Control

Control is an Action Adventure title that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra X7 368H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile shows a system that is capable of smooth play at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The benchmark results indicate that this combo sits at rank 2278 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier for this specific game. The following analysis breaks down the performance metrics, offering a clear verdict on what settings and resolutions deliver the best experience based strictly on the measured FPS data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for the highest frame rates with this combo?

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 delivers the highest average frame rates across all settings, with the Low preset reaching 124 FPS and the High preset achieving 79 FPS. This is the only resolution where the Low preset exceeds 120 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 35 FPS on Ultra settings to 64 FPS on Low settings. The Medium preset averages 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS, indicating that 4K play is only viable on the Low preset.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 94 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 52 FPS. This represents a 42 FPS drop, or roughly a 45% reduction in average frame rate when moving from Low to Ultra.

Q: Is the RTX 4060 Mobile's VRAM sufficient for this game at high settings?

A: The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 128-bit bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured data shows that at 1440p High settings, the combo averages 59 FPS, which suggests the 8 GB VRAM is adequate for this title at that resolution and settings level.

Q: How does the CPU's single-core performance compare to its multi-core performance in relation to this game?

A: The CPU has a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3984 and a multi-core score of 28221. The high single-core score indicates strong performance for game logic and physics, while the multi-core score shows substantial headroom for background tasks, though Control's performance is more directly tied to the GPU at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among other tested systems for Control?

A: The combo is ranked 2278 out of 3720 tested combinations, with a rank of 2278. This places it in the 61st percentile of all tested systems, indicating it performs better than about 61% of the tested combos.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 1545 MHz with a boost clock of 1890 MHz, and its memory clock is 2000 MHz, or 16 Gbps effective. With 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, the GPU delivers a pixel rate of 90.72 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 181.4 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 11.61 TFLOPS, which is a key indicator of raw compute capability for this game's particle effects and physics.

The measured FPS data clearly shows the GPU's limits at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages only 35 FPS, while the High preset averages 40 FPS. This indicates that the 256.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM are insufficient for maintaining smooth frame rates at 4K with high visual fidelity. The GPU's performance at 1440p is more respectable, with the High preset averaging 59 FPS and the Medium preset averaging 67 FPS. At 1080p, the GPU shows its strength, with the High preset averaging 79 FPS and the Low preset hitting 124 FPS.

The RTX 4060 Mobile's DirectX 12 performance, as measured by Passmark, is 73, which is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 157. This suggests that Control, which uses DirectX 12, may not fully utilize the GPU's architecture, potentially explaining why the frame rates are not higher at 1440p and 4K. The GPU's Vulkan score of 89569 from Geekbench indicates strong API support, but the game's specific rendering path may be a limiting factor. Overall, the GPU role is dominant: it is the primary bottleneck at 4K, while at 1080p, it provides sufficient headroom for high refresh rate play.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. For the best balance of visual quality and performance at 1920x1080, the High preset is recommended, as it averages 79 FPS, which is smooth for most players and maintains higher visual fidelity than Medium or Low. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 88 FPS, but the jump to High is only a 9 FPS loss for improved graphics, making High the superior choice for 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the best recommendation, averaging 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS and a maximum of 77 FPS. This provides a playable experience with good visual quality, while the High preset drops to 59 FPS, which may be acceptable but is closer to the edge of smoothness. The Low preset at 1440p averages 94 FPS, but the visual downgrade is significant, so Medium is the sweet spot for this resolution.

For 3840x2160, the data strongly suggests that only the Low preset is viable, as it averages 64 FPS. The Medium preset averages 45 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth play, and the High and Ultra presets average 40 FPS and 35 FPS, respectively. If 4K is the priority, players must accept the Low preset to achieve a playable frame rate. In summary, the recommended settings are High at 1080p, Medium at 1440p, and Low at 4K, based on the measured average FPS and the minimum FPS values where available.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves the highest average FPS of 124, followed by the Medium preset at 88 FPS, the High preset at 79 FPS, and the Ultra preset at 68 FPS. The Medium preset has a minimum FPS of 75 and a maximum of 102, showing a relatively tight frame time distribution. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 56 FPS, indicating a significant performance cost for higher settings.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 94 FPS, the Medium preset averages 67 FPS with a range of 57 to 77 FPS, the High preset averages 59 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 52 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 42 FPS, which is a smaller absolute difference than at 1080p, but still substantial. The High preset's 59 FPS is borderline for smooth gameplay, while the Medium preset's 67 FPS provides more headroom.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 64 FPS, the Medium preset averages 45 FPS with a range of 38 to 52 FPS, the High preset averages 40 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 35 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 29 FPS, which is the smallest absolute gap across all resolutions, but the low absolute frame rates make only the Low preset playable. The minimum FPS of 38 FPS on Medium at 4K indicates that even this setting will experience noticeable stutters during intense scenes. Overall, the data shows a clear scaling pattern: as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the settings must be reduced to maintain acceptable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra X7 368H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile combination is ranked 2278 out of 3720 tested combos for Control, placing it in the 61st percentile of all tested systems. This rank indicates that the combo performs better than a majority of tested configurations, but it is not in the top tier for this game. The GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 67, meaning it is better than 67% of all GPUs in the database, which is slightly higher than the combo's overall rank, suggesting that the CPU may be a slight limiting factor in this game.

The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 87, which is significantly higher than the GPU's percentile, indicating that the processor has more headroom relative to the GPU. The nearest rivals for the CPU include the Intel Core 7 253PE with a deltaPct of -0.1, the Intel Core 5 223PE with a deltaPct of -0.2, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H with a deltaPct of 0.2, and the Intel Xeon 6507P with a deltaPct of 0.2. These rivals have similar average benchmark scores, with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H being slightly faster and the Intel Core 7 253PE being slightly slower.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 with a deltaPct of -0.7, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT with a deltaPct of 0.8, the Intel Arc B580 with a deltaPct of -1.3, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile with a deltaPct of 1.3. The RTX 4060 Mobile is slightly slower than the RTX 2080 and the Intel Arc B580, but faster than the RX 7700 XT and the RTX 5060 Mobile in overall benchmark scores. This ranking suggests that the combo's performance in Control is competitive with these systems, but the specific optimization of the game may favor or penalize certain architectures.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X7 368H is a 16-core, 16-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 3, based on the Panther Lake architecture and manufactured on a 3 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.00 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a TDP of 25 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 2.5 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports LPDDR5X memory with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 153.6 GB/s, and it uses a PCIe Gen 5 interface with 4 lanes for the CPU.

In terms of benchmark scores, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28221 and a single-core score of 3984. The Passmark multi-thread score is 32956, with a single-thread score of 4005. The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 87, indicating strong overall performance. For Control, which is a game that relies on both single-threaded game logic and multi-threaded rendering tasks, the high single-core score is particularly important for maintaining consistent frame times.

The CPU's role in this combo is to feed the GPU with data and handle game physics and AI. At 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU's high single-core performance helps achieve the 124 FPS on Low settings, as the game logic is not bottlenecked. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, and the CPU's faster multi-core performance allows for smooth operation even when the GPU is at its limit. The measured data shows that the combo's rank of 2278 is likely influenced more by the GPU than the CPU, as the CPU's 87th percentile rank is higher than the GPU's 67th percentile, suggesting that the processor has sufficient headroom to support the GPU in most scenarios.