Control

Control, the 2019 action-adventure from Remedy, presents a demanding workload that scales predictably with resolution, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the Intel Arc B570 shows a configuration clearly bound by its graphics card at higher settings. Across the board, the transition from 1080p to 4K results in substantial frame rate erosion, with the most dramatic drop occurring at the High preset where the average FPS falls from 63 to 32, a 49% reduction. This steep decline is the classic signature of a GPU-limited scenario, where the Arc B570's rendering capabilities are outstripped by the pixel count, regardless of the CPU's headroom. The data indicates that while the CPU is more than capable of feeding frames at lower resolutions, the graphics card becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, a pattern that holds true across every tested preset.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent trend: performance is heavily dependent on resolution, with the gap between 1080p and 4K widening as graphical settings increase. At the Low preset, the average frame rate drops from 101 FPS at 1920x1080 to 76 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 51 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a significant 49.5% performance loss from 1080p to 4K, but it is the least punishing scaling in the dataset. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern, starting at 71 FPS at 1080p, falling to 54 FPS at 1440p, and then to 36 FPS at 4K, a 49.3% reduction from the lowest to highest resolution. The High preset exhibits the most severe scaling, with the 1080p average of 63 FPS dropping to 48 FPS at 1440p and then plummeting to 32 FPS at 4K, a 49.2% decrease. The Ultra preset follows suit, with averages of 55 FPS, 42 FPS, and 28 FPS across the three resolutions, respectively, marking a 49.1% drop from 1080p to 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops—all hovering around the 49% mark—is a strong indicator that the limiting component is the GPU. The frame rate is being halved when the pixel count quadruples, which is the theoretical expectation for a purely GPU-bound workload. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling from 1440p to 4K would be less severe, as the CPU would still be able to provide the same number of frames, and the GPU would be the only factor changing. The data shows no such plateau; instead, the FPS scales almost perfectly with the pixel throughput, confirming that the Intel Arc B570 is the definitive performance ceiling for this combination. The 1080p results, particularly the 101 FPS average at Low settings, demonstrate that the CPU is not holding back performance at lower resolutions, but the GPU's limits are quickly reached as resolution climbs.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the decisive component in this pairing for Control, and its specifications align directly with the measured performance. The GPU is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture, featuring 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines. These cores operate at a consistent clock speed of 2500 MHz for both base and boost, a fixed frequency that suggests the card's performance is stable under load. The memory subsystem consists of 10 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a critical factor at higher resolutions, where the demand for texture data and frame buffer space increases.

The benchmark results show the GPU's average score of 20556 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rivals being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and the Intel Arc A750, with delta percentages of 0.1% and -0.1%, respectively. This indicates that the B570's raw compute performance is competitive with those cards, but the measured FPS in Control suggests that the game's specific engine and visual effects may be particularly sensitive to the card's memory bandwidth or ROP throughput. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 28 is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, and even at 1440p High, the 48 FPS average shows the GPU struggling to maintain a fluid experience. The data indicates that while the GPU's compute capabilities are adequate for 1080p, its performance scales poorly with the increased load of higher resolutions, making it the primary constraint in this system. The 19 Gbps effective memory speed and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are not sufficient to prevent the frame rate from collapsing at 4K, highlighting the GPU's role as the performance limiter.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combination depend heavily on the target resolution, but the data strongly suggests that 1080p is the only resolution where a consistently smooth experience is achievable. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, providing a solid balance between visual quality and performance. The High preset at 1080p offers a slightly better visual experience with an average of 63 FPS, but it lacks the guaranteed minimum frame rate data, suggesting it may be less stable. For players prioritizing smoothness, the Low preset at 1080p yields an impressive 101 FPS average, but this comes at a significant cost to visual fidelity.

