Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Control. At 1920x1080, the combination produces strong frame rates across most settings, with the gap between presets widening as resolution increases. The data indicates a system where the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strong single-thread performance keeps minimums in check.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a clear and predictable decline as resolution scales from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 74.3 at 1080p to 58.2 at 1440p, a 21.7% reduction, and then further to 39.4 at 4K, a 47.0% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This pattern is consistent with GPU-bound rendering, where the RX 5700 XT's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth become the limiting factors.

The scaling behavior is more pronounced at lower settings. With Low settings, the average FPS at 1080p is 115.2, which falls to 89.9 at 1440p (a 22.0% drop) and then to 61.2 at 4K (a 46.9% drop from 1080p). This suggests that even when the graphical workload is reduced, the GPU's raw capabilities at 4K are insufficient to maintain high frame rates. The relative consistency of the percentage drops across settings indicates that the resolution increase imposes a fixed computational burden that the RX 5700 XT cannot overcome, regardless of the preset.

At Ultra settings, the trend becomes more severe. The 1080p average of 67 FPS falls to 48.6 at 1440p (a 27.5% drop) and 34.4 at 4K (a 48.7% drop). The steeper percentage decline at Ultra compared to Low suggests that the combination of high resolution and maximum graphical features saturates the GPU's resources, leading to a disproportionate performance penalty. The data shows that 4K Ultra is not a viable configuration for this combo, as the average FPS of 34.4 falls below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep across all settings, with drops ranging from 32.2% at High (58.2 to 39.4) to 35.8% at Medium (61.6 to 44.2). This indicates that the RX 5700 XT's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are heavily taxed at 4K, and the GPU's shading units and ROPs (2560 and 64, respectively) cannot keep pace with the increased pixel count.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 5700 XT is the dominant factor in these results, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate drops with increasing resolution. The GPU's boost clock of 1905 MHz and game clock of 1755 MHz provide the computational foundation, but the 8 GB VRAM capacity and 256-bit memory bus are the critical specifications for Control. The game's high-resolution textures and effects appear to exceed the comfortable capacity of 8 GB at 4K, contributing to the sub-40 FPS averages at Ultra.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24731. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763, -0.1% delta) and the Intel Arc A350M (24647, +0.3% delta). These scores indicate that the RX 5700 XT is a mid-to-upper tier performer, but the data from Control shows its limitations at higher resolutions. The passmark G3D score of 16277 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2134 provide context for its raw capabilities, yet the game-specific measurements reveal that 4K is beyond its optimal operating range.

The GPU's memory configuration is a notable factor. With 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, the bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is substantial for its class. However, at 4K with High or Ultra settings, the combination of texture detail and post-processing effects likely pushes the memory usage near the limit, causing the observed frame rate drops. At 1080p, the same settings show much higher averages (74.3 at High, 67 at Ultra), suggesting that the VRAM is sufficient at lower resolutions but becomes a bottleneck at 4K.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 9.754 TFLOPS and texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s are competitive for its generation, but the data shows that Control's rendering demands at 4K exceed what this hardware can deliver. The pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s is a limiting factor at 4K, where the GPU must fill over 8 million pixels per frame. This explains the steep scaling curve observed in the measured data.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 74.3, which indicates a smooth experience for most gameplay scenarios.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 34.4, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and suggests a less playable experience.

Q: Is there a significant difference between Low and Medium settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, the average FPS at 1440p with Low settings is 89.9, while Medium settings yield 61.6. This represents a 31.5% reduction in performance when moving from Low to Medium.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain above 60 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all settings except Ultra (67 FPS) and High (74.3 FPS) are above 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low settings (89.9 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while Medium (61.6 FPS) is just above the threshold.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 20680, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT (20740) and 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i7-10700 (20746).

Q: Does the GPU's VRAM capacity impact 4K performance?

A: The data shows a significant drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings, from 58.2 to 39.4 at High, which suggests that the 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for smooth 4K operation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear hierarchy of settings. Low settings produce an average of 115.2 FPS, Medium yields 83.7 FPS, High reaches 74.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 67 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 48.2 FPS, or 41.8%, indicating that the graphical enhancements at Ultra come at a substantial performance cost. The step from Low to Medium is a 27.3% reduction (115.2 to 83.7), while Medium to High is a 11.2% reduction (83.7 to 74.3), and High to Ultra is a 9.8% reduction (74.3 to 67).

