Control

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers consistently high frame rates in Control across all tested resolutions and presets. Data from measured benchmarks shows that this combination never drops below the 60 FPS playability threshold, even at maximum settings in 4K. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS data, optimal settings, and relative performance against other tested hardware combinations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination produces its highest raw frame rates. Low settings yield an average of 197.5 FPS, which is the peak measured result for this pairing. Medium settings average 175.6 FPS, High settings average 166.2 FPS, and Ultra settings average 156.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 41 FPS, indicating a moderate scaling cost for higher visual fidelity. Even at Ultra, the average remains more than double the 60 FPS playable threshold, suggesting significant headroom for competitive or high-refresh-rate displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS figures remain robust but show the expected impact of additional pixel throughput. Low settings produce 179.5 FPS, Medium settings produce 155.1 FPS, High settings produce 134.8 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 115.6 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 63.9 FPS, which is larger than the 41 FPS gap observed at 1080p. This widening gap indicates that the GPU becomes a more significant factor as resolution increases, with the RTX 5090's raw compute being increasingly taxed by higher internal render resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the most demanding resolution tested, the frame rates remain highly playable but show the largest performance spread. Low settings average 143.7 FPS, Medium settings average 105.6 FPS, High settings average 88.9 FPS, and Ultra settings average 76.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 66.8 FPS, the largest absolute gap across all resolutions. This pattern confirms that Control's visual settings have a compounding effect at higher resolutions, where both the number of pixels and the per-pixel shading complexity increase.

The data shows a consistent trend: as resolution scales from 1080p to 4K, the average FPS at each preset drops by a similar proportion. For instance, Ultra settings fall from 156.5 FPS at 1080p to 115.6 FPS at 1440p (a 26.1% reduction) and then to 76.9 FPS at 4K (a further 33.5% reduction from 1440p). Low settings follow a similar trajectory, dropping from 197.5 FPS to 179.5 FPS to 143.7 FPS. This scaling behavior suggests the RTX 5090 is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions, while the Ryzen 7 5700X3D provides sufficient CPU throughput to avoid bottlenecking even at 1080p.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which averages 156.5 FPS. This is the maximum quality setting available in the test data, and it still leaves substantial margin above the playable threshold. Users targeting 144 Hz displays can comfortably enable Ultra, with headroom to spare.

At 2560x1440, Ultra settings also remain the best choice, averaging 115.6 FPS. This is comfortably above 60 FPS and even above the 100 FPS mark, which is often considered the sweet spot for smooth gameplay on high-refresh monitors. The data indicates no need to compromise on visual quality at this resolution.

For 3840x2160, Ultra settings average 76.9 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold by a 16.9 FPS margin. This is the only resolution where the Ultra preset dips below 100 FPS, but it remains fully playable. The verdict data confirms that all four tested settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are playable at 4K, meaning the user has complete freedom to choose based on preference for visual fidelity versus higher frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Control at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 76.9 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. All tested settings at 4K (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are marked as playable.

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combination achieves?

A: The highest measured average is 197.5 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The highest average at Ultra settings is 156.5 FPS, also at 1920x1080.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 156.5 at 1920x1080 to 115.6 at 2560x1440, and then to 76.9 at 3840x2160. This represents a total reduction of 79.6 FPS (50.9%) from 1080p to 4K.

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

A: Yes. At 2560x1440, Medium settings average 155.1 FPS while High settings average 134.8 FPS. This is a 20.3 FPS difference, which is noticeable for users with high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: Does the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings widen at higher resolutions?

A: Yes. At 1080p, the gap is 41 FPS (197.5 vs 156.5). At 1440p, the gap is 63.9 FPS (179.5 vs 115.6). At 4K, the gap is 66.8 FPS (143.7 vs 76.9). The scaling cost of Ultra settings increases with resolution.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combination?

