Control

# Control with Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a robust Control experience across all tested resolutions, with the data showing a clear sweet spot at 1440p High settings where visual fidelity and frame pacing align well. The measured results indicate that this pairing handles the game's supernatural physics and particle effects with authority, though the 4K Ultra preset pushes the GPU to its limits, producing an average that dips below the 60 FPS threshold commonly sought for smooth action gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent hierarchy across all three resolutions: Low settings deliver the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the most demanding. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 179 FPS, which drops to 127 FPS at Medium, 113 FPS at High, and 98 FPS at Ultra. The step from Medium to High costs only 14 FPS at 1080p, making High an attractive choice for players with high-refresh monitors, as it remains well above the 100 FPS mark while providing noticeably better visual quality than Medium.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with tighter margins: Low averages 136 FPS, Medium 96 FPS, High 86 FPS, and Ultra 74 FPS. The Medium preset here shows a minimum of 82 FPS and a maximum of 111 FPS, indicating good frame consistency. For most users, High at 1440p offers the best balance—the 86 FPS average is comfortably above 60 FPS, and the visual uplift from High over Medium is significant in a game with as much atmospheric detail as Control. Ultra at 1440p still holds at 74 FPS, so those prioritizing maximum fidelity can use it without severe compromise.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained: Low averages 92 FPS, Medium 65 FPS, High 58 FPS, and Ultra 50 FPS. The Medium preset, with its recorded minimum of 55 FPS and maximum of 75 FPS, is the only setting that keeps the average above 60 FPS at 4K. High and Ultra both fall short of the 60 FPS target, though the 58 FPS High average is close enough that adaptive sync displays could mask the difference. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, Medium is the recommended preset—it preserves the game's visual identity while maintaining playable frame rates, whereas High and Ultra demand sacrifices in smoothness that may not be worth the incremental visual gains.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific CPU-GPU combination holds the 852nd position out of 2,888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 70th percentile of all tested pairings. This rank reflects the balance between the Core Ultra 7 265's strong compute capabilities and the RX 6800 XT's substantial rasterization power. The data indicates that this combo sits in the upper-midrange tier of tested systems, meaning it outperforms a majority of configurations while still trailing the most extreme high-end pairings.

The rank of 852 out of 2,888 is notable because it suggests that while neither component is the absolute fastest in its class, their combination works well for Control's specific workload. The game's reliance on both CPU physics calculations and GPU rendering means that a bottleneck in either component would drag the combo lower in the rankings. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation—at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 179 FPS, which is high enough to indicate that the CPU can feed the GPU effectively at lower resolutions, while at 4K Ultra, the 50 FPS average shows the GPU becoming the primary constraint. This balanced behavior is likely why the combo ranks where it does, rather than being dragged down by a severe single-component bottleneck.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with 4,608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 raster operations pipelines, along with 72 ray tracing cores. Its memory configuration consists of 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's clocks are listed with a base of 1825 MHz, a game clock of 2015 MHz, and a boost clock of 2250 MHz. The memory operates at 2000 MHz, which translates to 16 Gbps effective.

In Control, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the RX 6800 XT has ample headroom, with the Low preset achieving 179 FPS and even Ultra holding at 98 FPS. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, which was released in 2019 and does not feature the massive texture loads of newer titles. As resolution scales to 1440p and then 4K, the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth become increasingly taxed, evidenced by the FPS drops across settings. The 72 ray tracing cores are relevant because Control was one of the early showcase titles for ray tracing effects, though the measured data does not separate ray tracing on/off scenarios. The boost clock of 2250 MHz provides the peak performance headroom, and the data suggests that the GPU sustains high utilization at 4K, where the 50 FPS Ultra average indicates the card is working near its limits.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a wide spread across settings. Low settings produce an average of 179 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution. Medium settings average 127 FPS with a minimum of 108 FPS and maximum of 146 FPS, showing good frame pacing. High settings average 113 FPS, a modest 14 FPS drop from Medium, suggesting that the High preset's increased effects and texture quality are handled comfortably. Ultra settings average 98 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS threshold, making 1080p Ultra a viable option for players who want maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness.

