Control

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination delivers an exceptional experience in Control, ranking in the top 2% of all tested combos. Based on measured data, this system clears the 60 FPS playability threshold at every resolution and preset combination, making it a definitive high-refresh-rate powerhouse for this title. The data confirms that the RTX 5090 is the dominant performance driver, while the Ryzen 7 9700F provides ample headroom to avoid bottlenecks.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo holds the 72nd position out of 3,720 tested combinations, placing it in the 98th percentile of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects the raw capability of the RTX 5090, which sits in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, paired with the Ryzen 7 9700F, which ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The gap between this combo and the field is substantial: at 4K Ultra, it produces 78 FPS, while many lower-ranked systems would struggle to maintain half that framerate.

The measured FPS data reinforces this top-tier positioning. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 279 FPS, which is more than four times the 60 FPS playability threshold. Even at the most demanding tested configuration—4K Ultra—it maintains 78 FPS, a figure that exceeds the threshold by 30%. This combination of high CPU and GPU percentiles with measured results indicates a balanced system where neither component is a limiting factor in Control.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at each resolution is Ultra across all three tested resolutions. The system does not merely scrape past the threshold; it comfortably exceeds it at every setting level.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the best playable setting is Ultra, delivering 78 FPS. The scaling from High (90 FPS) to Ultra (78 FPS) represents a 13.3% performance cost for the highest visual fidelity, which remains well above the 60 FPS target. Medium runs at 101 FPS, and Low reaches 142 FPS, showing that even at 4K, the GPU has significant untapped headroom.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), Ultra runs at 116 FPS, which is 93% faster than the 60 FPS floor. The step from High (133 FPS) to Ultra (116 FPS) costs only 12.8% performance, making Ultra the obvious choice for high-refresh-rate monitors. Medium hits 150 FPS, and Low achieves 211 FPS.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), Ultra produces 153 FPS, more than double the playability threshold. This resolution is where the system fully flexes: Low settings reach 279 FPS, Medium runs at 198 FPS, and High delivers 176 FPS. The 1080p numbers are so high that they suggest the CPU begins to play a more significant role, though the Ryzen 7 9700F's single-thread score of 4,691 in Passmark keeps up without issue.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a clear division of labor: the RTX 5090 is almost entirely responsible for performance scaling across resolutions, while the Ryzen 7 9700F provides sufficient compute headroom to avoid becoming a bottleneck.

Evidence for GPU dominance comes from the resolution scaling. Moving from 1080p Ultra (153 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (116 FPS) represents a 24.2% drop, and moving further to 4K Ultra (78 FPS) represents another 32.8% drop. This pattern—where FPS decreases as pixel count increases—is the classic signature of a GPU-bound workload. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain roughly flat across resolutions.

The preset scaling within a resolution reinforces this. At 4K, going from Low (142 FPS) to Ultra (78 FPS) reduces performance by 45.1%, a massive swing that only occurs when the GPU's shading and memory subsystems are the primary constraint. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for Control's assets, so the bottleneck is purely rasterization throughput.

At 1080p, the CPU's role becomes slightly more prominent. The jump from 1080p Low (279 FPS) to 1440p Low (211 FPS) is a 24.4% reduction, but the jump from 1080p Ultra (153 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (116 FPS) is only 24.2%. The similarity of these scaling percentages suggests that even at low settings, the GPU is still the limiting factor—the Ryzen 7 9700F's 8 cores and 16 threads, with a 5.50 GHz boost clock, are more than adequate for Control's physics and AI workloads.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, benchmark results indicate that the Ryzen 7 9700F performs nearly identically to several high-end alternatives. The Intel Core i7-14700KF is within 0.2% of the Ryzen's average score, making it a direct substitute for gaming workloads. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scores 0.2% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 0.7% ahead. The Intel Core i7-14700K trails by 0.9%. In practical terms, all four alternatives would produce indistinguishable framerates in Control, as the CPU is not the constraining factor at any resolution in this test.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are less conventional. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 0.3% higher than the RTX 5090 in aggregate benchmarks, while the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB is 0.6% higher. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is 1.1% behind, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X is 1.4% behind. These deltas are within the noise margin for synthetic benchmarks, meaning any of these GPUs would deliver nearly identical FPS in Control. However, the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM gives it a unique advantage in texture-heavy scenes, even if the average scores are similar.

FAQ

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

A: Yes. The measured data shows 78 FPS average at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is 30% above the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: What is the highest FPS this combo achieves in Control?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 279 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Ultra settings, the highest is 153 FPS at 1080p.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: The GPU dominates performance scaling. FPS drops by 24.2% from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra, and by another 32.8% to 4K Ultra, indicating the RTX 5090 is the primary limiting factor at all resolutions.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700F compare to the Intel Core i7-14700KF?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F's average benchmark score is 69,996, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core i7-14700KF's 70,163. This difference is negligible for gaming performance.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest min FPS recorded is 86 at 4K Medium settings. At 1440p Medium, the min FPS is 127, and at 1080p Medium, it is 168. Min FPS data is not available for other presets.

Q: Does this system ever drop below 60 FPS?

A: No. Across all 12 measured configurations (3 resolutions × 4 presets), the lowest average FPS is 78 at 4K Ultra, and the lowest recorded min FPS is 86 at 4K Medium.

The Verdict

This PC can absolutely run Control at maximum quality. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: at 3840x2160, all four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—are playable, with Ultra delivering 78 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra runs at 116 FPS, and at 1920x1080, Ultra reaches 153 FPS. There is no resolution or setting combination in the tested data that falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

The RTX 5090 is the star of the show, providing enough rasterization power to push 4K Ultra at 78 FPS while leaving headroom for future titles. The Ryzen 7 9700F, with its 8-core/16-thread configuration and 5.50 GHz boost clock, never becomes a bottleneck, as evidenced by the consistent GPU-bound scaling patterns. For players with a 4K 120Hz display, this combo will hit the refresh ceiling at Medium settings (101 FPS) and come close at High (90 FPS). For 1440p 165Hz panels, Ultra settings at 116 FPS will leave some headroom, and Medium at 150 FPS nearly saturates the display. At 1080p, the system is overkill for Control, but that extra performance is useful for other demanding titles.

The only caveat is the GPU's power requirements—575W TDP with a suggested 950W PSU—but that is a hardware consideration, not a performance limitation. In terms of raw framerates, this is a top-72 combination out of 3,720 tested, and it shows in every benchmark result.