Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination delivers a top-tier experience in Control, securing rank 57 out of 2,888 tested combos. This places the pairing in the top 2% of all hardware configurations, a position driven by the GPU's enormous compute resources and the CPU's solid foundation. The data indicates that this combo is built for high-refresh-rate 4K gaming, as it maintains playable frame rates at the most demanding settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 57 out of 2,888 tested configurations places it in the 98th percentile of all tested hardware pairings. This is an elite standing, reflecting the raw power of the RTX 5090 D when paired with a competent mid-range processor. The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy: the system is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at lower resolutions, but the CPU begins to show its limitations at 1080p, which slightly tempers the overall ranking.

The RTX 5090 D itself is a dominant force, with an average benchmark score of 77,712 and a percentile rank of 92 against all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database—the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940)—are separated by a small margin, with the 5090 D sitting 1.1% above the former and 1.6% below the latter. This suggests that while the card is powerful, its raw compute score is not unprecedented, yet its real-world gaming performance in Control is exceptional.

On the CPU side, the Ryzen 5 5600X holds an average benchmark score of 21,771, ranking in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (21,749, 0.1% slower), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U (21,874, 0.5% faster), the Intel Core i7-11700 (21,891, 0.5% faster), and the AMD EPYC 9554P (21,899, 0.6% faster). This clustering shows that the 5600X is a well-balanced processor that performs in line with many other mid-range and even some high-end chips, making it a sensible partner for a flagship GPU. In Control, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to keep the GPU fed, but the data suggests that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting for the combo's high rank.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how the combo scales with graphical settings. At 4K, the lowest preset (Low) yields an average of 152 FPS, which is a strong baseline. Moving to Medium drops the average to 108 FPS, with a minimum of 92 FPS and a maximum of 124 FPS. High settings produce 96 FPS average, and Ultra brings it down to 83 FPS. For a 60Hz display, Ultra is viable, but for higher refresh rates, the data suggests a trade-off.

At 1440p, the story improves significantly. Low settings hit 205 FPS average, Medium averages 160 FPS (min 136, max 184), High averages 142 FPS, and Ultra averages 124 FPS. These numbers suggest that the combo is highly capable at 1440p, with even Ultra settings maintaining a smooth experience on most high-refresh-rate monitors.

The 1080p results show the ceiling of the CPU-GPU pairing. Low settings average 225 FPS, Medium averages 198 FPS (min 168, max 228), High averages 188 FPS, and Ultra averages 163 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (225 vs 163 FPS) is smaller than at 4K (152 vs 83 FPS), indicating that the CPU is starting to bottleneck the GPU at lower resolutions. The best overall experience for a balance of visual fidelity and performance is the High preset at 1440p, which delivers 142 FPS average and keeps the GPU from being overly constrained by the CPU. For those prioritizing maximum smoothness, the Medium preset at 1440p offers 160 FPS average with a minimum of 136 FPS, making it a strong choice for competitive play.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the centerpiece of this combo, and its specifications align with the measured performance in Control. The card features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Control's detailed textures and effects, even at 4K Ultra settings. The GPU's core clocks are set at 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, which, combined with 21,760 shading units, deliver substantial raw compute power.

The card's architecture, Blackwell 2.0, is built on a 5 nm process with 92,200 million transistors. This enables a high transistor density of 122.9M per mm² on a 750 mm² die. The GPU's FP32 performance is rated at 104.8 TFLOPS, which explains its ability to push high frame rates in Control's physics-heavy environments. The benchmark scores for the GPU, such as a 44,065 in Passmark G3D and 28,396 in Passmark GPU Compute, reflect its capability in both rasterization and compute workloads.

In the context of Control, the GPU is the primary driver of performance at 4K. The average FPS at 4K High (96 FPS) and 4K Ultra (83 FPS) shows that the card is being fully utilized at this resolution. The data shows a clear GPU bottleneck at 4K, where the difference between Low (152 FPS) and Ultra (83 FPS) is substantial, indicating that the settings are directly impacting the GPU's workload. The RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals in the database, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940 average score, 1.6% higher), do not have the same memory bandwidth or compute resources, which is why this combo ranks so high in the game.

