Control

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a decisive performance victory in Control, clearing the 60 FPS threshold at every resolution and settings combination tested. The data shows a system that is not merely playable but exceptionally overqualified, with even the most demanding Ultra preset at 4K producing an average of 71.8 FPS. This combination ranks 238th out of 3,720 tested combos, placing it in the top 6.4% of all configurations for this title, and the measured FPS results confirm a smooth, high-refresh-rate experience across the board.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark results for Control reveal a clear performance hierarchy across the three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system produces outstanding frame rates that fully exploit high-refresh-rate displays. With Low settings, the average FPS reaches 246.1, which is a commanding figure that leaves enormous headroom. Moving to Medium settings, the average drops to 176.9 FPS, still far above any practical display limitation. High settings yield 156.3 FPS, and even the most demanding Ultra preset maintains a robust 137.1 FPS average. The scaling between presets at 1080p is remarkably linear, with each step from Low to Ultra reducing performance by roughly 20-30 FPS, indicating that the GPU has ample resources to handle the game's visual complexity without bottlenecking.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains exceptionally strong, though the resolution increase begins to exert a measurable influence. The Low preset delivers an average of 183.8 FPS, which represents a 25.3% decrease compared to the 1080p Low result. Medium settings produce 131.2 FPS, while High settings average 116 FPS. The Ultra preset still clears the 100 FPS barrier with an average of 101.7 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p is 15.2 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 14.3 FPS, showing that each preset tier imposes a similar performance cost. This consistency suggests the rendering pipeline is well-balanced, with no single setting causing a disproportionate frame rate penalty.

The 3840x2160 results demonstrate that even at 4K, this combination never approaches the playability threshold in a negative way. Low settings produce an average of 126.9 FPS, which is a remarkable figure for 4K gaming. Medium settings follow at 90.3 FPS, High at 76.6 FPS, and Ultra at 71.8 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K carries a significant cost: the Ultra preset drops from 101.7 to 71.8 FPS, a 29.4% reduction. Similarly, the High preset falls from 116 to 76.6 FPS, a 34% decrease. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly important factors.

Notably, the FACT PACK does not include minimum or maximum FPS values for any configuration. The analysis must therefore rely solely on average frame rates. The absence of minimum FPS data means that transient stutters or frame time spikes cannot be assessed from this dataset. However, the consistently high averages across all twelve measured configurations suggest that the system maintains stable performance without severe dips, as a system prone to stuttering would typically show lower average scores in the most demanding presets.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions and presets reveals a clear division of labor between the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. At 1920x1080, the GPU is the dominant factor, but the CPU's strength ensures that no bottleneck emerges. The Ryzen 9 9900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, provides ample processing headroom. The benchmark scores support this: the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,172 and a single-core score of 2,253, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs. This level of single-threaded performance is critical for Control, which relies heavily on game logic and physics calculations that are often single-thread bound.

As resolution increases, the GPU's role becomes progressively more dominant. The data shows that moving from 1080p Ultra (137.1 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (101.7 FPS) results in a 25.8% performance drop, while moving from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra (71.8 FPS) results in a 29.4% drop. These reductions are almost entirely attributable to the increased pixel count and the corresponding rise in GPU workload. The RTX 4080 SUPER's specifications explain this behavior: its 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 816.0 GTexel/s texture rate are heavily taxed at 4K, whereas the CPU's workload remains relatively constant across resolutions.

The comparison between Low and Ultra presets at each resolution further illuminates the component roles. At 1080p, the difference between Low (246.1 FPS) and Ultra (137.1 FPS) is 109 FPS, a 44.3% reduction. At 1440p, the difference is 82.1 FPS (183.8 to 101.7), a 44.7% reduction. At 4K, the difference is 55.1 FPS (126.9 to 71.8), a 43.4% reduction. The remarkable consistency of this percentage across all three resolutions indicates that the CPU is not becoming a limiting factor even at 1080p Low, where frame rates approach 250 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the percentage drop from Low to Ultra would diminish at lower resolutions as the GPU workload decreases. Instead, the uniform scaling strongly suggests that the Ryzen 9 9900X maintains sufficient headroom even at the highest frame rates.

