Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a robust 1080p experience in Control, but the data reveals a system that scales predictably with resolution and settings, ultimately favoring high-refresh-rate 1440p play as its sweet spot. This combination ranks 497th out of 1,636 tested combos in the game, placing it in the upper third of configurations. The benchmark results show a clear progression from a GPU-bound 4K experience to a more balanced workload at lower resolutions, where the CPU's capabilities become more apparent.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this configuration shows a predictable decline as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that decline varies significantly by settings preset. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 120.2 FPS at 1920x1080 to 86.6 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 27.9%, and then falls further to 61 FPS at 3840x2160, which is 49.3% below the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 3080 is the primary limiting component at 4K, as the pixel throughput demand outpaces what the GPU can deliver.

The Low settings preset tells a different story. Here, the 1080p average of 184.5 FPS drops to 137.6 FPS at 1440p (a 25.4% decrease) and then to 95.3 FPS at 4K (a 48.3% decrease from 1080p). The fact that even at Low settings the 4K figure remains below 100 FPS suggests that the GPU's raw rasterization power, while substantial, is still the bottleneck at ultra-high resolutions. The RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for this title, but the 320-bit bus width and 8704 shading units are taxed heavily when pushing 8.3 million pixels at 4K.

The scaling from Medium to Ultra settings at each resolution reinforces this GPU-centric view. At 1080p, Medium produces 133.3 FPS while Ultra yields 102.5 FPS, a 23.1% performance penalty for the highest preset. The gap narrows at 1440p, where Medium hits 100 FPS and Ultra manages 75.5 FPS, a 24.5% difference. At 4K, the penalty becomes more pronounced: Medium delivers 65.9 FPS while Ultra drops to 50.1 FPS, a 24.0% reduction. These consistent percentage drops across resolutions indicate that the settings presets scale the GPU workload evenly, with no sudden CPU-related cliff appearing at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz provide the single-thread performance that Control's engine leverages for game logic and physics. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong single-thread capability: a 3DMark single-thread score of 1060 and a Cinebench R23 single-core result of 3406. These figures place the 7600X in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, indicating it has ample headroom for this game's CPU demands.

In multithreaded workloads, the processor demonstrates solid throughput with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 24128 and a Geekbench multicore result of 12905. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain data locality for the game's streaming assets, while the dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures the GPU receives data without stalling. The CPU's 105 W TDP and 5 nm process node allow it to sustain boost clocks under load, which is critical for maintaining consistent frame pacing in action sequences.

The benchmark data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system reaches 184.5 FPS, a figure that approaches the CPU's practical limit for frame generation in this title. The fact that increasing resolution to 1440p only drops this to 137.6 FPS (a 25.4% reduction) suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU is still keeping pace with the GPU's output. However, the 7600X's 12 threads are not fully saturated by Control, as the game's engine typically scales well with strong single-core performance rather than raw thread count. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U and Ryzen 7 7735U — score nearly identically (26262 and 26305, respectively), but those are mobile parts with lower sustained clocks, reinforcing that the 7600X's desktop-class boost behavior is a key asset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, based on the GA102 chip and Ampere architecture, is the dominant component in this pairing. Its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory operates across a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth — a figure that proves adequate for Control's texture-heavy environments at 4K. The GPU's boost clock of 1710 MHz and base clock of 1440 MHz, combined with 8704 shading units, produce a peak FP32 throughput of 29.77 TFLOPS. This raw compute power is what drives the game's particle effects and destructible environments.

The GPU's benchmark results place it in the 80th percentile among all GPUs, with a PassMark G3D score of 25086 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35860, a 0.2% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36101, a 0.9% delta), showing that the RTX 3080 remains competitive with newer hardware despite being from the GeForce 30-series. The 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for ray-traced effects, though Control's implementation of ray tracing is not reflected in these non-RT benchmark figures.

The GPU's 10 GB VRAM capacity is a notable consideration at 4K Ultra settings, where the 50.1 FPS average suggests the memory subsystem is being pushed. The fact that the 4K High preset yields 61 FPS — a 21.8% improvement over Ultra — indicates that texture quality settings have a measurable impact on memory pressure. The GPU's 320 W TDP and suggested 700 W PSU are consistent with its performance class, and the PCIe 4.0 x16 interface ensures no bandwidth limitation when communicating with the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete FPS dataset for this configuration reveals consistent performance tiers. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 184.5 FPS on Low settings, 133.3 FPS on Medium, 120.2 FPS on High, and 102.5 FPS on Ultra. These figures show a 44.5% performance gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p, indicating that the RTX 3080 has substantial headroom at this resolution. The 1440p results are more moderate: 137.6 FPS on Low, 100 FPS on Medium, 86.6 FPS on High, and 75.5 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p-to-1440p scaling at each preset is remarkably consistent, with reductions ranging from 25.4% (Low) to 28.2% (High).

At 3840x2160, the system produces 95.3 FPS on Low, 65.9 FPS on Medium, 61 FPS on High, and 50.1 FPS on Ultra. The transition from 1440p to 4K incurs a larger penalty than the 1080p-to-1440p step, with reductions between 30.7% (High) and 33.6% (Ultra). This steeper drop at 4K aligns with the GPU's pixel fill rate of 164.2 GPixel/s, which becomes the limiting factor when rendering over 8 million pixels per frame. The 4K Ultra result of 50.1 FPS is the only preset where the average falls below the 60 FPS threshold commonly associated with smooth gameplay, suggesting that users targeting 4K should consider High settings or below for this title.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 delivers the most balanced experience. At High settings, the system produces 86.6 FPS, which is smooth and well above the 4K High result of 61 FPS. The 1440p Low setting reaches 137.6 FPS, offering headroom for high-refresh-rate displays.

*Q: Can this system run Control at 4K 60 FPS?*

A: Only with settings adjustments. The 4K High preset averages 61 FPS, just above the threshold, while Medium averages 65.9 FPS. The Ultra preset falls short at 50.1 FPS, so users should avoid max settings for a consistent 60 FPS at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 184.5 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's frame generation limit. The Ryzen 5 7600X's single-thread score of 1060 in 3DMark suggests it can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as settings increase.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low produces 137.6 FPS while Ultra produces 75.5 FPS, a difference of 45.1%. This indicates that the Ultra preset imposes a significant rendering cost, likely from increased texture detail and shadow quality.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 35787, which is 0.2% below the AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35860) and 0.9% below the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36101). It sits 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (35435).

*Q: Is the 10 GB VRAM sufficient for Control at 4K?*

A: The data indicates yes, as the 4K High preset averages 61 FPS without apparent memory-related stutters. The 760.3 GB/s bandwidth and 320-bit bus provide sufficient throughput, though the 10 GB capacity may limit texture quality at extreme settings.