At 2560x1440, the same progression is observed but with larger absolute drops. Low averages 136 FPS, Medium 96 FPS with a minimum of 82 FPS and maximum of 111 FPS, High 86 FPS, and Ultra 74 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 40 FPS, which is wider than the 52 FPS gap at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is beginning to become more of a factor. High at 1440p delivers an 86 FPS average, which is still smooth, while Ultra at 74 FPS remains playable. The Medium preset's minimum of 82 FPS suggests that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate does not dip below acceptable levels.

At 3840x2160, the data shows the GPU's limits clearly. Low averages 92 FPS, which is impressive for 4K but still a significant drop from the 136 FPS at 1440p Low. Medium averages 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and maximum of 75 FPS, making it the only 4K setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS. High averages 58 FPS, just below the 60 FPS target, while Ultra averages 50 FPS. The 4K results demonstrate that the RX 6800 XT can handle Control at 4K, but only at Medium settings for consistent smoothness—High and Ultra require compromises in frame rate that may be noticeable during fast-paced combat sequences.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K provides insight into which component is limiting performance. At High settings, the progression is 113 FPS at 1080p, 86 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 49% drop from 1440p to 4K. The pixel count increases by 78% from 1080p to 1440p, and by 125% from 1440p to 4K, so the FPS drops are not proportional to pixel count increases—they are steeper, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck as resolution rises.

At Low settings, the progression is 179 FPS at 1080p, 136 FPS at 1440p, and 92 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 49%, which is less severe than the 49% drop at High settings from 1440p to 4K, but the absolute numbers show that even at Low settings, the GPU cannot maintain 1080p-level frame rates at 4K. This behavior is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions—the CPU's 20 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock are sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p, but as resolution increases, the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth become the limiting factor.

The data implies that at 1080p, the combo is partially CPU-bound, as evidenced by the high frame rates that approach what the CPU can support. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting component, with the CPU having plenty of headroom to spare. This scaling behavior is typical for a game like Control, which features complex physics simulations that can load the CPU at lower resolutions, but shifts to GPU dominance at higher pixel counts.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 features 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It is built on the Arrow Lake architecture using a 3 nm process node from TSMC, with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration, providing 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

In Control, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the 179 FPS average suggests that the CPU can generate frames faster than the GPU can render them, and the 20 cores handle the game's physics and AI workloads efficiently. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42,216 indicates strong multi-threaded performance, which is relevant for Control's use of multiple threads for physics calculations. The single-core performance, with a Cinebench R23 score of 5,960, ensures that the game's main thread is well-served, preventing CPU-induced frame hitches.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s is adequate for feeding the GPU at high frame rates, and the 30 MB L3 cache helps keep frequently accessed data close to the cores. The data shows that even at 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 98 FPS, which means the CPU is not limiting performance at any resolution tested. The percentileVsAllCpus of 93 indicates that this CPU is in the top 7% of all tested processors, and its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 4464P and Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, with performance deltas of -0.3% and 0.3%, respectively. This places the CPU in a strong position to avoid bottlenecking the RX 6800 XT in Control, and the measured FPS data confirms that the GPU is the primary performance determinant across all settings and resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in Control?

A: The data indicates that 2560x1440 with High settings provides the best balance, delivering an average of 86 FPS while maintaining strong visual quality. For 4K gaming, Medium settings at 3840x2160 are recommended, with a 65 FPS average and a minimum of 55 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K Ultra settings in Control?

A: No, the measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 50 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The 4K Medium preset, at 65 FPS average, is the highest setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS at this resolution.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64,640, which is 0.3% below the AMD EPYC 4464P, 0.3% above the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, 0.7% above the AMD EPYC 7343, and 0.7% below the AMD EPYC 9124. This places it in a tight competitive cluster.

Q: How much VRAM does the RX 6800 XT have, and is it sufficient?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For Control, which was released in 2019, this VRAM capacity is more than sufficient at all tested resolutions and settings.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile compared to all GPUs?

A: The RX 6800 XT ranks in the 85th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48,477. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile, has a score of 47,743, putting the RX 6800 XT 1.5% ahead.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in Control?

A: This combo ranks 852nd out of 2,888 tested combinations, placing it in the upper 30% of all tested systems. This rank reflects the balanced performance of the CPU and GPU pair in Control's specific workload.