Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 5 9600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER

The pairing of AMD's Ryzen 5 9600X with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER produces a fascinating bottleneck dynamic in Control, a 2019 Action Adventure title. The measured data reveals a system that delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K, with the GPU clearly emerging as the limiting factor at higher resolutions. This combination ranks 1097th out of 1636 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower third of all configurations, but the actual experience varies dramatically depending on resolution and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and revealing. At High settings, the system delivers 77 FPS at 1920x1080, drops to 59 FPS at 2560x1440, and falls to 38.8 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 23.4% loss from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 34.2% loss from 1440p to 4K. The total decline from 1080p to 4K is 49.6% — meaning 4K performance is barely half of what the system achieves at 1080p.

This scaling pattern points directly at the GPU as the primary constraint. The RTX 2060 SUPER, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, is being pushed to its limits as pixel count quadruples. The CPU's role diminishes at higher resolutions, as the workload shifts overwhelmingly to the graphics processor. At Low settings, the same pattern emerges but with higher absolute numbers: 118.6 FPS at 1080p, 90.5 FPS at 1440p, and 62.7 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are similar, confirming that resolution scaling is consistent regardless of quality preset.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (118.6 FPS) and Ultra (68.1 FPS) is 50.5 FPS. At 4K, that gap shrinks to 30.9 FPS (62.7 vs 31.8). This suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU has headroom to feed the GPU with enough frames to make settings matter more; at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that even lowering settings cannot fully compensate for the resolution burden.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1097 out of 1636 tested configurations places it in the 33rd percentile — meaning roughly two-thirds of all tested combos perform better in Control. This is a middling result, but it must be interpreted with context. The RTX 2060 SUPER is an end-of-life product from 2019, while the Ryzen 5 9600X is a current-generation processor released in 2024. The pairing is inherently imbalanced for a game like Control, which is known for its demanding visual effects.

Looking at the GPU's benchmark rivals helps contextualize this ranking. The RTX 2060 SUPER's average benchmark score of 19774 is 0.3% ahead of the GTX TITAN, 0.5% ahead of the RTX 2070, and 1.3% ahead of the Tesla K40m. These are all older, similarly-powered cards, suggesting the GPU sits at a performance tier that is competitive with late-2010s high-end hardware but far behind modern offerings.

The CPU, by contrast, is a strong performer. The Ryzen 5 9600X's average benchmark score of 28246 places it 0.3% ahead of the Core i5-13490F, 0.3% ahead of the Ryzen 5 230, 0.4% behind the Ryzen 7 8845HS, and 0.5% behind the Core i5-14500T. This indicates the processor is well within the top tier of mid-range CPUs, with a percentile ranking of 85 against all CPUs. The bottleneck in this combo is unmistakably the GPU — the CPU has far more headroom than the graphics card can utilize in Control.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture using a 12 nm process at TSMC, with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. Its base clock runs at 1470 MHz, boosting to 1650 MHz, and it carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. With 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, the card is configured for 1080p and 1440p gaming rather than 4K.

The data supports this assessment. At 1080p, the card delivers 118.6 FPS on Low, 82.8 FPS on Medium, 77 FPS on High, and 68.1 FPS on Ultra. These numbers indicate a smooth experience at essentially any setting for 1080p displays. At 1440p, it still manages 90.5 FPS on Low and 59 FPS on High, but Ultra drops to 48.5 FPS — playable but not ideal for competitive play. At 4K, even Low settings only reach 62.7 FPS, with Ultra plummeting to 31.8 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay.

The card's 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present but are not the deciding factor here — Control uses ray tracing, but the measured data does not break out RT-specific performance. The GPU's pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s provide a theoretical ceiling that clearly cannot sustain 4K Ultra in this title. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game, as Control's memory requirements are not extreme, but the raw compute throughput of 7.181 TFLOPS FP32 is the limiting factor at high resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, Ultra settings at 68.1 FPS provide a high-quality experience that remains fluid, while High at 77 FPS offers a slightly faster frame rate with minimal visual compromise. For users prioritizing frame rate, Medium at 82.8 FPS or even Low at 118.6 FPS are viable options, with the latter approaching high-refresh-rate territory.

