Control

Control is an action-adventure title from 2019 that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the measured data for the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 shows a system that is capable at 1080p but quickly runs out of headroom as resolution climbs. The benchmark results indicate that this combination sits at rank 2395 out of 2888 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower half of the field. The CPU is a modern 6-core, 12-thread Zen 4 part with a strong single-thread score of 3072 in Cinebench R23, while the GPU is an older Pascal architecture card with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory. The data shows a clear pattern: settings and resolution both have dramatic impacts on frame rates, and the GTX 1070 becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS rows to give practical settings advice for owners of this specific hardware combination.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy of playable settings for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 97 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. This is 28 FPS higher than the High preset’s 61 FPS and 44 FPS higher than the Ultra preset’s 53 FPS. For competitive or fast-paced action, the Low preset at 1080p is the only setting that comfortably exceeds the 90 FPS threshold, giving significant headroom for smooth gameplay. However, the Medium preset at 1080p still provides a solid 69 FPS average with a minimum of 58 FPS, which is a more balanced choice for visual fidelity without sacrificing playability.

Moving to 2560x1440, the data shows that the High preset drops to 46 FPS, while the Low preset manages 73 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution offers 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS, which is borderline but workable for slower-paced exploration. At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more challenging. The Low preset averages 49 FPS, but the High preset falls to 31 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 27 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K averages 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS, making it the only 4K option that stays above the 30 FPS playability floor, albeit barely.

Based on the measured rows, the best experience for this combination is the Medium preset at 1920x1080. It provides a 69 FPS average with a 58 FPS minimum, which is smooth enough for the game's action sequences while retaining more visual detail than Low. The 1080p Low preset is the best choice if maximum frame rate is the priority, but the visual downgrade is significant. For 1440p, the Low preset is the only option that maintains an average above 60 FPS, and the data suggests that the Medium preset’s 52 FPS average is acceptable for less demanding scenes. At 4K, the Low preset is the only playable option, and even then, the 49 FPS average is not ideal for a game with this much particle effects and physics.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture on the AMD Socket AM5 platform. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The benchmark results show strong single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3072 and a multi-core score of 21765. The PassMark single-thread score of 3689 further confirms that this CPU has excellent per-core performance, which is critical for a game like Control that relies on a few main threads for its physics and AI systems.

The data shows that at 1920x1080 with the Low preset, the system achieves 97 FPS, which is the highest score in the dataset. This suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at lower resolutions, where the GPU is not the limiting factor. However, the fact that the Ultra preset at 1080p only reaches 53 FPS, while the Low preset reaches 97 FPS, indicates that the GPU is still the primary bottleneck even at 1080p. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 83rd among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32750, places it in the upper tier of processors, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600T (0.1% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (0.2% slower), showing that it is competitive with mid-range to upper-mid-range parts.

The CPU’s cache configuration includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. This large L3 cache is beneficial for gaming, as it helps reduce memory latency. The CPU also supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, which is more than sufficient for this game. The measured FPS data does not show any CPU-bound scenarios where the frame rate drops significantly regardless of resolution, which implies that the 7400F is not the limiting component in this pairing. The gap between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p (97 FPS vs 53 FPS) is entirely attributable to the GPU’s inability to handle the increased shader and texture load, not the CPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is a Pascal architecture GPU with 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. It has a base clock of 1506 MHz and a boost clock of 1683 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. The GPU’s TDP is 150 W, and it uses a single 8-pin power connector. The benchmark results show a PassMark G3D score of 13498, which places it in the 47th percentile of all GPUs, indicating that it is an older, mid-range card by today’s standards. Its nearest rivals include the AMD FirePro W5000 (0.2% faster) and the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (0.5% faster), confirming that the GTX 1070 is at the lower end of the performance spectrum.

The measured FPS data clearly shows that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck in this system. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 97 at Low to 53 at Ultra, a 45% reduction, which is a direct result of the GPU’s limited fill rate and shading power. At 1440p, the same settings drop from 73 FPS at Low to 40 FPS at Ultra. At 4K, the Low preset only manages 49 FPS, while the Ultra preset falls to 27 FPS. The GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the higher-resolution textures and effects may start to exceed the memory capacity, contributing to the lower frame rates.

