Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti pairing represents a stark contrast in generational capability. The CPU is a modern 6-core, 12-thread Zen 3 part built on TSMC’s 7 nm process, while the GPU is a 2016-era Pascal chip built on Samsung’s 14 nm node. In Control, this imbalance dictates the experience: the processor has ample headroom, but the graphics card becomes the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. The data shows a combo that can approach playability only at 1080p with reduced settings, while 4K remains firmly in slideshow territory.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F is a desktop processor from the 5000 series, featuring 6 cores and 12 threads. Its base clock is 3.00 GHz with a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, operating within a 65 W TDP. The chip uses the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, and is fabricated on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It has a 32 MB shared L3 cache, plus 512 KB of L2 per core and 64 KB of L1 per core. The CPU supports DDR4 memory over a dual-channel bus, with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. It also supports ECC memory and connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 CPU lanes. The processor has no integrated graphics, so a discrete GPU is mandatory.

In terms of raw compute, the Ryzen 5 5600F posts a Passmark multithread score of 19236 and a single-thread score of 2872. Its average benchmark score is 36945, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. This is a strong result for a mid-range part. The nearest rivals are closely matched: the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has an average score of 36938 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018 (-0.2%), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 (-0.4%), and the Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 (-0.5%). This clustering indicates that the 5600F is right at the edge of a performance tier, with no significant advantage over its immediate competitors.

For Control, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics calculations, and game logic. The game is an Action Adventure title that relies on physics-heavy combat and destructible environments, which can stress multiple threads. With 12 threads, the Ryzen 5 5600F has sufficient parallel capacity. The Passmark physics score of 1043 and the floating-point math score of 34548 suggest solid computational throughput. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing. At 1080p with Low settings, the measured average FPS is 46, which is far below what the CPU could theoretically support in a less GPU-bound scenario. The fact that the frame rate drops significantly when moving from Low to Medium (46 to 32 FPS at 1080p) points to the GPU struggling with increased shader complexity, not the CPU.

The CPU’s 85th percentile ranking versus all CPUs confirms its capability. In contrast, the GPU sits in the 25th percentile. This 60-point gap in percentile rankings is the clearest indicator of where the bottleneck lies. The Ryzen 5 5600F could likely drive a much more powerful graphics card in Control without breaking a sweat. The processor’s boost clock of 4.00 GHz is adequate for the game’s single-threaded tasks, and the 32 MB L3 cache helps with data locality. The benchmark results show no signs of CPU starvation; the frame times are uniform and scale predictably with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a Pascal-architecture GPU with the GP107 chip, fabricated on a 14 nm process by Samsung. It has 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The base clock is 1291 MHz with a boost clock of 1392 MHz. Memory is 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 112.1 GB/s. The card has a 75 W TDP and requires no power connectors, drawing power solely from the PCIe slot. It uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. Its pixel rate is 44.54 GPixel/s and texture rate is 66.82 GTexel/s, with an FP32 performance of 2.138 TFLOPS.

The GTX 1050 Ti’s benchmark scores are modest. In Passmark, it scores 6340 in G3D and 2652 in GPU compute. Its average benchmark score is 4193, placing it in the 25th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon R5 M330 (avg score 4170, +0.6% delta), the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (4151, +1%), the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M (4241, -1.1%), and the AMD Radeon Vega 3 (4268, -1.8%). This places the 1050 Ti in the entry-level segment, barely above integrated graphics solutions. The 4 GB VRAM is a critical limitation for Control, a game that uses high-resolution textures and complex shaders.

In Control, the GPU’s role is dominant. The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 46, but at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 25. This 21-FPS swing due to settings alone demonstrates that the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth are overwhelmed by the game’s visual features. The card’s 112.1 GB/s memory bandwidth is insufficient for the game’s texture streaming at higher settings. The 4 GB VRAM likely causes texture thrashing, especially at 1440p and 4K, where the frame rates plummet. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is just 13, which is essentially unplayable.

The GPU’s low percentile ranking (25th) is consistent with its performance. It is a card designed for 1080p gaming at medium settings in older titles, not for a demanding 2019 Action Adventure game like Control. The benchmark results indicate that the GTX 1050 Ti is the sole limiting component in this combo. The CPU has ample headroom, as evidenced by the fact that at 1080p Low, the FPS is only 46, which is likely below the CPU’s maximum frame output in this game. The GPU’s boost clock of 1392 MHz is low by modern standards, and the FP32 throughput of 2.138 TFLOPS is insufficient for the game’s particle effects and lighting calculations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a severe drop as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 46. Moving to 1440p Low, it falls to 34, a 26% reduction. At 4K Low, it drops further to 23, which is only 50% of the 1080p Low performance. This scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the number of pixels to be shaded increases quadratically. The GTX 1050 Ti’s 2.138 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is simply too low to handle 4K rendering, even at Low settings.

At Medium settings, the drop is similar: 1080p Medium averages 32 FPS, 1440p Medium averages 24 FPS, and 4K Medium averages 17 FPS. The min FPS at 1080p Medium is 27, at 1440p Medium it is 21, and at 4K Medium it is 14. The max FPS follows the same pattern: 37 at 1080p, 28 at 1440p, and 19 at 4K. The consistent scaling across settings confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU’s performance is resolution-independent, so if the CPU were the limiting factor, we would see flat FPS across resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops by roughly 30-40% at each step up in resolution, which aligns with the increase in pixel count.

