Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a robust 1080p experience in Control, with average frame rates ranging from 106.7 FPS at Ultra settings to 194.3 FPS at Low. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions, with the combination ranking 450th out of 1636 tested combos in this title, placing it in the upper third of all configurations. The measured results reveal a system that is well-balanced at lower resolutions but becomes increasingly GPU-bound as pixel count rises, a pattern typical of a modern high-end graphics card paired with a six-core Zen 3 processor.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K demonstrates a predictable but steep decline, driven primarily by the rendering resolution’s impact on the GPU. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 122.1 FPS, but this drops to 93.1 FPS at 2560x1440—a reduction of 29.0 FPS, or roughly 23.7% less performance. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 60.1 FPS, which is exactly half the 1080p High result at 122.1 FPS. This pattern indicates that the RX 9070 XT is the limiting component at 4K, as the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions but cannot compensate for the sheer pixel throughput required at 2160p.

The scaling becomes more pronounced when examining the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 194.3 FPS, which drops to 145.5 FPS at 1440p—a 48.8 FPS decrease—and then to 97.2 FPS at 4K, a further 48.3 FPS reduction. This near-linear drop in performance at Low settings suggests that the GPU’s raw throughput is the primary constraint, as the CPU has ample headroom with only 6 threads utilized in this older title. Conversely, the Ultra preset shows the smallest absolute differences between resolutions: 106.7 FPS at 1080p, 79.0 FPS at 1440p, and 52.2 FPS at 4K, with each step down costing roughly 27 FPS. The tighter scaling at Ultra implies that the game’s heavier visual effects, such as ray tracing or particle simulations, are saturating the GPU’s compute units, leaving less room for resolution-based scaling to dominate.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo in Control?*

A: The highest measured average is 194.3 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is 59.6% faster than the 122.1 FPS seen at High settings on the same resolution, indicating that lowering quality presets yields substantial frame rate gains.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 52.2 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS threshold commonly targeted for smooth gameplay, suggesting that users should reduce settings or resolution for a more fluid experience.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to bottleneck at 1440p?

A: The data shows that going from 1440p to 1080p at High settings increases performance from 93.1 FPS to 122.1 FPS, a 29.0 FPS gain. This indicates that the GPU is still the limiting factor at 1440p, as reducing resolution provides significant headroom.

Q: What is the average frame rate difference between Medium and High presets at 1080p?

A: Medium settings yield 136.7 FPS, while High produces 122.1 FPS, a difference of 14.6 FPS. This is a smaller gap than the 58.2 FPS difference between Low and Medium, suggesting diminishing returns as quality increases.

Q: Does the combo rank higher than average among all tested configurations?

A: Yes, with a rank of 450 out of 1636 combos, the pairing sits in the 72.5th percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly three-quarters of all tested CPU-GPU combinations in Control.

Q: How much performance is lost switching from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: Medium settings drop from 106.1 FPS at 2560x1440 to 67.4 FPS at 3840x2160, a loss of 38.7 FPS (36.5%). This shows that 4K Medium is still playable but requires a significant compromise versus 1440p.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the dominant contributor to frame rates in this pairing, as evidenced by the consistent scaling across resolutions. With 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card has ample bandwidth at 644.6 GB/s to handle Control’s textures and effects at 4K, yet the benchmark results show that raw compute power, not memory capacity, becomes the constraint. The GPU’s boost clock of 2970 MHz and 4096 shading units allow it to push 122.1 FPS at 1080p High, but this drops to 60.1 FPS at 4K High, a 50.8% reduction that aligns with the quadrupling of pixel count from 1080p to 2160p.

