Control

# Control with Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

The benchmark data for Control on this configuration shows a system that delivers high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings, with the measured results indicating a clear hierarchy: at 1080p the CPU is fully capable of pushing well past 200 FPS on Low settings, while at 4K the GPU becomes the dominant constraint, dropping from 245 FPS at 1080p Low to 125 FPS at 4K Low. The combination of a 20-core Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and a 16 GB RTX 4080 SUPER produces smooth gameplay even at the most demanding 4K Ultra preset, where the average of 69 FPS remains comfortably playable. This analysis walks through the measured FPS data, component roles, and ranking position to provide a complete picture of how this pairing behaves in Control.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for Control reveals that the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance across all three tested resolutions. At 4K, Medium delivers an average of 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 102 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over the High preset's 79 FPS average while maintaining a frame rate that exceeds typical 60 FPS display refresh rates. The jump from Medium to High costs 10 FPS at 4K (89 to 79), while the jump from Medium to Ultra costs 20 FPS (89 to 69), making Medium the sweet spot where the performance penalty remains modest relative to the visual gains.

At 1440p, the Medium preset averages 132 FPS with a minimum of 112 FPS and maximum of 152 FPS, which is 15 FPS higher than High (117 FPS) and 30 FPS higher than Ultra (102 FPS). The 1440p Medium result is particularly strong because the minimum FPS of 112 ensures consistent frame pacing even during intense action sequences. At 1080p, Medium averages 174 FPS with a minimum of 148 FPS and maximum of 200 FPS, which is 19 FPS above High (155 FPS) and 40 FPS above Ultra (134 FPS). The 1080p Medium result shows that this preset can fully utilize high-refresh-rate monitors, as the minimum of 148 FPS exceeds the refresh rate of most gaming displays.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates over visual quality, the Low preset provides the highest measured averages: 245 FPS at 1080p, 185 FPS at 1440p, and 125 FPS at 4K. However, the Low preset sacrifices significant visual detail, and the data indicates that Medium delivers a far more balanced experience. The Ultra preset, while visually impressive, shows diminishing returns: at 4K it averages 69 FPS, which is the only tested configuration that dips below the 70 FPS threshold, and at 1440p it averages 102 FPS. Given that Medium provides a 29% improvement over Ultra at 4K (89 vs 69 FPS) and a 29% improvement at 1440p (132 vs 102 FPS), the Medium preset is the recommended choice for this hardware combination in Control.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 features 20 cores and 20 threads, operating with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This processor belongs to the Arrow Lake architecture built on a 3 nm process, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42216 and a single-core score of 5960, along with a PassMark single-thread score of 4689 and a multithread score of 49682. The CPU sits at the 93rd percentile among all CPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 64640.

In Control, the CPU's role is most visible at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 245 FPS, which is 60 FPS higher than at 1440p Low (185 FPS) and 120 FPS higher than at 4K Low (125 FPS). This scaling pattern indicates that at 1080p Low, the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough frames to reach very high frame rates, but the GPU's workload increases with resolution, pulling the average down. The 20-core configuration with a 5.30 GHz boost clock provides ample processing headroom for Control's physics and AI systems, as evidenced by the 245 FPS result at 1080p Low, which is the highest measured value across all configurations.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD EPYC 4464P with an average score of 64823 (0.3% higher), the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F with 64438 (0.3% lower), the AMD EPYC 7343 with 64202 (0.7% lower), and the AMD EPYC 9124 with 65104 (0.7% higher). These delta values are all within 1% of the Core Ultra 7 265's score, indicating that the CPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks is closely matched by these competitors. For Control specifically, the high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5960) helps maintain consistent frame times, particularly in scenes with heavy scripted events or particle effects, though the game's relatively modest CPU demands mean that even the 1080p Low result of 245 FPS does not fully stress the processor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER comes with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2550 MHz, and it features 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units. The card includes 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate, and has a TDP of 320 W. In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU achieves a PassMark G3D score of 34245 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 219065, placing it at the 86th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 54209.

The GPU's role in Control becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the GPU can render frames at very high rates, with the Ultra preset averaging 134 FPS and Low averaging 245 FPS. At 1440p, the GPU's workload increases, and the Ultra preset drops to 102 FPS while Low achieves 185 FPS. At 4K, the GPU's constraints become more pronounced: Ultra averages 69 FPS, High averages 79 FPS, Medium averages 89 FPS, and Low averages 125 FPS. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Control at any settings, as the game's texture requirements are well within this allocation, and the 736.3 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming does not become a bottleneck.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 with an average score of 54247 (0.1% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X with 54828 (1.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB with 55698 (2.7% higher), and the AMD Radeon 8060S with 55757 (2.8% higher). These delta values show that the RTX 4080 SUPER performs nearly identically to the RTX 4080, with differences under 3% against the other listed rivals. In Control, the GPU's raw throughput directly translates to the measured FPS values, and the 4K Ultra result of 69 FPS demonstrates that this card can handle the game's maximum settings at 4K, albeit with a frame rate that is closer to the 60 FPS baseline than the higher-refresh targets achievable at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured data for this specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER places it at rank 203 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, putting it in the top 7% of all configurations tested in this game. This ranking reflects the strong overall performance of both components, though it also indicates that there are 202 other combinations that achieve higher average FPS values in Control, likely involving faster GPUs or CPUs with higher boost clocks that push frame rates even higher at lower resolutions.

