Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, responds aggressively to hardware headroom, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces a dataset that clearly separates CPU-bound and GPU-bound scenarios. The measured frames per second across three resolutions and four quality presets reveal a system that is overwhelmingly capable, yet the scaling patterns indicate that the RTX 5090 D is the primary driver of performance in most configurations. This analysis breaks down the specific roles of each component, the optimal settings, and how this pairing ranks against other tested combos.

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 codename using TSMC’s 5 nm process. Its base clock is 4.00 GHz with a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, and it carries a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is the defining feature of the X3D lineup. For a game like Control, which relies heavily on physics simulations and complex AI routines, the large cache helps mitigate memory latency, but the data suggests that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor in this pairing.

At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate is 234 FPS, which is the highest recorded in the entire dataset. This figure indicates that the Ryzen 5 7500X3D can feed the RTX 5090 D efficiently at lower resolutions and reduced graphical loads. However, the gap between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p—234 FPS versus 163 FPS, a difference of 71 FPS—shows that the CPU is not fully taxed even at the highest preset. The processor’s Passmark single-thread score of 3494 and multithread score of 25047 place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, which is respectable but not elite; its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and Intel Core i9-13950HX, score within 0.5% to 0.6% higher on average, indicating that the 7500X3D is competitive but not dominant in raw compute.

In Control, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent when comparing the 1440p and 4K results. At 1440p Low, the average is 213 FPS, which drops to 124 FPS at Ultra. At 4K Low, the average is 152 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 83 FPS. The consistent delta between Low and Ultra across all resolutions—roughly 45 FPS at 1440p and 69 FPS at 4K—suggests that the CPU maintains a stable baseline, but the GPU is what absorbs the additional load as settings increase. The processor’s 65 W TDP and 5 nm process node contribute to thermal efficiency, but the benchmark results do not show any signs of CPU throttling; instead, the frame rates scale predictably with resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario in this title.

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

The measured data includes four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—across all three resolutions. For players seeking the highest refresh rate possible, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 234 FPS, but this comes at the cost of visual fidelity, which undermines the atmospheric design of Control. The Medium preset provides a more balanced experience: at 1080p, it averages 206 FPS with a minimum of 175 FPS and a maximum of 237 FPS, indicating smooth frame pacing. At 1440p, Medium yields 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS, while at 4K, it drops to 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS.

The High preset is the most consistent option for high-resolution gaming. At 1080p, it averages 188 FPS; at 1440p, it averages 142 FPS; and at 4K, it averages 96 FPS. The step from High to Ultra costs 25 FPS at 1080p (188 to 163), 18 FPS at 1440p (142 to 124), and 13 FPS at 4K (96 to 83). These diminishing returns suggest that the Ultra preset offers marginal visual improvements over High while incurring a significant frame rate penalty. Given that the minimum FPS values are only recorded for the Medium preset, the data implies that Medium and High are the most stable presets, with High being the recommended choice for a 4K experience above 90 FPS. The Ultra preset is technically playable at 4K with 83 FPS, but the frame rate dip below 90 FPS makes High the superior option for maintaining a fluid experience without sacrificing too much detail.

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

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is a clear indicator of where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p (234 FPS) to 1440p (213 FPS) is a 9% drop, and from 1440p to 4K (152 FPS) is a 29% drop. At Medium settings, the drops are 22% from 1080p to 1440p (206 to 160) and 33% from 1440p to 4K (160 to 108). At High settings, the drops are 24% from 1080p to 1440p (188 to 142) and 32% from 1440p to 4K (142 to 96). At Ultra settings, the drops are 24% from 1080p to 1440p (163 to 124) and 33% from 1440p to 4K (124 to 83).

