Control

Control is an Action Adventure title from 2019 that stresses both the CPU and GPU, but for the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and AMD Radeon RX 580 combination, the measured frames per second (FPS) data reveals a system almost entirely constrained by the graphics card. The benchmark results across three resolutions and four quality presets show a consistent pattern: the RX 580, a GCN 4.0 part built on a 14 nm process with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, becomes the decisive bottleneck as resolution increases, while the Ryzen 5 9600X's Zen 5 architecture provides ample headroom that goes largely unused in this title. The data positions this combo at rank 1525 out of 1636 tested combinations, placing it in the lower percentile of systems for this specific game, which aligns with the GPU's modest 53rd percentile standing among all graphics cards.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is severe and clearly indicates that the limiting component is the GPU, not the CPU. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 61.7 FPS at 1080p to 47.8 FPS at 1440p, a decline of approximately 22.5%, and then further down to 32.5 FPS at 4K, representing a total drop of 47.3% from the 1080p baseline. This scaling behavior is typical for a GPU that is running out of pixel throughput and memory bandwidth at higher resolutions. The RX 580's 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for 4K workloads in Control, as evidenced by the Ultra preset at 4K delivering just 19.3 FPS.

The pattern is even more pronounced at higher quality settings. At Ultra, the transition from 1080p (34.7 FPS) to 1440p (27.6 FPS) yields a 20.5% reduction, and moving to 4K (19.3 FPS) results in a 44.4% overall decline. This indicates that the rendering load at 4K Ultra is overwhelming the RX 580's compute resources, which include 2304 shading units and 144 texture mapping units. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads boosting up to 5.40 GHz, is clearly not the bottleneck here, as a CPU-bound scenario would show much flatter FPS numbers across resolutions. The data suggests that even at 1080p, the GPU is already the primary constraint, since the jump from Low to Ultra at that resolution costs 27 FPS, a massive performance hit that reflects the Polaris 20 chip's limitations with this game's effects-heavy rendering.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 580's specifications directly explain the measured results. With 8 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, the card provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p but becomes strained at higher resolutions. The GPU's boost clock of 1340 MHz and base clock of 1257 MHz are modest by modern standards, and the 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is the fundamental limit here. Control is known for its physics and particle effects, which heavily tax the shading units and texture units; the RX 580's 32 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s, which explains why the 4K results are so low.

The VRAM capacity is not the issue at 4K, as 8 GB is sufficient for this title, but the memory bandwidth is. The measured FPS at 4K High (20.1 FPS) versus 4K Low (32.5 FPS) shows a 61.7% performance difference, which is entirely attributable to the GPU's compute and bandwidth constraints, not memory capacity. The card's position relative to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks—such as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 with a 0.1% deltaPct and the AMD Radeon Pro 455 with a 1.1% deltaPct—confirms that this is an entry-level performer by modern standards. In Control specifically, the GPU's 53rd percentile ranking among all GPUs translates to a sub-60 FPS experience at any resolution above 1080p Low, making it clear that the RX 580 dictates the overall system performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience for this combo is 1920x1080 at Low settings, which delivers an average of 61.7 FPS. This is the only configuration that achieves a playable frame rate above 60 FPS, and it does so by minimizing the load on the RX 580's compute resources. The Medium preset at 1080p offers 45.4 FPS, which is a 26.4% reduction from Low but provides better visual fidelity; for users who prioritize smoothness over visuals, this is a reasonable trade-off. High at 1080p drops to 38.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 34.7 FPS, both of which are below the ideal threshold for a fluid action game.

At 1440p, the data shows that only Low settings (47.8 FPS) approach playability, while Medium (34.1 FPS), High (29.4 FPS), and Ultra (27.6 FPS) all fall below 35 FPS. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with even Low settings only reaching 32.5 FPS, so 4K is not recommended for this combination. The measured data indicates that the best experience per the rows is 1080p Low, as it is the only preset that keeps the frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold, while 1080p Medium is the highest quality setting that remains marginally playable at 45.4 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table for this CPU-GPU combo is as follows. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 61.7 at Low to 45.4 at Medium, 38.7 at High, and 34.7 at Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 27 FPS, indicating that quality settings have a substantial impact at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the numbers shift downward: Low produces 47.8 FPS, Medium 34.1 FPS, High 29.4 FPS, and Ultra 27.6 FPS. The relative penalty for Ultra versus Low at 1440p is 42.3%, which is slightly less than at 1080p, suggesting a growing GPU bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the results are as follows: Low averages 32.5 FPS, Medium 24.3 FPS, High 20.1 FPS, and Ultra 19.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 40.6%, which is narrower than at lower resolutions, confirming that the GPU is so saturated that quality settings have diminishing returns. Across all resolutions, the data shows a consistent hierarchy: Low always delivers the highest FPS, followed by Medium, High, and Ultra, but the gaps narrow as resolution increases. This pattern is the signature of a GPU-limited scenario where the pixel fill rate and shading throughput are the binding constraints.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 1525 out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the bottom 6.8% of all systems. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU's age and performance class, as the RX 580's 53rd percentile standing among all GPUs is far below the CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs. The Ryzen 5 9600X, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25525 and a single-core score of 3603, is a capable processor that sits close to rivals like the Intel Core i5-13490F (0.3% deltaPct) and AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (-0.4% deltaPct) in overall benchmarks, but its power is largely wasted in this pairing.

The combo's rank of 1525 reflects the fact that Control's engine is more demanding on the graphics subsystem than the CPU, and the RX 580's 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient to drive high frame rates at modern resolutions. In comparison to other tested combos, this system would be outclassed by any pairing with a mid-range or higher GPU, as the measured FPS data shows that even the best case (1080p Low at 61.7 FPS) is barely above the 60 FPS line. The data indicates that for this game, the RX 580 is the decisive factor in the combo's low standing, and the Ryzen 5 9600X's performance headroom cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations.