Control

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Control show a steep performance curve as resolution climbs. At 1080p with Low settings, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT delivers 120.9 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same Low preset drops the average to 90.6 FPS, a reduction of 30.3 FPS. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 60.7 FPS, which is exactly half of the 1080p Low result. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component once resolution increases.

The gap between 1080p and 4K widens considerably at higher quality settings. With Ultra settings, the 1080p average is 69.2 FPS, while 1440p Ultra produces 52.2 FPS, and 4K Ultra drops to 36.4 FPS. The delta between 1080p Ultra and 4K Ultra is 32.8 FPS, meaning the card loses nearly half its performance at 4K with maximum quality. This is a classic sign of a mid-range GPU being pushed beyond its comfortable operating range.

The data suggests that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combination in Control. At 1440p High, the average of 57.6 FPS is playable, though not silky smooth. At 4K, even Low settings only muster 60.7 FPS, which is borderline for a fast-paced action-adventure game. The scaling from Medium to High to Ultra at each resolution shows diminishing returns: at 4K, the difference between Medium (45.5 FPS) and High (41.2 FPS) is 4.3 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra (36.4 FPS) is 4.8 FPS. These small increments suggest that the GPU's rendering pipeline is saturated, and each additional quality level adds disproportionate load.

The fact that the 1080p Low result (120.9 FPS) is nearly double the 4K Ultra result (36.4 FPS) reinforces that pixel throughput is the bottleneck. The RX 6650 XT's 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, paired with a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s, are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but struggle to feed the 4K framebuffer. The data indicates that users targeting 4K should expect to sacrifice quality settings or consider a higher-tier GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture with a 5 nm process. Its base clock is 4.70 GHz, boosting up to 5.30 GHz. This configuration is more than adequate for Control, which is not known for being a CPU-intensive title. The benchmark results show that the CPU's single-threaded performance is strong: it scores 1,060 in 3DMark single-thread and 3,406 in Cinebench R23 single-core. These figures place it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26,272.

In Control, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The game's action-adventure genre typically relies on a few heavily loaded threads rather than massive parallel scaling. The 7600X's single-core performance is a direct advantage here; its 3DMark 2-thread score of 2,028 and 4-thread score of 3,796 show that it can handle lightly threaded workloads with ease. The multi-threaded scores (6,879 in 3DMark 16-thread, 6,845 in 3DMark max-thread) confirm that the CPU won't be a limiting factor even when background tasks compete for resources.

The benchmark data for the 7600X shows it sits very close to several rivals. It is statistically tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 7 7735U (-0.1% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5655GE (-0.2% delta). It also edges out the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X by 0.2%. These near-identical scores mean that swapping to any of these CPUs would yield virtually no change in Control's frame rates. The game's performance is firmly GPU-bound, as evidenced by the fact that the 7600X's 12 threads and 32 MB of shared L3 cache are never the bottleneck.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s and dual-channel DDR5 support further reduce any potential stalling. Control's asset streaming benefits from the 32 MB L3 cache, which helps keep frequently accessed data close to the cores. The 5.30 GHz boost clock ensures that the game's main thread can reach maximum frequency when needed. The conclusion from the data is clear: the 7600X is a capable partner for the RX 6650 XT in this title, offering ample headroom for the GPU to operate without starving it of data.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p as the sweet spot. At 1440p High, the average is 57.6 FPS, while 1080p High yields 80.3 FPS. 4K is playable only at Low settings (60.7 FPS), with Ultra dropping to 36.4 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The 1080p High average of 80.3 FPS falls to 57.6 FPS at 1440p and then to 41.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a 48.7% drop from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 7600X bottleneck the RX 6650 XT in this game?

A: No. The CPU's single-thread score of 3,406 in Cinebench R23 and its 83rd percentile ranking indicate it has ample headroom. The frame rate scaling between resolutions points to the GPU as the limiting factor.

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS at 4K in Control?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average is 60.7 FPS. At Medium, it drops to 45.5 FPS, and at High it falls to 41.2 FPS. Ultra settings yield 36.4 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for Control?

A: It ranks 1,031 out of 1,636 total combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. The percentile of 72 for the GPU and 83 for the CPU shows the GPU is the weaker link.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: Low settings produce 120.9 FPS, while Ultra produces 69.2 FPS. The 51.7 FPS gap indicates that quality settings have a substantial impact on this hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates span a wide range depending on settings. Low settings deliver an average of 120.9 FPS, which is the highest recorded result across all configurations. Medium settings produce 89.4 FPS, High settings yield 80.3 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 69.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is approximately linear in stepwise fashion, with each quality tier costing between 9.1 and 31.5 FPS. The largest single drop occurs from Low to Medium, which costs 31.5 FPS, indicating that Medium quality introduces significant rendering effects such as additional lighting and shadow detail.

At 2560x1440, the averages are predictably lower. Low settings produce 90.6 FPS, Medium yields 68.7 FPS, High delivers 57.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 52.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 38.4 FPS, which is proportionally similar to the 1080p gap of 51.7 FPS but smaller in absolute terms. The difference between Medium and High at 1440p is 11.1 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is 5.4 FPS. This suggests diminishing returns at the top end of the quality scale.

At 3840x2160, the results become more constrained. Low settings average 60.7 FPS, Medium drops to 45.5 FPS, High falls to 41.2 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 36.4 FPS. The margin between Low and Ultra at 4K is 24.3 FPS. Notably, the difference between Medium and High at 4K is only 4.3 FPS, and the difference between High and Ultra is 4.8 FPS. These small increments indicate that the GPU is severely limited at this resolution, and quality settings have a muted impact on the final frame rate. The 4K Low result of 60.7 FPS is the only configuration at this resolution that approaches a smooth 60 FPS target.

The overall trend across all resolutions shows that the RX 6650 XT can handle 1080p with headroom, 1440p with compromises, and 4K only at the lowest settings. The measured data also includes no min or max FPS values, so the averages represent the only available metric for stability assessment. The lack of minimum frame data means that transient dips cannot be evaluated from this dataset alone.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture using a 7 nm process. Its Navi 23 chip contains 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations pipelines. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2055 MHz, with a game clock of 2410 MHz and a boost clock of 2635 MHz. These clocks are relatively high for the RX 6000 series, allowing the card to extract performance from its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s.

In Control, the GPU's role is paramount. The benchmark results show that the card sits in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29,024. It is statistically tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (0% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 470 (0.1% delta), and slightly behind the Intel Arc A370M (-0.5% delta) and AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH (-0.6% delta). These rival comparisons suggest that the RX 6650 XT is a mid-range performer, and Control's frame rates reflect this positioning.

The GPU's compute capabilities include an FP32 throughput of 10.79 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s. These figures are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results indicate that the card runs out of pixel-pushing capacity. The 4K Ultra result of 36.4 FPS is a direct consequence of the 64 ROPs being overwhelmed by the 8.3 million pixel framebuffer. The texture rate of 337.3 GTexel/s helps maintain detail at lower resolutions, but the memory bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s becomes a limiting factor at 4K, where the effective memory clock of 17.5 Gbps cannot keep pace with the data demands.

The GPU also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, which Control can leverage for modern rendering features. However, the game's 2019 release date predates some of the more demanding ray tracing effects, so the card's 32 ray accelerators are not heavily stressed. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's performance scales predictably with resolution, confirming that the RX 6650 XT is best suited for 1080p and 1440p play. The 4K results are playable only at Low settings, and the data suggests that users seeking 4K Ultra should look at higher-tier GPUs in the RX 6000 series lineup.