Control

Control is a demanding action-adventure title that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the measured results for the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti provide a clear picture of its capabilities across a range of settings. The data indicates a system that scales predictably with resolution and preset, offering a wide performance envelope from high-refresh 1080p gaming to a playable, though more taxing, 4K experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows for this combination cover four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—at three resolutions. The most balanced experience, considering both visual fidelity and frame rate stability, appears to be the High preset at 1440p. At this setting, the system produces an average of 111 FPS, which is a substantial jump from the 96 FPS at Ultra, while still delivering a significant increase in visual quality over Medium. The data shows that the step from High to Ultra incurs a noticeable performance cost, dropping about 15 FPS at 1440p, making High the more efficient choice for maintaining a high refresh rate without sacrificing too much detail.

For users prioritizing maximum smoothness and esports-style responsiveness, the Low preset at 1080p yields an average of 232 FPS. This is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset, and it clearly positions the combo for high-refresh monitors. However, the visual compromise is severe, and the data suggests that the Medium preset at 1080p (165 FPS) provides a better balance for most players who want a competitive edge without playing on the lowest graphical settings.

At 4K, the Medium preset emerges as the most viable option for a consistent experience. The average of 84 FPS is respectable, but more importantly, the minimum FPS of 72 shows that the frame rate holds up reasonably well under load. The High preset at 4K, while averaging 75 FPS, does not have a listed minimum, and its average is closer to the edge of playability. The Ultra preset at 4K dips to an average of 65 FPS, which is the lowest recorded figure in the entire set, suggesting that this setting is only for those who can tolerate a less stable frame rate.

The data suggests a clear hierarchy: if the goal is maximum refresh rate, 1080p Low is the answer; for a high-quality high-refresh experience, 1440p High is the sweet spot; and for 4K, Medium provides the most consistent playable frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is a central component in this combination, and its specifications in the fact pack help explain the observed performance. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. This substantial memory allocation is likely a key factor in the system’s ability to handle the high-resolution textures and effects in Control, as the game’s environments are dense with detail. The measured frame rates at 4K, particularly the jump from 65 FPS at Ultra to 119 FPS at Low, demonstrate that the GPU is capable of scaling its workload effectively when the render load is reduced.

The GPU’s clock speeds, with a base of 2295 MHz and a boost of 2452 MHz, are complemented by 8960 shading units. The raw compute performance, indicated by an FP32 rating of 43.94 TFLOPS, is significant. However, the benchmark results show a more nuanced story. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score is 32974, and its percentile ranking against all GPUs is 86. Interestingly, its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, which has a near-identical average benchmark score (50001 vs. 49957, a delta of -0.1%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, which is only 2% faster. This suggests that while the RTX 5070 Ti is a high-performing card, its advantage over previous generation high-end cards is not as wide as the generational name might suggest, at least in synthetic tests.

In the context of this game, the GPU’s role is clearly dominant at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops significantly when moving from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the rendering load is scaling with resolution and that the RTX 5070 Ti is the primary bottleneck in those scenarios. The 16 GB VRAM buffer is a forward-looking feature, ensuring that the card is unlikely to be constrained by memory capacity in this title, even at 4K with High settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti achieves a rank of 266 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places it in the top 10% of all tested systems, which is a strong result. A rank of 266 out of 2888 means that this specific pairing outperforms the vast majority of other hardware configurations tested in this game, indicating a well-balanced system that delivers high-end performance.

This ranking is a product of both the CPU and GPU. The CPU’s strong synthetic benchmarks, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731, show it is a top-tier processor. Its percentile ranking against all CPUs is 96, meaning it is faster than 96% of all CPUs in the database. The GPU, while ranked in the 86th percentile, is still a high performer. The synergy between the two is what pushes the combo to its 266th place finish. The fact that the CPU is not a bottleneck, as evidenced by its high percentile, allows the GPU to operate closer to its full potential, which is reflected in the overall combo ranking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive breakdown of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1080p, the system is clearly CPU-bound in lower settings, as the frame rates are extremely high. The Low preset yields an average of 232 FPS, which is a massive 67 FPS higher than the Medium preset’s 165 FPS. The High preset drops to 146 FPS, and Ultra to 127 FPS. This shows a steady decline as the graphical load increases, but even at Ultra, the frame rate is well above the 144Hz refresh rate threshold.

