Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER pairing represents a classic mid-range build from the early 2020s. The data for Control reveals a configuration that is consistently capable but requires careful attention to settings and resolution to maintain smooth performance. The benchmark results suggest a system where the GPU is the primary constraint, but the CPU provides a solid foundation for frame pacing.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data presents a clear hierarchy of performance across presets. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 65.2 FPS, which is a substantial jump from the High preset's 58.3 FPS. The difference between Medium and High is a 6.9 FPS gain, which is more significant than the 4.6 FPS gain from moving from High to Low. This indicates that the Medium preset offers a strong balance, capturing most of the performance headroom without a drastic visual compromise.

For 1440p, the Medium preset drops to 51.9 FPS. While playable, this is below the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at this resolution yields 40.4 FPS, which feels more like a cinematic experience than a responsive action game. The data suggests that for a smoother experience at 1440p, the Low preset at 69.6 FPS is the only option that maintains high frame rates, but the visual quality loss is significant.

The 4K data is largely prohibitive for this combo. The best result at 4K is the Low preset at 48.1 FPS, with High and Medium falling to 31.5 and 34.6 FPS respectively. Given the action-adventure nature of Control, which benefits from responsive aiming and quick reactions, the data strongly points to the 1080p Medium preset as the optimal choice. It provides a playable frame rate that is 11.9% higher than High and leaves room for the GPU to handle the game's particle-heavy combat effects.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 SUPER's role in this pairing is defined by its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The benchmarks show that this memory configuration is a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at the same settings is substantial, for instance, the High preset falls from 58.3 FPS to 31.5 FPS, a 46% reduction. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of memory bandwidth and fill rate.

The card's boost clock of 1785 MHz and its 1408 shading units are the core of its processing power. The data implies that at 1080p, the GPU is just barely sufficient to keep up with the game's demands at Medium settings. The move to higher resolutions overwhelms the 6 GB frame buffer. The texture-heavy environments of Control likely exceed the memory capacity at 1440p and 4K, forcing the system to swap data, which is reflected in the non-linear scaling of frame rates. The GPU's 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its close benchmark scores to the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (0.7% difference) confirm it is a firmly mid-range part.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this pairing in Control is 1439 out of 1636 tested combinations. This position places it in the bottom 12% of all tested hardware pairings. This low ranking is not a reflection of a broken setup, but rather an indication of the high demands of Control. The game is known for its physics and particle effects, which scale heavily with GPU compute power.

This ranking is more informative when viewed through the lens of the individual components. The CPU, Ryzen 5 5600, is a strong performer, ranking in the 79th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-11700F, which it trails by a mere 0.9% in average benchmark score. This shows the CPU is not the bottleneck. In contrast, the GPU's 55th percentile ranking is the anchor on this combo's performance. The data indicates that the system is heavily GPU-bound; the CPU is capable of feeding frames much faster than the GPU can render them, especially at higher resolutions. This combination places the system in a position where upgrading the GPU would yield a massive performance uplift without needing to change the processor.

FAQ

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

A: Technically, yes, but not at a playable frame rate. The measured data shows the best 4K result is 48.1 FPS on Low settings. The High and Medium presets drop to 31.5 and 34.6 FPS, respectively, while Ultra is only 25.2 FPS. These are all below the standard 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the biggest performance bottleneck for this setup?

A: The benchmark data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p, the CPU (which ranks in the 79th percentile) is likely idle much of the time, waiting for the GPU (55th percentile) to finish rendering frames. The steep frame rate drops when moving to higher resolutions point directly at the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB memory capacity and compute throughput.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5600 compare to its closest Intel rival?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600 is nearly identical in performance to the Intel Core i7-11700F. The data shows the AMD processor has an average benchmark score of 21765, while the i7-11700F scores 21957. This puts the Ryzen chip 0.9% behind the Intel part, a negligible difference in real-world gaming.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever a viable option?

A: No. The Ultra preset yields the lowest frame rates across all resolutions. At 1080p it manages 49.6 FPS, but this drops to 38.1 at 1440p and a slideshow-like 25.2 FPS at 4K. The performance cost of Ultra is not justified by the visual gain for this hardware.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Medium settings at 1080p?

A: The jump from Low to Medium is significant. Low settings achieve 90.4 FPS, while Medium drops to 65.2 FPS. This is a 25.2 FPS penalty for the Medium preset, which suggests a large increase in visual effects and texture quality, but the resulting frame rate is still very playable.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. From 1080p to 1440p, the frame rate drops significantly. For example, the High preset falls from 58.3 FPS to 40.4 FPS, a reduction of 17.9 FPS (30.7%). The scaling from 1440p to 4K is even more punishing. The same High preset drops from 40.4 FPS to 31.5 FPS, a 22% reduction. This pattern indicates that the system is not just resolution-limited, but that the GPU is running out of memory bandwidth at higher pixel counts.

The data suggests that the limiting component is the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would be more consistent across resolutions, as the CPU's workload (draw calls, physics) is independent of resolution. Instead, we see the frame rate scale inversely with pixel count, which is the hallmark of a GPU that is saturated. The 6 GB VRAM is likely being exceeded at 1440p and 4K, forcing the GPU to use system memory over the PCIe bus, which is significantly slower. This explains why the 4K results are all below 50 FPS, regardless of the graphical settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 provides a robust foundation for this gaming system. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it offers strong multi-threaded performance. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18309 points to a processor that can handle modern game engines which utilize multiple threads for physics, AI, and streaming. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache is beneficial for gaming, as it reduces latency when accessing frequently used data.

In the context of Control, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process game logic. The benchmark data suggests that the CPU is more than capable of this task. The frame rates at 1080p Low (90.4 FPS) are likely approaching the limit of what the GTX 1660 SUPER can output, not the CPU. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking and its close benchmark scores to the AMD EPYC 9554P (a server chip with far more cores) show that its single-threaded performance is excellent. The data implies that the Ryzen 5 5600 is not a limiting factor in this pairing; it has headroom to support a more powerful GPU in the future.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates for Control is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the system achieves its best results. The Low preset yields an average of 90.4 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 65.2 FPS, a 27.9% reduction from Low. The High preset comes in at 58.3 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the weakest, at 49.6 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is 8.7 FPS, which is less than the jump from Medium to High (6.9 FPS), indicating diminishing returns on the highest settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, all frame rates take a hit. The Low preset is the only one to remain above 60 FPS, achieving 69.6 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 51.9 FPS. The High preset falls to 40.4 FPS, and the Ultra preset manages 38.1 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is severe, with the High preset losing 17.9 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly overburdened. The Low preset is the only playable option, averaging 48.1 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 34.6 FPS, and the High preset falls to 31.5 FPS. The Ultra preset produces an unplayable 25.2 FPS. Across all settings, the 4K results are between 25.2 and 48.1 FPS, showing that the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB frame buffer is not sufficient for this game at this resolution.