Control

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and AMD Radeon RX 580 combination delivers a very narrow band of playable performance in Control. The recorded data shows that this system only clears the 60 FPS threshold at a single settings/resolution configuration. At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate reaches 63 FPS, making it the sole playable option. At every other resolution and preset, the average frame rate falls below the 60 FPS playability threshold, often by a substantial margin.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Low. The recorded average at this configuration is 63 FPS, which barely clears the 60 FPS playability threshold. Medium settings at the same resolution drop the average to 45 FPS, so Low is the only viable option at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, no settings preset achieves an average of 60 FPS. The highest recorded average at this resolution is 48 FPS on Low settings. Medium produces 34 FPS, High produces 30 FPS, and Ultra produces 26 FPS. None of these configurations reach the playable threshold.

At 3840x2160, the situation is worse. The best recorded average is 32 FPS on Low settings. Medium averages 23 FPS, High averages 20 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. No preset at 4K comes close to 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Control at 1080p with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings. The recorded average FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings is 63 FPS, which exceeds the 60 FPS playability threshold. Medium settings at the same resolution drop to 45 FPS average, which is below the threshold.

Q: What is the best playable configuration for this PC?

A: The database indicates that the only playable configuration is 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings, delivering an average of 63 FPS. This is the only combination of resolution and settings in the measured data that clears 60 FPS.

Q: How does the system perform at 1440p?

A: It does not achieve playable frame rates at 2560x1440. The highest average FPS recorded at this resolution is 48 FPS on Low settings. Medium, High, and Ultra settings produce averages of 34, 30, and 26 FPS respectively.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the best recorded average is 32 FPS on Low settings. Medium averages 23 FPS, High averages 20 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. All of these are far below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings?

A: The recorded data includes minimum and maximum FPS values for Medium settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the average is 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 and maximum of 51. At 2560x1440, the average is 34 FPS with a minimum of 29 and maximum of 39. At 3840x2160, the average is 23 FPS with a minimum of 19 and maximum of 26.

Q: How does this system rank among all tested combinations?

A: This CPU and GPU combination ranks 3399 out of 3720 tested combinations for Control. This places it in the lower percentile of systems in the database for this specific game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows a clear progression of performance scaling across settings. Low settings produce an average of 63 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 45 FPS, with a minimum of 38 FPS and maximum of 51 FPS. High settings produce an average of 40 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 35 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is substantial, representing an 18 FPS drop. The gap between Medium and High is smaller at 5 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is another 5 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops across all settings. Low settings average 48 FPS. Medium settings average 34 FPS, with a minimum of 29 FPS and maximum of 39 FPS. High settings average 30 FPS. Ultra settings average 26 FPS. The scaling between Low and Medium at 1440p is a 14 FPS drop, which is slightly shallower than the 18 FPS drop seen at 1080p. The overall envelope is compressed, with only 22 FPS separating Low from Ultra at 1440p, compared to 28 FPS at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the performance is heavily constrained. Low settings average 32 FPS. Medium settings average 23 FPS, with a minimum of 19 FPS and maximum of 26 FPS. High settings average 20 FPS. Ultra settings average 18 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 14 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor across all settings. The minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium is 19 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in most scenarios.

The resolution scaling shows a consistent pattern. Moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low costs 15 FPS, and moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low costs another 16 FPS. The same pattern holds at Medium settings, where 1080p averages 45 FPS, 1440p averages 34 FPS, and 4K averages 23 FPS. The delta between resolutions is relatively consistent, suggesting that the GPU is the primary bottleneck throughout.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The AMD Radeon RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 12928 and sits in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile with an average score of 12940, a 0.1 percent difference, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER with an average score of 12986, a 0.4 percent difference. The AMD Radeon 740M scores 12870, a 0.5 percent difference, and the AMD FirePro W5100 scores 12847, a 0.6 percent difference. Systems using any of these GPUs would likely deliver nearly identical frame rates in Control, given the same CPU and settings.

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69996 and sits in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-14700KF with an average score of 70163, a 0.2 percent difference, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX with an average score of 69875, also a 0.2 percent difference. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69515, a 0.7 percent difference, and the Intel Core i7-14700K scores 69355, a 0.9 percent difference. These CPUs are effectively interchangeable for this game, as the performance differences are within one percent.

Since the CPU is far more powerful than the GPU in this pairing, swapping the Ryzen 7 9700F for any of its nearest rivals would not change the measured frame rates in Control. The RX 580 is the limiting component. Conversely, swapping the RX 580 for a GTX 1660 SUPER or RTX 3050 Ti Mobile would produce nearly identical results, given the small delta in their average scores. The database suggests that this entire cluster of GPUs performs within one percent of each other, so the playable configurations would remain identical.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 580 is the dominant constraint in this pairing for Control. The evidence appears in the resolution scaling. At 1080p Low, the system averages 63 FPS. At 1440p Low, it averages 48 FPS, and at 4K Low, it averages 32 FPS. This steep drop across resolutions is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load outpaces the graphics hardware.

The settings scaling reinforces this conclusion. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 28 FPS, from 63 FPS down to 35 FPS. At 1440p, the same settings range produces a 22 FPS spread, from 48 FPS down to 26 FPS. At 4K, the spread narrows to 14 FPS, from 32 FPS down to 18 FPS. As resolution increases, the settings choice matters less because the GPU is already saturated by the pixel count. This compression of the performance envelope at higher resolutions is a classic sign of GPU limitation.

The CPU, an AMD Ryzen 7 9700F with 8 cores and 16 threads based on Zen 5 architecture, ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, are within one percent of its average score. For a game like Control, which was released in 2019, this CPU provides far more processing headroom than the RX 580 can utilize. The measured frame rates at 4K, where even Low settings only reach 32 FPS, suggest that the CPU is waiting on the GPU in nearly every frame.

The data does not show any CPU-bound behavior in the recorded results. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would remain relatively flat across resolutions, or the settings scaling would be minimal. Instead, the frame rates drop consistently with each resolution increase, confirming that the RX 580 is the bottleneck. The Ryzen 7 9700F is not the constraining component at any resolution or settings preset in the measured data.

The Verdict

This system can run Control, but only in a very limited capacity. According to the verdict data, the only playable configuration is 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the average FPS is 63. This clears the 60 FPS threshold by a slim margin of 3 FPS. At 2560x1440, there are no playable settings, and at 3840x2160, there are also no playable settings.

For users targeting 1080p, the system will work, but only at the lowest visual quality preset. The average of 63 FPS at Low settings is playable, though there is little headroom. Medium settings at 1080p drop to 45 FPS, which falls below the playability threshold and would result in noticeable stutter during intense scenes.

At 1440p and 4K, the system cannot achieve playable frame rates at any settings preset. The best case at 1440p is 48 FPS on Low, and the best case at 4K is 32 FPS on Low. Both are well below the 60 FPS threshold. The system ranks 3399 out of 3720 tested combinations for Control, placing it near the bottom of the database for this game. The RX 580 is an end-of-life GPU from 2017, and the measured data reflects its age when running a demanding 2019 title at higher resolutions. The Ryzen 7 9700F is not the issue; the GPU simply lacks the raw throughput needed for this game beyond 1080p Low.