At 1440p, the performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset averages 176 FPS, Medium 125 FPS, High 111 FPS, and Ultra 96 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 51 FPS, which is still a large jump, but the gap between High and Ultra is only 15 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is starting to become the limiting factor at this resolution. The minimum FPS for the Medium preset at this resolution is 106, with a maximum of 143, indicating a fairly stable frame time.

At 4K, the GPU’s workload becomes the dominant factor. The Low preset averages 119 FPS, which is surprisingly playable. Medium drops to 84 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS, High to 75 FPS, and Ultra to 65 FPS. The data shows that the jump from Low to Medium at 4K is a 35 FPS drop, which is the largest single-resolution preset drop in the entire dataset. This indicates that the Medium preset introduces a significant increase in rendering complexity that heavily taxes the GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a clear pattern of how performance scales with resolution. When moving from 1080p to 1440p at the High preset, the average FPS drops from 146 to 111, a decrease of 24%. The drop from 1440p to 4K at the High preset is from 111 to 75 FPS, a decrease of 32%. This trend shows that the performance penalty for increasing resolution is not linear; it becomes more severe at higher resolutions.

This scaling behavior indicates that the system transitions from being CPU-limited at 1080p to being GPU-limited at 4K. At 1080p, the high frame rates, particularly the 232 FPS on Low, suggest that the CPU is capable of feeding frames to the GPU faster than the GPU can render them. However, as the resolution increases, the GPU’s rendering time per frame increases, and it becomes the bottleneck. This is a classic sign of a balanced system where the CPU has enough headroom to support the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU’s raw power is the primary determinant of performance at higher resolutions. The fact that the 1080p Low to Medium drop is 67 FPS, while the 4K Low to Medium drop is 35 FPS, further confirms this dynamic.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a high refresh rate?

A: The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 232 FPS. Even at the High preset, 1080p yields 146 FPS, which is sufficient for a 144Hz monitor.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, the measured results show that at 4K with Medium settings, the average FPS is 84 with a minimum of 72, which is playable. The High preset at 4K averages 75 FPS.

Q: How does the performance drop from 1080p to 4K?

A: At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 146 at 1080p to 111 at 1440p and then to 75 at 4K. This represents a 49% decrease from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck?

A: The data indicates that the system is CPU-limited at 1080p, where frame rates are very high, and becomes GPU-limited at 4K, where the frame rates drop significantly due to the increased rendering load.

Q: What is the difference in FPS between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the High preset averages 111 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 96 FPS. This is a 15 FPS difference, suggesting a moderate visual upgrade for a noticeable performance cost.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to others in the database?

A: This specific configuration holds a rank of 266 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 10% of all tested systems.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. This high core count and boost clock are likely the reasons why the system is not a bottleneck at 1080p. The CPU’s Passmark multithread score is 60860, and its single-thread score is 4823. These scores, combined with its percentile ranking of 96 against all CPUs, show that it is a top-tier processor for both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads.

In the context of Control, the CPU’s role is to handle the game’s physics, AI, and other simulation tasks. The data suggests that the CPU is more than capable of handling these tasks, as the frame rates at 1080p are extremely high and do not appear to be capped by the CPU. The processor’s nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has an average benchmark score that is only 0.2% higher, indicating that the 290K Plus is essentially on par with its predecessor in synthetic tests. The CPU’s 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per core L2 cache likely contribute to its strong performance in game logic.

The high frame rates at 1080p, especially the 232 FPS on Low, are a direct result of the CPU’s ability to process frames quickly. However, as the resolution increases, the GPU’s rendering time becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU’s performance becomes less critical to the final frame rate. This is a classic sign of a well-balanced system where the CPU provides a solid foundation for the GPU to perform at its best. The CPU’s strong Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 also suggests that it will not become a bottleneck in future, more CPU-intensive titles.