Control

# Control — AMD Ryzen 5 5600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti delivers a compelling 1440p experience in Control, with the data showing a clear GPU-bound pattern as resolution increases. The combo ranks 616th out of 1636 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all tested hardware pairings for this title. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings tiers reveal how this specific pairing scales with workload, and the pattern points to the RTX 3070 Ti as the primary performance arbiter at higher resolutions while the Ryzen 5 5600X holds its own at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, indicating that resolution scaling is dominated by the GPU's rendering throughput rather than any CPU limitation. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 104.8 FPS at 1920x1080 to 80.4 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 24.4 FPS, and then further down to 55.5 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 47% decline from 1080p to 4K at High settings. The pattern is even more pronounced at Low settings: 169.6 FPS at 1080p drops to 127.9 FPS at 1440p and then to 87.4 FPS at 4K, a 48.5% total reduction.

This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. The RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB GDDR6X memory and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth are being pushed harder as pixel count rises, and the frame rate declines proportionally. At 1080p, the CPU has more headroom to feed frames, but the data shows that even at Low settings, the 4K result (87.4 FPS) is still well above 60 FPS, suggesting the GPU has sufficient compute for this title at lower quality presets. The gap between 1440p and 4K at Medium settings is 33 FPS (92.9 to 59.9), which is a larger absolute drop than the 24.5 FPS gap between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings (119.9 to 92.9). This non-linear scaling is consistent with the pixel count increase from 1440p to 4K being roughly 2.25x, which outpaces the linear scaling of GPU resources.

The takeaway is clear: at 1080p, the combo is capable of high refresh rates (169.6 FPS on Low, 104.8 FPS on High), but as resolution climbs, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's role diminishes, and the measured results reflect a system that is well-balanced for 1440p gaming but will require settings compromises at 4K to maintain smooth frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. The base clock runs at 1575 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and memory operates at 1188 MHz, translating to 19 Gbps effective on the 8 GB GDDR6X frame buffer across a 256-bit bus. This configuration yields a memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s, which is substantial for a card in this class.

In Control, the GPU's role is evident from the measured FPS data. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 49.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players target. At 4K High, the average rises to 55.5 FPS, still short of 60. The card's pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s are being taxed heavily at this resolution, and the 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is insufficient to maintain high frame rates with Ultra settings at 4K. The data suggests that the 3070 Ti is better positioned for 1440p gaming, where it achieves 80.4 FPS on High and 67.6 FPS on Ultra, both playable figures.

The GPU's benchmark scores corroborate its mid-high tier standing. It scores 23356 in PassMark G3D and 11601 in PassMark GPU Compute, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3478. Its percentile rank against all GPUs is 74, meaning it outperforms roughly three-quarters of the tested GPUs. The nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark scores are the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (0.3% higher score), AMD Radeon RX 6700 (0.8% lower), and NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (0.9% lower). These deltas are small, indicating that the 3070 Ti sits in a tightly contested performance band, though its real-world Control results will depend on driver optimizations and game-specific factors.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings is 80.4 FPS.

Q: Can this combo hit 60 FPS at 4K?

A: At 4K with High settings, the average FPS is 55.5, which is below 60. At 4K with Medium settings, the average rises to 59.9 FPS, still marginally below 60. Only at 4K with Low settings does it exceed 60, averaging 87.4 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rival in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME has an average benchmark score 0.3% higher, while the AMD Radeon RX 6700 is 0.8% lower and the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 is 0.9% lower. These differences are minimal.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?

A: Based on the data, 2560x1440 offers the best balance, with 80.4 FPS on High and 67.6 FPS on Ultra. At 1080p, the combo exceeds 100 FPS on High (104.8 FPS), but 1440p provides higher visual fidelity while maintaining smooth frame rates.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings average 169.6 FPS, while Ultra settings average 89.6 FPS, a difference of 80 FPS. This indicates that the GPU has ample headroom at 1080p for high refresh rate displays.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combos in Control?

