Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 5 7500F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination delivers exceptional performance in Control, with measured frame rates ranging from 77.5 FPS at 4K Ultra to 255.2 FPS at 1080p Low. This pairing ranks 47th out of 1,636 tested combinations in the game, placing it in the top 3% of all configurations. The CPU, a 6-core Zen 4 Raphael part with 12 threads, sits at the 82nd percentile among all processors, while the RTX 4090's Ada Lovelace architecture ranks at the 91st percentile among all GPUs, making this a balanced high-end pairing where the GPU typically dominates the performance envelope.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, with the RTX 4090's rendering workload scaling predictably across the three tested resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 172.4 FPS at 1080p to 132.8 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 39.6 FPS, and further to 85.8 FPS at 4K, representing a cumulative 50.2% decrease from 1080p to 4K. The Low preset shows the steepest absolute decline: 255.2 FPS at 1080p falls to 209.6 FPS at 1440p and then to 137.7 FPS at 4K, a total drop of 117.5 FPS across the resolution range. This steeper decline at Low settings indicates that the GPU is not the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions, with the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration and 3.70 GHz base clock becoming more relevant as the frame rate climbs toward the 255 FPS ceiling.

The Medium preset follows a similar trajectory, with 196.7 FPS at 1080p declining to 145.3 FPS at 1440p and 101 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings produce the most linear scaling pattern: 149.4 FPS at 1080p, 112 FPS at 1440p, and 77.5 FPS at 4K, with the 4K figure representing just 51.9% of the 1080p performance. The relative consistency of these percentage drops across all presets suggests that Control's rendering pipeline scales almost linearly with pixel count, a hallmark of GPU-bound workloads at higher resolutions. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (105.8 FPS) versus the same gap at 4K (60.2 FPS) confirms that the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor as resolution increases, with the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth providing ample headroom even at 3840x2160.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all four presets and three resolutions provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience in Control. At 4K, High settings (85.8 FPS) offer the best balance between visual quality and smoothness, as Ultra (77.5 FPS) dips below the 80 FPS threshold that many users consider the minimum for responsive action gameplay. The Medium preset (101 FPS) at 4K provides a significant 15.2 FPS advantage over High while still delivering respectable visuals, making it the recommended choice for players prioritizing frame rate over maximum fidelity. The Low preset at 4K (137.7 FPS) exceeds the refresh rate of most 4K displays, but the visual compromise is substantial for only a 36.2 FPS gain over High.

At 1440p, the data suggests that Ultra settings (112 FPS) are entirely viable, as the RTX 4090 maintains triple-digit frame rates even at maximum quality. The High preset (132.8 FPS) adds a further 20.8 FPS over Ultra, while Medium (145.3 FPS) and Low (209.6 FPS) offer progressively higher headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors. For 1080p, the Ultra preset (149.4 FPS) is the clear recommendation for visual quality, as all presets exceed 149 FPS, and the difference between High (172.4 FPS) and Medium (196.7 FPS) becomes less impactful when the display refresh rate is the limiting factor. Across all resolutions, the jump from Low to Medium produces the largest relative improvement in visual quality per FPS cost, with Medium representing the sweet spot for players who cannot sustain Ultra settings at their preferred resolution.

FAQ

Q: How does the RTX 4090 compare to its nearest rivals in overall benchmark performance?

A: The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 66,473 places it 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733) and 0.5% behind the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66,127), with the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67,097) scoring 0.9% higher and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (67,320) 1.3% higher. These are all professional-grade cards, indicating the 4090's consumer performance sits in an elite tier.

Q: What is the CPU's standing relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F's average benchmark score of 24,993 is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-11850H (24,974, 0.1% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (24,897, 0.4% slower). The AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (25,057) and AMD Ryzen 5 8400F (25,064) both edge ahead by 0.3%, making this a tightly contested mid-range grouping.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in Control at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 255.2 FPS, and the difference between Low and Ultra (149.4 FPS) is 105.8 FPS, which is the largest preset spread across all resolutions. This indicates the CPU's 6-core/12-thread design with a 5.00 GHz boost clock becomes a limiting factor at very high frame rates, though the GPU still drives most of the performance differential.