FAQ

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5600X compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 21,771, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. It is virtually tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (21,749, 0.1% faster) and sits slightly below the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U (21,874, 0.5% faster) and Intel Core i7-11700 (21,891, 0.5% faster). The largest gap is with the AMD EPYC 9554P (21,899, 0.6% faster), but all these differences are negligible in real-world gaming.

*Q: What is the best resolution to use with this combo for Control?*

A: The data shows that 1440p High settings provide an excellent balance, with an average of 142 FPS. For maximum frame rates, 1080p Low offers 225 FPS average, but the CPU becomes a limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU is fully utilized, with High settings delivering 96 FPS and Ultra delivering 83 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D a significant upgrade over its nearest rivals?

A: In the database, the RTX 5090 D has an average score of 77,712, which is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) and 1.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). This indicates that while it is a top-tier card, its raw benchmark score is not drastically different from some other high-end GPUs, but its 32 GB VRAM and bandwidth provide advantages in specific scenarios.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 4K, the Low preset averages 152 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 83 FPS. This is a drop of 69 FPS, or roughly 45%, showing the significant impact of graphical settings on GPU load. The Medium preset provides a middle ground at 108 FPS.

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

A: Yes, the data indicates a CPU bottleneck at 1080p. The difference between Low (225 FPS) and Ultra (163 FPS) is only 62 FPS, compared to a 69 FPS difference at 4K. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are unable to feed the GPU enough frames to reach its full potential, whereas at 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck.

Q: How does the combo rank in the overall database?

A: The combo ranks 57th out of 2,888 tested configurations, placing it in the top 2% of all systems. This high ranking is primarily due to the GPU's strength, but the CPU's solid single-thread performance (e.g., 1,541 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures it doesn't hold the system back.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer). It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The CPU supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, offering a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 5600X achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11,838 and a single-core score of 1,541. Its Geekbench scores are 9,173 (multicore) and 1,989 (single-core). The Passmark multithread score is 21,858, with a single-thread score of 3,364. These numbers show a processor that is strong in both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads, which is crucial for gaming.

In Control, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls. The data shows that at 4K, the GPU is the primary limiter, as the FPS scales significantly with settings (152 at Low vs 83 at Ultra). However, at 1080p, the CPU becomes more relevant. The FPS at 1080p Low (225) is lower than the theoretical maximum of the GPU, suggesting the CPU is the bottleneck. The 5600X's 32 MB L3 cache and 4.60 GHz boost clock help maintain consistent frame pacing, but its 6 cores are a limiting factor for pushing beyond 200 FPS in this title. The CPU's percentile rank of 75 indicates it is a capable processor, but it is not in the top tier for extreme high-refresh-rate gaming.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions provides a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p, the combo averages 225 FPS on Low, 198 FPS on Medium, 188 FPS on High, and 163 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, the averages drop to 205 FPS (Low), 160 FPS (Medium), 142 FPS (High), and 124 FPS (Ultra). At 4K, the averages fall to 152 FPS (Low), 108 FPS (Medium), 96 FPS (High), and 83 FPS (Ultra).

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU's dominance. At High settings, the FPS drops from 188 at 1080p to 142 at 1440p (a 24.5% decrease) and then to 96 at 4K (a 48.9% decrease from 1440p). This steep drop at 4K indicates that the GPU is being fully taxed, as the resolution increases the pixel count and shading load. The RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are well-suited for this, but the compute load still brings the frame rate down.

Conversely, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less severe, with only a 24.5% drop in FPS at High settings. This suggests that the CPU is able to keep up with the GPU's needs at 1440p, and the bottleneck is shifting more toward the GPU. At 1080p, the CPU limits the system, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS gain from 4K to 1080p (e.g., from 96 FPS to 188 FPS at High, a 95.8% increase). The data shows that the combo is best utilized at 1440p or 4K, where the GPU's power is fully realized and the CPU's limitations are less pronounced. At 4K Ultra, the combo still manages 83 FPS, which is playable, but for those seeking maximum smoothness, 1440p High (142 FPS) is the sweet spot.