Control

Control with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile shows a clear pattern: resolution is the primary lever on performance, and the GPU is the dominant constraint at every step. The measured FPS data across three resolutions and four settings presets tells a consistent story about how this laptop combo handles the game.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and steady, revealing a GPU-bound workload. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 102 FPS at 1920x1080 to 77 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 52 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 25% reduction going from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 32% reduction going from 1440p to 4K. From 1080p to 4K, the drop is 49%, meaning the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is being pushed hard as pixel count quadruples.

Low settings show a similar curve but with higher absolute numbers. At 1920x1080, Low hits 162 FPS; at 2560x1440, it drops to 123 FPS (a 24% decrease); and at 3840x2160, it lands at 83 FPS (a 33% decrease from 1440p). The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, which is a classic sign that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are the limiting factor. The RTX 5070 Ti Mobile's 192-bit bus and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p but start to feel constrained at 4K, where the 83 FPS on Low is still playable but far from the 162 FPS seen at 1080p.

Medium settings offer a middle ground. At 1920x1080, Medium averages 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 and a maximum of 132. At 2560x1440, it falls to 87 FPS (min 74, max 100), and at 3840x2160, it drops to 59 FPS (min 50, max 68). The minimum FPS at 4K Medium—50 FPS—is just above the 45 FPS average at Ultra, showing that even a modest preset reduction helps maintain playability. Ultra settings are the heaviest load: 89 FPS at 1080p, 67 FPS at 1440p, and only 45 FPS at 4K. That 45 FPS is below the 50 FPS minimum seen at 4K Medium, indicating that Ultra at 4K will produce noticeable stutter in demanding scenes.

What does this say about the limiting component? The CPU, a 20-core Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, is not the bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting, we would see smaller FPS differences between resolutions, because the same CPU work would be required regardless of pixel count. Instead, the FPS scales directly with resolution, which points squarely at the GPU. The RTX 5070 Ti Mobile's 17.04 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 115.8 GPixel/s pixel rate are being saturated, especially at 4K where the pixel fill rate becomes critical.

For a 4K display, the data suggests you will need to drop to Low or Medium settings to stay above 60 FPS. The 83 FPS at 4K Low and 59 FPS at 4K Medium are the only 4K presets that approach smooth gameplay. High and Ultra at 4K, at 52 and 45 FPS respectively, are best reserved for slower-paced exploration rather than combat scenarios. At 1440p, the story improves: High at 77 FPS and Medium at 87 FPS are solid, while Ultra at 67 FPS is passable. At 1080p, every preset except Ultra exceeds 100 FPS, making it the sweet spot for high refresh rate displays.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data favors Medium settings as the best compromise between visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, Medium averages 115 FPS with a 98 FPS minimum, which is 13 FPS faster than High's 102 FPS average and only 13 FPS slower than Low's 162 FPS. The minimum FPS at Medium (98) is higher than the average at Ultra (89), meaning Medium will feel smoother in practice than Ultra despite the lower preset. At 2560x1440, Medium hits 87 FPS with a 74 FPS minimum, while High manages 77 FPS and Ultra drops to 67 FPS. Medium is the only 1440p preset that stays above 70 FPS average, which is a good target for a 60 Hz monitor with headroom.

At 3840x2160, Medium averages 59 FPS with a 50 FPS minimum, which is borderline but playable. Low is the only 4K preset that exceeds 60 FPS, hitting 83 FPS on average. High at 4K (52 FPS) and Ultra at 4K (45 FPS) are below the 60 FPS threshold and will feel sluggish in fast action. If you own a 4K display, the data suggests either accepting Low for smoothness or Medium for a better visual balance, understanding that the minimum FPS of 50 will occasionally dip below 60.

For most users, Medium is the recommended preset. It delivers a 115 FPS average at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K, which is a reasonable experience across all resolutions. High is a viable choice at 1080p (102 FPS) and 1440p (77 FPS), but it falls to 52 FPS at 4K, making it a poor fit for 4K displays. Low is only necessary if you are chasing maximum frame rates on a high-refresh 1080p or 1440p panel, where 162 and 123 FPS respectively are excellent. Ultra is best avoided; it provides the smallest FPS gain over High (only 13 FPS at 1080p, 10 FPS at 1440p, and 7 FPS at 4K) while costing significant performance, and the data shows no minimum FPS values for Ultra, suggesting stability concerns.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is the workhorse here, and its specifications explain the measured results. With 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, the GPU has a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s, which is ample for 1080p and 1440p but strained at 4K. The 80 ROPs and 184 TMUs handle pixel and texture work, and the 46 RT cores are present but not heavily utilized in this game's standard rendering. The base clock of 847 MHz and boost clock of 1447 MHz are modest for a mobile part, but the 17.04 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is what drives the frame rates.

