graphics card, a combination that produces a measured dataset across three resolutions and four quality presets. The results indicate a system that is firmly capable of delivering playable framerates at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K gaming requires careful settings management to stay within comfortable performance territory.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile achieves a rank of 2056 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database. This rank reflects the measured performance of this specific pairing, not just the individual components in isolation. With 3720 total combinations tracked, landing at position 2056 means this setup outperforms roughly 45 percent of all tested configurations while trailing the top performers by a significant margin.

The ranking makes sense when examining the constituent parts. The RTX 5070 Mobile sits at the 75th percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 29928. Its nearest rivals in the GPU charts are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, which scores 29945 (a delta of -0.1 percent), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 29783 (a delta of 0.5 percent). The AMD Radeon RX 6800 trails slightly with 30095 (a delta of -0.6 percent), while the AMD Radeon RX 6700 comes in at 30433 (a delta of -1.7 percent). This places the RTX 5070 Mobile in a performance band that is essentially equivalent to last-generation high-end desktop cards, which is respectable for a mobile part.

On the CPU side, the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H achieves the 83rd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 32697. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600T at 32707 (a delta of 0 percent), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 at 32662 (a delta of 0.1 percent), the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F at 32750 (a delta of -0.2 percent), and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H at 32812 (a delta of -0.4 percent). The processor is essentially neck-and-neck with these alternatives, showing that it provides competitive computational performance within its mobile power envelope.

The combo rank of 2056 suggests that in Control specifically, the pairing does not punch above its weight class relative to other combinations. The game's engine, which relies heavily on GPU throughput for its particle effects and physics simulation, appears to be more sensitive to the graphics card's capabilities than the CPU's raw compute. Since the RTX 5070 Mobile is only at the 75th percentile, it holds the combo back from higher rankings, even though the CPU is in the 83rd percentile. This discrepancy between component percentiles is a key insight: the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing, and the measured FPS data confirms this pattern across resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average framerate this combo achieves in Control?

A: The highest measured average framerate is 137 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This demonstrates that the combination can deliver very high framerates when the graphical load is reduced.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings, the combo averages 39 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS target that many players prefer, indicating that Ultra settings at 4K are not viable for a smooth experience with this hardware.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 resolution, the combo averages 104 FPS on Low settings and 57 FPS on Ultra settings. This represents a 47 FPS drop, or roughly 45 percent less performance, when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. The RTX 5070 Mobile ranks at the 75th percentile among all GPUs, while the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H ranks at the 83rd percentile among all CPUs. Additionally, FPS scales significantly with resolution changes, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable framerates at 1080p with High settings?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo averages 87 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and indicates a smooth gaming experience at this resolution and quality level.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded for Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum FPS is 83. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum drops to 63 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum falls to 42 FPS. These values show how the lower bound of performance degrades as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the combo delivers 87 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. This represents a 25 percent drop from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 33 percent drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 43 FPS, or roughly 49 percent less performance.

Low settings show a similar trajectory but with higher absolute numbers. At 1920x1080, the combo averages 137 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops this to 104 FPS, a 24 percent reduction. At 3840x2160, the average falls to 70 FPS, which is another 33 percent drop from 1440p. The overall scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is a 67 FPS reduction, or about 49 percent.

Medium settings provide the most complete dataset with min and max FPS values recorded. At 1080p, the combo averages 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 and a maximum of 112. At 1440p, the average drops to 74 FPS, with a range of 63 to 85. At 4K, the average falls to 50 FPS, with a minimum of 42 and a maximum of 57. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 24 FPS drop, and from 1440p to 4K is another 24 FPS drop.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic degradation. The combo averages 75 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24 percent drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 32 percent drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings is 36 FPS, or 48 percent.

The consistent pattern across all settings presets indicates that the scaling is primarily driven by the GPU's rendering workload. As resolution increases, the number of pixels that need to be processed grows geometrically, and the RTX 5070 Mobile's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly stressed. The fact that the FPS drops are relatively uniform across settings presets — around 24 percent for the first step and 32-33 percent for the second — suggests that the GPU is the bottleneck at all resolutions. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see less scaling at higher resolutions, as the GPU would have more headroom. Instead, the linear scaling points squarely at the graphics card.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. With Low settings, the average FPS is 137, which is the highest figure recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings produce an average of 98 FPS, with a minimum of 83 and a maximum of 112. High settings yield 87 FPS on average. Ultra settings drop to 75 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 62 FPS, showing that the quality preset has a substantial impact on performance even at the lowest resolution tested.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance decreases across the board. Low settings average 104 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium settings average 74 FPS, with a minimum of 63 and a maximum of 85. High settings produce 66 FPS on average. Ultra settings fall to 57 FPS. At this resolution, the combo remains capable of hitting 60 FPS on High settings, but Ultra settings dip just below that threshold.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain high framerates. Low settings average 70 FPS, which is playable but noticeably lower than at lower resolutions. Medium settings average 50 FPS, with a minimum of 42 and a maximum of 57. High settings drop to 44 FPS on average. Ultra settings bottom out at 39 FPS. None of the settings presets at 4K reach the 60 FPS mark, and even Low settings only barely exceed it. The minimum FPS of 42 at Medium settings indicates that there are moments where performance dips significantly, which could cause noticeable stuttering in fast-paced combat sequences.

