Control

# Control with Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

Control is a 2019 Action Adventure title that remains demanding at higher resolutions, and this pairing of Intel's Core Ultra 7 265 with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 produces a wide spread of results depending on where you set the dial. The data shows a 20-core Arrow Lake CPU driving a Blackwell 2.0 GPU with 8 GB of GDDR7 memory, and the measured frames per second tell a story of a combo that is comfortable at 1080p, very usable at 1440p, and only stretched at 4K. The RTX 5060 sits in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 7 265 lands in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, suggesting a system that leans on its processor for heavy lifting.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance percentile for this GPU, and how does it compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5060 sits in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 26331 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon 860M (26401, 0.3% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (26421, 0.3% faster), and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (26553, 0.8% faster), while it edges out the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (26011, 1.2% slower).

Q: How does the Core Ultra 7 265 compare to the nearest CPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64640. This places it 0.3% behind the AMD EPYC 4464P (64823), 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64438), 0.7% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7343 (64202), and 0.7% behind the AMD EPYC 9124 (65104). The differences are all within a single percentage point, indicating a tightly clustered group.

Q: What is the best 1080p result for this combo in Control, and at what settings?

A: The highest average FPS at 1920x1080 is 149 FPS at Low settings. Medium settings deliver 106 FPS, High settings produce 94 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 82 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 90 FPS and a maximum of 122 FPS, providing a smooth window for gameplay.

Q: Can this system handle 4K in Control?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 42 FPS, High averages 48 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS (with a min of 46 and max of 62), and Low averages 76 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K is the only one that maintains an average above 50 FPS while keeping the frame time variance in check.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: This particular pairing ranks 1237 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places it in the upper-middle portion of the field, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer, it is far from the bottom of the pack and offers a solid experience for most users.

Q: How does the GPU's memory configuration influence its performance in this game?

A: The RTX 5060 features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Control, a game known for its particle effects and physics, the 8 GB capacity appears sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, but the average FPS drops at 4K suggest that the memory bandwidth and capacity become limiting factors at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The RTX 5060 is the primary driver of frame output in this configuration, and its specifications reveal why Control behaves the way it does across resolutions. The GPU runs at a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz, with 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a notably high figure for this class of card, but the capacity is modest by modern standards.

In Control, the GPU's role becomes clearer when examining the measured FPS across resolutions. At 1920x1080, the card ranges from 82 FPS at Ultra to 149 FPS at Low, indicating that the GPU has enough headroom to push high frame rates when the render load is moderate. At 2560x1440, the range shifts to 62 FPS at Ultra and 113 FPS at Low, showing a predictable scaling penalty as pixel count increases. The 4K results, however, reveal a steeper drop: 42 FPS at Ultra, 48 FPS at High, 54 FPS at Medium, and 76 FPS at Low. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 34 FPS, compared to a 67 FPS gap at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU's memory subsystem becomes a bottleneck as resolution scales.

The 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores are present on this Blackwell chip, and while Control supports ray tracing, the measured data here does not isolate RT performance. The FP32 throughput of 19.18 TFLOPS and texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s provide the raw compute needed for the game's physics-heavy environments. The pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but struggles to maintain high averages at 4K, especially on the Ultra preset where the frame rate dips to 42 FPS.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 72 and its near-tie with the AMD Radeon 860M and NVIDIA GeForce MX550 in average benchmark score indicate that this is a mid-range part. In Control specifically, the measured data shows it performing best at lower resolutions, where the 8 GB memory pool is less likely to be saturated. At 4K, the memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is sufficient for the Medium preset's 54 FPS average, but pushing to High or Ultra increases the render load beyond what the card can comfortably sustain.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset to choose, and the answer depends heavily on your target resolution and frame rate preference. For a 60 FPS baseline, the sweet spot is 1440p Medium, which delivers an average of 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS. This preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and smoothness, as it stays comfortably above 60 FPS even in demanding scenes.

At 1080p, the High preset at 94 FPS is the recommended choice for players who want a strong visual experience without sacrificing responsiveness. The Ultra preset at 82 FPS is also playable, but the 12 FPS gain from dropping to High is modest, and High likely provides a more stable frame pacing. For competitive play or maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 149 FPS is the clear winner, though it sacrifices the visual effects that make Control's environments distinctive.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset at 62 FPS is playable but leaves little headroom for drops. The Medium preset at 80 FPS is the better choice for most users, as it maintains a 68 FPS minimum, ensuring that even the most chaotic combat sequences stay fluid. The High preset at 71 FPS sits between the two, but the Medium preset's lower variance makes it the more consistent option.