A: The combo ranks 616th out of 1636 tested combinations, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all tested combos.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 616 out of 1636 tested combinations places it in the upper-middle tier of all hardware pairings tested in Control. This rank reflects the combined performance of the Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 3070 Ti, and the measured FPS data shows that this pairing is well-suited for 1440p gaming. The CPU's average benchmark score of 20680 places it at the 78th percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU's average score of 30849 places it at the 74th percentile against all GPUs. Both components are above average, but neither is top-tier, which explains the mid-high combo rank.

The CPU's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT (0.3% lower score), Intel Core i7-10700 (0.3% lower), and Intel Core i5-12490F (0.5% lower). These are all closely matched, indicating that the 5600X is in a competitive performance bracket for its class. The GPU's nearest rivals are similarly close, with the RX 590 GME being 0.3% higher and the RX 6700 being 0.8% lower. This tight clustering suggests that the combo's rank is not driven by a single component being exceptional, but rather by both components performing solidly within their respective tiers.

In the context of Control specifically, the rank of 616 means that 1020 tested combos outperformed this pairing. The data indicates that higher-ranked combos likely feature more powerful GPUs or CPUs, but the measured FPS at 1440p and 1080p shows that this combo delivers playable frame rates across most settings. The rank is a useful reference point, but the actual FPS numbers provide a more actionable picture of what to expect in-game.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a 32 MB L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel configuration, providing 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The processor uses PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes and has an unlocked multiplier for overclocking.

In Control, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 169.6 FPS, which is a high frame rate that requires the CPU to feed the GPU efficiently. The 5600X's single-thread performance is strong, as evidenced by its benchmarks: 917 in 3DMark single-thread, 264 in Cinebench R15 single-core, 1101 in Cinebench R20 single-core, and 2622 in Cinebench R23 single-core. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle the game's physics and logic threads without becoming a limiting factor at 1080p.

However, as resolution increases, the CPU's influence diminishes. The 4K results show only modest FPS differences between settings tiers (49.8 to 87.4 FPS across Ultra to Low), which is a characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. The CPU's multi-threaded performance, reflected in scores like 7802 in Cinebench R20 multicore and 18578 in Cinebench R23 multicore, is sufficient for Control's threading model, but the game does not appear to be heavily multi-threaded based on the scaling patterns. The 5600X's 6 cores and 12 threads are adequate for the game's demands, and the data shows no evidence of CPU-induced stuttering or frame rate drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings tiers, providing a comprehensive view of performance. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 89.6 on Ultra to 169.6 on Low, with Medium at 119.9 and High at 104.8. At 2560x1440, the averages are 67.6 on Ultra, 80.4 on High, 92.9 on Medium, and 127.9 on Low. At 3840x2160, the averages are 49.8 on Ultra, 55.5 on High, 59.9 on Medium, and 87.4 on Low.

The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution decreases. At 1080p, the difference is 80 FPS (169.6 vs 89.6), at 1440p it is 60.3 FPS (127.9 vs 67.6), and at 4K it is 37.6 FPS (87.4 vs 49.8). This trend indicates that at lower resolutions, the GPU has enough headroom to render higher quality settings, but at 4K, even Low settings push the GPU to its limits. The 4K Low result of 87.4 FPS is notable, as it shows that the RTX 3070 Ti can deliver high frame rates at 4K when graphical quality is reduced.

For players targeting 60 FPS, the data suggests the following settings: at 1080p, all settings tiers exceed 60 FPS; at 1440p, all settings tiers exceed 60 FPS, with Ultra at 67.6 FPS; at 4K, only Low (87.4 FPS) and Medium (59.9 FPS, marginally below 60) come close, while High and Ultra fall short. The 1440p Medium result of 92.9 FPS offers a good balance of visual quality and performance, while 1080p High at 104.8 FPS is ideal for high refresh rate monitors. The data consistently shows the combo's strength at 1440p, with all settings providing playable frame rates, and the 1080p results indicate the CPU is not a bottleneck even at the highest frame rates measured.