Control

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, built on TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock is 3.50 GHz with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, and it carries 32 MB of shared L3 cache, alongside 512 KB of L2 and 64 KB of L1 per core. In synthetic benchmarks, the chip posts a single-thread score of 882 in 3DMark and 2584 in Cinebench R23 single-core, while its multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score reaches 18309. Those results place the CPU in the 79th percentile of all processors tested, with an average benchmark score of 21765.

In Control, the Ryzen 5 5600's thread count and clock speeds matter most when the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the measured average FPS is 90.5, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GTX 1660 Ti well beyond the 60 FPS threshold. The 12 threads handle the game's physics and AI workloads without apparent strain, as evidenced by the fact that dropping resolution from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings improves FPS from 72.2 to 90.5 — a 25% gain that indicates scaling is still partially CPU-bound at the lower resolution.

However, the CPU's ceiling becomes visible when comparing its 3DMark 16-thread score of 5641 against its max-thread score of 5659. The near-identical figures indicate that adding threads beyond 16 yields almost no performance gain, which aligns with a 6-core/12-thread part that is already fully utilized. In Control, this means the Ryzen 5 5600 can drive high frame rates but will not compensate for GPU limitations at higher resolutions.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 5600 sits within a tight band. It is 0.6% ahead of the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (avgScore 21635) and 0.6% behind the AMD EPYC 9554P (avgScore 21899). The Intel Core i7-11700F is 0.9% faster on average (21957). These deltas are negligible in real-world gaming, so the CPU's role in Control is primarily to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at 1080p and 1440p, which the data confirms it does.

FAQ

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 5600 bottleneck the GTX 1660 Ti in Control?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 90.5 FPS, which is well above playable. Since performance drops to 72.2 FPS at 1440p Low and 46.1 FPS at 4K Low, the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. The CPU appears sufficient at all tested settings.

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combination for smooth gameplay?

A: At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 63.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target. At 1440p High, it drops to 42.9 FPS, so 1080p Medium or 1080p High (55.6 FPS) are the most balanced options for fluid play.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in raw GPU score?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has an average benchmark score of 13925, placing it 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 570X (13871) and 0.8% ahead of both the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile (13821) and the GeForce GTX 680 (13812). It trails the NVIDIA Tesla K10 by 0.7% (14029).

Q: Is 6 GB of VRAM enough for Control at 4K?

A: The data shows 4K Ultra produces 24.7 FPS and 4K High produces 28.1 FPS, both unplayable. While VRAM capacity is not the sole factor, the 6 GB GDDR6 with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for smooth 4K performance in this title.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all processors?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600 sits in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21765. This places it in the upper-middle tier, consistent with its 6-core/12-thread configuration.

Q: Does the combo rank high among tested configurations for Control?

A: The combo ranks 1446 out of 1636 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 12% of all combos. This reflects the GPU's mid-range standing (55th percentile) rather than the CPU's stronger position.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At Low settings, the combo delivers 90.5 FPS at 1080p, 72.2 FPS at 1440p, and 46.1 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 20.2%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 36.1%. This accelerating decline indicates that the GTX 1660 Ti's rendering throughput is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 55.6 FPS at 1080p, 42.9 FPS at 1440p (a 22.8% drop), and 28.1 FPS at 4K (a 34.5% drop from 1440p). The 4K High result is below 30 FPS, confirming that the GPU cannot sustain playable frame rates at 4K even with moderate quality settings. The gap between Low and High at 1080p is 35.0 FPS (90.5 vs 55.6), which narrows to 18.0 FPS at 4K (46.1 vs 28.1). This narrowing suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that quality settings have a relatively smaller absolute impact on FPS.

The Ultra setting produces the lowest scores across all resolutions: 53.1 FPS at 1080p, 35.9 FPS at 1440p, and 24.7 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 32.4%, and from 1440p to 4K is 31.2%. This relatively consistent percentage drop indicates a steady GPU-bound workload, with no sudden CPU limitation appearing at higher resolutions.

Notably, the CPU's potential headroom is visible at 1080p Low, where 90.5 FPS is achieved. If the CPU were the bottleneck, this figure would be capped regardless of resolution. The fact that FPS declines consistently as pixel count rises confirms the GTX 1660 Ti is the limiting component across all tested settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Ryzen 5 5600 and GTX 1660 Ti ranks 1446 out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 12th percentile of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU, which ranks in the 55th percentile of all GPUs but is paired with a CPU in the 79th percentile. The mismatch in component tiers means the CPU's strength is underutilized at higher resolutions, where the GPU cannot keep pace.

