Control

Control, the 2019 action-adventure title, is a demanding showcase for any hardware pairing. This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti combination. The data provides a clear picture of how this system handles the game’s physics-heavy environments and ray-traced visuals across resolutions and presets. Benchmark results indicate a configuration capable of high refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gameplay, with 4K remaining a viable target at select settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic scaling pattern as resolution increases, with the GPU becoming the dominant bottleneck at higher pixel counts. At the High preset, the system delivers an average of 146 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 111 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 75 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 24% performance reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 49% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is not perfectly linear, which suggests that while the RTX 5070 Ti is a powerful GPU, its limits are being tested as pixel throughput demands increase.

The transition from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep. At the Medium preset, the average FPS falls from 125 at 2560x1440 to 84 at 3840x2160, a 33% drop. This indicates that the 4K resolution is pushing the GPU significantly harder, and the frame rate reduction is more severe than what would be expected from pixel count alone. This is a typical sign of the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources being saturated, even with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and a 896.0 GB/s bus.

At the Low preset, the scaling pattern changes. The system achieves 232 FPS at 1080p, 176 FPS at 1440p, and 119 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is 24%, and from 1440p to 4K is 32%. The fact that 4K Low still produces over 119 FPS indicates that the CPU is not the primary limiting factor even at lower resolutions; the GPU continues to be the main constraint. The data suggests that for high-refresh-rate displays, 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, while 4K requires a compromise in settings to maintain smooth gameplay.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its benchmark scores are substantial, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44253 and a single-core score of 2439. In Control, a game that is known to be more GPU-bound at higher resolutions, the CPU’s role is to ensure a steady frame pipeline, particularly at lower resolutions where the frame rate is high.

The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 232 FPS. This high frame rate reflects the CPU’s strong single-thread performance, as it must feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations at a rapid pace. The processor’s 36 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth help maintain this throughput. The CPU’s percentile rank of 96 versus all CPUs puts it in the top tier for gaming workloads.

The processor’s performance relative to its nearest rivals is notable. According to the average benchmark scores, the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus scores 93785, which is virtually identical to the Intel Xeon 6520P. It is 1.5% behind the AMD EPYC 4564P and 1.9% behind the AMD EPYC 9175F. These are server-class chips, which highlights how competitive this desktop processor is in multi-threaded and single-threaded tasks. For Control, this means the CPU will not be the source of frame pacing issues or stutters, allowing the RTX 5070 Ti to operate at its full potential.

Settings Recommendations

Choosing the right preset is a balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. The measured data provides clear guidance for different display refresh rates. For a 60 Hz 4K display, the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of 65 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The High preset at 4K, which averages 75 FPS, is a more comfortable target for 60 Hz displays, offering a better balance of visual quality and performance.

For 1440p displays with a 144 Hz refresh rate, the High preset is the optimal choice. It delivers an average of 111 FPS, which is below the 144 FPS target but still smooth. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 96 FPS, which is a more consistent experience but sacrifices some visual details. The Medium preset at 125 FPS is a viable alternative for those who prefer higher frame rates over maximum quality, with the minimum FPS of 106 ensuring it stays above the 100 FPS mark.

At 1080p, the system has enough power to run the game with maximum settings on high refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset averages 127 FPS, which is suitable for a 120 Hz panel. The High preset averages 146 FPS, making it ideal for a 144 Hz display. The Low preset, while producing an average of 232 FPS, is not recommended for general play as it sacrifices too much visual quality. The best experience per the measured rows is the High preset at 1080p, providing a high frame rate without compromising on the game's atmospheric visuals.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 266th out of 2888 tested combos for Control. This places the system in the top 9.2% of all configurations tested, indicating a high-performance pairing for this specific game. The rank reflects a system that can handle the game’s demanding physics and rendering engine with ease at most settings.

This ranking is influenced by both components. The RTX 5070 Ti, with its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory, is well-suited for Control’s high-resolution textures and ray-traced effects. The GPU’s 70 RT cores and 280 tensor cores are particularly relevant, as Control was one of the first games to heavily utilize real-time ray tracing for reflections and indirect lighting. The high rank suggests that the system is not significantly bottlenecked by either the CPU or GPU in most scenarios.

The GPU’s overall benchmark standing is noteworthy. The RTX 5070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 49957, placing it at the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, has a score of 50001, which is 0.1% higher. This indicates that the RTX 5070 Ti’s performance is closely matched with that of a previous-generation flagship, although the RTX 5070 Ti brings modern features like DirectX 12 Ultimate support that are more relevant for current titles like Control.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is the primary driver of frame rates in Control, especially as resolution and settings increase. The GPU features a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2452 MHz, with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card’s compute power is substantial, with 8960 shading units and a FP32 performance of 43.94 TFLOPS. These specifications are directly reflected in the measured FPS data.

The GPU’s memory configuration is critical for 4K gaming. The 16 GB frame buffer is sufficient for high-resolution textures and ray tracing, which can consume large amounts of VRAM. The high memory bandwidth ensures that the GPU can quickly access texture data, preventing stutters and frame drops. The data shows that at 4K with Medium settings, the system maintains a minimum FPS of 72, indicating that the memory subsystem is not a bottleneck at this setting.

In terms of pure rasterization performance, the RTX 5070 Ti shows its strength. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6604 is a modern benchmark that reflects the card’s ability to handle current-generation workloads. The GPU’s performance in Control is consistent with its high benchmark scores, and the measured FPS proves that it is not a limiting factor at 1080p and 1440p, where the system is often CPU-bound. The GPU only becomes the definitive bottleneck at 4K with High or Ultra presets, where its fill rate and compute resources are fully utilized.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At the High preset, the system averages 111 FPS, which is well-suited for high-refresh-rate monitors, while 4K requires a drop to Medium or High settings to maintain playable frame rates.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti perform at 4K in this game?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti can handle 4K in Control. At the High preset, it averages 75 FPS, and at the Medium preset, it averages 84 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS. The Ultra preset is more demanding, averaging 65 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data indicates that at 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 232 FPS, suggesting the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high rates. The GPU becomes the limiting factor as settings are increased, with the Ultra preset averaging 127 FPS.

Q: What is the combo’s rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 266th out of 2888 tested combos for Control, placing it in the top 9.2% of all configurations.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and is it enough for this game?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR7 memory with a bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. This is more than sufficient for Control, even at 4K resolution with high-resolution textures and ray tracing enabled.

Q: What is the average FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 176 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 96 FPS. This is a difference of 80 FPS, indicating a significant performance cost for maximum visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact measured frame rates for the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti in Control across all tested resolutions and settings.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 232 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 165 | 140 | 190 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 146 | - | - |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 127 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 176 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 125 | 106 | 143 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 111 | - | - |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 96 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 119 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 84 | 72 | 97 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 75 | - | - |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 65 | - | - |

The data shows a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions. The Low preset always yields the highest average FPS, followed by Medium, High, and Ultra. The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, indicating a more variable frame time experience, though the minimums remain respectable. The performance deltas between presets are significant, with the difference between Low and Ultra being 105 FPS at 1080p, 80 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. This provides users with a wide range of options to tailor the experience to their display’s refresh rate and their preference for visual fidelity.