Control

Control is an Action Adventure title from 2019 whose physics-heavy combat and destructible environments place unusual demands on both processor and graphics hardware. The measured configuration pairs the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, a 16-core Panther Lake mobile processor, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile, an Ada Lovelace discrete GPU. Across three resolutions and four quality presets, the benchmark data reveals a system that scales predictably with settings, yet the relationship between CPU and GPU workload shifts noticeably as resolution climbs. The Core Ultra X9 388H operates with a 2.10 GHz base clock and 5.10 GHz boost clock, while the RTX 4070 Mobile runs at a 1395 MHz base and 1695 MHz boost. These specifications, combined with the game’s real-time ray tracing options and particle effects, produce average frame rates ranging from 39 FPS at 4K Ultra to 140 FPS at 1080p Low.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is a 16-core, 16-thread processor built on Intel’s 3 nm Panther Lake architecture, with a 25 W TDP that classifies it as a mobile part. Its L3 cache totals 18 MB shared, while L1 and L2 caches are 192 KB and 3 MB per core, respectively. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18911 and a single-core score of 2200.5, placing it in the 88th percentile among all tested CPUs. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, scores an average of 44573 across all benchmarks, which is only 0.2% higher than the Core Ultra X9 388H’s 44466 average. This near-tie suggests the processor is neither a bottleneck nor a standout advantage in most workloads.

For Control specifically, the CPU’s role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings, where frame rates exceed 100 FPS. At 1080p Low, the system averages 140 FPS, which indicates that the 16 threads are being utilized effectively for the game’s physics simulations and AI routines. The boost clock of 5.10 GHz provides strong single-thread performance, reflected in the Passmark single-thread score of 4280. This matters because Control’s combat encounters often involve multiple enemies with distinct behaviors, and the game’s engine must track each entity’s state. The L3 cache size of 18 MB is sufficient to hold frequently accessed game data, reducing memory latency that could otherwise impact frame pacing.

Comparing to the nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks, the Core Ultra X9 388H sits within 0.5% of the Intel Core i5-13600 and 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, with average scores of 44240 and 44309, respectively. The Intel Core i9-13950HX trails by a mere 0.3%, scoring 44342. These deltas are so small that they fall within typical run-to-run variance, meaning the CPU choice is unlikely to be the determining factor in Control’s performance. Instead, the data implies that the GPU becomes the limiting component as soon as resolution or settings increase, since the CPU’s headroom is ample for the game’s demands.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile ranks 2008 out of 3720 tested combos for Control, placing it in the 54th percentile overall. This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the hardware’s specifications, but it reflects the fact that Control is a demanding title at high settings, and the RTX 4070 Mobile’s 8 GB VRAM may constrain performance at higher resolutions. The combo’s rank suggests that many other pairings, likely with desktop-class GPUs or higher-tier mobile parts, achieve better frame rates in this specific game.

Looking at the GPU’s standalone benchmarks, the RTX 4070 Mobile scores 19587 in Passmark G3D and 27435 on average across all GPU tests, which places it in the 73rd percentile. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, scores 27425 with a delta of 0%, meaning the two are effectively tied. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is 0.5% higher at 27565, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 is 1.5% higher at 27839. These margins are minuscule, indicating that the RTX 4070 Mobile is a solid mid-range performer but not exceptional. In Control, this translates to playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K Ultra drops to 39 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players consider smooth.

The combo rank of 2008 out of 3720 implies that roughly 54% of tested configurations outperform this one in Control. This is not a criticism of the hardware per se, but rather a reflection of the game’s GPU-heavy nature. The CPU’s 88th percentile rank does not translate into a top-tier gaming result because Control scales primarily with GPU capabilities. The data suggests that users seeking higher frame rates would benefit more from a stronger GPU than a faster processor, as the Core Ultra X9 388H’s performance headroom is not the limiting factor in this title.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS values show a clear trend: as resolution increases, frame rates drop significantly across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 140 at 1080p to 106 at 1440p (a 24.3% decrease) and then to 71 at 4K (a 49.3% decrease from 1080p). This steep decline at 4K indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, demanding proportionally more fill rate and memory bandwidth. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM are likely sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but 4K stresses the memory subsystem.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar: 99 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p (a 24.2% drop), and 51 FPS at 4K (a 48.5% drop from 1080p). The min and max FPS values at Medium settings — 84/114 at 1080p, 64/86 at 1440p, and 43/58 at 4K — reveal that frame pacing remains consistent, with the spread between minimum and maximum staying relatively tight. This suggests that the game does not experience sudden stutters, but rather a gradual loss of performance as resolution increases. The 4K Medium result of 51 FPS average is borderline playable, but the 43 FPS minimum could cause noticeable hitches during intense combat sequences.