The combo's position suggests that among the 1636 tested configurations, 1445 produce higher average FPS in Control. However, this ranking does not imply the combo is inadequate for 1080p gaming — the measured data shows 55.6 FPS at High and 63.7 FPS at Medium at 1080p, which are playable. The ranking reflects the broad range of GPUs available, many of which offer significantly more performance than the GTX 1660 Ti.

When compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 5600's performance is competitive, but the GPU's mid-range standing drags the overall combo down. The GTX 1660 Ti's average benchmark score of 13925 is only 0.4% higher than the RX 570X and 0.8% higher than the GTX 680, indicating that the GPU sits at the lower end of its peer group. This explains why the combo ranks in the bottom 12% despite a capable processor.

The data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield a far greater improvement in Control than upgrading the CPU, since the current bottleneck is clearly on the graphics side. The combo's rank reflects this imbalance, with the CPU's 79th percentile standing unable to compensate for the GPU's 55th percentile performance in a GPU-intensive title.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the Turing architecture (TU116 chip) using TSMC's 12 nm process, with 6,600 million transistors on a 284 mm² die. It operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory running at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). The card features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its compute capabilities include 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, delivering 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s.

In Control, the GPU's memory bandwidth and capacity are critical at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 24.7 FPS, while 4K High reaches 28.1 FPS and 4K Medium 35.7 FPS. These figures indicate that 6 GB of VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K gaming in this title, which likely requires more memory for textures and higher bandwidth for pixel throughput.

The GTX 1660 Ti's 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs (average benchmark score 13925) aligns with its measured performance in Control. Its nearest rival, the RX 570X, scores 13871 (0.4% slower), while the Tesla K10 scores 14029 (0.7% faster). This tight grouping confirms the GTX 1660 Ti sits in a narrow performance band, and Control's results reflect this positioning.

The card's DirectX 12 support (12_1) is relevant since Control is a DirectX 12 title. The passmark DirectX 12 score of 51, while lower than DirectX 11's 103, suggests the card's DX12 implementation is not its strong suit, which may explain why performance at Ultra settings drops disproportionately compared to Medium. The 12 nm process and 120 W TDP indicate a power-efficient design, but efficiency does not translate to high-end performance in demanding scenes.

At 1080p, the GPU's 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for all settings, as evidenced by 53.1 FPS at Ultra and 55.6 FPS at High. The difference between Ultra and High at 1080p is only 2.5 FPS, suggesting that the VRAM capacity is not the limiting factor at this resolution — rather, the GPU's compute throughput (5.437 TFLOPS) bounds performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1920x1080: At Low settings, the combo achieves 90.5 FPS average, which is the highest recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings reduce this to 63.7 FPS, a 29.6% drop. High settings deliver 55.6 FPS, and Ultra produces 53.1 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is minimal (2.5 FPS), indicating diminishing returns beyond High settings. All 1080p configurations exceed 50 FPS, making this resolution fully playable across all quality levels.

2560x1440: Low settings yield 72.2 FPS, which remains above 60 FPS. Medium drops to 51.9 FPS, a 28.1% reduction from Low. High settings produce 42.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 35.9 FPS. The step from Medium to High (9.0 FPS) is larger than from High to Ultra (7.0 FPS), suggesting that High settings impose a significant load but Ultra adds relatively less. Only the Low setting maintains playable frame rates at 1440p, while Medium and above dip below 60 FPS.

3840x2160: Low settings achieve 46.1 FPS, which is borderline playable. Medium drops to 35.7 FPS, High to 28.1 FPS, and Ultra to 24.7 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 46.4% performance loss, the largest relative drop across all resolutions. None of the 4K settings reach 60 FPS, and only Low approaches playability. The data clearly indicates that 4K is not a viable option for this combo in Control.

Cross-resolution analysis: The best configuration overall is 1080p Low at 90.5 FPS, while the worst is 4K Ultra at 24.7 FPS. At any given setting, the drop from 1080p to 1440p averages 22.6%, and from 1440p to 4K averages 34.0%. This consistent scaling pattern confirms that the GTX 1660 Ti's rendering capabilities are the bottleneck, with the CPU providing adequate support up to the highest tested resolution.