Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 5 5600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The pairing of AMD's 6-core Ryzen 5 5600X with NVIDIA's flagship-class RTX 4080 produces a striking dataset in Control, one that reveals how this 2019 Action Adventure title scales across resolutions and presets. With measured average frame rates ranging from 69 FPS at 4K Ultra to 225 FPS at 1080p Low, the combination demonstrates both the GPU's raw throughput and the CPU's ability to feed it. The data shows a combo ranking of 326 out of 3,720 tested configurations, placing it in the top 8.8% of all pairings, though the scaling behavior between resolutions suggests the RTX 4080 is the dominant performance driver throughout most of the tested range.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 156 FPS at 1080p to 118 FPS at 1440p, then further to 79 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24.4% reduction when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 33.1% reduction when moving from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 49.4%, meaning the RTX 4080 loses roughly half its frame rate when pixel count quadruples.

The scaling pattern is similar at other presets. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 225 at 1080p to 186 at 1440p (a 17.3% drop), then to 126 at 4K (a 32.3% drop from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 175 to 132 to 89, with reductions of 24.6% and 32.6% respectively. Ultra settings show the steepest relative decline: from 135 at 1080p to 102 at 1440p (24.4% drop), then to 69 at 4K (32.4% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets strongly suggests that resolution scaling is the primary factor limiting performance, rather than any specific in-game setting.

What does this imply about the limiting component? The fact that 1080p Low yields 225 FPS while 1080p Ultra yields 135 FPS — a 66.7% performance gap — indicates the GPU is heavily engaged even at the lowest resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau or cluster together regardless of resolution, particularly at lower settings. Instead, the data shows that every resolution step produces a meaningful frame rate change, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The RTX 4080's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth appear sufficient to handle the game's demands at all tested resolutions, as the scaling is smooth and predictable rather than showing sudden collapses that would indicate memory capacity or bandwidth saturation.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip, delivers the bulk of the performance in this pairing. Its base clock of 2205 MHz and boost clock of 2505 MHz, combined with 9,728 shading units and 112 ROPs, provide the computational foundation for the measured frame rates. The GPU's 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 761.5 GTexel/s texture rate are directly relevant to Control's particle effects and physics-heavy combat sequences, which rely heavily on both shader and texture throughput.

The 16 GB memory capacity is notable in the context of this game. Control is known for its dense environments and destructible objects, which can consume significant video memory at higher resolutions and settings. The fact that the 4K Ultra preset still maintains an average of 69 FPS — the lowest measured value in the dataset — suggests the memory subsystem is not being pushed to its limits, as there are no min FPS values recorded for most presets that would indicate stuttering or frame time spikes from memory pressure. The only preset with min FPS data is Medium, where 4K shows 76 FPS minimum, 1440p shows 113 FPS minimum, and 1080p shows 149 FPS minimum.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its high-end positioning. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,567 and PassMark G3D score of 34,457 place it at the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, is essentially tied with a delta of just 0.1%, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X trails by 1.1% and the RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6%. The RTX 4080's performance in Control appears consistent with these synthetic benchmarks, as it achieves frame rates that would be considered highly playable even at 4K Ultra, where 69 FPS is above the 60 FPS threshold commonly cited for smooth gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 4080 achieves a combo rank of 326 out of 3,720 tested configurations in Control. This places the pairing in the 91.2th percentile of all tested combos, meaning it outperforms approximately 3,394 other CPU-GPU pairings in this specific game. Given that the RTX 4080 is a high-end GPU and the 5600X is a mid-range CPU from 2020, this ranking suggests that Control is not particularly demanding on the processor, allowing the GPU to flex its capabilities.

The rank is somewhat surprising when considering the CPU's position relative to its rivals. The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 21,771, which places it at the 75th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Ryzen 7 4800H at 21,749 (0.1% behind), the Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U at 21,874 (0.5% ahead), the Intel Core i7-11700 at 21,891 (0.5% ahead), and the AMD EPYC 9554P at 21,899 (0.6% ahead). All of these rivals are within 0.6% of the 5600X's score, indicating that the CPU is competitively positioned in general-purpose performance. Yet the combo rank of 326 suggests that in Control specifically, the GPU is doing most of the heavy lifting, and the CPU's performance is sufficient to avoid becoming a limiting factor.

This interpretation is supported by the resolution scaling data. If the CPU were limiting performance, we would expect to see smaller frame rate differences between 1080p and 1440p, since the CPU's workload does not scale with resolution. Instead, the data shows consistent 17-25% drops between these resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the performance ceiling. The combo rank would likely be even higher if the CPU were paired with a less powerful GPU, but with the RTX 4080, the 5600X is able to keep up with the GPU's output across all tested settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the user's resolution and performance priorities. At 4K, the High preset delivers 79 FPS average, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Ultra drops to 69 FPS, a 12.7% reduction that may be noticeable in fast-paced combat but still playable. Medium offers 89 FPS, a 12.7% improvement over High, while Low jumps to 126 FPS. For 4K users seeking the best visual quality without compromising playability, High appears to be the sweet spot, as it balances the visual fidelity of Ultra with a 14.5% higher frame rate.

