Control

Control on the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile combination shows a clear GPU-bound pattern at higher resolutions, while the CPU demonstrates ample headroom to push frame rates at 1080p. The data indicates that this mobile platform is best suited for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming, where it balances visual fidelity and performance effectively. At 4K, the system delivers playable but not consistently smooth results, suggesting that users should prioritize resolution scaling or settings adjustments to maintain a stable experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a pronounced performance drop as resolution increases, a classic indicator of GPU limitation. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 102 FPS at 1920x1080 to 77 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 52 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 24.5% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a 32.5% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern is consistent with the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile being the primary bottleneck at higher pixel counts, as the CPU’s compute capabilities are not the limiting factor.

The Low settings preset tells a similar story but with more dramatic numbers. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 162 FPS, which drops to 123 FPS at 2560x1440 and 83 FPS at 3840x2160. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 48.8%, which is significant but still indicates that the GPU is handling the workload. Notably, the difference between Low and High settings at 1080p is 60 FPS (162 vs 102), while at 4K the difference narrows to 31 FPS (83 vs 52). This compression of performance delta at higher resolutions further confirms that pixel throughput, not scene complexity, is the dominant constraint.

Medium settings provide the most complete dataset, including minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1920x1080, the average is 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS and maximum of 132 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the average drops to 87 FPS with a range of 74 to 100 FPS. At 3840x2160, the average falls to 59 FPS with a range of 50 to 68 FPS. The minimum FPS values are particularly telling: at 4K Medium, the minimum of 50 FPS represents a 13.6% dip below the average, suggesting occasional frame hitches that could be noticeable during intense action sequences.

Ultra settings show the steepest degradation curve. The average FPS at 1080p is 89, dropping to 67 at 1440p and 45 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold by a significant margin, indicating that this preset is not viable for smooth gameplay at that resolution. The data suggests that the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile’s 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game’s textures at all resolutions, but the raw compute power (17.04 TFLOPS FP32) is the limiting factor at 4K.

The resolution scaling analysis points to a system that is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The CPU, with 16 cores and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, clearly has the headroom to support higher FPS, as evidenced by the 162 FPS Low preset result at 1080p. This suggests that for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, users should target 1080p or 1440p, while 4K should be reserved for slower-paced or visually-driven experiences.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combination. The average of 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS provides smooth gameplay that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold, while the maximum of 100 FPS shows there is headroom for less demanding scenes. This configuration delivers a 13% improvement over High settings at the same resolution (87 vs 77 FPS) while likely sacrificing some visual fidelity that is not quantified in the data.

For users prioritizing maximum visual quality, the High preset at 2560x1440 is the highest setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS. The 77 FPS average is playable, but the lack of minimum FPS data makes it difficult to assess frame pacing consistency. At 1920x1080, the High preset achieves 102 FPS, which is excellent for most monitor refresh rates, but the Medium preset’s 115 FPS provides additional headroom for 120 Hz displays. The Low preset at 1080p, with its 162 FPS average, is the only configuration that can fully utilize a 144 Hz or higher refresh rate monitor.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution in this game. At 1080p, it delivers 89 FPS, which is only 13 FPS lower than High settings, suggesting diminishing returns on visual investment. At 1440p, the 67 FPS average is borderline, and at 4K, the 45 FPS result is below the playable threshold for most users. The performance gap between High and Ultra is consistent across resolutions (12-14 FPS), but the absolute performance at 4K Ultra (45 FPS) makes this combination impractical for that preset.

At 4K, the Medium preset is the highest playable option, with an average of 59 FPS and a minimum of 50 FPS. This is technically playable but may exhibit noticeable stuttering during heavy scenes. The High preset at 4K (52 FPS) and Ultra preset (45 FPS) are both below the 60 FPS target and should be avoided for smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 4K (83 FPS) is the only configuration that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, but it likely sacrifices significant visual detail.

The optimal strategy is to use Medium settings at 1440p for the best overall experience, or High settings at 1080p if visual fidelity is paramount. For competitive play, Low settings at 1080p provides the highest frame rates. The data shows no benefit to using Ultra settings at any resolution, as the performance cost is not justified by the marginal FPS gain over High settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings?

A: The average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings is 77 FPS. This is 25 FPS lower than the 1920x1080 High result of 102 FPS, indicating a significant resolution penalty.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this combination?

A: 4K gaming is only viable with Low or Medium settings. The Low preset achieves 83 FPS, while Medium achieves 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS. High and Ultra presets at 4K produce averages of 52 FPS and 45 FPS, respectively, which are below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Which settings provide the highest frame rate at 1920x1080?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 provides the highest average FPS at 162. The Medium preset achieves 115 FPS, High achieves 102 FPS, and Ultra achieves 89 FPS.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 50 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. The other Medium preset configurations have minimums of 98 FPS at 1080p and 74 FPS at 1440p.

Q: How does the 3840x2160 Ultra preset compare to 1920x1080 Ultra?

A: The 3840x2160 Ultra preset has an average of 45 FPS, which is 44 FPS lower than the 1920x1080 Ultra average of 89 FPS. This represents a 49.4% decrease in performance, highlighting the GPU’s limitation at 4K.

