Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT lands in the middle of the pack for Control, ranking 1484th out of 2888 tested combos, which places it slightly above the median and reflects a balanced pairing that delivers playable frame rates at most settings but requires compromises at 4K Ultra. This combo’s overall standing is driven by a solid CPU that sits in the 89th percentile of all processors and a GPU that reaches the 72nd percentile of all graphics cards, yet the measured results in Control show that the graphics card becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution and settings increase.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1484 out of 2888 tested combinations places it in the 51st percentile of all CPU-GPU pairings for Control, meaning it outperforms slightly more than half of the tested configurations while trailing a significant portion of higher-end setups. This mid-tier standing is consistent with the hardware’s individual benchmark positions: the Ryzen 5 7500X3D ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, while the RX 6700 XT ranks in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, indicating that the CPU has more headroom relative to its peers than the GPU does.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 44573 places it in close competition with several high-end mobile and desktop parts, as the nearest rivals show negligible performance gaps. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H trails by just 0.2 percent with an average score of 44466, the Intel Core i9-13950HX trails by 0.5 percent with 44342, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 trails by 0.6 percent with 44309, while the Intel Core i5-14600 leads by 0.7 percent with 44889. These sub-one-percent deltas demonstrate that the 7500X3D’s processing power is highly competitive with top-tier chips from both AMD and Intel, though in Control, this CPU strength does not translate into top-tier frame rates because the GPU limits performance at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 27425 puts it in a tight grouping with several NVIDIA parts, including the GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile which scores 27435 (0 percent difference), the GeForce RTX 3090 which scores 27565 (0.5 percent ahead), and the RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell which scores 27135 (1.1 percent behind). This clustering suggests that the RX 6700 XT delivers performance comparable to a desktop RTX 3090 in synthetic tests, though the measured Control frame rates reveal that this GPU is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming rather than 4K.

The combination’s mid-pack ranking in Control specifically reflects the fact that the game is demanding enough to stress the GPU heavily at higher settings, and the measured data shows a clear pattern where frame rates scale more with GPU load than with CPU capability. At 1080p, the combo delivers strong results that justify its rank, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, pulling the overall ranking down relative to what the CPU alone might suggest.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 22 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC with 17,200 million transistors on a 335 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2321 MHz, a game clock of 2424 MHz, and a boost clock of 2581 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). This clock configuration allows the card to deliver a pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s, along with 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance.

The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for Control’s texture-heavy environments but becomes a limiting factor at 4K resolution with higher settings. The GPU’s 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations pipelines are complemented by 40 ray tracing cores, though Control’s implementation of ray tracing is not reflected in the measured FPS data, which only includes standard rasterization tests at various settings.

The GPU’s synthetic benchmark scores reinforce its mid-range positioning: it scores 19786 in Passmark G3D, 9336 in Passmark GPU Compute, 93500 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 130896 in Geekbench Metal, with a DirectX 12 score of 77 in Passmark and a DirectX 11 score of 173. These numbers place the card in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals in terms of average score include the RTX 4070 Mobile, RTX 3090, and RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell, all within 1.5 percent of the RX 6700 XT’s average score of 27425.

In Control, the GPU’s VRAM capacity and bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming at all settings, but the 4K results show a clear performance ceiling. At 4K High, the combo averages 46 FPS, which drops to 40 FPS at 4K Ultra, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain smooth frame rates at that resolution even before accounting for potential VRAM pressure. The 12 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for Control’s highest settings at 4K, but the GPU’s compute throughput and memory bandwidth are not enough to sustain high frame rates at that resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern of performance scaling from 1080p to 4K, with the GPU becoming progressively more limiting as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 141 FPS on average, which represents the highest frame rate in the dataset and indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions. Moving to 1080p Medium drops the average to 100 FPS, 1080p High yields 89 FPS, and 1080p Ultra produces 77 FPS, showing a smooth degradation as settings increase.

At 1440p, the same settings produce lower but still playable frame rates: Low averages 107 FPS, Medium 76 FPS, High 67 FPS, and Ultra 59 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each setting is substantial, with Low falling from 141 to 107 FPS (a 24 percent reduction), Medium from 100 to 76 FPS (a 24 percent reduction), High from 89 to 67 FPS (a 25 percent reduction), and Ultra from 77 to 59 FPS (a 23 percent reduction). These consistent percentage drops indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at both resolutions, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to maintain similar frame rates if the GPU could keep up.

At 4K, the performance drops more dramatically. 4K Low averages 72 FPS, 4K Medium 51 FPS, 4K High 46 FPS, and 4K Ultra 40 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K shows even larger percentage reductions: Low falls from 107 to 72 FPS (a 33 percent reduction), Medium from 76 to 51 FPS (a 33 percent reduction), High from 67 to 46 FPS (a 31 percent reduction), and Ultra from 59 to 40 FPS (a 32 percent reduction). These larger drops at 4K confirm that the GPU is heavily stressed at this resolution, and the fact that even 4K Low cannot reach 75 FPS underscores that 4K gaming is not this combo’s strong suit.

