Control

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a playable experience in Control at 1080p and 1440p, but it falls short of the 60 FPS target at 4K except on Low settings. The combination’s performance is heavily GPU-bound, with the CPU’s substantial headroom only becoming evident at lower resolutions. At 4K High, the average frame rate drops to 42 FPS, which is 30% below the playable threshold, while 1080p Ultra achieves 71 FPS, indicating a system that can handle the game’s maximum visual quality without issue at lower pixel counts. The data suggests a clear hierarchy: 1080p is fully playable at any preset, 1440p is playable at High and below, and 4K requires Low settings to maintain a consistent 66 FPS average.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Control across three resolutions and four quality presets reveals a predictable scaling pattern with a few notable deviations. At 1920x1080, the combo produces its strongest results. Low settings yield a 130 FPS average, which is nearly double the 60 FPS playability threshold. Medium settings reduce the average to 92 FPS, with a minimum of 78 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS, ensuring that even the worst-case frame drops stay comfortably above 60 FPS. High settings average 82 FPS, while Ultra settings average 71 FPS; the gap between High and Ultra is 11 FPS, showing that the jump to Ultra costs a modest 13% of the High average. All 1080p presets maintain an average above 70 FPS, so the combo never struggles in this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down as expected, but remains playable for most presets. Low settings yields 98 FPS average, which is 75% of the 1080p Low result. Medium settings averages 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS; the minimum dips just below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating brief stutters during intense scenes. High settings averages 62 FPS, which is exactly 2 FPS above the playability threshold, while Ultra drops to 54 FPS average, falling below the 60 FPS line. The step from Medium to High costs 8 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs another 8 FPS, so the scaling is consistent. The 1440p results show that High is the highest setting that can maintain a playable average, though it leaves little headroom for demanding moments.

At 3840x2160, the RX 9060 struggles. Low settings averages 66 FPS, just 6 FPS above the threshold, representing the only playable preset at 4K. Medium settings averages 47 FPS, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS; the minimum is 20 FPS below the playability threshold, indicating significant frame dips. High settings averages 42 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS, which is 24 FPS below the 60 FPS target. The difference between Low and Medium at 4K is 19 FPS, a substantial 40% drop, while the difference between High and Ultra is only 6 FPS. The 4K data shows that the combo is not suitable for high-fidelity play at this resolution, as even Medium cannot sustain 60 FPS.

Best Settings per Resolution

For 1920x1080, the best settings are Ultra, with an average FPS of 71. This is the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS, and it provides the full visual experience without sacrificing playability. The data shows that Ultra is 11 FPS below High, but it remains 11 FPS above the threshold, making it the definitive choice for 1080p. No other preset at this resolution offers a higher visual quality with a playable frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are High, with an average FPS of 62. This is the only preset above Low and Medium that clears the 60 FPS threshold, and it does so by a narrow margin of just 2 FPS. Ultra falls to 54 FPS, which is not playable, so High is the maximum quality setting that works at 1440p. The data suggests that players who want to play at 1440p must accept High settings, as the jump to Ultra is not viable.

At 3840x2160, the best settings are Low, with an average FPS of 66. This is the only preset that reaches a playable average at 4K, and it does so with a comfortable 6 FPS of headroom. Medium drops to 47 FPS, and High and Ultra are further below, so Low is the sole option for 4K play. The verdict data confirms this, listing Low as the only playable setting at 4K, with the best average FPS of 66.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals that the GPU is the dominant constraint across all resolutions, with the CPU showing ample headroom. At 1920x1080, the 130 FPS average at Low settings indicates that the RX 9060 is not being fully stressed, but the scaling with quality settings shows GPU-bound behavior: moving from Low to Medium costs 38 FPS, and from Medium to Ultra costs 21 FPS. The CPU’s performance, as indicated by its 3dmark_max_threads score of 12412, is far above what Control requires at 1080p, so no CPU limitation is apparent. The only factor influencing frame rates is the GPU’s rendering load.

At 2560x1440, the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor. The average FPS at Low (108) is 22 FPS lower than at 1080p Low (130), showing a resolution scaling penalty of 17%. This is a modest drop, confirming the GPU is still capable, but the fact that Ultra drops to 54 FPS indicates the GPU is struggling with the higher pixel count and quality settings. The CPU’s role is negligible, as it easily handles the scene geometry and physics, but the GPU’s shading and rasterization workload is the primary constraint. The 1440p High result of 62 FPS is 11 FPS lower than the 1080p High result, showing a clear resolution scaling pressure.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is the absolute bottleneck. The 4K Low average of 66 FPS is 64 FPS lower than the 1080p Low average, representing a 49% performance decline. The 4K Medium average of 47 FPS is 45 FPS lower than the 1080p Medium average, and the 4K Ultra average of 36 FPS is 35 FPS lower than the 1080p Ultra average. As the resolution increases, the difference between lower-preset scaling shrinks, indicating that the GPU is fully saturated and unable to benefit from the CPU’s strengths. The CPU’s 16 cores and 24 threads are irrelevant at 4K because the GPU is the limiting resource, and the data shows that the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s is insufficient to sustain high frame rates at that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This CPU-GPU combination ranks 2152nd out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower half of the database (57.9th percentile). The rank reflects the GPU’s mid-range standing, as the RX 9060 sits at the 59th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is much stronger, ranking at the 89th percentile of all CPUs. The combo’s rank is dragged down by the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions. At 1080p and 1440p, the combo performs well, but the rank is based on the overall dataset, which includes many 4K tests. The data shows that the combination is not a top-tier performer for Control, but it is not a low-end one either; it falls in the upper half of tested systems.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Based on the nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU, the following hardware would behave similarly in Control. For the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 has an average benchmark score of 46971, which is 0.2% lower than the Core i7-13700K, meaning it would deliver nearly identical frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 is 0.3% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX is 0.5% higher, so all these processors are within a 1% performance bracket. For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti has an average score of 16129, which is 0.7% higher than the RX 9060, so the frame rates would be slightly better. The AMD Radeon R9 370X is 1% lower and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 is 1% lower, so these would drop a few FPS. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is 2.1% lower, producing a more noticeable performance gap. If a user swapped the RX 9060 for an RTX 3060 Ti, the 4K Low average might rise from 66 FPS to around 66.5 FPS, while switching to an RX 7700 would reduce the 1080p Ultra average from 71 to around 70.3 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS in Control at 1080p with maximum settings?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 71, which is above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the highest playable preset at 2560x1440?

A: The highest playable preset at 1440p is High, with an average FPS of 62. The Ultra preset falls to 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Can this system run Control at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which achieves an average of 66 FPS. Medium settings drop to 47 FPS, making it not playable.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to the RTX 3060 Ti in this game?

A: The RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, while the RTX 3060 Ti has an average score of 16129, which is 0.7% higher. This means the RTX 3060 Ti would produce approximately 0.5 FPS more at any setting.

Q: What is the biggest performance drop in the measured data?

A: The largest drop is between 1440p Low and 1080p Low, with a difference of 32 FPS (98 vs 130). At the same settings, the drop from 1080p to 4K is 64 FPS (130 vs 66).

Q: Does the CPU limit the GPU in this game?

A: The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions. The CPU’s 16 cores and 24 threads provide ample processing power, as evidenced by the 130 FPS at 1080p Low, but the GPU’s performance caps the frame rates at 4K.