Control

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for this AMD Ryzen 5 5600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination in Control reveals a clear and consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers 210.6 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at Low settings drops that to 157 FPS, a reduction of approximately 25.5%. Pushing further to 3840x2160 at Low yields 106.9 FPS, which is another 31.9% decline from the 1440p figure. The total drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is about 49.2%.

This scaling behavior strongly indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor at higher resolutions. The RTX 5070's memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s and 12 GB of GDDR7 memory are being stressed as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K. The fact that even at Low settings, 4K cannot reach 120 FPS — whereas 1080p Low exceeds 210 FPS — suggests the rendering pipeline is saturated by pixel throughput rather than CPU-bound logic.

At Ultra settings, the pattern is even more pronounced. The 1080p Ultra average of 117.5 FPS falls to 88.1 FPS at 1440p, then to 57.4 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 25.0%, and from 1440p to 4K is 34.8%. This increasingly steep decline at higher resolutions is typical of a GPU-limited scenario, where the additional pixel workload from 1440p to 4K disproportionately impacts frame rates compared to the 1080p-to-1440p transition.

The data also shows that settings level has a larger relative impact at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the spread between Low (210.6 FPS) and Ultra (117.5 FPS) is 93.1 FPS, a 44.2% reduction. At 4K, the spread between Low (106.9 FPS) and Ultra (57.4 FPS) is 49.5 FPS, a 46.3% reduction. This indicates that the GPU's compute resources — 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 with 6144 shading units — are being taxed heavily regardless of resolution when settings are maxed out.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 achieves a combo rank of 297 out of 1636 tested combos in Control. That places it in the top 18.2% of all combinations tested in this game. The percentile positioning suggests this pairing is well above average for Control's specific workload, which is notable given the game's 2019 release date.

The CPU itself holds a percentile of 78 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20680. Its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT at 20740 (delta of -0.3%), Intel Core i7-10700 at 20746 (delta of -0.3%), and Intel Core i5-12490F at 20794 (delta of -0.5%). These are all extremely close scores, indicating the Ryzen 5 5600X sits in a tightly contested performance tier. The Intel Xeon 6325P trails slightly at 20538, putting the 5600X 0.7% ahead.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5070 holds a percentile of 83 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 at 41610 (0.2% behind) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 41441 (0.6% behind). The RTX 5070 also edges out the Tesla M40 by 0.5% and the Radeon Pro 580X by 0.7%. These marginal deltas suggest the RTX 5070 is positioned in a very competitive performance band, where slight architectural differences determine ranking rather than raw generational leaps.

The combo rank of 297 out of 1636 implies that while both components are individually strong, the pairing may not be perfectly optimized for Control's specific engine characteristics. The data suggests that other combinations — potentially with higher-tier CPUs or different GPU architectures — achieve better results in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 brings substantial hardware to this pairing. Built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm TSMC process, the chip contains 31,100 million transistors across a 263 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2325 MHz and boosts to 2512 MHz, while memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed.

Memory configuration is critical for Control's performance. The 12 GB GDDR7 pool sits on a 192-bit bus, yielding 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a substantial amount of memory throughput for a game that shows significant resolution scaling. The fact that 4K Ultra drops to 57.4 FPS — below the 60 FPS threshold — suggests that memory bandwidth and capacity are being pushed hard at maximum settings and resolution.

The RTX 5070's compute specifications include 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, which are relevant for Control's use of ray tracing and DLSS features. However, the measured FPS data does not explicitly indicate whether ray tracing was enabled in these runs. The pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed to drive the frame rates seen in the lower resolution and lower settings configurations.