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

A: At 3840x2160, High settings produce 85.8 FPS while Ultra delivers 77.5 FPS, a reduction of 8.3 FPS (9.7%). This is the smallest absolute drop among all resolutions for the High-to-Ultra transition, with 1080p losing 23 FPS and 1440p losing 20.8 FPS.

Q: What does the 91st percentile GPU ranking mean for real-world gaming?

A: The RTX 4090 outperforms 91% of all GPUs in the benchmark database, and its passmark G3D score of 38,194 combined with a directX 12 score of 150 indicates it handles modern APIs effectively. In Control specifically, this translates to playable frame rates at 4K Ultra and exceptional performance at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 4090's memory configuration affect Control's performance?

A: The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Control's asset streaming at 4K. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed, and the GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 compute capacity ensures no memory bandwidth limitation is observed in the measured results.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4090 delivers exceptional performance across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 255.2 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings reduce this to 196.7 FPS, a drop of 58.5 FPS, while High settings yield 172.4 FPS, another 24.3 FPS reduction. Ultra settings at 1080p average 149.4 FPS, which is 105.8 FPS below the Low preset but still comfortably above the refresh rate of most 1080p displays. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a consistent 12-15% performance penalty per quality tier, with the largest single drop occurring between Low and Medium.

At 2560x1440, the performance envelope shifts downward while maintaining the same qualitative pattern. Low settings average 209.6 FPS, which is 45.6 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings produce 145.3 FPS, a 51.4 FPS reduction from Low, while High settings average 132.8 FPS. Ultra at 1440p delivers 112 FPS, which is 97.6 FPS below the Low preset at the same resolution. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs between 37.4 FPS (Ultra) and 45.6 FPS (Low), with the percentage penalty ranging from 17.9% at High to 25.0% at Low.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4090 remains fully playable at all presets. Low settings average 137.7 FPS, Medium 101 FPS, High 85.8 FPS, and Ultra 77.5 FPS. The 4K Low result exceeds the 1080p Ultra performance by 11.7 FPS, demonstrating the GPU's substantial headroom. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 8.3 FPS, the smallest preset gap in the dataset, while the gap between Low and Medium is 36.7 FPS, the largest. Across all resolutions, the Low-to-Medium transition consistently produces the largest FPS penalty, with the Medium-to-High and High-to-Ultra steps becoming progressively smaller, especially at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, built on the AD102 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture and a 5 nm TSMC process, is the dominant component in this pairing. Its 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs provide substantial raw geometry and pixel throughput, with a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s. The GPU's base clock of 2235 MHz boosts to 2520 MHz, and its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance (matching FP16 at 1:1 ratio) ensures that Control's physics and particle effects are processed without bottleneck. The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores also provide dedicated hardware for ray-traced effects, though the measured data does not isolate RT-specific performance.

Memory bandwidth plays a critical role in Control's performance, particularly at 4K where the GPU's 24 GB GDDR6X frame buffer on a 384-bit bus delivers 1.01 TB/s. The memory clock of 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed provides sufficient bandwidth to feed the GPU's compute units, as evidenced by the linear resolution scaling observed in the measured data. The RTX 4090's 450 W TDP and triple-slot cooler design support sustained boost clocks under load, and the PCIe 4.0 x16 interface provides adequate bandwidth for CPU-GPU communication. The GPU's benchmark scores, including a passmark G3D score of 38,194 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223, confirm its position in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, which aligns with the measured Control performance where even 4K Ultra remains playable. The 24 GB memory capacity also exceeds Control's requirements at all tested settings, preventing any texture streaming or asset loading bottlenecks that might otherwise appear at 4K resolution.