Control

Control with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is a high-end pairing that delivers a smooth experience across most configurations, but the data reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior depending on resolution and settings. The benchmark results show this combo ranks 410th out of 1636 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the top 25% of all hardware pairings. The measured frame rates range from a demanding 56.9 FPS at 4K Ultra to an exceptionally fluid 194.7 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that the system has enough headroom to prioritize visual fidelity without sacrificing playability.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, running on the AM4 socket with a 65W TDP. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz, combined with 32 MB of L3 cache, provide strong single-thread performance that is critical for game logic and draw call processing. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2622 and a multi-core score of 18578, demonstrating that while it is not a workstation monster, its per-core efficiency is excellent for gaming workloads.

In Control, the CPU’s role is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system produces 194.7 FPS, which is 51.7% higher than the 4K Low result of 98.9 FPS. This gap indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is capable of feeding frames far faster than the GPU can render at higher resolutions, but it also shows that the 5600X does not bottleneck the RTX 3080 Ti even at these high frame rates. The processor’s 3DMark 16-thread score of 5582 and 8-thread score of 4811 suggest it can handle multi-threaded game tasks without issue, though Control’s engine appears to scale primarily with single-core performance given the CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 917.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the database—the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT and Intel Core i7-10700—both have average scores within 0.3% of the 5600X, meaning this processor is essentially at parity with those alternatives in overall compute. However, in gaming-specific scenarios, the 5600X’s higher boost clock and newer architecture often translate to better frame pacing, which is consistent with the measured results showing no CPU-induced frame rate collapses even at the lowest settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is a 30-series Ampere card with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz are paired with 10240 shading units and 80 RT cores, making it a formidable GPU for rasterization and ray tracing alike. In synthetic tests, the GPU scores 26896 in Passmark G3D and 191309 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs—just 0.5% behind the RTX 3090 in average benchmark score.

The GPU’s VRAM capacity and bandwidth are directly relevant to Control’s results at high resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the system drops to 56.9 FPS, which is a 71% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score of 106.1 FPS. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the RTX 3080 Ti’s raw compute is the limiting factor, not memory capacity—12 GB is sufficient for Control at 4K, but the 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 compute is taxed heavily by the game’s particle effects and physics. The GPU’s nearest rival, the RTX 3090, is only 0.5% faster on average, so the 3080 Ti’s performance here is representative of the top tier of 30-series cards.

Interestingly, the GPU’s Passmark DirectX 12 score of 110 is lower than its DirectX 11 score of 223, which may reflect driver overhead or benchmark methodology. In Control, the transition from High to Ultra settings at any resolution costs roughly 10-13% performance (e.g., 92.6 to 82.5 FPS at 1440p), indicating that the Ultra preset introduces computationally expensive effects that disproportionately impact the GPU’s frame output.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how this combo scales across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. At 1080p, the system is clearly CPU-limited at Low settings (194.7 FPS) but becomes GPU-limited as settings increase, with Ultra dropping to 106.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the Low preset yields 143.7 FPS, which is 26% lower than 1080p Low—this drop is larger than the pixel count increase would suggest, indicating that the CPU’s frame generation ceiling is being approached. At 1440p Ultra, the system hits 82.5 FPS, a 22% reduction from 1080p Ultra, which aligns with the GPU’s rendering load scaling.

At 4K, the pattern shifts decisively to GPU-bound. The difference between Low (98.9 FPS) and Ultra (56.9 FPS) is 42.5 FPS, a 42.5% performance penalty for maxing out settings. This is the most significant settings-driven drop across all resolutions, confirming that at 4K, the RTX 3080 Ti’s compute units are saturated. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings (92.6 to 63.9 FPS) represents a 31% reduction, which is roughly proportional to the 2.25x pixel increase, suggesting the GPU is the sole limiter at this resolution. For gamers targeting 4K, the data suggests that High settings (63.9 FPS) are more viable than Ultra (56.9 FPS) if a 60 FPS baseline is desired.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings balance depends on the target resolution. At 1080p, High settings (122 FPS) offer a 15% improvement over Ultra (106.1 FPS) with minimal visual degradation, making High the best choice for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Low preset at 1080p (194.7 FPS) is excessive for most displays and sacrifices too much visual quality for frame rates that exceed typical 144Hz capabilities.

At 1440p, Medium settings (101.6 FPS) provide the best experience, as it maintains over 100 FPS while being only 9% slower than High (92.6 FPS) in the opposite direction—wait, the data shows High at 92.6 FPS and Medium at 101.6 FPS, so Medium is actually 9.7% faster than High. This suggests the High preset includes effects that are disproportionately expensive at this resolution. For a 144Hz monitor, Medium is the sweet spot; for 60Hz displays, Ultra (82.5 FPS) is acceptable but not necessary.

At 4K, High settings (63.9 FPS) are the recommended baseline, as they clear 60 FPS while Ultra (56.9 FPS) falls below it. The Medium preset (68.8 FPS) is also viable if a small visual compromise is acceptable for a 7.7% frame rate boost over High. Low at 4K (98.9 FPS) is not recommended unless the user prioritizes frame rate over all visual fidelity, as the game’s atmosphere relies heavily on lighting effects that are stripped at Low.

FAQ

Q: Can this CPU/GPU combo run Control at 4K 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at High settings (63.9 FPS) or Medium settings (68.8 FPS). The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 56.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the fastest settings preset at 1080p?

A: The Low preset achieves 194.7 FPS at 1080p, which is the highest measured frame rate in the dataset. However, this comes at a significant visual quality cost compared to High (122 FPS).

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti compare to the RTX 3090 in this context?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti scores 0.5% lower than the RTX 3090 in average benchmark scores, so their gaming performance in Control is effectively identical within measurement error.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600X a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low settings, the system produces 194.7 FPS, which indicates the CPU is pushing frames faster than the GPU can render, but this is not a limiting bottleneck—it just means the GPU is the primary constraint at higher settings.

Q: What is the largest FPS drop between settings at any resolution?

A: The biggest drop is at 4K, where going from Low (98.9 FPS) to Ultra (56.9 FPS) costs 42.5% performance. This is the largest settings-driven penalty in the entire dataset.

Q: Does the 12 GB VRAM limit performance at 4K?

A: No, the data shows the GPU’s compute capability is the limiting factor, not VRAM capacity. The 4K Ultra result of 56.9 FPS is more consistent with GPU compute saturation than memory bandwidth exhaustion.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers the highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 194.7 FPS, Medium drops to 136.7 FPS, High achieves 122 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 106.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 88.6 FPS, representing a 45.5% performance range.

At 2560x1440, the scaling is more moderate. Low settings hit 143.7 FPS, Medium yields 101.6 FPS, High runs at 92.6 FPS, and Ultra stays playable at 82.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 61.2 FPS, a 42.6% reduction.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiter. Low settings produce 98.9 FPS, Medium drops to 68.8 FPS, High runs at 63.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 56.9 FPS. The total range is 42 FPS, with the gap between Medium and Ultra being only 11.9 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from High to Ultra at this resolution.

The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates across all settings, and is capable of 4K gaming at High settings with a 60 FPS target. The 1080p results are excellent for competitive play, though the CPU’s single-thread performance is the likely ceiling for the Low preset’s 194.7 FPS result.