Control

Control is a demanding action-adventure title that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT provides a clear picture of its capabilities across three resolutions and four quality presets. The benchmark results show a system that can deliver smooth frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with adjusted settings, while 4K remains a challenge that requires significant compromises. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS data, the relationship between the components, and how this specific combination ranks against other tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data offers a comprehensive view of how the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT handle Control at various quality levels. At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates strong performance across all presets, with the Low preset achieving an average of 118 FPS, which is the highest average recorded for this combination. The Medium preset delivers 84 FPS, High follows with 74 FPS, and Ultra drops to 65 FPS. All of these averages are comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth, making 1080p a highly playable resolution for this title.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scaling becomes more pronounced. The Low preset maintains an average of 89 FPS, which remains excellent for competitive or fast-paced play. Medium drops to 63 FPS, High to 56 FPS, and Ultra to 49 FPS. At this resolution, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual fidelity and smoothness, as it stays above 60 FPS with a minimum recorded of 54 FPS. The High and Ultra presets fall below 60 FPS on average, which may introduce noticeable stutter during intense combat sequences.

At 3840x2160, the RX 6600 XT begins to show its limits. The Low preset is the only option that achieves an average above 60 FPS, hitting exactly 60 FPS. Medium drops to 43 FPS with a minimum of 36 FPS, High falls to 38 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 33 FPS. For 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only viable choice for maintaining a smooth experience, while Medium and above will require a tolerance for reduced frame rates.

Based on the data, the recommended preset for this combination is Medium at both 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, as it provides a stable experience above 60 FPS in most scenarios while retaining moderate visual enhancements. At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only recommendation for consistent playability, sacrificing visual quality for frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combination in Control?

A: The data indicates that 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, as all four presets achieve average frame rates above 60 FPS. The Low preset reaches 118 FPS, Medium 84 FPS, High 74 FPS, and Ultra 65 FPS, providing flexibility for players who prioritize either visual quality or high refresh rates.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. This suggests that the highest quality settings are too demanding for this resolution with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, and players should consider dropping to Medium or High for a better experience.

Q: Can this system run Control at 4K resolution?

A: The measured data shows that 4K gaming is possible but limited. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 60 FPS, while Medium averages 43 FPS, High 38 FPS, and Ultra 33 FPS. Only the Low preset provides a playable frame rate, indicating that 4K requires significant graphical compromises.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 118 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 65 FPS. This represents a difference of 53 FPS, or roughly 45% lower performance when switching to the highest quality preset, highlighting the substantial GPU load increase from advanced visual effects.

Q: How does the minimum FPS compare to the average FPS at Medium settings?

A: For the Medium preset, the minimum FPS values are recorded as 71 at 1920x1080, 54 at 2560x1440, and 36 at 3840x2160. These minimums indicate that even when the average is above 60 FPS at 1080p, there can be dips, though they remain manageable at that resolution.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus a limiting factor in this game?

A: Based on the FPS scaling across resolutions, the CPU does not appear to be a primary bottleneck at 1080p, as frame rates remain high. The significant drops at 4K suggest the GPU is the limiting component, with the CPU having ample headroom from its 24 cores and 24 threads.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination ranks 2054 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. While this rank may seem modest, it reflects the GPU's position in the overall hierarchy rather than a fundamental system flaw. The RX 6600 XT holds a 70th percentile ranking among all GPUs, indicating it performs better than 70% of tested graphics cards, but the sheer number of higher-end configurations in the database pushes this combo's specific rank down.

The CPU, in contrast, is a high-end part, ranking in the 96th percentile among all CPUs. This disparity between the CPU's strong standing and the GPU's more moderate position explains the combo's rank. The data shows that the system is well-balanced for 1080p gaming, where the GPU can stretch its legs, but the rank in Control is heavily influenced by the GPU's performance ceiling at higher resolutions.