The ranking position of 203 out of 2888 suggests that this combo delivers excellent performance for Control, but it is not at the absolute top of the list. Given that the RTX 4080 SUPER is an end-of-life product (released in January 2024) and the Core Ultra 7 265 is a newer processor (released in January 2025), the combo represents a pairing of a previous-generation high-end GPU with a current-generation mid-to-high-end CPU. The 93rd percentile CPU ranking and 86th percentile GPU ranking indicate that both components perform above average in their respective categories, and the combined rank of 203 out of 2888 is consistent with these individual percentile scores.

The combo's rank in Control is particularly notable because the game is not extremely demanding by modern standards, given its 2019 release date. The measured FPS values show that this combo can achieve 245 FPS at 1080p Low, which is well above the refresh rates of most gaming monitors, and even at 4K Ultra it maintains 69 FPS. The rank of 203 suggests that configurations with more powerful GPUs, such as those with higher memory bandwidth or more shading units, can achieve even higher frame rates in Control, but this combo remains a strong performer that would satisfy most players' expectations for smooth gameplay across all tested settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, which indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 245 FPS at 1080p to 185 FPS at 1440p (a 24.5% reduction) and then to 125 FPS at 4K (a 32.4% reduction from 1440p). This scaling is consistent with the GPU's workload increasing roughly in proportion to the number of pixels rendered, as the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB VRAM and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to handle the increased memory pressure at 4K.

At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 174 FPS at 1080p to 132 FPS at 1440p (a 24.1% reduction) and then to 89 FPS at 4K (a 32.6% reduction from 1440p). The High settings show a similar pattern: 155 FPS at 1080p, 117 FPS at 1440p (a 24.5% reduction), and 79 FPS at 4K (a 32.5% reduction from 1440p). At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 134 FPS at 1080p to 102 FPS at 1440p (a 23.9% reduction) and then to 69 FPS at 4K (a 32.4% reduction from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings strengthens the conclusion that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The resolution scaling data also reveals that the CPU is not a significant bottleneck at any tested resolution. The fact that the frame rate reductions from 1080p to 1440p are consistently around 24% across all settings suggests that the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU even at 1080p, where the 245 FPS Low setting result demonstrates the processor's ability to handle high frame rates. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see smaller frame rate drops between resolutions, as the GPU would not be fully utilized at lower resolutions. The measured data indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER scales predictably with resolution, making it the dominant component in determining Control's performance at 1440p and above.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: 245 FPS on Low settings, 174 FPS on Medium settings (with a minimum of 148 FPS and maximum of 200 FPS), 155 FPS on High settings, and 134 FPS on Ultra settings. The 1080p results show that the Low preset achieves the highest frame rate by a significant margin, with a 71 FPS difference between Low and Medium, while the difference between High and Ultra is 21 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 148 indicates that even in the most demanding scenes, the frame rate remains above 144 FPS, which is beneficial for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 2560x1440, the measured average FPS values are: 185 FPS on Low settings, 132 FPS on Medium settings (with a minimum of 112 FPS and maximum of 152 FPS), 117 FPS on High settings, and 102 FPS on Ultra settings. The 1440p results show a similar pattern to 1080p, with Low being 53 FPS higher than Medium, and High being 15 FPS higher than Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 112 ensures that the frame rate stays above 100 FPS throughout gameplay, which is a solid target for 1440p gaming on high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 3840x2160, the measured average FPS values are: 125 FPS on Low settings, 89 FPS on Medium settings (with a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 102 FPS), 79 FPS on High settings, and 69 FPS on Ultra settings. The 4K results show that Low achieves a 36 FPS advantage over Medium, while High is only 10 FPS faster than Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K delivers a minimum FPS of 76, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold, while the Ultra preset's average of 69 FPS is the lowest measured value across all tested configurations. The data shows that at 4K, the Medium preset provides the best combination of visual quality and performance, with an average FPS that is 20 FPS higher than Ultra and a minimum FPS that is 7 FPS higher than Ultra's average.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming in Control?

A: The Medium preset at 4K delivers an average of 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 102 FPS. This is 20 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's average of 69 FPS and 10 FPS higher than High's 79 FPS, making Medium the recommended choice for 4K.

Q: How does the frame rate scale from 1080p to 4K at Low settings?

A: At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 245 FPS at 1080p to 185 FPS at 1440p (a 24.5% reduction) and then to 125 FPS at 4K (a 32.4% reduction from 1440p). This indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The resolution scaling data shows consistent frame rate drops of approximately 24% from 1080p to 1440p and 32% from 1440p to 4K across all settings, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, while the CPU has sufficient headroom.

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 245 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 185 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings, followed by 174 FPS at 1080p with Medium settings.

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

A: This combination of Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 203rd out of 2888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 7% of all configurations tested in this game.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB VRAM cause any issues at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No, the 16 GB GDDR6X memory with 736.3 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for Control at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS is 69. The measured data shows no indication of VRAM-related performance drops at any tested resolution or settings preset.