The GPU's benchmark scores support its role. In PassMark G3D, it scores 24004, placing it in the 80th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 (35520, -0.2% delta) and AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35860, -1.2% delta), which are older workstation parts. The RTX 5070 Ti Mobile outperforms the NVIDIA A2 (34690, +2.1%) but trails the NVIDIA T1000 (36289, -2.4%). These scores indicate a mid-to-high-end mobile GPU, and the game's measured FPS aligns with that positioning: strong at 1080p, capable at 1440p, and only adequate at 4K.

The 12 GB VRAM is not a bottleneck in this game at these settings, as Control's textures are not extreme, but the 672.0 GB/s bandwidth is likely the limiting factor at 4K. When resolution increases, the GPU must fetch more data from memory, and the 192-bit bus becomes a bottleneck. This is evident in the 4K FPS numbers: 45 FPS at Ultra, 52 FPS at High, 59 FPS at Medium, and 83 FPS at Low. The jump from Medium to Low at 4K is 24 FPS, the largest single-preset gain, which suggests that lowering texture and shadow quality reduces memory pressure significantly. At 1080p, the bandwidth is sufficient, and the GPU's compute power allows for 162 FPS at Low and 102 FPS at High.

The GPU's power draw is listed at 60 W TDP, which is low for a mobile RTX 50-series part, but the slot width is listed as "IGP" (integrated graphics processor), indicating this is a compact solution. This low power envelope means the GPU may throttle under sustained load, but the measured FPS data shows no such throttling, as the numbers are consistent across resolutions. The Geekbench scores—143870 in OpenCL and 139213 in Vulkan—further confirm the GPU's compute capability, but they do not translate directly to gaming performance, as the game's FPS is more dependent on the shading units and memory subsystem.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this laptop combo in Control?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1920x1080 is the strongest resolution, with all presets except Ultra exceeding 100 FPS. At Medium, the average is 115 FPS with a minimum of 98, making it ideal for high refresh rate gaming. 2560x1440 is also viable, with Medium hitting 87 FPS, but 3840x2160 struggles to maintain 60 FPS except on Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile compare to its rivals in GPU benchmarks?

A: The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 24004 places it at the 80th percentile. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro GV100, scores 35520, which is 0.2% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo scores 35860 (1.2% lower), the NVIDIA A2 scores 34690 (2.1% higher), and the NVIDIA T1000 scores 36289 (2.4% lower). This means the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is slightly below the Quadro GV100 but above the A2.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck in this game?

A: No. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX, with 20 cores and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, is not limiting performance. The FPS scales directly with resolution, which is a sign of GPU-bound rendering. If the CPU were the bottleneck, FPS would remain similar across resolutions. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 40642 and single-core score of 5737 indicate it is well above the demands of this game.

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

A: At 2560x1440, High averages 77 FPS while Ultra averages 67 FPS, a difference of 10 FPS. The minimum FPS is not listed for either preset, but the average difference suggests Ultra is not worth the visual gain unless you have a 60 Hz display. Medium at 87 FPS is a better choice than both, as it provides a higher average with a 74 FPS minimum.

Q: Can this laptop run Control at 4K smoothly?

A: Only at Low settings, which averages 83 FPS. Medium at 4K averages 59 FPS with a 50 FPS minimum, which is borderline playable but may dip below 60 in heavy scenes. High and Ultra at 4K, at 52 and 45 FPS respectively, are not smooth enough for action sequences. For a 4K display, Low is the only preset that guarantees a stable frame rate above 60.