A: The lowest average is 76.9 FPS, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This remains above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D with an average score of 24728 (a -0.1% delta), the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with 24822 (-0.5% delta), the Intel Core i5-12450HX with 24576 (+0.5% delta), and the Intel Core i5-11600 with 24563 (+0.6% delta). These CPUs have nearly identical aggregate benchmark performance to the 5700X3D, with deltas under 1%. In a game like Control, where the GPU is the dominant factor at higher resolutions, swapping to any of these CPUs would likely produce very similar frame rates, particularly at 1440p and 4K where the RTX 5090's workload dominates.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB with an average score of 79605 (+0.3% delta), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB with 79396 (+0.6% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT with 78940 (+1.1% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X with 80959 (-1.4% delta). These GPUs score within 1.4% of the RTX 5090 in synthetic benchmarks, but it is important to note that the Tesla and Radeon Pro products are professional or workstation-oriented parts. Their benchmark similarity does not necessarily translate to identical gaming performance in Control, particularly regarding driver optimizations and feature support. The RX 6850M XT is a mobile GPU, which would have different power and thermal characteristics in practice.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 189th out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 5.1% of all configurations in the database. The high percentile ranking reflects the strong measured performance across all resolutions and settings. Given that the RTX 5090 is near the top of the GPU benchmark percentile (92nd percentile vs all GPUs) and the Ryzen 7 5700X3D sits at the 77th percentile vs all CPUs, the combination's top 5% rank in Control indicates that the game scales well with both high-end CPU and GPU resources. The rank of 189 out of 3720 suggests that there are a small number of faster configurations, likely those pairing even newer or higher-end CPUs with the same GPU, but the practical difference in frame rates is minimal given the already high average FPS.

The Verdict

This PC can definitively run Control at playable frame rates across every tested resolution and preset combination. The verdict data confirms that at 3840x2160, all four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are playable, with Ultra averaging 76.9 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 115.6 FPS, and at 1920x1080, Ultra averages 156.5 FPS. The playable threshold is defined as 60 FPS, and this combination exceeds that threshold by a minimum of 16.9 FPS (at 4K Ultra) and by a maximum of 137.5 FPS (at 1080p Low). Users seeking the highest visual fidelity can enable Ultra at any resolution, while those prioritizing high refresh rates can achieve average FPS well above 100 at 1440p and above 140 at 1080p. The only scenario where the frame rate approaches the threshold is 4K Ultra, but it still maintains a comfortable margin.

CPU and GPU Roles

The measured FPS data reveals distinct scaling patterns that clarify the roles of each component. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 41 FPS (197.5 vs 156.5), which is the smallest absolute gap among all resolutions. This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU (Ryzen 7 5700X3D) has enough headroom to feed the GPU efficiently, and the performance difference is primarily driven by GPU rendering load. The high average FPS at 1080p suggests that neither component is a severe bottleneck, but the CPU's single-thread performance (3dmark single thread score of 804) is sufficient to maintain high frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the gap between Low and Ultra widens to 63.9 FPS (179.5 vs 115.6). This widening gap indicates that the GPU's rendering load increases more rapidly than the CPU's workload as pixel count rises. The RTX 5090's performance at 1440p is still excellent, but the data suggests the GPU is becoming the limiting factor for Ultra settings.

At 3840x2160, the gap between Low and Ultra is 66.8 FPS (143.7 vs 76.9), the largest of all resolutions. This confirms that the GPU is the dominant component at 4K. The CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases, because the frame rate is increasingly determined by the GPU's ability to process the larger number of pixels and shading operations. The Ryzen 7 5700X3D's 8 cores and 16 threads, along with its large 96 MB shared L3 cache, provide adequate support, but the data shows that at 4K, the RTX 5090's raw compute (104.8 TFLOPS FP32) is the primary driver of performance. Users considering this combination for 4K gaming should prioritize GPU performance, while those targeting 1080p or 1440p will benefit from the balanced nature of this pairing, where both components contribute meaningfully to the final frame rate.