At 4K, the data suggests that Medium is the only viable preset for a playable experience. The 54 FPS average with a 46 FPS minimum and 62 FPS maximum is acceptable, but High at 48 FPS and Ultra at 42 FPS will likely feel stuttery during intense moments. The Low preset at 76 FPS is the only way to hit a solid 60+ FPS average at 4K, but it strips away many of the game's visual features. For most users, 1440p Medium offers the best overall experience, balancing the GPU's capabilities with Control's demanding visuals.

How This Combo Ranks

This pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 ranks 1237 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places it in the 57th percentile of all tested combinations, meaning that roughly 57% of combos perform better and 43% perform worse. The rank is a function of both the CPU and GPU working together, and the data indicates that the CPU's high percentile ranking (93rd) is partially offset by the GPU's more modest standing (72nd).

The combo's rank of 1237 suggests that it is a solid mid-pack performer, but not a standout. The Core Ultra 7 265's nearest CPU rivals — the AMD EPYC 4464P, Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, AMD EPYC 7343, and AMD EPYC 9124 — all have average benchmark scores within 0.7% of each other, so the CPU itself is not the differentiator here. The GPU's nearest rivals — the AMD Radeon 860M, NVIDIA GeForce MX550, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary, and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT — are similarly clustered, with all deltas within 1.2%.

What this means for Control specifically is that the combo's rank is driven by the GPU's ability to handle the game's resolution scaling. At 1080p and 1440p, the RTX 5060 performs well enough to place this combo in the upper-middle tier, but at 4K, the frame rates drop below what many other combos might achieve with more powerful GPUs. The rank of 1237 out of 2888 is respectable, but users seeking top-tier 4K performance would need to look at GPUs with more memory bandwidth or higher FP32 throughput.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It runs at a base clock of 2.40 GHz and boosts to 5.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU has 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 on a dual-channel interface with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Control, the CPU's role is less about raw frame rate and more about maintaining consistent frame pacing. The game's physics engine and particle effects are known to be CPU-intensive, and the Core Ultra 7 265's 20 cores provide ample headroom for these tasks. The benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42216 and a single-core score of 5960, indicating strong multi-threaded performance that can handle Control's background processing without bottlenecking the GPU.

The CPU's PassMark multithread score of 49682 and single-thread score of 4689 further confirm its capability. The data compression score of 522983 and floating-point math score of 172776 show that the CPU can handle the complex calculations required by Control's destructible environments. The 20 threads are particularly useful for the game's asynchronous physics computations, which can scale across multiple cores.

However, the CPU's impact on Control's measured FPS is secondary to the GPU. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 149 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's practical limit for this game, but at higher settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking means it is unlikely to hold back the RTX 5060 in most scenarios, but the lack of hyperthreading (20 cores, 20 threads) could theoretically limit performance in extremely CPU-bound scenes. The data, however, shows no such limitation, as the measured FPS scales predictably with GPU load across all resolutions and settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo in Control covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a complete picture of performance scaling.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 149 FPS. The Medium preset averages 106 FPS, with a minimum of 90 FPS and a maximum of 122 FPS. The High preset averages 94 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 82 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 67 FPS drop, representing a 45% reduction in frame rate as settings increase. The Medium preset's 90 FPS minimum is particularly notable, as it ensures that even the most demanding scenes stay well above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 113 FPS, which is a 24% drop from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 80 FPS, with a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS. The High preset averages 71 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 62 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 51 FPS drop, representing a 45% reduction. The Medium preset's 68 FPS minimum is the key figure here, as it keeps the experience smooth even during heavy combat.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 76 FPS, which is a 33% drop from the 1440p Low result. The Medium preset averages 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 FPS and a maximum of 62 FPS. The High preset averages 48 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 42 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 34 FPS drop, representing a 45% reduction, consistent with the other resolutions. However, the absolute values are much lower, and only the Low preset maintains an average above 60 FPS. The Medium preset's 46 FPS minimum means that players will experience noticeable frame drops in intense scenes, making it a marginal choice for 4K play.

The data across all resolutions shows a consistent pattern: the RTX 5060 scales predictably with settings, and the CPU does not introduce any anomalies. The Medium preset is the most well-documented, with min and max FPS values provided for all three resolutions, and it consistently offers the best balance of performance and stability. The 1080p Medium result of 106 FPS average, 1440p Medium of 80 FPS average, and 4K Medium of 54 FPS average give users a clear expectation of what this combo can deliver at each resolution.