High settings show a similar scaling pattern: 88 FPS at 1080p, 67 FPS at 1440p (a 23.9% drop), and 45 FPS at 4K (a 48.9% drop from 1080p). Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates: 77 FPS at 1080p, 58 FPS at 1440p (a 24.7% drop), and 39 FPS at 4K (a 49.4% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings — roughly 24% from 1080p to 1440p and 49% from 1080p to 4K — strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would not scale so predictably with pixel count; instead, it would plateau regardless of resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4070 Mobile delivers its best performance. Low settings yield an average of 140 FPS, making this the only configuration that exceeds the 120 FPS threshold for high-refresh displays. Medium settings average 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 and maximum of 114, providing a smooth experience for most players. High settings drop to 88 FPS average, while Ultra settings produce 77 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 63 FPS, which represents a 45% reduction in performance when maxing out all quality options. This wide spread indicates that Control’s Ultra preset includes features that are particularly taxing on the GPU, such as volumetric lighting and advanced post-processing effects.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain playable but lose the headroom seen at 1080p. Low settings average 106 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS but noticeably lower than the 140 FPS at 1080p. Medium settings average 75 FPS with a minimum of 64 and maximum of 86, keeping the experience smooth for most users. High settings drop to 67 FPS average, while Ultra settings fall to 58 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the average frame rate dips below 60 FPS, which may be noticeable to players with high-refresh monitors. The minimum FPS at Medium settings (64) is close to the average, suggesting that frame pacing is stable.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4070 Mobile struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 71 FPS, which is acceptable but not ideal for 4K gaming. Medium settings average 51 FPS with a minimum of 43 and maximum of 58, placing the experience in the "playable but not smooth" category. High settings average 45 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 39 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS is below the 40 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for acceptable gameplay, and the lack of min/max data for Ultra settings suggests that the frame rate may be inconsistent. The data clearly shows that 4K gaming is only viable at Low settings, where the 71 FPS average provides a playable experience, though the visual quality is significantly reduced.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile is built on the AD106 chip using TSMC’s 5 nm process, with 22,900 million transistors on a 188 mm² die. It features 4608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores. The GPU’s base clock of 1395 MHz and boost clock of 1695 MHz produce a pixel rate of 81.36 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 244.1 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 15.62 TFLOPS is identical to the FP16 performance, indicating a 1:1 ratio that is typical for Ada Lovelace consumer GPUs. The memory configuration consists of 8 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Control, the 8 GB VRAM is a critical factor at 4K resolution. The game’s high-resolution textures and effects can exceed 8 GB when all settings are maxed out, which likely explains the 39 FPS average at 4K Ultra. The memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the GPU must move more data per frame, and the 128-bit bus becomes a limiting factor. The Passmark G3D score of 19587 places the RTX 4070 Mobile in the 73rd percentile among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 27435 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (27425, 0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (27565, -0.5% delta). This suggests that the RTX 4070 Mobile performs like a desktop mid-range GPU, which aligns with its 115 W TDP.

The GPU’s ray tracing cores are relevant to Control, which uses ray tracing for reflections and shadows. While the measured FPS values do not specify whether ray tracing is enabled, the performance drop from High to Ultra at each resolution suggests that the Ultra preset may include ray tracing or other GPU-intensive features. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s 36 ray tracing cores provide hardware acceleration for these effects, but the 4K results indicate that the GPU is not powerful enough to handle ray tracing at high resolutions without significant frame rate penalties. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) ensures compatibility with Control’s modern rendering techniques, but the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM remains a bottleneck for 4K Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS values, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and frame rate preference. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, with an average of 99 FPS and a minimum of 84 FPS. This ensures that the frame rate stays above 60 FPS even during demanding scenes, and the visual upgrade from Low to Medium is noticeable in terms of texture detail and lighting. High settings at 1080p average 88 FPS, which is still smooth, but the 11 FPS difference between Medium and High may not justify the increased load on the GPU. Ultra settings at 1080p average 77 FPS, which is playable but sacrifices the headroom needed for consistent 60+ FPS in chaotic combat.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset again emerges as the best choice, averaging 75 FPS with a minimum of 64 FPS. This keeps the experience above 60 FPS for most of the game, though the minimum FPS could dip during heavy particle effects. High settings at 1440p average 67 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS threshold but leaves less margin for error. Ultra settings at 1440p average 58 FPS, which is below 60 FPS and may result in noticeable stuttering on some displays. Low settings at 1440p average 106 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh monitors, but the visual quality reduction is significant.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only viable option for a smooth experience, averaging 71 FPS. Medium settings at 4K average 51 FPS, which is playable but not ideal, while High (45 FPS) and Ultra (39 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold and may cause discomfort for sensitive players. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo is best suited to Low settings, or alternatively, users should consider reducing the resolution to 1440p and using Medium settings for a better visual-to-performance ratio. The 4K Medium result of 51 FPS is the highest playable setting at that resolution, but the 43 FPS minimum indicates that combat sequences could suffer.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 99, with a minimum of 84 and a maximum of 114.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Mobile compare to the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 27435, while the RX 6700 XT scores 27425, resulting in a delta of 0% — they are effectively tied.

Q: What is the CPU’s percentile ranking among all tested processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is in the 88th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 44466.

Q: Can this combo run Control at 4K Ultra settings smoothly?

A: No, the average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 39, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested CPU-GPU pairs for Control?

A: The combo ranks 2008 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the 54th percentile.

Q: Which resolution and settings combination yields the highest average FPS?

A: The highest average FPS is 140, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.