Control

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers a playable but demanding experience in Control, with performance scaling predictably across resolutions and presets. The benchmark data indicates that this combo ranks in the 34th percentile (1894 out of 2888 tested combos), placing it in the lower-middle tier for this title. The most balanced experience is achieved at 1440p Medium, where the system maintains 65 FPS average with a 55 FPS minimum, while 1080p Medium offers the best combination of fluidity and visual fidelity at 86 FPS average. The 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth of the RTX 5060 prove sufficient for this 2019 title, though the 34 FPS Ultra at 4K reveals the GPU's limits under maximum load.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data strongly favors the Medium preset as the optimal balance between performance and visual quality across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 86 FPS average (73 minimum), which is 20 FPS faster than High (76 FPS) and 20 FPS slower than Low (121 FPS), but the visual uplift from Low to Medium justifies the frame rate cost in a game like Control where atmosphere and lighting are central. The 1440p Medium result of 65 FPS average (55 minimum) is the sweet spot for this resolution, providing a smooth experience on standard 60 Hz displays without the 17 FPS drop seen when moving to High (58 FPS) or the 15 FPS loss when stepping up to Ultra (50 FPS).

For 4K, the data reveals a more challenging scenario. Medium at 4K produces 44 FPS average (37 minimum), which is borderline playable but not ideal for action sequences. High at 4K drops to 39 FPS, while Ultra falls to 34 FPS, making these presets unsuitable for consistent gameplay. Low at 4K achieves 62 FPS, which is the only preset at this resolution that clears the 60 FPS threshold, but it comes with significant visual compromises. The recommendation is to use Medium at 1440p as the primary target, as it offers the best FPS-per-visual-quality ratio, with 1080p Medium as the fallback for users prioritizing frame rate stability over resolution.

The Ultra preset is consistently the most demanding, producing 66 FPS at 1080p, 50 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. The gap between Medium and Ultra is substantial: 20 FPS at 1080p, 15 FPS at 1440p, and 10 FPS at 4K. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce rendering features that heavily tax the RTX 5060's 3840 shading units and 48 ROPs, making Ultra only viable at 1080p where the frame rate remains above 60 FPS. For a consistently smooth experience, Medium is the recommended starting point, with users able to adjust individual settings upward if their tolerance for frame drops is higher.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the primary performance driver in this combo, and its specifications directly explain the measured frame rates. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for Control's texture streaming and physics-based destruction at 1080p and 1440p. The 2280 MHz base clock and 2497 MHz boost clock provide the computational throughput, with the GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance handling the game's particle effects and environmental interactions. The 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores are present, though the measured data does not isolate ray tracing performance, so their impact is reflected in the overall preset scaling.

The VRAM allocation appears sufficient across all tested configurations, as there is no evidence of memory-related stuttering in the minimum FPS data. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 3628 and Passmark G3D score of 20891 place this GPU in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the AMD Radeon 860M (score 26401, delta -0.3%) and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (score 26421, delta -0.3%). This indicates the RTX 5060 is a mid-range part, and the benchmark results confirm it performs accordingly in Control: capable of 60+ FPS at 1080p Medium and 1440p Low, but struggling at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is a critical factor at higher resolutions. At 4K, the data shows a sharp decline from 62 FPS at Low to 44 FPS at Medium, a 29% drop that correlates with increased memory pressure. The 128-bit bus width, while paired with fast GDDR7 memory, limits the amount of data that can be transferred per clock cycle, which becomes more pronounced as the render resolution increases. This is why the 4K results show the GPU becoming the clear bottleneck, with even the CPU's 16 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock unable to compensate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1894 out of 2888 tested combos places this system in the 34th percentile for Control performance. This is a below-average ranking, indicating that most other CPU-GPU pairings tested by the database deliver higher frame rates in this title. The CPU, Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, has an average benchmark score of 44466, which places it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rivals being the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (score 44573, delta -0.2%) and Intel Core i9-13950HX (score 44342, delta 0.3%). This suggests the processor is not the limiting factor; rather, the RTX 5060's mid-range GPU performance holds the combo back.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 26331 places it in the 72nd percentile, with its nearest rivals being the AMD Radeon 860M (score 26401, delta -0.3%) and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (score 26011, delta 1.2%). The delta percentages are remarkably small, meaning the RTX 5060 performs nearly identically to these rivals in synthetic benchmarks. However, in Control, the measured FPS data shows this combo achieving 66 FPS at 1080p Ultra, which is a solid but not exceptional result. The ranking suggests that while the CPU is high-tier, the GPU's mid-range status prevents this combo from climbing higher in the overall ranking.

