Control

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with Intel Arc B580 combination lands at rank 2816 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This rank reflects a pairing of a 2018-era six-core processor with a 2024 discrete GPU, and the measured frame rates confirm that the system is capable of playable performance but far from top-tier. The combo sits below the 75th percentile for CPUs and the 68th percentile for GPUs individually, so the aggregate position is consistent with both components being mid-pack in their respective categories.

What the rank does not capture is how the pairing behaves specifically in Control, an action-adventure title that stresses both geometry and physics. The measured data shows the biggest gap between this combo and higher-ranked systems appears at 4K Ultra, where the average drops to 32 FPS. At 1080p Low, the same combo reaches 114 FPS, so the spread across settings is wide. The rank of 2816 is heavily influenced by the 4K results, which are below the 60 FPS threshold that most gamers consider smooth. At lower resolutions, the combo performs closer to the middle of the pack, but the overall rank pulls it down.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing is not close to the top tier. The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V, which scores 21440 against the Ryzen's 21484, a delta of 0.2%. The Intel Core i9-11900H is similarly close at 21367, a 0.5% gap. These are laptop-class and older mobile chips, so the Ryzen 5 2600 is competitive with those in synthetic tests but not with modern desktop processors. The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP at 23061 versus the Arc B580's 23021, a -0.2% delta, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 22895, a 0.6% gap. That puts the Arc B580 in the same performance envelope as a 2018 flagship GPU, which explains why the combo rank is not higher.

The data indicates that the combo is balanced in the sense that neither component is a massive bottleneck at 1080p, but at 4K the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The rank of 2816 out of 3720 means roughly 75% of tested combos outperform it, which is a sobering statistic for anyone expecting high-end results. However, the measured FPS at 1080p Medium (81 FPS) and High (72 FPS) show that the combo is more than adequate for mainstream gaming at that resolution.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture with the BMG-G21 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It packs 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die, with a transistor density of 72.1M per mm². The GPU has 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units, along with 20 ray tracing cores. Its base and boost clocks are both set to 2670 MHz, with memory running at 2375 MHz effective 19 Gbps. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory sits on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s.

In Control, the GPU's role is central to the measured FPS. At 1080p, the Arc B580 delivers 114 FPS on Low, 81 FPS on Medium, 72 FPS on High, and 62 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is about 46%, which shows that the GPU has enough headroom at 1080p to handle the game's visual effects, but the highest preset still reduces performance significantly. At 1440p, the numbers fall to 86, 61, 54, and 47 FPS across the same settings, and at 4K they drop to 58, 41, 37, and 32 FPS. The pattern is consistent: each step up in resolution costs roughly 20-25% of the frame rate.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores place it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. Its Passmark G3D score is 15748, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3068. The Geekbench OpenCL score is 92821 and the Vulkan score is 109672. These are respectable numbers, but the nearest rivals tell the story. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP scores 23061 on average, a -0.2% delta from the Arc B580's 23021, meaning the two are effectively identical in aggregate performance. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 scores 22895, a 0.6% gap, so the Arc B580 is slightly ahead of a card that was a flagship in 2018. The RTX 3080 scores 23172, a -0.7% delta, so the Arc B580 trails a more modern high-end card by a small margin.

In Control specifically, the GPU's 12 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor at any tested resolution, as the game's textures are modest by modern standards. The 456.0 GB/s bandwidth and 2670 MHz clocks are sufficient to feed the 192-bit bus, and the data shows no sudden frame drops that would indicate VRAM overflow. The GPU's pixel rate is 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 427.2 GTexel/s, which are high enough to handle the game's particle effects and dynamic lighting. The FP32 performance of 13.67 TFLOPS is the key metric for Control's rendering, and it explains why the GPU can maintain 60+ FPS at 1080p Medium but falls to 32 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS across resolutions shows a clear scaling pattern that identifies the GPU as the primary limiting component as resolution increases. At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 81 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 61 FPS, a 24.7% reduction. At 4K Medium, it falls to 41 FPS, a further 32.8% drop from 1440p. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings is 49.4%, meaning the combo loses nearly half its frame rate when moving from Full HD to Ultra HD.

The same pattern holds across all presets. On Low settings, the FPS goes from 114 at 1080p to 86 at 1440p (a 24.6% drop) to 58 at 4K (a 32.6% drop from 1440p). On High, it goes from 72 to 54 to 37, with drops of 25.0% and 31.5%, respectively. On Ultra, it goes from 62 to 47 to 32, with drops of 24.2% and 31.9%. The consistency of these percentages suggests that the scaling is resolution-bound rather than settings-bound; the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are being saturated at higher pixel counts.

The fact that the scaling is nearly uniform across settings indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions. If the Ryzen 5 2600 were limiting performance, the FPS would plateau as resolution increased, because the CPU would be unable to feed the GPU faster. Instead, the FPS continues to drop proportionally, which is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p, the CPU may still be a factor, but the data shows that the combo can hit 114 FPS on Low, which is close to the CPU's practical limit for a six-core Zen+ part in a game like Control.

The 4K results are the most telling. At 4K High, the combo averages 37 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it averages 32 FPS. Both are below the 60 FPS threshold, and even the 4K Low result of 58 FPS is marginal. This means that for 4K gaming, the combo is not viable for smooth play unless the user is willing to accept significant compromises. At 1440p, the situation is better: Medium and High both exceed 50 FPS, with 61 and 54 respectively, so 1440p is a reasonable target for this pairing. At 1080p, the combo is clearly comfortable, with all presets except Ultra exceeding 70 FPS.