Moving to 2560x1440, the data becomes less favorable. The Low preset manages a 76 FPS average, which is playable, but the Medium preset drops to 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS, and the High preset falls to 48 FPS. At this resolution, the High and Ultra presets, with averages of 48 and 42 FPS, respectively, are likely to feel inconsistent, as they hover around the edge of playability. The data indicates that 1440p requires a compromise, with Low or Medium being the only viable options for a generally responsive experience. At 3840x2160, the situation is grim. Even the Low preset only achieves a 51 FPS average, and the Medium preset drops to 36 FPS with a minimum of 31 FPS. The High and Ultra presets, at 32 and 28 FPS, respectively, are not suitable for a smooth gaming experience. The recommendation is clear: for this game and this hardware combination, 1080p with Medium settings is the sweet spot for a good experience, while 1440p demands a significant reduction in settings to maintain playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the Intel Arc B570 ranks 2307 out of 2888 tested combos for Control. This places it in the bottom 20% of all configurations, a low ranking that is primarily attributable to the GPU's performance ceiling. The combo's rank is a reflection of the overall FPS output across all tested resolutions and settings, and the data shows that this pairing struggles to maintain high frame rates at demanding resolutions. The CPU itself is a high performer, with an average benchmark score of 93785, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, but its capabilities are largely negated by the GPU's limitations in this specific game.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 20556 places it in the 65th percentile, but its performance in Control is seemingly worse than its general benchmark suggests. The combo's low ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's inability to scale effectively with resolution, as seen in the measured FPS data. While the CPU is clearly not the bottleneck, the overall combo ranking reflects the system's real-world gaming performance, and in this case, it is subpar for a game like Control which is known for its heavy use of visual effects. The rank of 2307 out of 2888 indicates that a significant majority of other tested hardware pairings deliver better performance in this title, making this a challenging configuration for players expecting high frame rates at high resolutions. The data suggests that the GPU is the weak link, and the combo's overall ranking is a clear verdict on its gaming capability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a powerhouse processor that is not the limiting factor in this game. With 24 cores and 24 threads, a base clock of 3.70 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, its compute potential is immense. The processor's benchmark scores confirm its high-end status: it achieves a multi-core score of 44253 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 2439, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its Passmark multithread score of 68574 and single-thread score of 5068 further underscore its strength. The CPU also features a large 36 MB of shared L3 cache and a 3 MB per-core L2 cache, which are beneficial for gaming workloads that require quick access to data.

In the context of Control, the CPU's role is to prepare frames for the GPU to render, and the data shows it performs this task admirably. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 101 FPS, a frame rate that is often limited by the CPU in other games, but here it is the GPU that is the constraint. The CPU's high single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 score, is sufficient to handle the game's physics and game logic without becoming a bottleneck. The fact that frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution, as detailed in the Resolution Scaling section, is definitive proof that the CPU is not holding back performance. If the CPU were a limiting factor, we would expect to see a plateau in FPS at lower resolutions, but the data shows a continuous increase from 4K to 1080p, indicating the CPU is always ready to deliver more frames than the GPU can process.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a comprehensive breakdown of the measured average FPS for each resolution and settings combination. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 101 FPS, the Medium preset averages 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 and a maximum of 82, the High preset averages 63 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 55 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 76 FPS, the Medium preset averages 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 and a maximum of 62, the High preset averages 48 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 42 FPS. Finally, at 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 51 FPS, the Medium preset averages 36 FPS with a minimum of 31 and a maximum of 42, the High preset averages 32 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 28 FPS.

These numbers paint a clear picture of the system's capabilities. The 1080p Low result of 101 FPS is the only instance where the system approaches high-refresh-rate territory. The 1080p Medium and High presets, at 71 and 63 FPS, are playable but nowhere near the peak performance. The 1440p results are all below 76 FPS, with the higher presets dipping into the 40s, which may be acceptable for some players but is not ideal for a fast-paced action game. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with no preset achieving even 60 FPS, and the Ultra preset at 28 FPS is essentially unplayable. The data also shows that the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset are significantly lower than the averages, with a 10 FPS drop at 1080p, an 8 FPS drop at 1440p, and a 5 FPS drop at 4K, indicating potential stuttering in demanding scenes. Overall, the measured FPS breakdown confirms that this combination is best suited for 1080p gaming, with acceptable performance at 1440p only with reduced settings.