The CPU's benchmark comparisons reinforce this interpretation. The Ryzen 9 9900X sits within 1.4% of the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M and within 1.1% of the Intel Core i9-14900 in average benchmark score, yet it delivers the gaming performance seen here. The GPU, meanwhile, is within 0.1% of the RTX 4080 non-SUPER and within 2.8% of the AMD Radeon 8060S, indicating that the 4080 SUPER is a mid-pack performer among its closest rivals. For Control specifically, the data indicates that the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates at 4K, while the CPU's strong single-thread performance ensures that 1080p and 1440p results are not artificially capped.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a rank of 238 out of 3,720 tested combos for Control. This places the system in the top 6.4% of all configurations tested for this game, a strong showing that reflects the high-end nature of both components. The rank is particularly impressive given the age of Control, which released in 2019, as newer hardware tends to overperform relative to older titles that may not fully utilize modern architectures.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 92nd among all CPUs indicates that the Ryzen 9 9900X is a top-tier processor, and its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 9015 (0.1% slower), the AMD EPYC 7313 (0.2% faster), and the Intel Core i9-14900 (1.1% faster). These extremely small deltas suggest that the CPU is not a differentiating factor among high-end options for this game. The GPU's percentile ranking of 86th among all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the RTX 4080 at just 0.1% faster, similarly indicates that the 4080 SUPER is well-positioned but not exceptional within its class.

The combo rank of 238 out of 3,720 is notable because it suggests that many other combinations, potentially with higher-end GPUs or CPUs, achieve better results in Control. However, the measured FPS data shows that this rank is more than sufficient for an excellent experience. The rank reflects the competitive landscape, not any deficiency in this specific configuration. Given that the game is not particularly demanding by modern standards, the 9900X and 4080 SUPER combination is likely limited more by the game's engine than by any hardware constraint.

The Verdict

This PC can run Control at maximum visual fidelity with substantial performance headroom. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: at 3840x2160, all four settings (Low, Medium, High, and Ultra) are playable, with the Ultra preset achieving an average of 71.8 FPS. This means that players can enable the highest quality settings at 4K and still maintain a frame rate that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS playability threshold. The data shows a margin of 11.8 FPS above the threshold at the most demanding setting, which provides a buffer against occasional scene complexity spikes.

At 2560x1440, the verdict is even more decisive. All four settings are playable, and the Ultra preset delivers an average of 101.7 FPS. This is 41.7 FPS above the playability threshold, indicating that the system has significant headroom for future driver optimizations or additional background tasks. The High preset at 116 FPS and the Medium preset at 131.2 FPS offer even greater margins for users who prefer higher refresh rates or who want to enable additional features like ray tracing (though ray tracing performance is not measured in this dataset).

At 1920x1080, the system is overwhelmingly overqualified. The Ultra preset runs at 137.1 FPS, which is 77.1 FPS above the threshold. The Low preset at 246.1 FPS is approaching the refresh rate limits of most high-end gaming monitors. For competitive play or for users with 240 Hz displays, the Medium preset at 176.9 FPS or High preset at 156.3 FPS would be excellent choices. The verdict is clear: this combination delivers a flawless experience at every resolution and settings level tested, with no configuration falling below the 60 FPS threshold.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Control at 4K with all settings maxed out?

A: Yes. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 achieves an average FPS of 71.8, which is above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The High preset at 76.6 FPS and Medium at 90.3 FPS also provide smooth performance at 4K.

Q: What is the best settings preset at 1440p for this combination?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 is the best option, delivering an average of 101.7 FPS. This is the most demanding preset tested and it still maintains a frame rate well above 60 FPS, offering the highest visual quality without sacrificing playability.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its closest rival for this game?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54,209, which is 0.1% lower than the RTX 4080 (54,247) and 1.1% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828). These differences are negligible in real-world gaming performance, as the measured FPS data shows.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Control?

A: The data indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K where the Ultra preset drops to 71.8 FPS. At 1080p, the CPU's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,253) prevents bottlenecks, as evidenced by the consistent percentage drop between Low and Ultra presets across all resolutions.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The High preset at 1920x1080 produces an average of 156.3 FPS. This is suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors up to 144 Hz, with substantial headroom remaining.

Q: Does the system ever drop below 60 FPS in any tested configuration?

A: No. Every resolution and settings combination in the measured data exceeds 60 FPS. The lowest recorded average is 71.8 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still 11.8 FPS above the playability threshold.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best settings preset is Ultra, which achieves an average of 137.1 FPS. This is the most demanding setting available, yet it still provides a frame rate that is more than double the 60 FPS playability threshold. Users with 144 Hz monitors will experience a fully smooth image, and even those with 240 Hz displays can drop to High (156.3 FPS) or Medium (176.9 FPS) for a more competitive edge.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset is again the best choice, delivering an average of 101.7 FPS. This provides an excellent balance between visual fidelity and performance, with the frame rate remaining above 100 FPS. The High preset at 116 FPS offers an alternative for users who prioritize frame rate over visual quality, but the Ultra preset's margin of 41.7 FPS above the threshold makes it the recommended option.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset achieves an average of 71.8 FPS, which is the best playable setting. While this is the lowest average FPS across all tested configurations, it still clears the 60 FPS threshold with an 11.8 FPS margin. The High preset at 76.6 FPS offers a slightly higher frame rate for users who prefer a larger performance buffer, but the Ultra preset's visual quality improvement is worth the modest frame rate cost. The data confirms that this system can run Control at maximum settings across all three resolutions without compromising playability.