Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER pairing delivers a classic 1080p gaming experience in Control, but the data clearly shows its limits as resolution climbs. The benchmark results indicate this combo is best suited for 1920x1080 gaming, where it achieves playable frame rates across most settings, but it falls short of smooth performance at higher resolutions. With a combo rank of 1461 out of 1636 tested configurations, this system sits in the lower tier of performance, making it a viable option for budget-conscious gamers targeting standard HD displays.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K in Control is steep and revealing. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 90.6 FPS, but this falls to 66.8 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 47.6 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 47.4% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The scaling pattern across all settings tells a consistent story. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 57.9 FPS at 1080p to 42.4 FPS at 1440p and then to 27.4 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the same trend: 47.5 FPS at 1080p, 37.3 FPS at 1440p, and 26.9 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly pronounced, with average losses of roughly 35-38% across all settings, suggesting that the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB GDDR6 memory buffer and 192-bit bus are overwhelmed by 4K resolution demands.

The data indicates that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combination. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs approximately 26-28% performance at every preset level, while the jump to 4K costs a further 35-38%. This non-linear degradation points to memory bandwidth saturation at higher resolutions. The GTX 1660 SUPER's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth, while respectable for its class, cannot sustain the texture and geometry throughput required by Control's physics-heavy environments at 4K.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, Ultra is 47.6% slower than Low, but at 4K, that gap shrinks to 43.5%. This compression suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so constrained that even reducing graphical fidelity cannot fully compensate for the resolution overhead. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, appears to have sufficient headroom at lower resolutions but becomes less relevant at 4K where GPU limitations dominate.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080, the High preset at 57.9 FPS offers the most balanced experience, delivering smooth gameplay without the performance penalty of Ultra. The Medium preset at 66.9 FPS provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for gamers who prioritize frame rate stability. Low settings at 90.6 FPS are viable for competitive play, but the visual degradation is significant in a game known for its atmospheric environments.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more constrained. Medium settings at 46.7 FPS are the highest playable option, while High at 42.4 FPS and Ultra at 37.3 FPS fall below the 60 FPS threshold, resulting in noticeable stutter during intense combat sequences. Low settings at 66.8 FPS remain playable, but the visual compromise may not be worth the resolution upgrade over 1080p.

3840x2160 is not a viable gaming resolution for this combo. Even Low settings at 47.6 FPS fail to maintain smooth frame rates, and the Ultra preset at 26.9 FPS is essentially unplayable. The data suggests that users should stick to 1080p or accept significant sacrifices at 1440p. For the best experience per the measured rows, Medium at 1080p offers the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance, delivering 66.9 FPS while retaining enough graphical detail to appreciate Control's shifting architecture.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER plays the dominant role in determining Control's performance ceiling. With 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, the card provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for 1080p but insufficient for higher resolutions. The GPU's boost clock of 1785 MHz and 1408 shading units deliver 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, yet the data shows this is not enough to maintain 60 FPS at 1440p on most presets.

The GPU's 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier, and its benchmark scores reinforce this positioning. The PassMark G3D score of 12699 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1278 indicate solid DirectX 12 performance, which Control leverages through its modern rendering pipeline. However, the card's 48 ROPs and 88 TMUs become bottlenecks at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the steep frame rate drops observed.

The GTX 1660 SUPER's 125 W TDP and dual-slot design make it an efficient choice for mainstream systems, but its end-of-life production status suggests it is nearing obsolescence for demanding titles. In Control, the GPU is clearly the limiting component at 1440p and above, as the frame rate scaling closely follows the GPU's compute and memory capabilities rather than CPU performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 2600 and GTX 1660 SUPER ranks 1461 out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the bottom 11% of configurations. This low ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning combined with the CPU's aging architecture. The Ryzen 5 2600, released in April 2018, represents an older generation that struggles to keep pace with modern titles, even when paired with a reasonably capable graphics card.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 19616 places it near the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (19508, 0.6% faster) and Intel Core i7-10700F (19485, 0.7% slower), indicating that its processing power is competitive with some newer mobile and desktop chips. However, the GPU's average score of 14286 sits just below the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389, 0.7% faster) and Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (14315, 0.2% slower), showing that the graphics card is similarly positioned in the mid-range.

This ranking suggests that the combo is evenly matched, with neither component dramatically outperforming the other. The low overall rank in Control specifically indicates that the game is demanding enough to expose the weaknesses of both components, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU's memory bandwidth and the CPU's single-thread performance become limiting factors.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 provides 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 3.90 GHz. This configuration delivers solid multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11186 and PassMark multi-thread score of 13160. However, its single-thread performance, measured at 1579 in Cinebench R23, is modest by modern standards and may bottleneck Control's game logic and physics calculations.

The CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs and its nearest rival comparisons show it performs similarly to the Intel Core i5-11600KF (19740, 0.6% faster) and Intel Core i5-1345U (19691, 0.4% faster). This indicates that while the Ryzen 5 2600 is not a top-tier processor, it remains competitive with newer mid-range options. In Control, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the larger frame rate drops from resolution scaling compared to settings changes.

The 16 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support provide adequate bandwidth for gaming workloads, but the 46.9 GB/s memory bandwidth is modest. The CPU's 12 nm process node and 65 W TDP make it power-efficient, yet its age is apparent in its PassMark single-thread score of 2239, which trails modern processors. The data suggests that while the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at 1080p, it may contribute to frame rate inconsistencies at lower resolutions where GPU headroom exists.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, with the High preset achieving 57.9 FPS and Medium reaching 66.9 FPS. Higher resolutions result in frame rates below 60 FPS on most settings.

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

A: Technically yes, but not comfortably. Low settings yield 47.6 FPS at 3840x2160, while Ultra drops to 26.9 FPS, making 4K gaming impractical for this configuration.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 14286 is 0.2% lower than the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics and 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11, indicating near-identical performance levels.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 2600 a bottleneck in this pairing?

A: At 1080p, the CPU appears sufficient, but at lower settings where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU's single-thread score of 2239 in PassMark may limit maximum frame rates.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average frame rate at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 46.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 1461 out of 1636 combos in Control, placing it in the bottom 11% of all tested systems, reflecting its mid-range component performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings achieve 90.6 FPS, Medium reaches 66.9 FPS, High produces 57.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 47.5 FPS. These numbers show a clear progression where each settings tier costs approximately 10-15 FPS, with the gap between Low and Medium being the largest at 23.7 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance decreases notably. Low settings produce 66.8 FPS, Medium achieves 46.7 FPS, High manages 42.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37.3 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra narrows to just 5.1 FPS, indicating diminishing returns at higher presets with increased resolution.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles across all settings. Low yields 47.6 FPS, Medium drops to 32.7 FPS, High reaches 27.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 26.9 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 20.7 FPS, which is proportionally smaller than at 1080p, confirming that resolution scaling dominates settings scaling at higher pixel counts.

The overall pattern across all measurements shows that settings changes have the most impact at 1080p, where the GPU has more headroom, while resolution changes dominate at 1440p and above. This data confirms that the GTX 1660 SUPER's memory bandwidth and compute capabilities are the primary constraints in Control, with the Ryzen 5 2600 providing sufficient CPU support at standard HD resolutions.