Q: How much does lowering settings from Ultra to Low improve FPS at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 89 FPS while Low averages 162 FPS, an improvement of 73 FPS. Medium at 115 FPS is a middle ground, offering a 26 FPS gain over Ultra. The jump from Ultra to Low is the largest, suggesting that Ultra settings impose a heavy load on the GPU, and dropping to Low nearly doubles the frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on Arrow Lake-HX architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This is a high-end mobile CPU, and its benchmark scores confirm it is more than sufficient for Control. In Cinebench R23, it scores 40642 in multi-core and 5737 in single-core, placing it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13790F (63080, +0.1% delta) and AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G (63331, -0.2% delta), showing it is competitive with desktop parts from a previous generation.

In this game, the CPU is not the limiting factor. The measured FPS scaling with resolution—from 162 FPS at 1080p Low to 83 FPS at 4K Low—is a GPU-driven pattern. The CPU's single-core performance, as measured by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5737, is more than adequate to feed the GPU at any resolution. The 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth also help ensure the CPU does not starve the GPU of data.

The CPU's multi-core capability, while impressive with a PassMark multi-thread score of 47985, is not fully utilized by Control, which is a lighter-threaded game. However, the 20 cores provide headroom for background tasks, such as streaming or recording, without impacting frame rates. The data shows no CPU-related dips in the minimum FPS values; for example, at 4K Medium, the minimum is 50 FPS, which is consistent with the GPU's load rather than a CPU stall. If the CPU were causing stutters, we would expect the minimum FPS to be disproportionately lower than the average, but the 4K Medium minimum (50) is only 9 FPS below the average (59), a reasonable gap for a GPU-bound scenario.

The CPU's architecture, Arrow Lake, is built on a 3 nm process from TSMC, which contributes to its efficiency. With a TDP of 55 W, it is well-matched to the GPU's 60 W TDP, creating a balanced mobile platform. In practice, this means the CPU can sustain its boost clock of 5.30 GHz during gaming, providing consistent performance without thermal throttling. The PassMark data compression score of 511817 and floating point math score of 161605 are indicative of strong general-purpose compute, but they are not directly relevant to gaming. For Control, the CPU's role is to maintain a steady stream of draw calls and physics updates, and the benchmark results show it does so without becoming a bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings deliver the highest average at 162 FPS, followed by Medium at 115 FPS (with a minimum of 98 and maximum of 132), High at 102 FPS, and Ultra at 89 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 47 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 13 FPS, and High to Ultra is another 13 FPS. This suggests that the biggest performance gain comes from dropping from Medium to Low, which likely reduces shadow and texture quality significantly. For a 144 Hz display, Low and Medium are both viable, with Medium offering a smoother minimum FPS (98) compared to High's unlisted minimum.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower numbers. Low averages 123 FPS, Medium 87 FPS (min 74, max 100), High 77 FPS, and Ultra 67 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 36 FPS, from Medium to High is 10 FPS, and High to Ultra is another 10 FPS. At this resolution, Medium is the best balance for a 75 Hz or 100 Hz monitor, as it stays above 74 FPS minimum. High is acceptable for 60 Hz, but Ultra at 67 FPS average may dip below 60 in heavy scenes. Low is the only preset that stays above 120 FPS, making it suitable for high refresh rate gaming.

At 3840x2160, performance drops significantly. Low averages 83 FPS, Medium 59 FPS (min 50, max 68), High 52 FPS, and Ultra 45 FPS. The scaling is steeper here: Low to Medium is a 24 FPS drop, Medium to High is 7 FPS, and High to Ultra is another 7 FPS. The minimum FPS at Medium (50) is the only listed minimum at 4K, and it is close to the High average (52), indicating that Medium at 4K is borderline. For a 60 Hz 4K display, Low is the only preset that guarantees a stable frame rate above 60, while Medium will occasionally drop to 50 FPS. High and Ultra are not recommended for 4K, as they fall below 60 FPS average.

Across all resolutions, the data shows that the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile has a performance ceiling around 162 FPS at 1080p Low, which is the maximum measured. The minimum FPS values, where available, are consistently 10-15% below the average, indicating stable frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 98 FPS versus an average of 115, a 15% gap. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 74 versus an average of 87, a 15% gap. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 50 versus an average of 59, a 15% gap. This consistency suggests the GPU is running at a steady clock speed without severe throttling, and the CPU is keeping up with frame delivery. For gamers, this means the system will feel smooth even when frame rates dip, as the drops are predictable rather than erratic.