Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination in Control presents a study in balancing visual fidelity against a GPU that is showing its age. The measured data indicates that this pairing is viable, but the path to a smooth experience requires careful attention to settings and resolution. The GTX 1070, with its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, is the primary driver of performance, and the data suggests that its limits are reached earlier than those of the capable six-core Ryzen 5 5500 processor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across the four available presets. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 52.2 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a game that benefits from consistent frame times. The High preset improves this to 58.6 FPS, while Medium jumps to 67.4 FPS. The Low preset, however, is the standout performer, achieving an average of 98.2 FPS. This substantial leap of nearly 30 FPS from High to Low indicates that the GPU is heavily taxed by the higher-fidelity settings.

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the data points to the High preset at 1080p. The 58.6 FPS average is within a reasonable range for a smooth experience, and it avoids the significant visual downgrades of the Low preset. While Medium offers a 15% improvement in average FPS over High, the visual impact of dropping from High to Medium is often more noticeable than the incremental performance gain. The Ultra preset, with its 52.2 FPS average, is not worth the performance hit for the marginal visual improvements it provides on this hardware. At 1440p, the recommendation shifts to Medium, as the High preset’s 43.6 FPS average begins to feel less fluid, while Medium’s 53.7 FPS provides a more stable baseline. At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained; only the Low preset, with its 51.4 FPS average, offers a consistently playable frame rate, though the visual compromise is significant.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the clear bottleneck in this configuration for Control. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth are substantial, but its 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the limiting factor under heavy load. The benchmark results show that the GPU is operating at a 51st percentile compared to all other GPUs, indicating it is a mid-range performer. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER, which it trails by 1.4%, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M, which it outperforms by 1.3%. This places the GTX 1070 in a specific performance tier that is well-matched to 1080p gaming.

The GPU’s clock speeds, with a base of 1506 MHz and a boost of 1683 MHz, are modest by today’s standards. The data suggests that these clocks are not the primary constraint; rather, the overall compute throughput is. The performance drop from High to Ultra settings at any resolution is steep, underscoring that the GPU is fully utilized and has little headroom for the most demanding effects. The 4K results are particularly telling: the High preset manages only 30.7 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 27.3 FPS. These figures confirm that the GTX 1070 is not designed for 4K gaming in a title like Control, which uses substantial post-processing and physics effects that heavily tax the GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across resolutions illustrates a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p with High settings, the average FPS is 58.6. Moving to 1440p, the average drops to 43.6, a reduction of 25.6%. At 4K, the average plummets to 30.7, a 47.6% drop from 1080p. This steep decline indicates that the GTX 1070 is the limiting component; as the pixel count increases, the GPU’s fill rate and compute resources are stretched thinner, leading to significant frame rate losses.

The pattern holds across all settings. At Low settings, 1080p yields 98.2 FPS, which drops to 72 at 1440p and 51.4 at 4K. The percentage drops are slightly less severe at lower settings because the GPU is less stressed, but the overall trend is consistent. This data strongly implies that the Ryzen 5 5500 is not a bottleneck at any resolution; if it were, we would expect to see a more pronounced plateau or less severe drops when moving to higher resolutions. The CPU has ample headroom, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16429 and a single-core score of 2319, placing it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs. The performance scaling is purely a function of the GPU’s capabilities.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the data, 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution. At 1080p, even the High preset achieves a playable 58.6 FPS average, while at 1440p, the High preset drops to 43.6 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 30.7 FPS.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using with this hardware?

A: No. The Ultra preset provides the lowest average FPS at every resolution, with 52.2 FPS at 1080p, 39.3 FPS at 1440p, and 27.3 FPS at 4K. The performance cost is high, and the visual uplift over High is typically marginal.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its closest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 12331. It is 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (12241) and 1.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (12490). It trails the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (12504) by 1.4%.

*Q: Can this combination handle 4K gaming in Control?*

A: Only with significant compromises. At 4K, the Low preset achieves a 51.4 FPS average, but the High and Ultra presets fall to 30.7 FPS and 27.3 FPS respectively, which are not smooth experiences.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU in this game?

A: The data suggests no. The FPS drops are consistent and proportional to the resolution increase, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The Ryzen 5 5500’s strong multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16429) indicates it can easily feed the GTX 1070.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and High settings at 1440p?

A: The Low preset at 1440p averages 72 FPS, while the High preset averages 43.6 FPS. This is a 39.4% reduction in average FPS for the higher visual fidelity.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination ranks 1395th out of 1636 tested combos for Control. This places it in the bottom 15% of all tested systems, indicating that it is a lower-performing configuration for this specific game. The rank is a stark reminder that while the combination is functional, it is far from optimal for a title that is demanding on GPU resources.

This ranking is consistent with the individual component benchmarks. The GPU sits at the 51st percentile, and the CPU at the 79th percentile. The combination’s low rank in Control is almost entirely attributable to the GPU’s performance ceiling. The data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor, as its performance is well above average. The combo’s rank suggests that for a more demanding game like Control, users would need a significantly more powerful GPU to move up the leaderboard. The 1395th rank out of 1636 is a clear signal that this is a modest setup, and users should temper their expectations regarding high-fidelity, high-resolution play.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.20 GHz, combined with a 16 MB L3 cache, provide solid performance for gaming. The CPU’s benchmark scores are respectable, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16429 and a single-core score of 2319. Its average benchmark score is 20875, placing it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, and it is a near-exact match for the Intel Core i5-12500, which it trails by a mere 0.1%.

In the context of Control, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic. The data indicates that the Ryzen 5 5500 performs this role effectively. The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K shows no signs of a CPU bottleneck, as the frame rates drop consistently with increasing resolution. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would see more consistent frame rates across resolutions or a plateau at higher settings. The CPU’s 12 threads are sufficient for the game’s multi-threaded workload, and its strong single-core performance ensures that the main game thread does not become a constraint. The data confirms that the Ryzen 5 5500 is not the weak link in this pairing; the GTX 1070 is.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact average FPS measurements for each resolution and settings preset.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 98.2 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 67.4 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 58.6 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 52.2 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 72.0 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 53.7 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 43.6 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 39.3 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 51.4 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 37.8 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 30.7 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 27.3 |

At 1080p, the progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with the biggest single drop occurring between Low and Medium (98.2 to 67.4 FPS). At 1440p, the Low preset is the only one that remains above 60 FPS, at 72.0. The High and Ultra presets at this resolution hover in the mid-to-low 40s and high 30s, respectively. At 4K, the Low preset is the only one approaching a playable frame rate at 51.4 FPS, with all other settings falling below 38 FPS. The data clearly shows that the GTX 1070 operates best at 1080p, and any attempt to scale to higher resolutions requires a substantial reduction in graphical fidelity to maintain a smooth experience.