The discrepancy between the CPU's 88th percentile and the GPU's 72nd percentile, combined with the combo's 34th percentile, highlights a bottleneck imbalance. The data indicates that pairing this CPU with a more powerful GPU would yield significantly better results in Control, as the CPU has ample headroom. The nearest rival combos in the database likely feature similar or weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs, explaining why this specific pairing ranks lower than the sum of its parts might suggest.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers the following average FPS across presets: Low 121, Medium 86 (min 73, max 99), High 76, and Ultra 66. The jump from Low to Medium is 35 FPS, representing a 29% performance cost for the visual upgrade, while the jump from Medium to High is 10 FPS (12% cost) and from High to Ultra is 10 FPS (13% cost). The minimum FPS at Medium is 73, which is above the 60 FPS threshold, ensuring smooth gameplay even during intense combat scenarios. The 1080p results show a linear scaling pattern, with each preset increment costing roughly 10-15% performance.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS figures are: Low 91, Medium 65 (min 55, max 75), High 58, and Ultra 50. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is substantial: Low falls 30 FPS (25%), Medium falls 21 FPS (24%), High falls 18 FPS (24%), and Ultra falls 16 FPS (24%). This consistent 24-25% reduction across all presets indicates a uniform resolution scaling penalty. The Medium preset at 1440p maintains a 55 FPS minimum, which is acceptable but may show minor stutters during heavy particle effects. The Ultra preset at 50 FPS is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS figures are: Low 62, Medium 44 (min 37, max 50), High 39, and Ultra 34. The 4K results show a more dramatic scaling, with the drop from 1440p to 4K being: Low falls 29 FPS (32%), Medium falls 21 FPS (32%), High falls 19 FPS (33%), and Ultra falls 16 FPS (32%). The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 37, which is below the playable threshold for most users, indicating that 4K is only viable at Low settings (62 FPS) for a smooth experience. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 18 FPS, the largest preset-to-preset jump in the entire dataset, highlighting the significant GPU load increase at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a consistent 24-25% FPS drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p across all presets, and a further 32-33% drop when moving from 1440p to 4K. This compounding scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the RTX 5060's rendering capabilities are the primary constraint. The total FPS loss from 1080p to 4K is substantial: Low drops from 121 to 62 FPS (49% reduction), Medium drops from 86 to 44 FPS (49%), High drops from 76 to 39 FPS (49%), and Ultra drops from 66 to 34 FPS (48%). This near-uniform 49% reduction across all presets indicates that the resolution scaling is independent of the preset chosen, suggesting the GPU's pixel throughput is the limiting factor.

The consistent percentage drops reveal that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect to see smaller FPS drops at higher resolutions as the GPU becomes more stressed, but the data shows perfectly linear scaling. This is supported by the CPU's high benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multicore 18911, singlecore 2200.5) and its 88th percentile ranking, which indicates it has more than enough headroom for this GPU at any resolution. The 16 cores and 16 threads, combined with a 5.10 GHz boost clock, ensure that frame generation and physics calculations are never the bottleneck.

The 4K results are particularly telling. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 34 FPS, which is a 48% reduction from 1080p Ultra (66 FPS). This means that even at the highest preset, the GPU is unable to maintain playable frame rates at 4K, and users must drop to Low to achieve 60+ FPS. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM capacity are sufficient for 4K texture loading, but the GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance is simply not enough to process the increased pixel count at high settings. The data clearly shows that this combo is optimized for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant visual compromises.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?*

A: The data shows 1440p Medium as the optimal choice, delivering 65 FPS average (55 minimum). At 1080p, all presets exceed 60 FPS, with Medium at 86 FPS, but 1440p offers a better visual experience with only a 21 FPS reduction. 4K is only viable at Low settings (62 FPS), as Medium drops to 44 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5060 has an average benchmark score of 26331, which is within 1.2% of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (26011) and within 0.3% of the AMD Radeon 860M (26401). The delta percentages are small, indicating near-identical raw performance, though the measured FPS in Control may differ based on architecture optimizations.

*Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system for Control?*

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The CPU ranks in the 88th percentile of all CPUs with a score of 44466, while the GPU ranks in the 72nd percentile with a score of 26331. The resolution scaling data shows uniform FPS drops from 1080p to 4K, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario, not a CPU-limited one.

Q: Can this combo handle Ultra settings at any resolution?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p, where Ultra produces 66 FPS average. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 50 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 34 FPS. For 60+ FPS at Ultra, users must stay at 1080p, as the 1440p and 4K Ultra results are below the smoothness threshold.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, the difference is 55 FPS (121 Low vs 66 Ultra). At 1440p, the difference is 41 FPS (91 Low vs 50 Ultra). At 4K, the difference is 28 FPS (62 Low vs 34 Ultra). The absolute gap narrows at higher resolutions, but the percentage difference remains consistent at around 45-48%.

*Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 5060 have, and is it enough for Control?*

A: The RTX 5060 has 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured data shows no evidence of VRAM-related stuttering, with minimum FPS figures staying proportional to average FPS across all settings, indicating that 8 GB is sufficient for this game at all tested resolutions and presets.