Q: Is there a significant difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, the difference is 10 FPS on average (87 FPS for Medium vs 77 FPS for High). The Medium preset also provides a minimum FPS of 74, ensuring more consistent frame delivery compared to the High preset’s unmeasured minimum.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile combination ranks 1422 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 38th percentile of all configurations. This ranking indicates that while the system is capable, it is not among the top performers for this specific game. The CPU’s performance percentile of 88 compared to all CPUs suggests that the processor is not the bottleneck, as it outperforms the vast majority of alternatives.

The GPU’s percentile of 80 against all GPUs is more modest, and this is reflected in the game’s performance. The combo rank of 1422 out of 3720 suggests that many other GPU combinations can achieve higher frame rates in Control, likely due to more powerful desktop-class graphics solutions. The RTX 5070 Ti Mobile’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA Quadro GV100, which scores 0.2% higher, and the AMD Radeon Pro Duo, which scores 1.2% higher. These professional-grade cards demonstrate similar compute capabilities but may not be optimized for gaming workloads.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show how close the performance is in synthetic tests. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D scores 0.2% lower, the Intel Core i9-13950HX scores 0.3% higher, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 scores 0.4% higher. These marginal differences suggest that the CPU is not a differentiating factor in this game, as all of these processors provide comparable compute performance. The Intel Core i5-13600, a desktop part, scores 0.5% higher, indicating that the mobile platform does not suffer a significant disadvantage in this workload.

The ranking data suggests that users should not expect this combination to compete with high-end desktop configurations in Control. However, the system’s performance at 1080p and 1440p is respectable, with the Medium preset at 1440p delivering 87 FPS. The rank of 1422 out of 3720 places this combo in the upper-middle tier, which is consistent with a mobile RTX 5070 Ti paired with a high-end mobile CPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile plays the dominant role in determining Control’s performance, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the game’s texture loads at all tested resolutions, as the performance degradation from 1080p to 4K follows a predictable pattern consistent with compute-bound rendering rather than memory capacity limits.

The GPU’s clock speeds are modest for a mobile part, with a base clock of 847 MHz and a boost clock of 1447 MHz. These clocks, combined with 5888 shading units, produce a peak FP32 performance of 17.04 TFLOPS. The relatively low boost clock suggests that the GPU is power-constrained, operating within a 60 W TDP envelope. This power limit is likely the primary factor limiting performance at 4K, where the GPU cannot maintain higher clock speeds to offset the increased pixel workload.

The GPU’s 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are present but do not appear to be heavily utilized in this game, as the performance scaling is consistent with traditional rasterization workloads. The 80 ROPs and 184 TMUs provide a texture fill rate of 266.2 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 115.8 GPixel/s. These figures are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but become strained at 4K Ultra settings, where the pixel rate requirement is highest.

The RTX 5070 Ti Mobile’s synthetic benchmarks show a Passmark G3D score of 24004 and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 10101. These scores place the GPU in the 80th percentile of all GPUs, which is respectable but not exceptional. The closest rival in synthetic benchmarks is the NVIDIA Quadro GV100, which scores 0.2% higher on average, while the AMD Radeon Pro Duo scores 1.2% higher. The GPU’s DirectX 12 benchmark score of 102 (Passmark) is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 237, which may indicate driver overhead or architectural differences in this specific API path.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity is never a limiting factor in the measured data, as even the 4K Ultra preset runs without exceeding memory limits, evidenced by the stable (if low) frame rates. The GPU’s role is clearly to provide the computational throughput for pixel shading, and the data suggests that it is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 162 FPS, followed by Medium at 115 FPS, High at 102 FPS, and Ultra at 89 FPS. The Medium preset provides the only complete frame range data at this resolution, with a minimum of 98 FPS and maximum of 132 FPS. This 34 FPS spread between minimum and maximum indicates some variance in scene complexity, but the minimum remains well above playable thresholds. The 73 FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at this resolution demonstrates the full range of performance scaling available.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings produce 123 FPS, Medium produces 87 FPS, High produces 77 FPS, and Ultra produces 67 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 100 FPS, a 26 FPS spread that is tighter than at 1080p. This tighter range suggests that at higher resolution, the GPU becomes more consistently loaded, reducing frame time variance. The 56 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is smaller than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more of a bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low settings achieve 83 FPS, Medium achieves 59 FPS, High achieves 52 FPS, and Ultra achieves 45 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS, an 18 FPS spread. This is the narrowest range across all resolutions, further confirming that the GPU is fully saturated at 4K. The 38 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is the smallest of any resolution, indicating that the GPU’s compute limits are the primary constraint.

The data shows a consistent pattern: as resolution increases, the gap between settings narrows. At 1080p, Low and Ultra differ by 73 FPS; at 1440p, they differ by 56 FPS; at 4K, they differ by only 38 FPS. This compression of performance deltas is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock, is capable of delivering the high frame rates seen at 1080p Low (162 FPS), but the GPU cannot maintain similar performance as pixel count increases. This breakdown provides a clear picture for users: for maximum frame rates, use Low settings at 1080p; for balanced visual quality, use Medium settings at 1440p; and for 4K, only Low settings provide consistent performance above 60 FPS.