Control

# Control with Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile delivers a compelling Control experience, with measured frame rates ranging from 57 FPS at 4K Ultra to 203 FPS at 1080p Low. The combination ranks 812th out of 3,720 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 22% of all configurations. Benchmark data shows this pairing consistently exceeds playable thresholds at every resolution and preset tested, though the gap between Low and Ultra settings reveals where the system's strengths and bottlenecks lie.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-HX architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock runs at 2.70 GHz with a boost clock reaching 5.40 GHz, and it carries a 36 MB shared L3 cache alongside a 3 MB L2 cache per core. The CPU's performance percentile sits at 94, meaning it outperforms 94% of all CPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 67,469.

In multi-threaded workloads, the Ultra 9 275HX demonstrates substantial capability: Cinebench R23 multi-core results show a score of 35,589, while Geekbench multi-core reaches 20,795. Single-thread performance is equally strong, with Cinebench R23 single-core at 2,204 and Geekbench single-core at 2,458. PassMark multi-thread testing yields 55,759 points, while single-thread scores land at 4,713. These numbers indicate the CPU can handle Control's physics simulation and AI routines without becoming the limiting factor.

The nearest rivals provide context for the CPU's standing. The Intel Xeon w5-3525 scores 67,673 (0.3% higher), the AMD EPYC 4484PX scores 67,822 (0.5% higher), and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5955WX scores 67,868 (0.6% higher), while the Intel Xeon 6515P trails at 67,006 (0.7% lower). The Ultra 9 275HX sits within a tight cluster of high-end workstation and server processors, suggesting its compute headroom is more than sufficient for a game like Control, which was released in August 2019 and primarily relies on GPU rendering for its visual effects.

Control's gameplay involves significant object destruction and physics interactions, which can tax CPU performance in crowded scenes. However, the measured FPS scaling across resolutions — from 203 FPS at 1080p Low to 111 FPS at 1080p Ultra — shows that even at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is relatively higher, the Ultra 9 275HX maintains frame rates far above typical display refresh rates. The data suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at any tested setting.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process, featuring the GB203 chip with 45,600 million transistors. It carries 24 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 896.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU's base clock runs at 990 MHz with a boost clock of 1,515 MHz, and its memory operates at 1,750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). With 10,496 shading units, 328 TMUs, 112 ROPs, and 82 RT cores, the RTX 5090 Mobile delivers 31.80 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 84, with an average benchmark score of 45,152.

In synthetic testing, the RTX 5090 Mobile achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,871, Geekbench OpenCL of 201,834, and Geekbench Vulkan of 198,405. PassMark G3D scoring produces 30,034 points, while PassMark GPU compute reaches 13,401. The nearest GPU rivals show tight competition: the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT scores 45,384 (0.5% higher), the Intel Arc A730M scores 45,592 (1% higher), and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation scores 45,972 (1.8% higher), while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti trails at 44,795 (0.8% lower). These figures place the RTX 5090 Mobile in the upper echelon of mobile GPUs, though the delta percentages are surprisingly small — the largest gap among rivals is just 1.8%.

For Control, the GPU is clearly the primary driver of frame rate differences across settings. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra presets is 46 FPS (103 vs. 57), which represents an 81% performance swing. This dramatic scaling is characteristic of a game that pushes pixel throughput and memory bandwidth heavily. The RTX 5090 Mobile's 24 GB VRAM and 896 GB/s bandwidth ensure that even 4K Ultra textures fit comfortably within memory, though the measured 57 FPS at that setting indicates the GPU's compute limits are reached. The data shows the GPU's role is dominant: as resolution increases, the FPS drop is consistent and predictable, which aligns with GPU-bound scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates across four presets and three resolutions provide a clear picture of the optimal settings for different priorities. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 144 FPS average with a minimum of 122 FPS and maximum of 165 FPS, representing a balanced experience. High settings at 1080p achieve 128 FPS, while Ultra drops to 111 FPS. For players seeking maximum fluidity at 1080p, Low settings produce 203 FPS, which exceeds most high-refresh-rate display capabilities.

At 1440p, Medium yields 109 FPS with a 93 FPS minimum and 125 FPS maximum, while High achieves 97 FPS and Ultra drops to 84 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p offers the best combination of visual fidelity and smoothness, maintaining an average above 100 FPS. Low settings at 1440p reach 153 FPS, which is still exceptionally high for this resolution.

At 4K, the situation changes notably. Medium settings produce 73 FPS with a 62 FPS minimum and 85 FPS maximum, while High achieves 65 FPS and Ultra drops to 57 FPS. Low settings at 4K reach 103 FPS. The data indicates that 4K Medium is the recommended choice for a consistent experience, as it stays above 60 FPS even at the minimum frame rate. Ultra settings at 4K fall below the 60 FPS threshold, which may be acceptable for slower-paced sections but could feel less responsive during combat. For the best experience per the measured rows, 1440p Medium provides the strongest balance of visual quality and performance, with 1080p Medium serving as the high-refresh-rate alternative.

FAQ

Q: Does this combination maintain 60+ FPS at 4K with High settings?

A: At 4K High settings, the measured average FPS is 65, which exceeds the 60 FPS threshold. However, the 4K Medium preset shows a minimum of 62 FPS, while High has no recorded minimum, so players should expect occasional dips below 60 FPS with High settings.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from 4K Ultra to 4K Low?

