Control

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 delivers a highly capable Control experience, though the data reveals a clear performance ceiling at higher resolutions. Benchmark results indicate that the system is well-balanced for 1440p gameplay, but 4K Ultra settings push the GPU to its limits, resulting in a sub-60 FPS average. The sweet spot for this configuration is 1440p with High settings, offering a fluid 66 FPS average that balances visual fidelity with responsiveness, while the 1080p Low preset reaches 137 FPS for high-refresh-rate displays.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data strongly favors the High preset as the optimal experience for this hardware combination. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 87 FPS, which is only 11 FPS below the Low preset's 137 FPS but provides substantially better visual quality. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 98 FPS, sitting between the two, while Ultra drops to 75 FPS. The performance scaling is consistent across resolutions: High settings provide roughly 63-66% of the Low preset's framerate, while Ultra maintains about 54-55% of the Low preset's performance.

For 1440p, the High preset at 66 FPS is the standout choice. It remains above the 60 FPS threshold that most displays target, and the jump from Medium's 74 FPS is only 8 FPS, while Ultra's 57 FPS falls below that threshold. The 4K results tell a different story: High settings at 44 FPS and Medium at 50 FPS are playable but not ideal, while Ultra at 39 FPS and Low at 70 FPS represent the extremes. The data indicates that Low settings at 4K (70 FPS) are the only way to achieve a smooth experience at that resolution, but the visual compromise is significant.

The Medium preset deserves attention because it is the only setting tier with complete min/max FPS data. At 1080p Medium, the frame time consistency shows a min of 83 FPS and max of 112 FPS, a 29 FPS spread that suggests some stutter-prone scenes. At 1440p Medium, the spread narrows to 22 FPS (63-85), and at 4K Medium, it tightens to 15 FPS (42-57). This pattern suggests that the Medium preset becomes more consistent at higher resolutions, likely due to the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck and smoothing out CPU-driven frame time spikes.

Given these measurements, the recommendation is clear: 1440p High provides the best overall experience. It maintains a 66 FPS average with no reported minimums below playable levels, and the visual uplift over Medium is worth the 8 FPS cost. For users with 1080p displays, High at 87 FPS is also excellent, while 4K users should either accept Low settings or sacrifice framerate for visual fidelity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for Control's demands at all tested settings. The GPU's base clock of 2325 MHz and boost clock of 2512 MHz are the operating frequencies that drive these results. The data shows a clear GPU-bound scenario at 4K, where the framerate drops from 70 FPS on Low to 39 FPS on Ultra, a 44% reduction that highlights the rendering load scaling with settings.

The GPU's 6144 shading units and 48 RT cores are relevant to Control's implementation, though the game's age means ray tracing is not a dominant factor in these measurements. The 80 ROPs and 192 TMUs deliver a pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s, which directly influence the resolution scaling observed. At 1080p, the GPU has headroom, as evidenced by the 137 FPS Low preset result, but the 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS shows the hardware's absolute ceiling.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40377. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 580, scores 40318, a 0.1% difference, indicating near-identical synthetic performance. The RTX 5070's PassMark G3D score of 29137 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077 provide context for its gaming capabilities, but the measured FPS data in Control is the definitive metric.

The 250 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest this is a power-hungry part, but the benchmark results show it is efficiently utilized in this game. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor at any tested setting, as even the 4K Ultra preset with 39 FPS does not show signs of memory-related stuttering in the available data. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 30.87 TFLOPS is the raw compute resource that scales with resolution and settings, and the measured FPS drops align with this compute-bound behavior.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H brings 16 cores and 22 threads across a Meteor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz. This mobile processor, with its 24 MB of shared L3 cache, provides ample compute for Control's CPU-side workloads. The 45 W TDP is modest for a 16-core part, but the benchmark results show no evidence of CPU bottlenecking at 1080p, where the GPU is the limiting factor.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 scores are 17984.5 multi-core and 1810.5 single-core, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 35670 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350, which scores 35719, a mere 0.1% difference. This near-parity extends to the Intel Core 7 250H (35728, -0.2%) and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35802, -0.4%), indicating this processor sits right at the top of its performance tier.

In Control, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (137 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (75 FPS) shows an 82% increase from Low to Ultra settings, which is a GPU-driven scaling pattern. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the framerate would remain relatively flat across settings at a given resolution. Instead, the data shows consistent GPU-bound behavior, confirming that the Core Ultra 9 185H is not holding back the RTX 5070.