The card’s memory subsystem plays a role at higher settings, where the Ultra preset at 4K drops to 52.2 FPS—the lowest measured value—despite the 16 GB VRAM being unlikely to overflow in a 2019 title. Instead, the reduction is tied to the GPU’s 128 ROPs and 64 RT cores, which are heavily taxed by Control’s physics and particle effects at Ultra. The GPU’s 304 W TDP and dual-slot cooler suggest sustained performance is maintained, as the data shows no anomalies such as severe frame rate collapses at 4K Ultra. Notably, the GPU’s percentile ranking of 82 versus all GPUs indicates it sits above average, but the measured FPS in this game shows that Control’s engine does not fully utilize the card’s capabilities, as the 97.2 FPS at 4K Low is still 50% higher than the Ultra result.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo holds a rank of 450 out of 1636 tested configurations in Control, placing it in the top 27.5% of all pairings. This rank reflects a balanced system where the CPU’s single-thread performance—evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2622—complements the GPU’s mid-range-to-high-end positioning. Compared to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 5600X sits within 0.5% of the Intel Core i5-12490F in average benchmark score, with a deltaPct of -0.5, meaning the 5600X is marginally slower in synthetic tests. However, in Control, this difference is unlikely to matter, as the game is not CPU-bound at 1080p, where the combo achieves over 120 FPS at High settings.

The GPU’s nearest rivals list includes the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 with a deltaPct of -0.6, indicating the RX 9070 XT is slightly faster in average synthetic scores. In practice, the RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB VRAM and RDNA 4.0 architecture provide a clear advantage in Control, which is reflected in the 4K results: 60.1 FPS at High settings versus the Vega 64’s likely lower output given its older architecture. The combo’s rank of 450 also suggests that while the individual components are strong, the pairing does not crack the top 400, implying that systems with newer CPUs or higher-tier GPUs can achieve better results, but this setup remains competitive for 1440p and 1080p gaming.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal preset for 1080p is High, which delivers 122.1 FPS with a balance between visual fidelity and performance. Dropping to Medium yields 136.7 FPS, a 14.6 FPS gain, but the visual downgrade may not justify the increase for most users. At 1440p, Medium settings at 106.1 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains a triple-digit average while High drops to 93.1 FPS, which is still playable but less headroom for dips. For 4K, High settings at 60.1 FPS is the only preset that meets the 60 FPS target, but it does so marginally; users who prioritize smoothness should consider Medium at 67.4 FPS, which provides a 7.3 FPS buffer over High. Ultra settings are not recommended at any resolution, as even at 1080p it only reaches 106.7 FPS—a 15.4 FPS loss versus High—while at 4K it falls to 52.2 FPS, which is below acceptable thresholds for action games.

The Low preset, while delivering the highest frame rates (194.3 FPS at 1080p, 145.5 FPS at 1440p, 97.2 FPS at 4K), is only advisable for competitive play or when using high-refresh-rate monitors, as it sacrifices too much visual quality for a single-player experience like Control. The data shows a clear diminishing return curve: the gap between Low and Medium is 57.6 FPS at 1080p, but between High and Ultra it narrows to 15.4 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset adds minimal detail for a significant performance cost.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces a spread of results across the four presets. Low leads with 194.3 FPS, followed by Medium at 136.7 FPS, High at 122.1 FPS, and Ultra at 106.7 FPS. The difference from Low to Ultra is 87.6 FPS, representing a 45.1% reduction. At 2560x1440, the order remains consistent: Low at 145.5 FPS, Medium at 106.1 FPS, High at 93.1 FPS, and Ultra at 79.0 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 66.5 FPS, a 45.7% drop, showing that resolution scaling amplifies the preset impact. At 3840x2160, Low achieves 97.2 FPS, Medium 67.4 FPS, High 60.1 FPS, and Ultra 52.2 FPS. Here, the Low-to-Ultra difference is 45.0 FPS, or 46.3%, which is proportionally similar to lower resolutions but with a lower absolute floor—Ultra at 4K is the only measured result below 60 FPS. The data also shows that doubling resolution from 1080p to 4K at a given preset reduces FPS by roughly 50%: High drops from 122.1 to 60.1, Medium from 136.7 to 67.4, and Low from 194.3 to 97.2. This consistent halving confirms that the RX 9070 XT’s compute units are the bottleneck, as the CPU’s 4.60 GHz boost clock is sufficient for all tested configurations.