The scaling data also reveals that the GPU's 456.0 GB/s bandwidth and 12 GB VRAM are sufficient for 4K in this game, as the frame rates are not collapsing due to memory limitations. The drops are gradual and predictable, which is a sign of a well-behaved GPU that is simply running out of compute power at higher resolutions. The 2670 MHz boost clock and 2560 shading units are the limiting factors, not the memory subsystem.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?

A: The data shows 1080p as the sweet spot, with 81 FPS on Medium and 72 FPS on High. At 1440p, Medium drops to 61 FPS, which is still playable, but 4K is not recommended since even Low only reaches 58 FPS and High falls to 37 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B580 compare to its nearest competitors in GPU benchmarks?

A: The Arc B580 has an average benchmark score of 23021, which is within 1% of the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061, -0.2% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, 0.6% delta). It trails the RTX 3080 (23172) by only 0.7%.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 2600 a bottleneck for the Arc B580 in Control?

A: At 1080p, the CPU may be a minor factor, but the resolution scaling data shows that frame rates drop proportionally from 1080p to 4K, indicating the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads at 3.9 GHz boost are sufficient for this game.

Q: What settings should I use for a smooth 1440p experience?

A: Based on the measured rows, Medium at 1440p yields 61 FPS with a min of 52 and max of 70. High at 1440p drops to 54 FPS, which is still above 50 but closer to the edge. Medium is the safer choice for consistent frame pacing.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K at all?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which averages 58 FPS. Medium at 4K drops to 41 FPS, and Ultra falls to 32 FPS. If you want 4K, the game is playable at Low, but any higher preset will be below 45 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's VRAM affect Control performance?

A: The 12 GB GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 456.0 GB/s bandwidth is not a limiting factor in Control. The frame rates drop gradually with resolution, which indicates compute limits rather than memory capacity or bandwidth issues.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, built on the Zen+ architecture (Pinnacle Ridge) using a 12 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache layout includes 96 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s, and it connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes. The chip has a die size of 213 mm² and contains 4,800 million transistors.

In Control, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The game is not heavily CPU-bound, but the Ryzen 5 2600's 12 threads are enough to handle the game's AI and environmental interactions. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (114 FPS) suggests that the CPU can push beyond 100 FPS when the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Ultra, the FPS drops to 62, which is more attributable to the GPU's workload than the CPU's limits.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks place it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21484. Its Cinebench R15 multi-core score is 1248, and single-core is 157.3. Geekbench scores are 5648 multi-core and 1154 single-core. Passmark results include a multi-thread score of 13160 and a single-thread score of 2239. These numbers are modest by modern standards, but they are sufficient for Control's requirements.

The nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks are telling. The Intel Core Ultra 5 228V scores 21440, a 0.2% delta, meaning the Ryzen 5 2600 is essentially tied with a much newer laptop chip. The Intel Core i9-11900H scores 21367, a 0.5% delta, so the 2600 is slightly ahead of a mobile i9 from the 11th gen. The Intel Xeon D-1746TER scores 21635, a -0.7% delta, so the 2600 trails a server chip by a hair. The AMD EPYC 9454 scores 21223, a 1.2% delta, meaning the 2600 is ahead of a top-tier server CPU in this specific benchmark suite.

In Control, the CPU's 3.9 GHz boost clock is the key factor. The game's physics engine benefits from higher single-thread performance, but the 12 threads provide enough parallelism for background tasks. The 16 MB L3 cache is shared across all cores, which is adequate for this game's working set. The dual-channel memory interface with 46.9 GB/s bandwidth is not a bottleneck, as Control's memory footprint is manageable.

The CPU's age is evident in its 12 nm process and Zen+ architecture, but the data shows it can still deliver playable frame rates in Control when paired with a modern mid-range GPU. The 65 W TDP means it runs cool, and the unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking, though the measured results are at stock settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience for this combo in Control depends on the target resolution. At 1080p, Medium settings provide 81 FPS with a min of 69 and max of 93, which is the most balanced option. High at 1080p drops to 72 FPS, which is still smooth, but Medium offers a 12.5% frame rate headroom that helps with frame pacing in combat-heavy scenes. Ultra at 1080p yields 62 FPS, which is above 60 but leaves no margin for dips, so it is only recommended if the user prioritizes visual fidelity over consistency.

At 1440p, Medium is the clear winner. It averages 61 FPS with a min of 52 and a max of 70, which means the frame rate stays above 50 even in demanding moments. High at 1440p averages 54 FPS, which is playable but closer to the 50 FPS threshold, and any GPU spike could push it lower. Low at 1440p reaches 86 FPS, but that preset sacrifices too much visual quality for a game like Control, where the atmospheric effects are a major part of the experience. Ultra at 1440p drops to 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and not recommended.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. Low settings average 58 FPS, which is technically above 30 but below 60, and the visual hit is severe. Medium at 4K averages 41 FPS with a min of 35, which is a poor experience for a game that relies on fast camera movement. High and Ultra at 4K are 37 and 32 FPS respectively, both of which are below the playable threshold for most users. For 4K, the only viable option is Low, and even then, the frame rate is marginal.

The overall recommendation is to play at 1080p Medium or High, or 1440p Medium. The 1080p Medium row shows the best combination of frame rate and visual quality, with an average of 81 FPS and a minimum of 69, ensuring no noticeable stutter. If the user has a 1440p monitor, 1440p Medium is the next best choice, with 61 FPS and a min of 52. The measured data does not include ray tracing settings, so those are not considered here. For the best balance of smoothness and fidelity, 1080p Medium is the default, with 1440p Medium as a viable alternative for users with higher-resolution displays.