At 2560x1440, the same settings pattern emerges but with lower absolute values. Low settings average 89.9 FPS, Medium 61.6 FPS, High 58.2 FPS, and Ultra 48.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 41.3 FPS, or 45.9%, which is a wider relative gap than at 1080p. This suggests that the GPU's workload at 1440p magnifies the differences between presets. The transition from Medium to High is minimal (61.6 to 58.2, a 5.5% drop), while High to Ultra is a 16.5% reduction (58.2 to 48.6).

At 3840x2160, the results are consistently lower across all settings. Low settings average 61.2 FPS, Medium 44.2 FPS, High 39.4 FPS, and Ultra 34.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 26.8 FPS, or 43.8%. Notably, even Low settings at 4K produce an average below the 1080p Ultra result (61.2 vs 67), demonstrating the resolution's significant impact. The Medium to High step is a 10.9% reduction (44.2 to 39.4), and High to Ultra is a 12.7% reduction (39.4 to 34.4), showing that the GPU's limitations at 4K are consistent across presets.

The overall pattern across all resolutions shows that the RX 5700 XT is most comfortable at 1080p, where even Ultra settings maintain an average above 60 FPS. At 1440p, only Low settings provide a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while Medium is marginal at 61.6 FPS. At 4K, no settings achieve 60 FPS, with Low being the only preset above 60 FPS at 61.2, which is barely playable.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal preset for this combination depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, High settings offer the best balance, delivering 74.3 FPS average while retaining most visual features. Ultra at 1080p is also viable at 67 FPS, but the 9.8% drop from High may not justify the additional graphical fidelity for a 7.3 FPS gain.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings provide 61.6 FPS average, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. However, the data shows that Low settings at 1440p (89.9 FPS) offer a significantly smoother experience, and the jump to Medium costs 31.5% performance. For a more consistent experience, Low or Medium is recommended at 1440p, with High (58.2 FPS) being a marginal option for users prioritizing visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the data strongly suggests using Low settings, which produce 61.2 FPS average. This is the only 4K preset that achieves over 60 FPS, and it does so by a narrow margin. Medium settings at 4K drop to 44.2 FPS, which is a 27.8% reduction from Low and will likely result in noticeable stutter during intense combat scenes. High and Ultra at 4K (39.4 and 34.4 FPS respectively) are not recommended for a smooth experience.

The measured rows show that the best experience per the data is achieved at 1080p with High or Ultra settings, or at 1440p with Low settings. The 1080p High configuration offers 74.3 FPS, which is smooth and visually rich, while 1440p Low at 89.9 FPS provides a high frame rate with reduced graphical details. For users with 4K displays, the data indicates that Low settings are the only viable option, and even then, the 61.2 FPS average is close to the minimum threshold for fluid gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X plays a supporting role in these results, as the frame rates are predominantly GPU-limited. The processor's 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz provide ample computational power for Control's physics and AI systems. The Zen 3 architecture's strong single-thread performance is evident in its benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2622 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2111.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 20680 places it in the 78th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rivals being the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT (20740, -0.3% delta) and the Intel Core i7-10700 (20746, -0.3% delta). These scores indicate that the 5600X is a capable processor that does not bottleneck the RX 5700 XT in most scenarios. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5582 and 8-thread score of 4811 show that multi-threaded workloads are handled efficiently, though Control is not heavily threaded.

The CPU's 32 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient for feeding the GPU at 1080p and 1440p. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the average FPS of 115.2 is likely near the CPU's maximum achievable frame rate in this game, as the GPU is not fully stressed at this resolution and preset. However, at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU's influence on the measured FPS diminishes.

The lack of integrated graphics on the 5600X means the RX 5700 XT is the sole rendering device, and the PCIe 4.0 x16 interface (Gen 4, 20 lanes) provides sufficient bandwidth for the GPU's data transfers. The CPU's 7 nm process node and 65 W TDP contribute to its efficiency, but these specifications do not directly impact the game's frame rates. The benchmark results indicate that the 5600X is a balanced companion for the RX 5700 XT, with the combination ranking 1164 out of 1636 combos in Control, placing it in the lower-middle tier of tested configurations.