Control

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a playable experience in Control across 1080p and 1440p, with the system hitting the 60 FPS threshold at all tested settings at 1080p. At 4K, the combination is only playable on the Low preset. The GPU is the primary performance limiter at higher resolutions, while the CPU provides ample headroom even at 1080p.

Best Settings per Resolution

The data indicates a clear hierarchy of playable settings based on the 60 FPS threshold. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset achieves an average of 79.7 FPS, making it the most demanding preset that stays above 60 FPS. This is the optimal configuration for full visual fidelity at this resolution. The Medium and High presets also clear the threshold comfortably, with averages of 98.3 FPS and 87.3 FPS respectively, but Ultra offers the highest quality while still maintaining a healthy frame rate cushion.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the best playable option, delivering an average of 65.9 FPS. This puts the system just 5.9 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this is the ceiling for smooth gameplay at this resolution. The Medium preset at 73.6 FPS is also playable, but High provides a better visual experience while remaining above the target. The Ultra preset falls short at 55.8 FPS, which is below the playable threshold.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. Only the Low preset achieves playable performance, with an average of 71.6 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 48.8 FPS, and High falls to 47.4 FPS, with Ultra at 42.2 FPS. This indicates that 4K gaming is only viable with significant graphical compromises, and the system is not capable of maintaining 60 FPS at higher quality settings.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions and presets reveals that the GPU is the dominant constraint for this game. The RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth appears to be the limiting factor when resolution increases. This is evident from the steep FPS drops when moving from 1440p to 4K at equivalent settings: High drops from 65.9 FPS to 47.4 FPS (a 28.1% reduction), while Medium drops from 73.6 FPS to 48.8 FPS (a 33.7% reduction).

The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions where GPU load decreases. At 1080p, the Ryzen 7 9700X's 8 cores and 16 threads provide sufficient processing power to avoid bottlenecking the GPU, as evidenced by the 142.8 FPS average on Low settings. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, reflected in its Geekbench single-core score of 3023 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2211, helps maintain high frame rates when the GPU is not saturated.

Resolution scaling tells a clear story: the RTX 4060's performance degrades significantly as pixel count increases. The jump from 1080p to 1440p on Ultra settings costs 23.9 FPS (from 79.7 to 55.8), while the jump from 1440p to 4K on Ultra costs another 13.6 FPS (from 55.8 to 42.2). This consistent degradation pattern confirms that GPU compute and memory bandwidth are the primary bottlenecks at higher resolutions, with the CPU contributing less to overall frame rate variance as resolution increases.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture of performance across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers strong performance across the board. The Low preset achieves 142.8 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate recorded in this dataset. Medium reaches 98.3 FPS, High hits 87.3 FPS, and Ultra settles at 79.7 FPS. All presets at this resolution maintain at least 79.7 FPS, indicating a smooth experience regardless of quality settings.

At 2560x1440, performance remains respectable but shows clear scaling penalties. Low settings produce 106.4 FPS, Medium drops to 73.6 FPS, and High manages 65.9 FPS. The Ultra preset falls below the playable threshold at 55.8 FPS, representing a 30.8% performance loss compared to High settings. This suggests that the Ultra preset includes features that are particularly demanding on the GPU's 8 GB memory capacity.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates except on the lowest settings. Low achieves 71.6 FPS, which is the only preset above 60 FPS. Medium drops to 48.8 FPS, High falls to 47.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 42.2 FPS. The narrow gap between Medium and High at 4K (just 1.4 FPS) suggests that both presets are hitting similar GPU resource limits, likely related to memory bandwidth constraints rather than compute throughput.

The RTX 4060's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate appear adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but insufficient for 4K at higher quality levels. The 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate also indicates that the card may struggle with the fill rate demands of 4K rendering.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals show that the Ryzen 7 9700X sits in a tightly contested performance band. The Intel Core i9-14901E is essentially identical with a 0.1% deltaPct, followed by the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 at 0.1% deltaPct. The Intel Core 5 211E is 0.3% behind, and the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 trails by 0.4%. These tiny margins mean that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would produce virtually indistinguishable frame rates in Control.

For the GPU, the RTX 4060's nearest competitors are surprisingly older or integrated solutions. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 is 0.2% faster, while the AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics is just 0.3% slower. The AMD Radeon Pro 560 and Pro 460 are 0.5% and 0.7% slower respectively. These results indicate that the RTX 4060's benchmark performance places it in a unique position where it outperforms many older discrete GPUs but also competes closely with modern integrated solutions in synthetic benchmarks.

In practical gaming terms, the RTX 4060's 8 GB memory capacity and Ada Lovelace architecture features like 24 RT cores and 96 Tensor cores provide capabilities that these rivals lack, even if raw benchmark scores are similar. The measured frame rates in Control confirm that the RTX 4060 delivers playable performance at 1080p and 1440p, which may not be achievable with the integrated graphics alternatives.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 2003 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 46th percentile of all systems tested. This mid-pack ranking reflects the balance between the high-performing CPU and the mid-range GPU. The Ryzen 7 9700X's 86th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates strong processing capability, while the RTX 4060's 61st percentile among all GPUs shows it is positioned in the lower-mid range of graphics hardware.

The ranking suggests that many other combinations deliver better performance in this specific game, likely due to more powerful GPUs. However, the fact that this combo achieves playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p across most presets indicates that it is a capable configuration for mainstream gaming, even if it does not compete with high-end systems that would rank in the top quartile of tested combinations.

The gap between the CPU's high percentile ranking and the GPU's lower percentile ranking highlights the potential for upgrading the graphics card to improve Control performance significantly without needing to replace the processor. The CPU has substantial headroom, as demonstrated by its performance in CPU benchmarks, but the GPU is the limiting factor in this game.

The Verdict

This system can run Control successfully at 1920x1080 with all settings including Ultra, achieving an average of 79.7 FPS. At 2560x1440, the High preset is the best playable option with 65.9 FPS, though users must accept that Ultra settings will drop below the 60 FPS threshold. At 3840x2160, only the Low preset maintains playable performance with 71.6 FPS, and all higher quality settings fall short of the target.

For gamers prioritizing visual quality at high frame rates, 1080p is the sweet spot for this configuration. The ability to run Ultra settings at nearly 80 FPS makes this resolution the most versatile, allowing full graphical features without compromising smoothness. The 1440p experience is viable but requires settling for High settings, which still delivers a good visual experience while staying above 60 FPS.

The 4K situation is the most restrictive. While the Low preset is technically playable at 71.6 FPS, the significant visual downgrade required may not be acceptable to all users. The steep performance penalties at this resolution stem from the GPU's memory bandwidth limitations and 8 GB capacity, which cannot handle the increased texture and geometry demands of 4K rendering at higher quality settings.

Overall, the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination delivers a solid gaming experience for Control at mainstream resolutions. The system excels at 1080p, offers good 1440p performance with some caveats, and provides only a minimal 4K experience. The CPU's strength ensures that the GPU remains the primary upgrade path for improved performance in this title.