The GTX 1070’s 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is modest compared to modern cards, and the data reflects this in the significant FPS drops as resolution increases. The GPU’s 150 W TDP and dual-slot cooler are adequate for this level of performance, but the card is clearly not designed for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p or 4K. The lack of ray tracing cores and tensor cores means that Control’s optional ray tracing effects are not supported, which is a significant omission for a game that showcases them. The data shows that the GPU’s performance is the primary reason why the Low preset is the only playable option at 1440p and 4K, and even then, the frame rates are not ideal for a smooth experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming on this hardware?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 provides a 69 FPS average with a 58 FPS minimum, which balances visual quality and performance. The Low preset achieves 97 FPS, but the Medium preset is the recommended choice for a better visual experience without dropping below 60 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Control?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 49 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS. The Ultra preset only manages 27 FPS, so 4K is only playable at Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is not ideal for fast-paced action.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor. Evidence for this is the large FPS gap between the Low and Ultra presets at the same resolution. At 1080p, the Low preset reaches 97 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 53 FPS, indicating that the GPU cannot keep up with increased graphical load, while the CPU has enough headroom to feed it.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 7400F compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU has an average benchmark score of 32750, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600T (32707) and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (32697). It is 0.2% slower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32812) and 0.3% faster than the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (32662).

Q: What is the FPS difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 73 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. This is a 33 FPS difference, showing that the GTX 1070 loses significant performance when graphical details are increased.

Q: Does the GTX 1070 support ray tracing in Control?

A: The GTX 1070’s architecture is Pascal, and it has no dedicated ray tracing cores. The data does not include any ray tracing benchmarks, and the GPU’s lack of RT cores means that any ray tracing features in the game would not be supported or would run at very low performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 97 at 1080p to 73 at 1440p, a 24.7% reduction, and then to 49 at 4K, a further 32.9% reduction. This scaling is consistent with the GPU being the limiting factor, as the number of pixels increases by 1.78 times from 1080p to 1440p, and by 2.25 times from 1440p to 4K. The GPU’s 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 6.463 TFLOPS of compute power are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at these higher pixel counts.

At the High preset, the FPS drops from 61 at 1080p to 46 at 1440p (a 24.6% reduction) and then to 31 at 4K (a 32.6% reduction). The Ultra preset shows a similar pattern, dropping from 53 at 1080p to 40 at 1440p (a 24.5% reduction) and then to 27 at 4K (a 32.5% reduction). The consistent percentage drops across all presets indicate that the resolution scaling is not affected by the settings level, which further confirms that the GPU’s pixel fill rate is the bottleneck. The CPU’s role is minimal in this scaling, as the 7400F’s strong single-thread performance (3072 in Cinebench R23 single-core) is sufficient to handle the game’s logic at all resolutions, but the GPU’s performance is what dictates the final frame rate.

The data also shows that the minimum FPS values, which are only provided for the Medium preset, follow the same trend. At 1080p, the Medium preset has a minimum of 58 FPS, which drops to 44 FPS at 1440p and 30 FPS at 4K. This indicates that the frame time consistency also degrades with resolution, making the game feel less smooth at higher resolutions even if the average FPS is technically playable. For this hardware, 1080p is the sweet spot, while 1440p is only viable at Low settings, and 4K is a stretch for even the lowest settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the complete measured FPS data for the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination in Control, broken down by resolution and settings preset.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS of 97. The Medium preset averages 69 FPS, with a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS. The High preset averages 61 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 53 FPS. This shows a clear performance hierarchy, with the Low preset being the only one that exceeds 90 FPS, and the Ultra preset dropping below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 73 FPS, which is the only preset at this resolution that maintains an average above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 52 FPS, with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS. The High preset averages 46 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. The data shows that at 1440p, the GPU starts to struggle, with the High and Ultra presets falling below 50 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 49 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that comes close to 50 FPS. The Medium preset averages 35 FPS, with a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 40 FPS. The High preset averages 31 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 27 FPS. The 4K data reveals that this hardware combination is not suitable for high-quality 4K gaming, as even the Low preset barely stays above 30 FPS, and the Ultra preset is unplayable.

The data also includes the combo’s overall rank in the game, which is 2395 out of 2888 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 20% of all tested systems. This ranking is consistent with the GPU’s 47th percentile performance among all GPUs, indicating that the GTX 1070 is the main limiting factor. The CPU’s 83rd percentile ranking shows that the Ryzen 5 7400F is capable of handling more demanding games, but the GPU’s age and performance level hold back the system in Control, particularly at higher resolutions and settings.