Control

Control is an Action Adventure title that stresses both processor and graphics hardware, and the pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER produces a performance profile that is heavily dictated by the GPU at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions reveal a system that can handle the game at playable speeds in most settings, but with clear limitations at the top end. This analysis walks through the data step by step, examining how the CPU and GPU each contribute to the results, how resolution scaling shifts the bottleneck, and what the measured numbers mean for the overall ranking of this combo.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Raphael architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. Its base clock is 4.00 GHz and it boosts up to 4.50 GHz, which provides the kind of single-threaded responsiveness that Action Adventure titles often rely on for game logic, physics, and scene management. The processor features a substantial L3 cache of 96 MB (shared), which is a notable advantage for gaming workloads that repeatedly access the same data sets. The chip is designed for the AMD Socket AM5 platform and supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration, offering a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. In benchmark tests, the CPU achieves a PassMark single-thread score of 3494 and a multithread score of 25047, placing it in the 89th percentile among all CPUs.

For Control, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage the game’s complex physics and destruction systems. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration is more than sufficient for this title, as evidenced by the fact that frame rates scale almost entirely with resolution and graphics settings rather than showing signs of CPU saturation. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 91 FPS average, but this is likely where the CPU is still able to keep up with the GPU’s output. The high L3 cache helps maintain consistent frame pacing in scenes with many interactive elements, though the data does not isolate CPU-specific bottlenecks. The processor’s average benchmark score of 44573 is within 0.2% of the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and 0.5% of the Intel Core i9-13950HX, indicating that it sits in a competitive performance tier, but the measured game results suggest that the GPU is the primary constraint in this specific pairing.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1530 MHz with a boost clock of 1785 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The card has 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, with a pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s. In terms of raw compute, it delivers 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is modest by modern standards but was designed for 1080p gaming at high settings. The GPU sits in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12986, putting it close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (0.4% faster) and the AMD Radeon RX 580 (0.4% faster).

In Control, the GTX 1660 SUPER is the clear limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 50, which is a 45% reduction from the Low preset’s 91 FPS. This pattern is consistent with a GPU that runs out of shader and memory throughput as the quality level increases. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p, but at 4K Ultra, the card averages just 25 FPS, indicating that both the memory bandwidth and the compute units are overwhelmed. The GPU’s lack of dedicated ray tracing cores means that any ray-traced effects in Control would be handled through traditional rasterization, but the measured data does not specify whether those features were enabled. The card’s performance relative to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks suggests it is a mid-pack solution, and the game results confirm that it is best suited for 1080p or 1440p with adjusted settings.

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

The measured frame rates show a steep decline as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound system. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 91 at 1080p to 69 at 1440p (a 24.2% reduction) and then to 46 at 4K (a 49.5% reduction from 1080p). At High settings, the averages are 57 at 1080p, 43 at 1440p, and 29 at 4K, representing a 24.6% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 49.1% drop from 1080p to 4K. This near-linear scaling with pixel count indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck, as a CPU-bound scenario would show much smaller differences when resolution increases.

The Medium preset tells the same story, with average FPS of 64 at 1080p, 49 at 1440p, and 33 at 4K, where the 4K result is 48.4% lower than the 1080p figure. Even the Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, drops from 50 FPS at 1080p to 38 FPS at 1440p and then to 25 FPS at 4K, a 50% reduction from the lowest resolution. The pattern of roughly halving performance when going from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all settings, which strongly suggests that the GTX 1660 SUPER’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor. If the CPU were the primary constraint, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, but the data shows the opposite. This analysis confirms that the Ryzen 5 7500X3D has ample headroom, and the user’s experience will be governed entirely by the GPU’s capabilities at higher resolutions.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1080p offers the highest average frame rates across all settings, with a maximum of 91 FPS at Low and a minimum of 50 FPS at Ultra. At 1440p, the averages range from 69 FPS at Low to 38 FPS at Ultra, while 4K drops to between 46 FPS at Low and 25 FPS at Ultra. 1080p is the only resolution where all settings remain above 50 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 12986, which is 0.4% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and 0.4% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 580 (12928). It is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 (13075) and 0.9% higher than the AMD Radeon 740M (12870).