At 1440p, the data suggests that Ultra settings at 102 FPS provide an excellent experience, as the frame rate remains well above 100 FPS while delivering maximum visual quality. High at 118 FPS and Medium at 132 FPS offer incremental improvements for users with high-refresh-rate monitors, while Low at 186 FPS is likely unnecessary given the diminishing returns on visual quality. The 1440p Ultra figure of 102 FPS is particularly notable because it demonstrates that the RTX 4080 can handle maximum settings at this resolution with headroom to spare.

For 1080p users, the situation is reversed — the GPU is so powerful that even Ultra settings at 135 FPS leave significant performance on the table. Medium at 175 FPS and High at 156 FPS are both viable, but the difference between Ultra and Medium is 40 FPS (a 29.6% gap). Given that Control is a visually rich game with atmospheric effects, the recommendation would be to prioritize visual quality at 1080p, as the RTX 4080 can easily maintain high frame rates even at maximum settings. The Low preset at 225 FPS is only relevant for competitive play or extremely high refresh rate displays, as it sacrifices most of the game's visual identity for marginal performance gains.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset of measured average frame rates provides a detailed picture of performance across all combinations of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the progression from Low to Ultra is 225, 175, 156, and 135 FPS respectively. The step from Low to Medium represents a 22.2% reduction, from Medium to High a 10.9% reduction, and from High to Ultra a 13.5% reduction. The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data at this resolution, showing a minimum of 149 FPS and maximum of 201 FPS, indicating a 52 FPS range between the lowest and highest frame times.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 186 for Low, 132 for Medium, 118 for High, and 102 for Ultra. The Low to Medium drop is 29.0%, which is steeper than at 1080p, suggesting that the Medium preset's additional visual effects have a proportionally larger impact at higher resolutions. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a minimum of 113 FPS and maximum of 152 FPS, a 39 FPS range. The High to Ultra drop at this resolution is 13.6%, nearly identical to the 1080p drop, indicating consistent scaling between these two presets.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are 126 for Low, 89 for Medium, 79 for High, and 69 for Ultra. The Low to Medium drop is 29.4%, matching the 1440p pattern, while the Medium to High drop is 11.2% and the High to Ultra drop is 12.7%. The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 103 FPS, a 27 FPS range that is narrower than at lower resolutions, suggesting more consistent frame pacing at higher pixel counts. Overall, the data shows that the RTX 4080 maintains playable frame rates (above 60 FPS) at every resolution and preset combination tested, with the only sub-70 FPS result being 69 FPS at 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, a Zen 3 (Vermeer) processor built on TSMC's 7 nm process, contributes 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its 32 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provide the foundation for feeding the RTX 4080. The CPU's benchmark results show strong single-thread performance — a 3DMark single-thread score of 917 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,541 — which is critical for game engines that rely on a primary render thread.

In Control specifically, the CPU's role appears to be secondary but not negligible. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 225 FPS, while 4K Low achieves 126 FPS, indicates that the CPU can sustain frame rates well above 200 FPS, which is far beyond what most displays can show. However, the 225 FPS figure at 1080p Low does suggest that the CPU is nearing its practical limit, as this is the highest measured value in the dataset. If the CPU were completely unconstrained, we might expect even higher frame rates at 1080p Low, but the 225 FPS ceiling is consistent with the 5600X's performance class.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, as measured by Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11,838 and PassMark multithread score of 21,858, are adequate for Control's requirements. The game is not known for heavy multi-threading, so the 6-core/12-thread configuration is sufficient. The CPU's 75th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21,771, places it in the upper quartile, and its nearest rivals are all within 0.6% of its score, indicating that it is well-matched with similarly priced processors. The 5600X's 65 W TDP and unlocked multiplier allow for efficient operation, though the data does not include overclocking results.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Control with this CPU-GPU combination?

A: The data shows that 1440p Ultra delivers 102 FPS average, which provides excellent visual quality while maintaining frame rates above 100 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 69 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average frame rate decreases from 156 FPS at 1920x1080 to 79 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a 49.4% reduction. This indicates that the RTX 4080 is the primary performance limiter across all resolutions.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600X a bottleneck for the RTX 4080 in Control?

A: The data suggests minimal CPU bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the combination achieves 225 FPS, and the consistent frame rate drops across resolution increases indicate GPU-bound performance. The CPU's 75th percentile ranking supports its ability to keep pace.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 4K with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 89 FPS, with a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 103 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold and is the only 4K preset with min/max data available.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested CPU-GPU pairings?

A: The combination ranks 326 out of 3,720 tested combos, placing it in the top 8.8% of all configurations tested in Control. This is consistent with the high-end GPU being the dominant performance factor.

Q: Does the RTX 4080's 16 GB memory capacity affect performance in Control?

A: The data shows no evidence of memory-related performance degradation. Even at 4K Ultra, the average frame rate of 69 FPS is maintained without min FPS data indicating stuttering, suggesting the memory subsystem is sufficient for the game's requirements.