Compared to the nearest rival GPUs, the RX 6600 XT holds its own. It is 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630, 0.8% ahead of the GTX 780 Ti, and 1.1% ahead of the RTX 2080 SUPER in average benchmark scores, while being 0.8% behind the Intel Arc A350M. These small deltas suggest that the RX 6600 XT is competitive with a range of graphics cards from different generations, though none of these rivals are particularly close in raw performance to the newest high-end parts.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Control provides a detailed look at performance across twelve distinct scenarios. At 1920x1080, the system excels: Low preset averages 118 FPS, Medium averages 84 FPS with a minimum of 71 and maximum of 96, High averages 74 FPS, and Ultra averages 65 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combination, with even the most demanding preset maintaining a playable frame rate.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down predictably. The Low preset averages 89 FPS, maintaining excellent smoothness. Medium averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 54 and maximum of 73, which is still largely playable but shows occasional dips below 60 FPS. High averages 56 FPS, and Ultra averages 49 FPS, both falling short of the ideal 60 FPS threshold. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 40 FPS, demonstrating the significant cost of higher quality settings.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens dramatically. The Low preset is the only one to reach 60 FPS on average, while Medium averages 43 FPS with a minimum of 36 and maximum of 49. High averages 38 FPS, and Ultra averages just 33 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 27 FPS, which is smaller in absolute terms than at lower resolutions but represents a much larger percentage drop due to the already reduced frame rates.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently provides the most complete dataset with minimum and maximum values, showing a pattern of roughly 15-20% variance between the average and the extremes. This variance is typical for a game with dynamic combat effects, and the data suggests that Medium offers a stable experience relative to its frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system's performance scales with resolution and what that indicates about the limiting component. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 74 at 1920x1080 to 56 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 18 FPS or approximately 24%. Further scaling to 3840x2160 reduces the average to 38 FPS, another 18 FPS drop, representing a 49% reduction from the 1080p baseline.

At Low settings, the scaling is similar in absolute terms but different in percentage. The average FPS goes from 118 at 1080p to 89 at 1440p, a drop of 29 FPS or about 25%. At 4K, the average falls to 60 FPS, another 29 FPS reduction, which is a 49% decrease from 1080p. This consistent halving of performance when moving from 1080p to 4K is a strong indicator that the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

The pattern holds for Medium and Ultra settings as well. At Medium, the averages are 84, 63, and 43 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively. At Ultra, the averages are 65, 49, and 33 FPS. In each case, the 4K performance is approximately half of the 1080p performance, which aligns with the pixel count quadrupling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. This scaling behavior confirms that the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the limiting component, as the CPU's performance would not degrade linearly with resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a formidable processor with 24 cores and 24 threads, a base clock of 3.70 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. It is built on a 3 nm process from TSMC and features 36 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 44,253 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,439 in single-core, placing it in the 96th percentile among all CPUs.

In Control, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p with the Low preset, the system achieves 118 FPS, which is a high frame rate that suggests the CPU is more than capable of handling the game's logic. Even at 4K with the Low preset, the system maintains 60 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution tested.

The impressive multi-core performance, evidenced by a PassMark multithread score of 68,574, suggests that the CPU has plenty of headroom for background tasks or future game updates. The high single-core score of 5,068 in PassMark also bodes well for games that rely on a few heavily threaded tasks, though Control appears to scale well across the available threads.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the determining factor in this system's gaming performance. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, with a memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz. It is built on TSMC's 7 nm process and contains 11,060 million transistors.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 16,461 in PassMark G3D, placing it in the 70th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630, which it edges by 0.7%, and the GTX 780 Ti, which it beats by 0.8%. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Control at 1080p and 1440p, but the measured FPS drops at 4K suggest that memory bandwidth and raw compute power become limiting factors at higher resolutions.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 10.60 TFLOPS and texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s are moderate by modern standards, which aligns with the observed performance in Control. The fact that the Low preset is required for 60 FPS at 4K underscores the GPU's limitations at that resolution, while its solid 1080p performance shows that it remains a capable option for mainstream gaming. The GPU's end-of-life production status and 160 W TDP also indicate it is positioned as a mid-range part rather than a high-end solution.