Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination delivers a strong 1080p and 1440p experience in Control, with 4K remaining playable at most settings. The measured data places this pairing at rank 904 out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the top quarter of all systems tested. This analysis breaks down how the CPU and GPU work together across the four tested presets and three resolutions, using only the measured frame rates and hardware specifications provided.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is clearly GPU-limited at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 122 at 1920x1080 to 92 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 30 FPS, and then further down to 62 at 3840x2160. The scaling from 1440p to 4K represents a 32.6% performance loss, which is substantial and indicates the RTX 4070 is the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling curve. At 1080p Low, the system produces 193 FPS, which drops to 146 at 1440p and then to 98 at 4K. The 1440p to 4K transition here costs 48 FPS, or roughly 32.9%. This pattern suggests that even at Low settings, where the CPU workload should be relatively higher, the GPU still dominates the performance equation at 4K. The fact that 4K Low (98 FPS) is still faster than 1080p Ultra (106 FPS) is notable, showing that resolution scaling has a larger impact than the preset jump.

Medium settings provide the only complete FPS range data, with min and max values recorded. At 1080p Medium, the average is 137 FPS with a minimum of 116 and maximum of 157. Moving to 1440p Medium drops the average to 104 FPS (min 88, max 119), and 4K Medium lands at 70 FPS (min 59, max 80). The consistent gap between min and average of roughly 15-21 FPS across resolutions suggests stable frame pacing rather than severe stuttering.

Ultra settings show the steepest absolute drop, from 106 FPS at 1080p to 80 at 1440p and finally 54 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS is the only sub-60 average recorded, indicating this combination cannot maintain a locked 60 FPS at maximum settings in 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra costs 26 FPS (24.5%), while 1440p to 4K costs another 26 FPS (32.5%), showing that the resolution penalty intensifies at higher settings where the GPU is already under more load.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 904 out of 3720 total tested combinations places this system in the 75.7th percentile of all configurations. This means roughly three-quarters of tested combos perform worse in Control, while one-quarter deliver higher frame rates. Given that the RTX 4070 sits at the 81st percentile among all GPUs and the Ryzen 5 5500 at the 73rd percentile among CPUs, the combined ranking is slightly below the GPU's individual standing but above the CPU's, suggesting the pairing works well together without either component completely bottlenecking the other.

The ranking context becomes clearer when considering the CPU's nearest rivals. The Ryzen 5 5500 posts an average benchmark score of 19593, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (19617, delta -0.1%) and the Intel Core i7-10700F (19499, delta +0.5%). The Intel Core i5-12500 scores 19668 (delta -0.4%) and the Core i5-11600KF 19723 (delta -0.7%). These sub-1% differences mean the CPU selection has minimal impact on the overall combo ranking, as all four comparable processors deliver essentially the same multi-threaded performance.

For the GPU, the RTX 4070's average benchmark score of 37648 is similarly close to its nearest rivals: the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628, delta +0.1%), AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507, delta +0.4%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135, delta -1.3%), and AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (37157, delta +1.3%). The tight clustering of these scores, all within 1.3% of each other, indicates that the measured FPS results in Control are representative of what a mid-range GPU from this generation can achieve in this title.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Control's needs at 4K. The 4K High preset averages 62 FPS while using 12 GB of VRAM, and the fact that no memory-related performance cliffs appear in the measured data suggests the capacity is adequate. The GPU's 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s, which directly supports the 4K performance dip seen at Ultra settings.

Clock speeds play a direct role in the frame rate scaling. The base clock of 1920 MHz boosts to 2475 MHz, and the memory runs at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The boost behavior is consistent with the measured results: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 193 FPS, indicating the GPU is operating at maximum boost without thermal or power constraints. At 4K Ultra, the 54 FPS average suggests the GPU is still boosting but the raw compute throughput of 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 is the limiting factor.

The RTX 4070's 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present but not directly measured in the provided FPS data, as all settings tested are rasterization-based without ray tracing enabled. The GPU's 184 TMUs deliver a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s, which supports the smooth scaling from 1080p to 1440p but becomes less relevant at 4K where pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth dominate. The 200 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate the card maintains its boost clocks under sustained load, which is consistent with the stable min FPS values seen at Medium settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows a clear tiering across presets. Low produces 193 FPS, Medium 137 FPS (min 116, max 157), High 122 FPS, and Ultra 106 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 56 FPS, while Medium to High costs 15 FPS and High to Ultra costs 16 FPS. This indicates that the Low preset is heavily GPU-bound with ample headroom, while the incremental cost of each quality step is relatively consistent between Medium and Ultra.