The data shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 1080p, even Ultra settings maintain 75 FPS, which is smooth for most players. At 1440p, High settings provide a solid 66 FPS, while Ultra settings dip to 57 FPS — still playable but not ideal. At 4K, the combo is only viable on Low settings, where 70 FPS is achievable, but Medium and above all fall below 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC. The chip, designated GB206, contains 21,900 million transistors on a die size of 181 mm², giving it a transistor density of 121.0M per mm². The GPU has a base clock of 907 MHz and a boost clock of 1425 MHz. Memory operates at 1500 MHz with 24 Gbps effective speed.

The GPU is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a potential bottleneck for a game like Control, which features high-resolution textures and complex visual effects. At 4K resolution, the 8 GB capacity can be strained, particularly at higher quality settings where texture detail and particle effects demand more VRAM. This likely contributes to the significant FPS drops observed at 3840x2160.

The RTX 5070 Mobile has 4608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. It also includes 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores. The pixel rate is 68.40 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 205.2 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is rated at 13.13 TFLOPS, with FP16 also at 13.13 TFLOPS (1:1). The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, making it fully compatible with Control's rendering requirements.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 29928, placing it at the 75th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score are the RTX 3070 Ti at 29945, the RTX 2080 Ti at 29783, the RX 6800 at 30095, and the RX 6700 at 30433. The delta percentages are all within 1.7 percent, indicating that the RTX 5070 Mobile performs in the same league as these older but still capable cards.

In Control specifically, the GPU's role as the primary performance driver is evident from the resolution scaling data. The consistent FPS drops across settings presets when moving from 1080p to 1440p to 4K indicate that the GPU is fully utilized at all times. The boost clock of 1425 MHz is relatively modest, but the architecture's efficiency allows it to deliver competitive performance. The 50 W TDP suggests this is a power-constrained mobile part, which limits its sustained performance compared to desktop counterparts.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is a mobile processor from the Core Ultra Series 1, based on the Meteor Lake architecture. It is manufactured on Intel's 7 nm process and features 16 cores and 22 threads. The base clock is 3.80 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. The processor has a TDP of 28 W and uses the Intel BGA 2049 socket.

The cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support includes DDR5 with a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. The processor supports PCIe Gen 5 with 8 lanes (CPU only) and includes integrated Arc Xe-LPG 128EU graphics. It was released on December 13, 2023, with a launch MSRP of $503.

In terms of benchmark performance, the Core Ultra 7 155H achieves a Cinebench R15 multicore score of 2450 and single-core score of 255. In Cinebench R20, it scores 8754 multicore and 1235 single-core. Cinebench R23 results show 15028 multicore and 1743 single-core. PassMark tests show a multithread score of 24873, single-thread score of 3468, and a physics score of 1727. The processor's average benchmark score is 32697, placing it at the 83rd percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600T with an average score of 32707 (0 percent delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 at 32662 (0.1 percent delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F at 32750 (-0.2 percent delta), and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H at 32812 (-0.4 percent delta). These results show that the Core Ultra 7 155H is competitive with these alternatives, with performance differences of less than half a percent.

In Control, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar FPS values across different resolutions, since the CPU workload would remain constant while the GPU workload increases. Instead, the FPS drops significantly at higher resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, as indicated by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1743, ensures that it can keep up with the game's physics and AI calculations without becoming a constraint.

The 16-core, 22-thread configuration provides ample computational headroom for Control's multithreaded systems, but the game's engine appears to be more dependent on GPU throughput. At 1080p Low settings, where the GPU workload is lightest, the combo achieves 137 FPS, suggesting that the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently to reach high framerates. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU is overwhelmed, and the CPU's capabilities are not the limiting factor. This indicates a well-balanced pairing where the CPU is more than adequate for the GPU's performance level, but the GPU's 75th percentile ranking holds the combo back from higher overall performance.