Control

Control is a demanding action-adventure title, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 produces a system that is firmly limited by its graphics card in most scenarios. The measured data shows a consistent pattern: the GTX 1070, a Pascal-era part with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions, while the Ryzen 5 9600X provides ample headroom. This pairing ranks at 1401 out of 1636 tested combos for this game, placing it in the lower quartile of performance. The following analysis breaks down exactly how this system behaves across different settings and resolutions, using only the measured results.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are steep and clearly illustrate where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the system delivers 62.3 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 44.7 FPS at 2560x1440, and further down to 31.3 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 28% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 50% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is almost perfectly linear with the pixel count increase, which is the signature of a GPU-bound workload.

The story is similar at Ultra settings, where the average frame rate falls from 52.3 FPS at 1080p to 38.2 FPS at 1440p, and then to 26 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is below the playable threshold for most action games, indicating that the GTX 1070 simply lacks the raw throughput for this title at that resolution. Even at Low settings, the 4K average of 51.3 FPS is barely acceptable, while the 1080p Low result of 96.3 FPS shows that the CPU is capable of pushing much higher frame rates when the GPU load is reduced.

Critically, the gap between settings shrinks as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 44 FPS (96.3 vs 52.3). At 4K, that difference narrows to 25.3 FPS (51.3 vs 26). This compression of performance at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU has more than enough power to feed the GTX 1070 at 1080p, but as the pixel workload grows, the GPU saturates and the CPU headroom becomes irrelevant.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It belongs to the Zen 5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process, and its benchmark results show it is a very capable gaming CPU. In Cinebench R23, it scores 25525 points in multi-core and 3603 points in single-core. These numbers place it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28246.

The data suggests that this CPU is never the limiting factor in Control. At 1080p Low settings, where the GPU load is lightest, the system achieves 96.3 FPS. This is the highest result in the entire measured set, and it indicates that the CPU can handle the game's physics and logic threads without breaking a sweat. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1253 and 2-thread score of 2456 reinforce that the CPU has strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for older game engines that rely on fewer threads.

When compared to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 9600X sits within a tight performance band. It is 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-13490F and AMD Ryzen 5 230, and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS and 0.5% behind the Intel Core i5-14500T. These deltas are negligible in real-world gaming, meaning the 9600X is not leaving any performance on the table in this pairing. The 65 W TDP and 32 MB of shared L3 cache are more than adequate for this workload.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the clear performance ceiling in this system. It features a GP104 chip on the Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process, with 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its memory configuration includes 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, providing 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock is listed at 1683 MHz, and the card has a TDP of 150 W.

The GPU's benchmark results are modest by modern standards. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1082, and its PassMark G3D score is 13498, placing it in the 51st percentile among all GPUs. In Control, this translates to an inability to maintain 60 FPS at 1440p on High settings, where it averages 44.7 FPS. At 1080p High, it manages 62.3 FPS, which is playable but not smooth for a fast-paced action game.

The GTX 1070's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (0.7% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (1.3% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% behind), and the NVIDIA Tesla K20Xm (1.7% behind). This grouping shows that the GTX 1070 is competing with much older or lower-tier parts, confirming its age. The 8 GB VRAM is likely not the primary constraint at 1080p, but at 4K with Ultra textures, it could become a factor, as the average frame rate drops to 26 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Control at 60 FPS?

A: Only at 1080p with Low settings, where it averages 96.3 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 67.9 FPS, and at High it falls to 62.3 FPS. At 1440p, no setting achieves 60 FPS; the best is Low at 71.3 FPS, but High drops to 44.7 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system can consistently hit playable frame rates across all settings. At 2560x1440, only Low settings exceed 60 FPS, and at 3840x2160, even Low settings average just 51.3 FPS.

Q: How much does the Ultra preset cost in performance?

A: Compared to High settings, Ultra reduces the average frame rate by 10 FPS at 1080p (62.3 to 52.3), by 6.5 FPS at 1440p (44.7 to 38.2), and by 5.3 FPS at 4K (31.3 to 26).

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU?

A: No. The data shows the GPU is the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the CPU pushes the system to 96.3 FPS, and the CPU's benchmark scores (85th percentile) are far above the GPU's (51st percentile).

Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM enough for Control?

A: The measured data does not show a specific VRAM limit, but the frame rates at 4K Ultra (26 FPS) suggest the GPU's overall throughput, not just memory, is the limiting factor. At 1080p, 8 GB is sufficient for all settings.

Q: How does this system compare to others in the database?

A: It ranks 1401 out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the bottom 15% of configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its best results. Low settings deliver an average of 96.3 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 67.9 FPS, High settings to 62.3 FPS, and Ultra settings to 52.3 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 44 FPS, showing that the GPU has a significant impact on performance even at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates become more constrained. Low settings average 71.3 FPS, which is still above 60. Medium settings drop to 49.6 FPS, High settings to 44.7 FPS, and Ultra settings to 38.2 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra here is only 6.5 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from the highest preset.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 51.3 FPS, Medium settings drop to 35.5 FPS, High settings to 31.3 FPS, and Ultra settings to 26 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 25.3 FPS, and even the lowest settings fail to reach 60 FPS. This resolution is not viable for this GPU.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth experience at 1920x1080, the High preset offers the best balance, delivering 62.3 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium, which only achieves 67.9 FPS. The Ultra preset is not worth the 10 FPS loss for marginal visual gains. If a higher frame rate is preferred, Medium at 67.9 FPS is a solid choice, but Low at 96.3 FPS is only for competitive play where visual fidelity is irrelevant.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only option that maintains 60 FPS, averaging 71.3 FPS. Medium drops to 49.6 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold. Users with a 1440p monitor should accept Low settings or consider a GPU upgrade, as the visual quality at Low is a significant compromise for a game like Control. High at 44.7 FPS is playable but not ideal for a fast-paced action title.

At 3840x2160, no setting is recommended. Even Low averages only 51.3 FPS, and the visual quality at Low on a 4K display is poor. The GTX 1070 is not suitable for 4K gaming in this title. Users should either lower the resolution to 1440p or reduce the display scaling. The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the demands of Control at this resolution. The best experience for this hardware is 1080p with the High preset.