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7500X3D a bottleneck in this pairing?

A: The resolution scaling data shows that FPS drops by roughly 50% when moving from 1080p to 4K, which indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU’s strong single-thread score of 3494 and 89th percentile ranking suggest it has sufficient headroom, and the measured results do not show signs of CPU saturation.

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

A: At 1440p, the Low preset averages 69 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 38 FPS. This represents a 44.9% reduction in performance when going from the lowest to the highest quality settings, which is a significant trade-off for visual fidelity.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K?

A: At 4K, the average frame rates range from 46 FPS at Low to 25 FPS at Ultra. The Low preset is technically playable, but the Medium preset averages 33 FPS and High drops to 29 FPS, which may not be smooth enough for action-oriented gameplay.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested combos in Control?

A: This combo ranks 3176 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the lower portion of the database. The ranking reflects the GPU’s mid-pack synthetic performance (53rd percentile) combined with the CPU’s high percentile (89th), but the game results are ultimately constrained by the graphics card.

How This Combo Ranks

In Control, this specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER achieves a rank of 3176 out of 3720 tested combos. This places it in the 15th percentile of all tested systems, meaning that roughly 85% of other CPU-GPU combinations produce higher average frame rates in this game. The low ranking is directly attributable to the GPU, which is in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, whereas the CPU is in the 89th percentile among all CPUs. The mismatch between the processor’s high performance ceiling and the graphics card’s mid-range capability creates a system where the CPU is often waiting on the GPU to finish rendering frames.

The ranking context becomes clearer when looking at the GPU’s nearest rivals. The GTX 1660 SUPER’s average score of 12986 is nearly identical to the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and RX 580, all of which are older or lower-tier solutions. In contrast, the CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-13950HX and AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, are high-end mobile or desktop parts that score within 0.6% of the 7500X3D. This disparity suggests that the combo would perform significantly better if paired with a more powerful GPU, but as measured, it is firmly in the lower half of the database. The 4K results, which dip to 25 FPS at Ultra, drag the overall ranking down, while the 1080p results show the system is capable of decent performance when resolution is kept in check.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 91 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. The Medium preset averages 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 and a maximum of 74. High settings average 57 FPS, and Ultra drops to 50 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1080p is fully playable across all settings, with even the most demanding preset maintaining a 50 FPS average.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 69 FPS, which is a 24.2% reduction from 1080p. Medium averages 49 FPS (minimum 41, maximum 56), High averages 43 FPS, and Ultra averages 38 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 44.9%, showing that the GPU struggles more as settings increase. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 46 FPS, Medium averages 33 FPS (minimum 28, maximum 38), High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 25 FPS. The 4K results are the weakest, with only the Low preset achieving a frame rate that approaches smooth gameplay. Across all resolutions, the data shows a consistent pattern: the GPU’s performance degrades linearly with pixel count, and the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and the user’s preference for smoothness versus visual quality. At 1080p, the High preset offers the best balance, with an average of 57 FPS that is close to the 60 FPS target, while the Ultra preset only drops to 50 FPS and may be acceptable for those who prioritize graphics. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 64 FPS, providing a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS, but High is likely the sweet spot for most users.

At 1440p, the Low preset averages 69 FPS and is the only setting that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. Medium averages 49 FPS, which is playable but may show stutter in fast-paced scenes, while High and Ultra drop to 43 and 38 FPS respectively. For a smoother experience at 1440p, Low is recommended, but users willing to accept lower frame rates can use Medium for improved visuals. At 4K, the Low preset averages 46 FPS, which is the only playable option, as Medium (33 FPS), High (29 FPS), and Ultra (25 FPS) all fall below the threshold for fluid action. The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with High or Ultra settings, or 1440p with Low settings, while 4K should be reserved for users who prioritize resolution over performance.