At High settings, the trend continues: 1080p High gives 29 FPS, 1440p High gives 22 FPS, and 4K High gives 15 FPS. At Ultra, the numbers are 25, 19, and 13 FPS respectively. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is 21 FPS (46 to 25), while at 4K the gap is only 10 FPS (23 to 13). This narrowing suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so overwhelmed by pixel shading that the additional cost of higher settings has less relative impact. The data indicates that the limiting component is unambiguously the GPU. The Ryzen 5 5600F’s performance does not change with resolution, so the FPS drop can only be attributed to the GTX 1050 Ti’s inability to keep up with the pixel throughput.

The resolution scaling also highlights the VRAM limitation. At 4K, the 4 GB GDDR5 buffer is likely exhausted, forcing the game to swap textures to system memory, which causes stuttering and low FPS. The measured min FPS at 4K Medium is 14, which is barely above the average of 17, indicating inconsistent frame delivery. The data suggests that this combo is only viable at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, and even then, the average FPS of 46 at Low is marginal for a smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this combo of AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti ranks 2854 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places it in the bottom 1.2% of all configurations. The rank of 2854 out of 2888 is a stark indicator of how poorly this pairing performs in this specific game. The data shows that this is one of the weakest combinations tested, and it is entirely due to the GPU’s limitations.

To put this in perspective, the CPU alone ranks in the 85th percentile, while the GPU ranks in the 25th percentile. The combo rank of 2854 is far lower than what the CPU alone would suggest, confirming that the GPU drags the overall performance down. The delta between the CPU and GPU percentile rankings is 60 points, which is a massive imbalance. In a balanced system, these two metrics would be closer. Here, the CPU is overqualified for the GPU, leading to a situation where the GPU is saturated while the CPU idles.

The measured FPS data supports this ranking. The highest average FPS recorded for this combo is 46 at 1080p Low. This is a low score for a game like Control, which can run at much higher frame rates with a more capable GPU. The combo’s rank of 2854 out of 2888 means that only 34 other tested combos perform worse. This places the 5600F + 1050 Ti in the same performance tier as systems with integrated graphics or ancient discrete GPUs. The data is clear: this is not a gaming combination for modern titles at playable settings.

The nearest rivals for the GPU (AMD Radeon R5 M330, NVIDIA Quadro K2100M) have average scores within 1% of the GTX 1050 Ti, indicating that this GPU is at the very bottom of the discrete graphics hierarchy. The CPU’s nearest rivals are all within 0.5% of its score, but that does not matter when the GPU is the bottleneck. The combo rank is a holistic measure, and it correctly identifies this as a low-performing configuration for Control.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at how this combo performs across resolutions and settings. At 3840x2160 (4K), the average FPS ranges from 13 to 23 depending on settings. At Ultra, the average is 13 FPS. At High, it is 15 FPS. At Medium, it is 17 FPS with a min of 14 and max of 19. At Low, it is 23 FPS. These numbers are all unplayable for a fast-paced Action Adventure game. Even at Low settings, 23 FPS is below the threshold for smooth motion, and the game would feel laggy.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the performance improves but remains poor. Ultra averages 19 FPS, High averages 22 FPS, Medium averages 24 FPS (min 21, max 28), and Low averages 34 FPS. The jump from 4K to 1440p is significant, but 34 FPS at Low settings is still not ideal. The 24 FPS at Medium is borderline, but the min FPS of 21 indicates frame drops that would be noticeable during combat. The data shows that 1440p is only marginally better than 4K, and neither is suitable for serious play.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the combo finally reaches playable territory, but only at lower settings. Low settings yield an average of 46 FPS. Medium settings drop to 32 FPS (min 27, max 37), High settings give 29 FPS, and Ultra drops to 25 FPS. The 46 FPS at Low is the only configuration that breaks 45 FPS, and it is still not a locked 60 FPS experience. The 32 FPS at Medium is the highest setting that maintains an average above 30 FPS. The data indicates that for a smooth experience, the user would need to play at 1080p Low, and even then, they would encounter occasional dips.

The min and max FPS data is only available for Medium settings across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the min is 27 and max is 37, showing a 10-FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the spread is 7 FPS (21 to 28). At 4K Medium, the spread is 5 FPS (14 to 19). This narrowing spread at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is consistently saturated, leaving less room for variance. At 1080p, the GPU has more headroom, so the frame rate fluctuates more. The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p Low is the best case, and 4K Ultra is the worst case.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combination for this CPU-GPU pair in Control?

A: The measured data shows that 1080p with Low settings produces the highest average FPS at 46. For settings above Low, 1080p Medium yields 32 FPS average (min 27, max 37). At 1440p, the best is Low at 34 FPS, and at 4K, the best is Low at 23 FPS. For a balance of visual quality and playability, 1080p Medium is the highest setting that averages above 30 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F has an average benchmark score of 36945. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36938, which is a 0% delta. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018, a -0.2% delta. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093, a -0.4% delta. The Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112, a -0.5% delta. All four rivals are within 0.5% of the 5600F’s score.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor in this combo?

A: The data clearly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 25th percentile of all GPUs. The FPS drops significantly as resolution increases (46 FPS at 1080p Low to 23 FPS at 4K Low), which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance. The CPU’s performance is resolution-independent.

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank among tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 2854 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places it in the bottom 1.2% of all configurations. The GPU’s low average benchmark score of 4193 (25th percentile) is the primary reason for this low ranking.

Q: What are the GPU’s nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has an average benchmark score of 4193. The AMD Radeon R5 M330 scores 4170 (+0.6% delta), the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M scores 4151 (+1%), the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M scores 4241 (-1.1%), and the AMD Radeon Vega 3 scores 4268 (-1.8%). These are all within 2% of the 1050 Ti.

Q: Does the CPU have integrated graphics for a fallback?

A: No, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F has no integrated graphics (listed as "N/A"). A discrete GPU is required for any display output. The GTX 1050 Ti is the only graphics solution in this combo.