At 1440p, the sweet spot is High settings at 59 FPS — this nearly hits the 60 FPS target and offers strong visual fidelity. Medium at 64.5 FPS is also excellent, providing a small frame rate cushion over High. Ultra at 48.5 FPS is playable but may feel less responsive in action sequences. Low at 90.5 FPS is the choice for competitive players or those with 144 Hz displays.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. Low settings at 62.7 FPS is the only preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming. Medium at 45.7 FPS is acceptable for slower-paced exploration, but High at 38.8 FPS and Ultra at 31.8 FPS are likely to feel stuttery during intense combat. Users with 4K displays should either accept Low settings or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for a significantly better experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full measured dataset provides a comprehensive view of this combo's performance. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates across settings are: Low 118.6 FPS, Medium 82.8 FPS, High 77 FPS, and Ultra 68.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 50.5 FPS, indicating that settings have a substantial impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 90.5 FPS, Medium 64.5 FPS, High 59 FPS, and Ultra 48.5 FPS. The spread narrows to 42 FPS, showing that the GPU is beginning to cap performance even at lower settings. The gap between Medium and High is only 5.5 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from those two presets.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 62.7 FPS, Medium 45.7 FPS, High 38.8 FPS, and Ultra 31.8 FPS. The spread narrows further to 30.9 FPS, confirming the GPU is the dominant constraint. Notably, the jump from Low to Medium costs 17 FPS, while Medium to High costs 6.9 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 7 FPS — the largest single drop occurs when moving away from Low settings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Control at 60 FPS at 1080p?

A: Yes, all four settings presets exceed 60 FPS at 1920x1080, with Low at 118.6 FPS, Medium at 82.8 FPS, High at 77 FPS, and Ultra at 68.1 FPS.

Q: Is 1440p viable with this hardware?

A: Yes, but with caveats. Low settings achieve 90.5 FPS, Medium reaches 64.5 FPS, and High hits 59 FPS. Ultra drops to 48.5 FPS, which is playable but below the 60 FPS target.

Q: What is the best 4K setting for this combo?

A: Low settings at 62.7 FPS is the only 4K preset that maintains 60 FPS. Medium (45.7 FPS), High (38.8 FPS), and Ultra (31.8 FPS) all fall short of smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER's average benchmark score of 19774 is 0.3% ahead of the GTX TITAN, 0.5% ahead of the RTX 2070, and 0.8% ahead of the Quadro K5200, making it a solid mid-tier performer.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting factor, especially at 1440p and 4K. The Ryzen 5 9600X ranks in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 63rd percentile among GPUs.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p Ultra?

A: The measured average is 68.1 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, which provides a smooth experience for most players.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, drawing 65 W TDP. Built on TSMC's 4 nm process with 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die, it features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth and includes 24 PCIe Gen 5 lanes.

In Control, the CPU's role is substantial at lower resolutions but diminishes as resolution increases. At 1080p, the Ryzen 5 9600X's strong single-thread performance — evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3603 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 1253 — helps drive high frame rates. The processor's multi-threaded capabilities, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25525 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 15182, ensure that the game's background tasks and physics calculations do not bottleneck the system.

However, at 4K, the CPU's advantage largely goes unused. The frame rates at 3840x2160 — 62.7 FPS on Low and 31.8 FPS on Ultra — are constrained by the GPU's compute limits rather than the CPU's processing power. The Ryzen 5 9600X's percentile ranking of 85 against all CPUs places it well above the RTX 2060 SUPER's percentile of 63, confirming that the processor has headroom to spare. For users considering future GPU upgrades, the Ryzen 5 9600X provides a solid foundation that will not need replacement when moving to a more powerful graphics card. The CPU's 65 W TDP also indicates efficient operation, though the benchmark data does not include power consumption figures for gaming workloads.