The GPU's benchmark scores further contextualize its role. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077, Geekbench OpenCL score of 185269, and Vulkan score of 179413 all indicate strong compute performance. The PassMark G3D score of 29137 and GPU compute score of 15787 reinforce that this is a capable graphics processor for both rasterization and compute-heavy workloads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 210.6 FPS average, Medium reaches 150.2 FPS, High hits 133 FPS, and Ultra settles at 117.5 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with the largest single drop occurring between Low and Medium at 60.4 FPS (28.7% reduction). The drop from Medium to High is 17.2 FPS (11.5%), and from High to Ultra is 15.5 FPS (11.7%). This suggests that the Low-to-Medium transition introduces significant visual effects that heavily impact performance.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts slightly. Low settings produce 157 FPS, Medium drops to 110.7 FPS, High reaches 101.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 88.1 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap is 46.3 FPS (29.5%), while Medium-to-High is 9.6 FPS (8.7%), and High-to-Ultra is 13 FPS (12.9%). The 1440p numbers show that even at High settings, the combo remains above 100 FPS, providing smooth gameplay for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 3840x2160, performance takes a more significant hit. Low settings yield 106.9 FPS, Medium drops to 74.5 FPS, High reaches 67 FPS, and Ultra falls to 57.4 FPS. The Low-to-Medium reduction is 32.4 FPS (30.3%), Medium-to-High is 7.5 FPS (10.1%), and High-to-Ultra is 9.6 FPS (14.3%). At 4K, only Low settings manage to exceed 100 FPS, and Ultra falls below 60 FPS, indicating that this resolution pushes the hardware to its limits.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings balance depends heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, Ultra settings at 117.5 FPS provide an excellent experience, staying well above the 60 FPS threshold and approaching high-refresh-rate territory. The 44.2% performance cost from Low to Ultra is substantial, but the absolute frame rate remains very playable.

At 1440p, High settings at 101.1 FPS offer the best balance of visual quality and performance. Ultra settings at 88.1 FPS are still smooth, but the additional visual fidelity may not justify the 12.9% frame rate reduction. Medium at 110.7 FPS could be preferable for competitive play where higher frame rates matter more than graphical detail.

For 4K, the recommendation becomes more constrained. High settings at 67 FPS just barely exceed the 60 FPS target, making it the highest quality preset that maintains playable frame rates. Medium at 74.5 FPS provides more headroom, while Ultra at 57.4 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold and may result in noticeable stuttering on standard 60 Hz displays. Low at 106.9 FPS is the only 4K preset that offers substantial performance headroom, but it sacrifices significant visual quality.

The data suggests that users targeting 4K should choose Medium or High settings, while 1440p users can comfortably select High or Ultra, and 1080p users can maximize settings without concern.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Control at 4K Ultra settings smoothly?

A: No. The measured 4K Ultra average is 57.4 FPS, which falls below the standard 60 FPS threshold. For smooth 4K gameplay, Medium (74.5 FPS) or High (67 FPS) settings are more appropriate.

Q: What is the best resolution for high-refresh-rate gaming?

A: At 1080p, all settings presets exceed 117 FPS, with Low reaching 210.6 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (157 FPS) and Medium (110.7 FPS) exceed 110 FPS. For 144 Hz displays, 1080p High (133 FPS) or 1080p Ultra (117.5 FPS) are viable.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to the RTX 3090 in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 41687, while the RTX 3090 scores 41441. This puts the RTX 5070 0.6% ahead in the benchmark database.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600X scores 2622 in Cinebench R23 single-core, 1101 in Cinebench R20 single-core, and 264 in Cinebench R15 single-core. Its Geekbench single-core score is 2111.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low (210.6 FPS), the CPU may begin to limit performance, but at 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck as frame rates drop significantly across all settings.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the RTX 5070 provide?

A: The GPU has a 192-bit memory bus with GDDR7 memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), yielding a total bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer codename). It operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boosts to 4.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU is built on TSMC's 7 nm process node, containing 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die.

Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and a shared 32 MB L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel configuration delivering 51.2 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU supports ECC memory and PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes.

In Control, the CPU's role appears to be supporting rather than limiting. The benchmark results show strong multi-threaded capability with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18578 and a 3DMark max-threads score of 5588. Single-thread performance is also solid, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 917 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2622.

The CPU's 78th percentile ranking against all CPUs indicates it sits above average, but its nearest rivals are extremely close. The Ryzen 5 5600GT, Core i7-10700, and Core i5-12490F all score within 0.5% in average benchmark performance. This tight clustering suggests that the 5600X provides consistent, competitive performance without any significant advantage over similarly priced alternatives.

The fact that Control shows increasingly GPU-bound behavior at higher resolutions indicates that the 5600X's 6-core, 12-thread configuration is sufficient to feed the RTX 5070 without becoming a bottleneck at 1440p and 4K. At 1080p Low, where the GPU is less stressed, the CPU's limits may be approached, but the measured 210.6 FPS suggests it handles the game's logic without issue.