Control

Control is a demanding action-adventure title that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the measured results for the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 show a configuration that is capable at mainstream resolutions but begins to buckle under the weight of 4K. The data indicates a system that is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, yet the performance curve highlights a clear transition where the graphics card becomes the primary limiting factor as resolution increases. Benchmark results show that the combo ranks in the 1894th position out of 2888 tested combinations, placing it in the lower half of the database and suggesting that while it handles this title, it does so without the headroom found in higher-tier configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and linear, revealing a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 76 FPS at 1920x1080 to 58 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 23.7%, and then further drops to 39 FPS at 3840x2160, which is a 48.7% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060's rendering pipeline is the bottleneck when pixel count increases. The transition from 1440p to 4K is particularly punishing, with the average FPS at High settings falling by 19 frames, a 32.8% loss, which is a far more significant drop than the 18-frame difference between 1080p and 1440p.

At Low settings, the scaling is more forgiving, with 121 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 48.8%, nearly identical to the High preset, which suggests that the performance ceiling at 4K is not being lifted by reducing graphical fidelity as much as one might expect. The difference between Low and High at 4K is only 23 FPS, whereas at 1080p, the gap is 45 FPS, further confirming that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are saturated at 3840x2160 regardless of the workload intensity. This behavior points to a hard limit imposed by the RTX 5060's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, which is insufficient to feed the shader units at 4K without significant frame rate penalties.

The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combination, as the average FPS at High settings (58 FPS) remains playable, while the jump to 4K (39 FPS) crosses below the 40 FPS threshold that many users consider the minimum for a smooth experience. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is moderate, but the scaling from 1440p to 4K is severe, indicating that the GPU's rasterization throughput, measured at 19.18 TFLOPS, is not enough to maintain consistent performance at the highest resolution. The 128-bit memory bus, despite using fast GDDR7, is a structural weakness that becomes apparent only when the resolution demands a larger working set.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 86 FPS, with a minimum of 73 FPS and a maximum of 99 FPS, based on the recorded data.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested configurations in Control?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 1894th out of 2888 tested combos, placing it in the 34.4th percentile of all tested systems for this game.

Q: Is the system capable of 4K gaming in Control?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 34, which is below the typically desired 60 FPS threshold. Even at Low settings, the average FPS is 62, indicating that 4K is only playable with reduced graphical fidelity.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset yields an average of 58 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces an average of 50 FPS, a difference of 8 FPS or 13.8% in favor of High settings.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU act as the primary bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the GPU is the limiting factor, as evidenced by the significant frame rate drops when increasing settings from Low (121 FPS) to Ultra (66 FPS), which is a 45.5% reduction that cannot be attributed to CPU limitations.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo in the entire dataset?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 37 at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, while other presets did not report minimum FPS values, making this the only sub-40 FPS minimum in the data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the measured performance in Control. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is a critical metric for a game like Control that uses high-resolution textures and complex particle effects. The base clock of 2280 MHz and boost clock of 2497 MHz are relatively high, but the 48 ROPs and 120 TMUs limit the pixel and texture fill rates to 119.9 GPixel/s and 299.6 GTexel/s, respectively. These figures are modest for a modern graphics card, and the benchmark results reflect this, with the GPU scoring 20891 in Passmark G3D, a result that places it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT, has an average score of 26011, which is 1.2% higher than the RTX 5060's score, while the AMD Radeon 860M and NVIDIA GeForce MX550 are 0.3% and 0.3% lower, respectively. This tight clustering in synthetic benchmarks suggests that the RTX 5060 is not a high-end part, and its performance in Control is consistent with its mid-range positioning. The 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results, which fall to 34 FPS at Ultra, show that the GPU is overwhelmed by the pixel workload. The 8 GB VRAM is likely a contributing factor, as Control is known to consume significant memory at high resolutions, and the 128-bit bus cannot compensate for the lack of capacity.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's performance scales predictably with settings, but the absolute numbers are low compared to higher-tier cards. At 1080p, the GPU is able to push 121 FPS at Low settings, but this drops to 66 FPS at Ultra, showing a 45.5% performance penalty for enabling the highest visual features. The RTX 5060's architecture, Blackwell 2.0, does not appear to offer any unique advantages for this title, as the frame rates are in line with what the raw specifications would suggest. The GPU's 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores are present, but Control's implementation of ray tracing is not heavily utilized in the standard benchmark, so the results primarily reflect rasterization performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 achieves a rank of 1894 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, which puts it in the bottom 34.4% of all systems in the database. This is a modest result that indicates the configuration is not optimized for this particular game, despite being a relatively modern pairing. The rank suggests that many other CPU-GPU combinations, including older or less powerful parts, are able to outperform this setup in Control, which could be due to the game's preference for higher single-thread performance or larger GPU memory pools.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 34083 places it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, which is quite strong, but this does not translate into a high ranking in the game-specific data. This disconnect implies that the GPU is the limiting factor in the combo's ranking, as the RTX 5060's average score of 26331 places it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, but its nearest rivals are all within a 1.2% range, showing that it is not a standout performer. The combo's rank of 1894 is lower than what the individual component percentiles would suggest, which could be due to driver overhead, memory bandwidth limitations, or the game's specific engine characteristics.

