Control

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile delivers a solid, if not spectacular, experience in Control. The data shows a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions and settings, while the 16-core Meteor Lake CPU provides ample headroom to avoid bottlenecking even at 1080p. The benchmark results indicate that this combo ranks in the 54th percentile of all tested configurations, placing it squarely in the mid-to-upper tier for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The most telling aspect of this dataset is how average framerates collapse as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 88 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High drops that to 67 FPS, a 24% reduction. The jump to 3840x2160 High yields 45 FPS, which is 49% lower than the 1080p result. This steep curve is characteristic of a system where the graphics card is the primary limiting factor.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced when examining the Low settings preset. At 1080p Low, the system hits 140 FPS. At 1440p Low, it manages 106 FPS. At 4K Low, it falls to 71 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 4K at Low settings is a 49% drop, nearly identical to the High preset's drop. This consistency across presets confirms that resolution, not graphical complexity, is the dominant variable.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and High settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, Low delivers 140 FPS versus High's 88 FPS — a 59% advantage for Low. At 4K, Low's 71 FPS versus High's 45 FPS represents a 58% advantage. This suggests that while the GPU is stressed by both resolution and settings, the resolution scaling is the more significant bottleneck at 4K.

The Medium preset provides the only complete dataset with min and max frames. At 1080p Medium, the average is 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 and a maximum of 114. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 75 FPS with min/max of 64/86. At 4K Medium, the average is 51 FPS with min/max of 43/58. The frame time consistency, as measured by the spread between min and max, remains tight across all three resolutions, indicating no sudden stutters or hitches.

Ultra settings push the system hardest. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 77 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 58 FPS. At 4K Ultra, it bottoms out at 39 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only sub-40 FPS figure in the entire dataset, making it the only scenario where the experience could be considered compromised for smooth gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the average framerate at 1440p with High settings?

A: The system produces an average of 67 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average framerate is 39 FPS, which is the lowest result in the dataset.

Q: Is there a significant difference between Low and High settings at 1080p?

A: Yes, Low settings yield 140 FPS on average, while High settings yield 88 FPS — a difference of 52 FPS favoring Low.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum framerates at 1080p Medium?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum framerate is 84 FPS and the maximum is 114 FPS, with an average of 99 FPS.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations in Control?

A: This combo ranks 2008 out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the upper half of all results.

Q: Does the 4K Low preset outperform the 1080p Ultra preset?

A: Yes, 4K Low averages 71 FPS, while 1080p Ultra averages 77 FPS. The 1080p Ultra is slightly faster, but the 4K Low result is surprisingly close given the resolution difference.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile is the star of this show, and the data shows it doing heavy lifting. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the card delivers 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. At 4K resolution, this memory configuration becomes a potential bottleneck, though the framerates suggest it is adequate for Control's demands.

The GPU's clock speeds are relatively modest for a 40-series part: a base clock of 1395 MHz and a boost clock of 1695 MHz. These clocks, combined with 4608 shading units, produce a raw FP32 throughput of 15.62 TFLOPS. The 144 texture mapping units and 48 raster output processors contribute to a texture rate of 244.1 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 81.36 GPixel/s. These specs explain why the card holds up reasonably well at 1440p but struggles at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 73 against all GPUs indicates it is a strong mobile part. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, has an identical average benchmark score (27425 vs 27435, a delta of 0%). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is only 0.5% slower in aggregate benchmarks, which is remarkable for a mobile chip versus a desktop flagship. This suggests the RTX 4070 Mobile is exceptionally well-tuned for its power envelope.

The 5 nm process node from TSMC allows for 22,900 million transistors on a 188 mm² die. This density enables the card to maintain high performance at a 115 W TDP. The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is sufficient for this workload, as the benchmark data shows no signs of bandwidth starvation even at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers playable framerates across all settings. The Low preset achieves 140 FPS, Medium hits 99 FPS, High reaches 88 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 77 FPS. All of these are comfortably above 60 FPS, making 1080p a sweet spot for this combo.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the GPU starting to strain. Low settings produce 106 FPS, Medium averages 75 FPS, High achieves 67 FPS, and Ultra falls to 58 FPS. The Ultra result is the first to dip below 60 FPS, indicating that maxed-out settings at 1440p will require some compromise for consistent smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly overextended for the most demanding presets. Low settings manage 71 FPS, which is still playable. Medium drops to 51 FPS, High falls to 45 FPS, and Ultra lands at 39 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 43 FPS and maximum of 58 FPS show that even the average figure masks some variance, though the spread is not extreme.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data at all resolutions. At 1080p, the 84-114 FPS range shows consistent frame delivery. At 1440p, the 64-86 FPS range maintains that consistency. At 4K, the 43-58 FPS range tightens, suggesting the GPU is working at a more consistent load level. This consistency is a positive sign for gameplay smoothness, even when average framerates are lower.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested configurations for Control, this combo ranks 2008 out of 3720. This places it in the 54th percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly 54% of all tested combos. This is a respectable position, but not a top-tier one. The ranking suggests that while the RTX 4070 Mobile is strong, it faces stiff competition from higher-end desktop parts and larger mobile GPUs.

The CPU's individual percentile ranking is 85, which is higher than the GPU's 73. This disparity hints that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo. The Core Ultra 9 185H's average benchmark score of 35670 places it within 0.7% of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X, a highly regarded desktop processor. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350, is only 0.1% slower in aggregate benchmarks.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 27435 puts it in a dead heat with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (27425, delta 0%). It is also within 0.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090's score (27565). These comparisons are remarkable for a mobile GPU, but in Control specifically, the combo's rank of 2008 suggests that the game's engine may favor certain hardware configurations over others.

The fact that the combo ranks in the middle of the pack, despite the GPU being competitive with desktop parts, indicates that Control may have specific optimization quirks. The game's use of ray tracing and particle effects could be influencing the results in ways that don't show up in synthetic benchmarks.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture. Its base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Geekbench single-core score of 1794 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1810.5. This is critical for Control, which relies heavily on single-threaded game logic.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is equally strong. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17984.5 and PassMark multi-thread score of 29376 indicate that it can handle background tasks without impacting gameplay. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain data locality, reducing latency in complex game scenes.

The CPU's 45 W TDP is modest for a 16-core part, but the 7 nm process node from Intel enables efficient operation. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 128EU is irrelevant for this gaming scenario, as the discrete RTX 4070 Mobile handles all rendering. The dual-channel memory bus with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient to feed the GPU without causing bottlenecks.

The benchmark results show that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this combo. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 140 FPS, which is likely near the game's engine limits. The fact that the framerate scales consistently with GPU load across resolutions confirms that the CPU has headroom. The 22 threads and high boost clock ensure that even the most demanding physics or AI calculations in Control won't cause frame drops.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 85 means it outperforms 85% of all CPUs in the database. This is a strong result, and it positions the Core Ultra 9 185H as a premium mobile processor. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 (delta -0.1%) and Intel Core 7 250H (delta -0.2%), both of which are newer parts but slightly slower in aggregate benchmarks. This suggests that the Ultra 9 185H remains competitive despite being released in December 2023.