A: The measured data shows 4K Ultra averages 57 FPS, while 4K Low averages 103 FPS. This represents an 80.7% increase in average frame rate when moving from Ultra to Low at 4K resolution.

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable at 1080p?

A: The 1080p Low preset produces the highest measured average at 203 FPS. The next highest is 1080p Medium at 144 FPS, which includes a minimum of 122 FPS and maximum of 165 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 Mobile or the Core Ultra 9 275HX the limiting factor at 4K Ultra?

A: The data shows a consistent FPS drop as resolution increases across all presets, which indicates GPU-bound performance. At 1080p Low, the CPU can drive 203 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU limits output to 57 FPS, confirming the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this combo's rank of 812 out of 3,720 compare to the CPU and GPU individual percentiles?

A: The CPU ranks in the 94th percentile and the GPU in the 84th percentile, yet the game-specific combo rank of 812 out of 3,720 places it in the top 21.8% of all tested combos. The difference suggests that game-specific optimization matters beyond raw component performance.

Q: What minimum FPS can players expect at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured data for 1440p Medium shows a minimum FPS of 93, an average of 109, and a maximum of 125. This minimum comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, indicating a smooth experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS values across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveal a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 128 at 1080p to 97 at 1440p and then to 65 at 4K. This represents a 24.2% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 33% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is consistent with the pixel count increases: 1440p has 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p, and 4K has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p.

At Low settings, the scaling is more dramatic in absolute terms: 203 FPS at 1080p drops to 153 FPS at 1440p (a 24.6% decrease) and then to 103 FPS at 4K (a 32.7% decrease). The relative drops are nearly identical to High settings, which suggests the performance scaling is governed by the same GPU throughput limits rather than memory bandwidth or VRAM capacity.

Medium settings show a similar pattern: 144 FPS at 1080p, 109 FPS at 1440p, and 73 FPS at 4K. The percentage decreases are 24.3% and 33%, respectively. Ultra settings follow the same trend: 111 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 57 FPS at 4K, with decreases of 24.3% and 32.1%.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets strongly indicates a single limiting factor — the GPU's rendering throughput. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences at higher resolutions where the CPU's workload remains constant while the GPU's increases. Instead, the linear scaling pattern confirms that the RTX 5090 Mobile is the dominant constraint at all tested settings, with the Core Ultra 9 275HX providing sufficient headroom to avoid becoming a limiting factor even at 1080p Low where frame rates reach 203 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are: Low at 203 FPS, Medium at 144 FPS (with a minimum of 122 FPS and maximum of 165 FPS), High at 128 FPS, and Ultra at 111 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 16 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 17 FPS, showing a consistent degradation as visual fidelity increases.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 153 FPS, Medium at 109 FPS (minimum 93 FPS, maximum 125 FPS), High at 97 FPS, and Ultra at 84 FPS. The difference between Medium and High is 12 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 13 FPS. The 1440p Medium setting maintains a minimum above 90 FPS, which is notable for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 103 FPS, Medium at 73 FPS (minimum 62 FPS, maximum 85 FPS), High at 65 FPS, and Ultra at 57 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values, showing a 23 FPS variance between the minimum and maximum. The gap between Medium and High is 8 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is also 8 FPS, indicating diminishing returns at higher resolutions.

Comparing across resolutions, the 1080p Low to 4K Low transition shows a 100 FPS drop, while 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra shows a 54 FPS drop. The absolute differences are larger at lower settings because the starting frame rates are higher, but the relative scaling remains consistent. Notably, the 4K Low average of 103 FPS still exceeds the 1080p Ultra average of 111 FPS by only 8 FPS, meaning players can achieve similar frame rates at 4K Low as at 1080p Ultra, with the resolution advantage favoring 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this pairing in Control is 812 out of 3,720 tested combinations, placing it in the top 21.8% of all configurations. This rank is lower than what the individual component percentiles might suggest — the CPU's 94th percentile and GPU's 84th percentile would imply a higher relative ranking if performance scaled perfectly with component scores. The discrepancy likely reflects Control's specific rendering characteristics, which may favor different hardware configurations.

The CPU's nearest rivals — the Intel Xeon w5-3525, AMD EPYC 4484PX, AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5955WX, and Intel Xeon 6515P — are all workstation or server processors with delta percentages within 0.7% of the Ultra 9 275HX. These processors, while comparable in synthetic benchmarks, would likely perform differently in Control due to varying memory architectures and core configurations, but the data does not include game-specific results for them.

The GPU's nearest rivals show tighter clustering: the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT is just 0.5% higher, the Intel Arc A730M is 1% higher, and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation is 1.8% higher, while the RTX 4070 Ti is 0.8% lower. The RTX 5090 Mobile's 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms 84% of the database, yet in Control specifically, the combo rank of 812 suggests that many configurations with lower raw GPU scores achieve better game-specific results. This could indicate that Control's engine does not fully leverage the RTX 5090 Mobile's advanced features, or that other factors such as memory bandwidth configuration play a larger role in this particular title.

The rank of 812 out of 3,720 means 2,908 combos perform worse, while 811 perform better in Control. Given that the RTX 5090 Mobile is among the most powerful mobile GPUs available, the fact that 811 combos outperform it suggests those configurations likely include desktop-grade GPUs or CPUs with higher single-thread performance that Control's engine utilizes more effectively. The data supports the conclusion that this combo delivers strong but not class-leading performance in Control, with the GPU's high raw compute not fully translating to proportional in-game gains.