The 2560x1440 results follow a similar pattern with reduced absolute values. Low hits 146 FPS, Medium 104 FPS (min 88, max 119), High 92 FPS, and Ultra 80 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 42 FPS, Medium to High 12 FPS, and High to Ultra 12 FPS. The compression of frame rates at 1440p suggests the GPU is becoming more saturated, with the difference between presets shrinking as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the hierarchy remains but the margins tighten further. Low averages 98 FPS, Medium 70 FPS (min 59, max 80), High 62 FPS, and Ultra 54 FPS. The Low to Medium gap is 28 FPS, Medium to High 8 FPS, and High to Ultra 8 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 59 FPS is the only recorded sub-60 minimum across all tested configurations, indicating that this is the edge of comfortable playability for this combo.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 193, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is 56 FPS higher than the next preset tier at the same resolution (Medium at 137 FPS).

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: At 4K Medium, the average is 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS, which mostly holds above 60. At 4K High, the average drops to 62 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 54 FPS, which cannot sustain a 60 FPS lock.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 scores 19593 on average, which is within 0.7% of the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (19617), Intel Core i5-12500 (19668), Intel Core i7-10700F (19499), and Intel Core i5-11600KF (19723). All four rivals are statistically equivalent in multi-threaded performance.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p Ultra and 4K Medium?

A: 1080p Ultra averages 106 FPS while 4K Medium averages 70 FPS, a difference of 36 FPS. This shows that resolution has a larger impact than the preset step from Medium to Ultra.

Q: Does the GPU's VRAM capacity limit performance in this game?

A: The 12 GB GDDR6X memory with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient, as no memory-related performance anomalies appear in the measured data. The 4K High preset averages 62 FPS without indication of VRAM capacity issues.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This pairing ranks 904th out of 3720 total tested combinations, placing it in the top 24.3% of all systems tested for Control.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080 displays, Ultra settings are clearly the best choice. The system produces 106 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. Even the 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS indicates that at 1080p, the GPU has significant spare capacity with Ultra settings, making this preset the obvious pick for maximum visual quality without sacrificing responsiveness.

At 2560x1440, High settings provide the best balance. The 92 FPS average is smooth and visually detailed, while Ultra drops to 80 FPS — still playable but with diminishing returns. Medium at 104 FPS offers a 12 FPS advantage over High, but the visual quality loss from dropping two preset tiers is not justified for that margin. For players prioritizing frame rate, Medium is acceptable, but High is the recommended sweet spot.

For 3840x2160, Medium settings are the only viable option for a consistent near-60 FPS experience. The 70 FPS average with a 59 FPS minimum holds above the critical threshold most of the time. High at 62 FPS is borderline, with no min FPS data available, and Ultra at 54 FPS falls short of 60 FPS. Players with 4K displays should accept Medium settings to maintain smooth performance, as the step to High only adds 8 FPS.

The Low preset is only recommended for competitive play at 1080p, where 193 FPS exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. At 1440p, Low's 146 FPS is excessive for typical 144 Hz displays, and at 4K, Low's 98 FPS sacrifices too much visual quality for frame rates that most 4K displays cannot fully utilize.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 5500's 6 cores and 12 threads at a 3.60 GHz base and 4.20 GHz boost clock provide ample processing power for Control. The 16 MB L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR4 are sufficient for the game's physics and AI workloads, as evidenced by the fact that the CPU never becomes the limiting factor in the measured results. The 65 W TDP and Zen 3 architecture with TSMC 7 nm process keep thermals in check, allowing sustained boost clocks.

Synthetic benchmarks show the CPU's capability profile: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 16429 and singlecore 2319, while Geekbench multicore hits 7976 and singlecore 1730. The 3DMark results (5386 for 16 threads, 5411 for max threads) indicate that the 12-thread configuration scales well with the game's multi-threaded workload. The PassMark multithread score of 19330 and single-thread of 3058 place this CPU in the 73rd percentile among all processors.

The CPU's role in Control becomes apparent when comparing frame rates at Low settings across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 193 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU fast enough to reach such high frame rates. The drop to 146 FPS at 1440p Low and 98 FPS at 4K Low is primarily GPU-driven, but the 1080p result confirms the CPU is not artificially capping performance at lower resolutions. The nearest rival comparison shows the CPU's performance is essentially identical to the Intel Core i5-12500 and i7-10700F, meaning any of these processors would yield the same FPS results in this game.