Control

Control with an AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 presents a study in hardware bottlenecks, where the data reveals a system that can deliver playable frame rates at 1080p but struggles significantly as resolution demands increase. The measured results show a clear hierarchy of performance dictated by the GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM and the Ryzen 5 5500's six-core processing power, with the combination ranking in the 1578th position out of 1636 tested combos. This places the pairing in the lower percentile of all tested systems, indicating that while it can handle the game at its most modest settings, it is far from a high-fidelity experience.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about the limiting component in this system. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 56.3 FPS, but this falls to 41.5 FPS at 1440p and further down to 31.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 43.4% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases. The scaling becomes even more pronounced at higher settings, where the 4K Ultra result of 13.9 FPS is a stark contrast to the 33.9 FPS seen at 1080p Ultra, a 59% drop that makes 4K gaming impractical.

The data suggests that the GTX 1650's 128-bit memory bus and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the demands of 4K resolution, particularly when texture quality increases. The shift from Medium to High settings at 1440p shows a minimal difference of only 0.5 FPS (29.3 vs 28.8), suggesting that the GPU is already saturated at this resolution and the settings have less impact than at lower resolutions. At 1080p, however, the differences between settings are more substantial, with Low settings producing 56.3 FPS versus 34.1 FPS at High, demonstrating that the GPU has more headroom at the lower resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For users seeking the best experience per the measured rows, the 1080p Low preset emerges as the only configuration that consistently delivers above 50 FPS, with an average of 56.3 FPS. This is the sole setting where the frame rate approaches the 60 FPS target that many players consider ideal for smooth gameplay. The 1080p Medium setting at 39.5 FPS represents a compromise, offering improved visual quality while maintaining a playable frame rate, though it is significantly below the Low preset's performance.

At 1440p, all settings fail to reach 42 FPS, with Low at 41.5 FPS being the only option above 40 FPS. The 1440p Medium and High settings are nearly identical at 28.8 and 29.3 FPS respectively, suggesting that the GPU is the limiting factor and visual quality increases do not meaningfully impact performance at this resolution. The 4K resolution is essentially unplayable across all settings, with the highest result being 31.9 FPS at Low, which still falls below the 60 FPS threshold and would likely result in a suboptimal experience.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650's specifications directly explain the measured performance patterns. With 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and a 128-bit bus providing 128.1 GB/s bandwidth, the GPU is constrained in high-resolution scenarios where large textures and high pixel counts demand more memory capacity and bandwidth. The 896 shading units and 32 ROPs are reflected in the frame rates, with the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305 and PassMark G3D score of 7880 indicating a GPU that ranks in the 43rd percentile versus all GPUs.

The clock speeds of 1485 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost, combined with the 2.984 TFLOPS FP32 performance, show a GPU that is capable of 1080p gaming but struggles with the computational load of higher resolutions. The GTX 1650's nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 with a 0.5% higher average score, demonstrate that this GPU sits in a performance tier that is adequate for esports titles and older games but not for demanding action-adventure games at high settings. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is particularly problematic for Control, as the game's texture-heavy environments likely exceed this limit at higher settings, causing performance degradation.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1578 out of 1636 tested combinations places it in the bottom 4% of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the combined limitations of the GTX 1650 and the Ryzen 5 5500, with the GPU being the dominant constraint in this game. The CPU's performance, as indicated by its 79th percentile ranking versus all CPUs, suggests that the processor is not the primary bottleneck, but the overall system performance is dragged down by the graphics card.

The data shows that this combination is better suited for 1080p gaming at low to medium settings, where it can achieve playable frame rates, rather than higher resolutions. The ranking also implies that many other tested combinations, even those with less capable CPUs, outperform this pairing in Control due to having more powerful GPUs. This highlights the importance of GPU selection in gaming builds, particularly for games that are graphically demanding.

FAQ

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo can achieve in Control?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 56.3 at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

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

A: The best 4K result is 31.9 FPS at Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS target and not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1650 has an average benchmark score of 8713, with the AMD Radeon 550X scoring 8749 (0.4% higher) and the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 scoring 8671 (0.5% lower).

Q: What is the difference between 1080p Low and 1080p Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 56.3 at Low to 33.9 at Ultra, a 39.8% reduction in performance.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5500 a bottleneck in this combination?

A: The CPU ranks in the 79th percentile versus all CPUs, suggesting it is not the primary limiting factor, with the GPU being the main constraint.

Q: What memory configuration does the GTX 1650 use?

A: It uses 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 128.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are 56.3 for Low settings, 39.5 for Medium, 34.1 for High, and 33.9 for Ultra. The difference between High and Ultra is minimal at only 0.2 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset offers no meaningful performance benefit over High at this resolution. The jump from Low to Medium is substantial at 16.8 FPS, suggesting that the Low preset is significantly less demanding on the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 41.5 for Low, 28.8 for Medium, 29.3 for High, and 25.2 for Ultra. Interestingly, the High setting produces a slightly higher frame rate than Medium, which may be due to specific rendering paths in the game engine. The reduction from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 14.8 FPS, showing the impact of increased resolution on the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are 31.9 for Low, 20.7 for Medium, 15.8 for High, and 13.9 for Ultra. The drop from Low to Medium is 11.2 FPS, while the drop from High to Ultra is only 1.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU is severely limited at this resolution and even the lowest settings cannot provide a playable experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500's six cores and twelve threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture, provide a solid foundation for gaming. With a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.20 GHz, the CPU demonstrates strong single-thread performance in benchmarks, scoring 836 in 3DMark single-thread and 2319 in Cinebench R23 single-core. The multi-threaded performance is also respectable, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16429, placing the CPU in the 79th percentile versus all CPUs.

In the context of Control, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU, as the frame rates are more strongly correlated with resolution and settings changes than with CPU load. The 16 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient for feeding the GTX 1650, and the CPU's average benchmark score of 20875 places it within 0.1% of the Intel Core i5-12500's score. The data suggests that the Ryzen 5 5500 is not a limiting factor in this combination, and upgrading the GPU would likely yield greater performance gains than upgrading the CPU.