Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a highly playable Control experience at 1080p, with performance scaling predictably as resolution increases. The measured data shows this combination sits at rank 1220 out of 1636 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. The following analysis breaks down the settings, GPU behavior, resolution scaling, and the specific frame rates observed.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear picture of how settings presets affect average FPS. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 115.6 FPS, which is the highest average recorded across the entire test matrix. This suggests that for players prioritizing maximum smoothness and refresh rate utilization, the Low preset is optimal at this resolution. However, the Medium preset still delivers a very respectable 84.7 FPS, while High produces 73.2 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 62.4 FPS, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold but offers diminishing returns over High for the performance cost.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset maintains 88.4 FPS, making it the only setting tier that keeps the average comfortably above a 60 FPS baseline. Medium drops to 64.2 FPS, which is still smooth for most playstyles, while High falls to 56.2 FPS and Ultra to 47.7 FPS. At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. Only the Low preset manages 61.6 FPS; Medium yields 42.7 FPS, High produces 38.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 35.8 FPS. The data indicates that the best experience per the measured rows is the Low preset at 1080p for maximum frame rate, but for a balance of visual quality and performance, Medium at 1080p offers a strong compromise. At 1440p, Low is the only preset that keeps the average above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for that resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz. The memory runs at 2000 MHz, or 16 Gbps effective. These specifications place the GPU at the 71st percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 27985.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the RX 6600 XT is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, with a deltaPct of 0.1 percent. It also edges out the AMD Radeon R9 M395X by 0.4 percent, while trailing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 by 0.9 percent and the AMD FirePro S7150 by 1.5 percent. In Control, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game’s demands across all tested settings, as no memory-related stutters are evident in the frame rate data. The boost clock of 2589 MHz likely contributes to the strong 1080p performance, where the GPU is not fully saturated. The pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s indicate the card can handle the geometric and texture workloads Control presents, though the 128-bit memory bus limits bandwidth at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a clear and expected degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 115.6 at 1080p to 88.4 at 1440p, a decline of 27.2 FPS, and then to 61.6 at 4K, another drop of 26.8 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU is doing more of the heavy lifting, as the GPU has headroom to render frames quickly. The Ryzen 5 3600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is sufficient to feed the GPU at these resolutions.

At the High preset, the drop from 1080p (73.2 FPS) to 1440p (56.2 FPS) is 17.0 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K (38.4 FPS) is another 17.8 FPS. The Ultra preset follows a similar pattern: 62.4 FPS at 1080p, 47.7 FPS at 1440p, and 35.8 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these drops, roughly 15-27 FPS per step, suggests that the limiting component shifts from the CPU at lower resolutions to the GPU at 4K. At 4K, even the Low preset barely clears 60 FPS, indicating that the GPU’s 256.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a bottleneck. The RX 6600 XT is clearly not a 4K card for Control under most settings, but it handles 1080p and 1440p admirably.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low achieves 115.6, Medium reaches 84.7, High produces 73.2, and Ultra delivers 62.4. The spread from Low to Ultra is 53.2 FPS, showing a significant performance cost for higher visual fidelity. The step from Low to Medium costs 30.9 FPS, while Medium to High costs 11.5 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 10.8 FPS. This suggests that the jump from Low to Medium is the most expensive, while the later steps are more gradual.

At 2560x1440, the values are: Low at 88.4, Medium at 64.2, High at 56.2, and Ultra at 47.7. The spread narrows slightly to 40.7 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 24.2 FPS, Medium to High costs 8.0 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 8.5 FPS. At this resolution, the Low preset remains the only one above 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, the values are: Low at 61.6, Medium at 42.7, High at 38.4, and Ultra at 35.8. The spread is now just 25.8 FPS, with all presets except Low falling below 45 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 18.9 FPS, Medium to High costs 4.3 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 2.6 FPS. The diminishing returns at 4K indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor, and raising settings has a smaller absolute impact on frame rate.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 provides the highest average frame rates across all settings, with the Low preset reaching 115.6 FPS. Even the Ultra preset at 1080p maintains 62.4 FPS, making it the most comfortable resolution for this combination.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Control?

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset achieves an average of 61.6 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall below 43 FPS, with Ultra producing just 35.8 FPS. The data indicates that 4K is only viable at the lowest settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 3600 perform relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 18129, placing it at the 76th percentile of all CPUs. It is 0.1 percent behind the Intel Core i5-11400, 0.2 percent behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, 0.2 percent ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 1600, and 0.3 percent ahead of the AMD EPYC 9274F.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 88.4 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 47.7 FPS. This represents a 40.7 FPS difference, meaning Ultra delivers roughly 54 percent of the Low preset’s frame rate.

Q: Is the RX 6600 XT closer to a GTX 980 Ti or an RTX 3070 in raw performance?

A: The RX 6600 XT’s average benchmark score is 27985. The GTX 980 Ti scores 27956, a delta of 0.1 percent, making them virtually identical. The RTX 3070 scores 28238, which is 0.9 percent higher, so the RX 6600 XT is much closer to the GTX 980 Ti.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: The frame rate data suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p. The Low preset reaches 115.6 FPS, which is high, and the performance scaling from Low to Ultra follows a consistent pattern tied to the GPU’s workload. The Ryzen 5 3600’s 6-core, 12-thread configuration provides sufficient throughput for these frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, codenamed Matisse. It operates on the AMD Socket AM4 platform with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. The CPU has a 32 MB shared L3 cache, with 64 KB of L1 and 512 KB of L2 per core. Its memory bandwidth is 51.2 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface. The processor is built on a 7 nm process with 3,800 million transistors on a 74 mm² die.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 3600 scores 15045 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2124 in single-core. Its Passmark multithread score is 17700, with a single-thread score of 2562. These results place it at the 76th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18129. In Control, the CPU’s role is evident in the resolution scaling. At 1080p and 1440p, the frame rates are high enough (up to 115.6 FPS at Low 1080p) that the CPU must keep up with the GPU’s output. The 12 threads provide ample parallelism for the game’s physics and AI workloads.

The nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-11400, which scores 18150 and is 0.1 percent ahead, and the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS at 18101, which is 0.2 percent ahead. The AMD Ryzen 5 1600 scores 18158, putting it 0.2 percent ahead, while the AMD EPYC 9274F scores 18189, 0.3 percent ahead. The Ryzen 5 3600’s performance is thus tightly clustered with these competitors, meaning any of them would deliver similar frame rates in Control. The boost clock of 4.20 GHz helps with single-threaded tasks, which is typical for game logic, while the 6-core count ensures that multi-threaded workloads do not starve the GPU. In this game, the CPU does not appear to be the limiting factor at any tested resolution, as the frame rate drops are consistent with GPU-bound behavior at higher settings.