These percentages reveal a pattern: the relative drop from 1440p to 4K is consistently larger than the drop from 1080p to 1440p, which is expected because 4K has over twice the pixel count of 1440p. However, the fact that the Low preset shows a smaller drop (9% and 29%) compared to Medium, High, and Ultra (which all hover around 22-24% and 32-33%) suggests that the CPU is still contributing at Low settings, where the GPU is less stressed. As settings increase, the GPU becomes the limiting component, and the frame rate scaling becomes more uniform across resolutions. The RTX 5090 D’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for Control’s texture requirements, so the bottleneck is purely computational. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system produces 83 FPS, which is still highly playable, but the scaling curve indicates that any future resolution increase or additional graphical load would be absorbed entirely by the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the benchmark database, this combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 43rd out of 3720 tested combos for Control. This places it in the top 1.2% of all configurations, which is an exceptional result, but the ranking also highlights that there are 42 other combos that perform better in this specific title. The rank is a composite measure that accounts for both CPU and GPU capabilities, and while the RTX 5090 D is a top-tier graphics card with a Passmark G3D score of 44065 (92nd percentile), the Ryzen 5 7500X3D’s 89th percentile CPU score pulls the combo down slightly relative to systems using higher-end processors like the Intel Core i9-13950HX, which has a similar average benchmark score of 44342 (0.5% higher).

The combo’s rank of 43 suggests that Control is not particularly sensitive to the CPU’s 6-core/12-thread configuration, and the primary differentiator between this combo and higher-ranked ones is likely the GPU. The RTX 5090 D’s nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% lower), which are mobile GPUs, indicating that the desktop-class RTX 5090 D is in a performance tier where small differences in synthetic scores do not translate into meaningful FPS gains in Control. The data shows that this combo is firmly in the top tier, but it is not the absolute best, which is consistent with the CPU’s mid-range positioning relative to other high-end processors.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why the frame rates are so high. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for Control’s high-resolution textures and particle effects. The GPU has a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). Its 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines deliver a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS is substantial, and the 170 ray tracing cores are relevant for Control’s optional ray-traced reflections, though the measured data does not specify whether ray tracing was enabled.

The GPU’s 92nd percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 77712 place it above the vast majority of graphics cards, but its nearest rivals in the database are notably lower-end models like the Tesla P100 and RX 6850M XT, which score within 2.4% of the RTX 5090 D on average. This is a quirk of the database’s scoring methodology, as the RTX 5090 D’s raw performance in Control is exceptional. The GPU’s TDP of 575 W and suggested PSU of 950 W indicate a power-hungry part, but the benchmark results show that this power translates into consistent high frame rates. At 4K Ultra, the GPU sustains 83 FPS, and at 1440p Ultra, it reaches 124 FPS, demonstrating that the RTX 5090 D is capable of handling Control at maximum settings without dropping below playable thresholds. The GPU’s role is clearly dominant, as evidenced by the fact that the frame rate differences between presets are larger than the differences between resolutions, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario.

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

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 234 FPS, the Medium preset averages 206 FPS with a minimum of 175 FPS and a maximum of 237 FPS, the High preset averages 188 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 163 FPS. The Medium preset’s recorded minimum and maximum values indicate stability, while the lack of min/max data for Low, High, and Ultra suggests that the benchmark tool only captured those metrics for Medium, which is the only preset with a full range of data points.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 213 FPS, the Medium preset averages 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS and a maximum of 184 FPS, the High preset averages 142 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 124 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across presets, with a 21 FPS decrease for Low, a 46 FPS decrease for Medium, a 46 FPS decrease for High, and a 39 FPS decrease for Ultra. This consistency reinforces that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU’s performance headroom is not exceeded at these settings.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 152 FPS, the Medium preset averages 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS and a maximum of 124 FPS, the High preset averages 96 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 83 FPS. The 4K results show a significant drop from 1440p, with a 61 FPS decrease for Low, a 52 FPS decrease for Medium, a 46 FPS decrease for High, and a 41 FPS decrease for Ultra. The fact that the absolute FPS drop decreases as settings increase (from 61 FPS on Low to 41 FPS on Ultra) indicates that at Ultra settings, the GPU is already saturated, and the additional pixel count has a smaller relative impact. Overall, the data shows that this combo is capable of delivering over 80 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is an excellent result for Control, and the frame rate scaling is smooth and predictable across all tested scenarios.