The single-core performance of 1810.5 in Cinebench R23 is particularly relevant for games like Control that rely on a primary game thread. The 5.10 GHz boost clock ensures that this thread has sufficient headroom, and the 264.5 Cinebench R15 single-core score corroborates this. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 3697 further supports the conclusion that per-core performance is adequate for this game's engine.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 1551 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 46th percentile of all configurations. This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component percentiles (CPU at 85th, GPU at 82nd), but it reflects the fact that many higher-ranked combos likely pair more powerful desktop CPUs with similarly capable GPUs. The ranking suggests that while both components are individually strong, the mobile CPU may cap the system's potential in this game.

The combo rank of 1551 out of 2888 means that roughly 54% of tested configurations outperform this setup in Control. This is not a reflection of poor performance but rather the competitive landscape of gaming hardware. The data indicates that this combo is squarely in the middle of the pack, which is consistent with a mobile CPU paired with a mid-range desktop GPU. The 137 FPS 1080p Low result is respectable, but top-tier combos likely exceed 200 FPS in the same scenario.

Comparing the components' individual rankings to the combo ranking reveals an interesting dynamic. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking is higher than the combo's 46th percentile, suggesting that the CPU is not the limiting factor. Similarly, the GPU's 82nd percentile outranks the combo, indicating that the pairing itself, rather than individual component strength, determines the final ranking. This could be due to the mobile CPU's thermal constraints or memory bandwidth limitations that are not fully captured in synthetic benchmarks.

The nearest rival data for the CPU shows it is statistically tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 and Intel Core 7 250H, with deltas under 0.2%. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 580, is also within 0.1% in synthetic average score. This suggests that swapping either component for a near-equivalent would yield similar Control performance, reinforcing the mid-pack combo ranking.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the framerate drops from 87 FPS at 1080p to 66 FPS at 1440p (a 24% reduction) and further to 44 FPS at 4K (a 49% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is more aggressive than the pixel count increase (1080p to 4K is a 4x pixel increase), indicating that the GPU is not purely pixel-bound and that other factors like memory bandwidth and shading complexity play a role.

The Low preset shows a different scaling profile: 137 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p (24% drop), and 70 FPS at 4K (49% drop from 1080p). The percentage drops are identical to High settings, suggesting that the resolution scaling is linear regardless of quality preset. This is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario where the rendering resolution is the primary determinant of performance.

At Medium settings, the scaling is slightly less steep: 98 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p (24.5% drop), and 50 FPS at 4K (49% drop from 1080p). The Ultra preset shows the same pattern: 75 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p (24% drop), and 39 FPS at 4K (48% drop). The consistency of these drops across all settings confirms that the RTX 5070 is the scaling bottleneck, with the CPU becoming less relevant as resolution increases.

The 1440p to 4K transition is particularly telling. At High settings, the drop from 66 FPS to 44 FPS is a 33% reduction, while the 1080p to 1440p drop is 24%. This accelerating decline suggests that the GPU's 672.0 GB/s memory bandwidth becomes increasingly strained at 4K, where the 12 GB frame buffer is pushed harder. The 4K Medium result of 50 FPS with a min of 42 FPS shows that even mid-range settings can cause dips below acceptable levels.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range was measured. The Low preset achieves 137 FPS, which is the highest framerate in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 98 FPS with a min of 83 FPS and max of 112 FPS. High drops to 87 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 75 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 62 FPS, representing an 83% performance spread. This wide range gives users significant flexibility to prioritize framerate or visual quality.

The 2560x1440 results show a compressed range. Low leads at 104 FPS, Medium delivers 74 FPS (min 63, max 85), High provides 66 FPS, and Ultra falls to 57 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 47 FPS, a 45% reduction from Low. Notably, the 1440p Medium min FPS of 63 is only 3 FPS below the High preset's average, indicating that the Medium preset has tighter frame pacing at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low is the only preset above 60 FPS, hitting 70 FPS. Medium averages 50 FPS with a min of 42 and max of 57, while High produces 44 FPS, and Ultra falls to 39 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest in the dataset, representing just 28.5% of the 1080p Low framerate. This 4K data confirms that the combo is not suited for maximum settings at this resolution.

The Medium preset's complete min/max data across all resolutions provides insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p, the 29 FPS delta between min and max suggests some scenes are significantly more demanding. The delta narrows to 22 FPS at 1440p and 15 FPS at 4K, which could indicate that the GPU becomes so saturated at higher resolutions that framerate variation is reduced. The 4K Medium max of 57 FPS never reaches the 60 FPS threshold, making 1080p or 1440p the practical choices for smooth gameplay.