Looking at the measured FPS, the combo's performance at 1080p Ultra (66 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (50 FPS) is playable, but it is not exceptional. The rank of 1894 means that 994 other combos perform better in Control, which is a significant number and highlights the competitive nature of the benchmark database. The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals show that the Core Ultra 7 165H is closely matched with the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, which has a 0.5% higher average score, but this small difference is unlikely to be the cause of the low ranking. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT, has a 1.2% higher score, which could translate to a few extra FPS in Control, but the main issue is the RTX 5060's overall performance ceiling.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a mobile processor with 16 cores and 22 threads, a base clock of 3.80 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. These specifications are robust for a laptop part, and the CPU's benchmark results confirm its capability, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14551 and a single-core score of 1759. The CPU's percentile ranking of 84th out of all CPUs indicates that it is a high-performing processor, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H and the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, which have average scores within 0.5% of the Core Ultra 7 165H. This suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck in Control, as even the slightly faster rivals would not produce a meaningful FPS difference.

In Control, the CPU's role is to handle the game's physics and AI systems, which are not as demanding as the rendering workload. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 121 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would require a capable CPU to feed the GPU. The fact that the FPS drops to 66 at Ultra settings indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU is likely able to maintain frame delivery above 100 FPS in most scenarios. The CPU's 24 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel memory support with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s provide sufficient data throughput for the game's logic, and the 7 nm process node ensures efficient power delivery within the 28 W TDP.

The CPU's performance in the Passmark suite, particularly the multi-threaded score of 25933 and the single-thread score of 3509, corroborates its ability to handle Control without issue. The game is not particularly CPU-intensive compared to other genres, so the Core Ultra 7 165H's 16 cores and 22 threads are more than adequate. The nearest rival data shows that the AMD EPYC 4244P has a 0.4% lower average score, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 has a 0.4% lower score, which means the Core Ultra 7 165H is effectively on par with these alternatives. This CPU-centric analysis reveals that the combo's ranking is not due to processor limitations, but rather the GPU's inability to keep up with the game's visual demands at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 121 at Low to 66 at Ultra, with Medium at 86 and High at 76. The minimum FPS is only recorded for Medium settings, showing 73 FPS, which is close to the average and indicates good frame pacing. At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 91 at Low, 65 at Medium, 58 at High, and 50 at Ultra. The minimum FPS at Medium is 55, and the maximum is 75, showing a wider variance than at 1080p. At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 62 at Low, 44 at Medium, 39 at High, and 34 at Ultra. The minimum FPS at Medium is 37, and the maximum is 50, demonstrating that 4K performance is highly variable and often dips below playable thresholds.

Breaking down the resolution scaling, the data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where the combo consistently exceeds 60 FPS across all settings, with the lowest average being 66 at Ultra. At 1440p, the combo falls below 60 FPS at High and Ultra settings, which are the most commonly used presets for a visually demanding game like Control. At 4K, the combo only exceeds 60 FPS at Low settings, and even then, the average of 62 FPS is close to the minimum, suggesting that any complex scene could cause a drop below 60. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 28 FPS, which is a 45.2% reduction, while the same comparison at 1080p shows a 55 FPS difference, or 45.5%, indicating that the GPU's performance scaling is consistent regardless of resolution.

The settings-wise breakdown shows that Medium is a reasonable compromise, with average FPS of 86 at 1080p, 65 at 1440p, and 44 at 4K. The High preset is only 10 FPS lower than Medium at 1080p, but the gap widens to 7 FPS at 1440p and 5 FPS at 4K, suggesting that the visual improvements from High to Medium are not worth the performance cost at higher resolutions. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with the biggest performance hit, but it still manages 66 FPS at 1080p, which is playable for most users. The data indicates that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can handle Ultra settings with ease, and 1440p gaming, where Medium settings are recommended for a smooth experience.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset is the best choice, as it delivers an average of 66 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider smooth. The High preset at 1080p offers 76 FPS, which is a 15.2% improvement over Ultra, but the visual differences are often subtle in Control, so users prioritizing frame rate may prefer High. However, the data shows that even at Ultra, the combo does not drop below 60 FPS on average, making it the recommended preset for maximum visual fidelity at this resolution.

For 1440p gaming, the Medium preset is the best balance of performance and visual quality, with an average of 65 FPS. The High preset at 58 FPS is playable but may experience stutters in demanding scenes, while the Ultra preset at 50 FPS is below the ideal threshold for fast-paced action. The Low preset at 91 FPS is unnecessary for smoothness, and the visual downgrade is significant. Therefore, Medium is the recommended setting for 1440p, as it maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS while providing a good level of detail.

For 4K gaming, the data shows that the combo is not well-suited for this resolution, as even the Low preset only achieves an average of 62 FPS, which is barely above 60. The Medium preset at 44 FPS and High at 39 FPS are not recommended due to the risk of frame rate drops, and the Ultra preset at 34 FPS is unplayable. Users who insist on 4K should use the Low preset, but the visual quality will be significantly compromised. Alternatively, users should consider lowering the resolution to 1440p with Medium settings for a much better experience. The minimum FPS data at 4K Medium (37 FPS) and the average of 44 FPS suggest that the combo can handle 4K in static scenes, but dynamic gameplay will likely result in poor performance. Therefore, the recommendation is to avoid 4K and stick to 1080p or 1440p for this title.