The scaling pattern suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution, because the frame rate reductions track closely with the GPU’s expected performance scaling across resolutions. At 1080p, the combo achieves 141 FPS at Low settings, which is a high enough frame rate to indicate that the CPU can push well beyond what the GPU can render at higher resolutions. The data points to the RX 6700 XT as the component that determines playability, with the sweet spot being 1440p Medium or High, where the combo delivers 76 FPS and 67 FPS respectively, both of which are smooth for an action-adventure game.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?

A: The measured data shows that 1440p Medium provides the best balance, with an average of 76 FPS (minimum 65, maximum 87), while 1440p High averages 67 FPS. At 1080p, all settings exceed 77 FPS, with Low reaching 141 FPS, but 4K is only playable at Low settings with 72 FPS, dropping to 46 FPS at High and 40 FPS at Ultra.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 7500X3D compare to its closest rivals?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score of 44573 places it within 0.7 percent of four competitors: the Intel Core i5-14600 leads by 0.7 percent with 44889, while the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H trails by 0.2 percent with 44466, the Intel Core i9-13950HX trails by 0.5 percent with 44342, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 trails by 0.6 percent with 44309.

Q: How does the RX 6700 XT compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score of 27425 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile’s 27435 (0 percent difference), while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 scores 27565 (0.5 percent ahead) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 scores 27839 (1.5 percent ahead). The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell trails by 1.1 percent with 27135.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Control?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 141 FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 72 FPS, a 49 percent reduction, while 4K Ultra falls to 40 FPS. The CPU’s 89th percentile ranking among all processors suggests it has ample headroom, whereas the GPU’s 72nd percentile ranking and the large frame rate drops at 4K point to graphics card limitations.

Q: What is the maximum FPS this combo can achieve in Control?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 141 at 1080p with Low settings. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 100 FPS, and at 1080p High it is 89 FPS. The lowest measured average is 40 FPS at 4K with Ultra settings.

Q: Does this combo support modern graphics APIs?

A: The RX 6700 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the Ryzen 5 7500X3D supports DDR5 memory with ECC and PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes. The GPU also includes 40 ray tracing cores, though the measured FPS data in Control does not include ray tracing tests.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 (Raphael) architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC with 11,270 million transistors on a 71 mm² die. It operates with a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP, and it supports DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration with a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a defining feature of the X3D line and contributes to its strong benchmark performance.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 7500X3D achieves a Passmark single-thread score of 3494 and a multithread score of 25047, along with strong results in specific workloads: 271649 in data compression, 15797 in data encryption, 20455 in extended instructions, 43594 in floating point math, 70774 in integer math, and 32999 in random string sorting. The average benchmark score of 44573 places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals all score within 0.7 percent, demonstrating that this processor is competitive with some of the fastest chips available.

In Control, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates, and the measured results show that it does this effectively at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 141 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame rate capability for this game, but at higher resolutions the GPU takes over as the limiting factor. The 96 MB of L3 cache is particularly beneficial for gaming workloads, as it reduces memory latency and improves data throughput, which helps maintain consistent frame pacing in Control’s action sequences.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 5 nm process node make it an efficient choice for gaming systems, and its support for DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s ensures that memory bandwidth is not a bottleneck. The processor’s boost clock of 4.50 GHz is modest compared to some rivals, but the X3D cache compensates by providing large amounts of fast-access memory for game data, which is reflected in the CPU’s high percentile ranking and its close benchmark scores to much higher-clocked parts.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings deliver the best experience for this combo in Control, with the optimal choice depending on the user’s target resolution and frame rate preference. At 1080p, all settings are playable, with Low averaging 141 FPS, Medium 100 FPS, High 89 FPS, and Ultra 77 FPS. For users with high refresh rate monitors, 1080p Medium or High offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as both exceed 85 FPS and provide smooth gameplay without the visual degradation of Low settings.

At 1440p, the sweet spot is Medium, which averages 76 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 87 FPS, making it the only 1440p setting that consistently stays above 60 FPS. High averages 67 FPS, which is also playable, but the minimum frame rate is not reported for High, so Medium’s reported minimum of 65 FPS provides more confidence in consistency. Low averages 107 FPS but sacrifices significant visual quality, while Ultra averages 59 FPS, which dips below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for smooth action gameplay.

At 4K, the data shows that only Low settings are recommended, with an average of 72 FPS. Medium averages 51 FPS, High 46 FPS, and Ultra 40 FPS, all of which are below the 60 FPS target and would result in noticeable stutter during fast-paced combat sequences. Even 4K Low may not be ideal for all players, as the frame rate can drop in demanding scenes, but it is the only 4K setting that approaches playability.

For the best overall experience, the data suggests prioritizing 1440p Medium or High settings, which deliver frame rates in the 67–76 FPS range and maintain visual fidelity. At 1080p, users can push to Ultra for 77 FPS or High for 89 FPS, both of which are smooth and visually rich. The combo’s rank of 1484 out of 2888 tested configurations reflects this middle-ground performance: it is capable of excellent 1080p and good 1440p gaming, but it does not have the GPU headroom for 4K beyond Low settings. The measured frame rates at 4K Medium (51 FPS) and 4K High (46 FPS) show that the RX 6700 XT’s 12 GB VRAM and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at that resolution, so users seeking 4K performance would need to consider a more powerful GPU.