Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT delivers a solid, if not spectacular, experience in Control, with performance heavily dependent on the resolution and preset chosen. The data shows a system that can comfortably handle 1080p gaming but begins to strain under the load of higher resolutions, making preset selection critical for maintaining smooth frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific combination, the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance is found at the High preset when gaming at 1080p. The measured average frame rate of 79.6 FPS provides a fluid experience that is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. While the Ultra preset is playable at 69.8 FPS, the marginal visual gains do not justify the nearly 10 FPS performance drop. At 1440p, the High preset remains the best choice, delivering a playable 57.3 FPS average, though users with high-refresh-rate monitors will need to accept some compromises. The Medium preset at 1440p offers a more comfortable 69.1 FPS, which is a safer choice if frame rate consistency is prioritized over minor visual enhancements. Pushing to 4K, the situation becomes more demanding; the Low preset is the only viable option for a smooth experience, averaging 62.6 FPS. The High and Medium presets at 4K fall below the 60 FPS target, with averages of 40.4 and 43.6 FPS respectively, making them less desirable for action-heavy sequences.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT serves as the primary performance driver in this configuration, and its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth proves to be a significant asset. The graphics card operates with a base clock of 2055 MHz and a boost clock of 2635 MHz, which allows it to maintain high throughput in Control's graphically intense environments. The GPU's 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs are well-suited for the game's particle effects and physics simulations. However, the data reveals a clear pattern: as resolution increases, the GPU's workload becomes more demanding, and its performance margins shrink. At 1080p, the GPU is able to push frame rates well beyond 100 FPS on lower presets, but at 4K, even the Low preset sees the average frame rate drop by half, indicating that the GPU is nearing its limits. The GPU's RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process, handles the game's DirectX 12 workload efficiently, but the 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a potential bottleneck at higher resolutions and detail settings, where texture memory demands increase.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the shift in system bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 125.3 FPS, which drops to 93.9 FPS at 1440p and further to 62.6 FPS at 4K. This pattern shows a 25% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and an additional 33% reduction from 1440p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as pixel count increases. The same trend is visible on the High preset, where frame rates fall from 79.6 FPS at 1080p to 57.3 FPS at 1440p and 40.4 FPS at 4K. The performance drop is more pronounced at higher settings, which suggests that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are being saturated. The Ryzen 5 9600X, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, has sufficient processing power to keep up with the GPU at lower resolutions, but as the resolution climbs, the GPU's rendering workload dominates, and the CPU's role diminishes. The scaling data indicates that for this combo, 1080p and 1440p are the sweet spots, while 4K requires significant settings reductions to remain playable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a wide range of performance across presets. The Low preset yields an average of 125.3 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays. The Medium preset averages 90.5 FPS, providing a smooth experience with better visual quality. The High preset, as previously noted, averages 79.6 FPS, which is still very playable. The Ultra preset brings the average down to 69.8 FPS, which is acceptable but shows the performance cost of maximum detail settings. At 2560x1440, the Low preset maintains a high average of 93.9 FPS, making it a viable option for high refresh rate gaming. The Medium preset averages 69.1 FPS, which is a good balance for most users. The High preset averages 57.3 FPS, which is playable but requires some adjustment for those used to higher frame rates. The Ultra preset falls to 52.4 FPS, which is on the lower end of playability for a fast-paced action game. At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only one that averages above 60 FPS, with a score of 62.6 FPS. The Medium preset averages 43.6 FPS, and the High preset averages 40.4 FPS, both of which will result in noticeable stuttering during intense scenes. The Ultra preset averages 35.7 FPS, which is not recommended for a smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Control, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks at 1014 out of 1636 tested combos. This places the system in the lower-middle tier of performance, which is consistent with the measured frame rates. The ranking reflects that while this combo is capable of running the game, there are many other configurations that deliver higher average frame rates. The CPU itself is a strong performer, with a benchmark average score of 28246, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-13490F and AMD Ryzen 5 230, which have nearly identical average scores with a delta of only 0.3%. However, the GPU is the limiting factor, as its average benchmark score of 29024 places it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6800M and AMD Radeon RX 470, show deltas of 0% and 0.1% respectively, indicating that the RX 6650 XT is positioned in a highly competitive performance band. The combo's overall rank suggests that it is a balanced but not exceptional pairing, where the CPU's capabilities are somewhat held back by the GPU's mid-range performance. For users seeking higher frame rates at 1440p or 4K, this configuration will require a GPU upgrade, while the CPU has headroom to support a more powerful graphics card.