Control

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 pairing delivers a compelling 1440p experience in Control, with the data showing a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution climbs. This analysis breaks down the CPU and GPU contributions based strictly on the measured frame rates.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge). It operates with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, paired with a 32 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark profile shows strong single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread scaling: the Cinebench R23 single-core score is 3603, while the multi-core score is 25525. This indicates a processor that excels in lightly threaded workloads, which matters for a game like Control that does not typically scale perfectly across all available cores.

In the measured results, the CPU’s influence is most visible at 1080p. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average frame rate reaches 183.7 FPS. This high frame rate suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to maintain a very fast pace. However, the delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is substantial: 183.7 FPS down to 102.6 FPS. This drop of 81.1 FPS is primarily driven by the GPU’s workload increasing with graphical fidelity, but the fact that the CPU can still push past 100 FPS at Ultra indicates it is not the primary limiter in this scenario.

The CPU’s 12 threads are sufficient for Control’s engine, as evidenced by the 3DMark 16-thread score of 7585, which is nearly identical to the max-thread score of 7590. This suggests that adding more threads beyond 12 would yield minimal gains. The single-thread 3DMark score of 1253 further reinforces that the 9600X has the per-core strength needed for the game’s main simulation thread. For this title, the CPU provides a stable foundation that allows the GPU to become the deciding factor once resolution and settings increase.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Ryzen 5 9600X and RTX 3080 combination ranks 488th out of 1636 tested combos in Control. This places it comfortably in the upper third of all tested configurations. The percentile data for the individual components supports this positioning: the CPU sits at the 85th percentile among all CPUs, and the GPU sits at the 80th percentile among all GPUs. This indicates that both components are above average, with the CPU being slightly stronger relative to its peers than the GPU.

When looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the data shows a tight cluster. The 9600X has an average benchmark score of 28246. Its closest competitor, the Intel Core i5-13490F, scores 28173, a delta of only 0.3%. The AMD Ryzen 5 230 also sits at 28164, again a 0.3% difference. On the other side, the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS scores 28369 (a -0.4% delta), and the Intel Core i5-14500T scores 28377 (a -0.5% delta). These sub-1% differences mean that in a CPU-bound scenario, swapping the 9600X for any of these rivals would result in nearly identical frame rates.

For the GPU, the RTX 3080’s average benchmark score is 35787. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro Duo, scores 35860, which is a -0.2% delta. The AMD Radeon 880M is 0.4% slower, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE is 0.9% faster. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is 1% slower. These margins are small, meaning the RTX 3080 is firmly positioned in a performance bracket where its direct competitors are within a single percentage point of its overall score.

Given this data, the 488th rank out of 1636 combos reflects a balanced system. The CPU and GPU are both mid-to-high performers, and their combination does not create a notable bottleneck at most settings. The rank is a function of the entire pool of tested combos, which includes higher-end GPUs and newer CPUs that push this pairing down from the top 25%.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. At 1080p High, the combo averages 117.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 88.4 FPS, a reduction of 29.2 FPS (24.8%). At 4K High, the frame rate falls to 59.4 FPS, which is a 49.5% drop from the 1080p result. This steep decline as pixel count increases is the signature of a GPU-limited workload.

The same pattern holds across all settings. At Low settings, the 1080p score is 183.7 FPS, which drops to 137.7 FPS at 1440p and then to 91.7 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 50.1%. At Ultra settings, the 1080p score is 102.6 FPS, falling to 78.9 FPS at 1440p and 55 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is only 53.6% of the 1080p Ultra result.

The data also shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 4K. At 4K Low, the average FPS is 91.7, while at 4K Ultra it is 55. The difference of 36.7 FPS is entirely attributable to the GPU’s rendering load. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates at 4K Low and 4K Ultra would be much closer together, since the CPU’s work does not change with graphical settings. The fact that they diverge significantly confirms that the RTX 3080 is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the situation is more nuanced. The gap between Low (183.7 FPS) and Ultra (102.6 FPS) is 81.1 FPS, showing that the GPU still has a significant role. However, at 1080p Low, the frame rate approaches the CPU’s practical limit for this title. The data suggests that the CPU can deliver around 180 FPS in lighter scenes, but the GPU cannot maintain that pace at higher settings. This is a healthy balance for a 1440p target, where the combo delivers 88.4 FPS at High settings and 78.9 FPS at Ultra, both of which are playable.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this CPU/GPU pair in Control?

A: The data shows 1440p High delivers 88.4 FPS and 1440p Ultra delivers 78.9 FPS. Both are above 60 FPS, making 1440p the sweet spot. At 4K, only Low settings (91.7 FPS) and Medium (70.2 FPS) exceed 60 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 9600X compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The 9600X has an average benchmark score of 28246. Its closest rival, the Intel Core i5-13490F, is 0.3% slower at 28173. The AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS is 0.4% faster, and the Intel Core i5-14500T is 0.5% faster. All deltas are under 1%.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 or the Ryzen 5 9600X the bottleneck in Control?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is the primary limiter, as shown by the large FPS drops when raising settings. At 4K, the GPU is definitively the bottleneck, with frame rates dropping to 55 FPS at Ultra. The CPU is only potentially limiting at 1080p Low where the frame rate reaches 183.7 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 117.6. At 4K High, it drops to 59.4. This represents a 49.5% reduction in frame rate, which is a direct result of the GPU having to render four times as many pixels.

Q: How does the RTX 3080’s rank compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 35787. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo is 0.2% faster, the AMD Radeon 880M is 0.4% slower, and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE is 0.9% faster. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is 1% slower.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: The Ryzen 5 9600X and RTX 3080 ranks 488th out of 1636 tested combos in Control. This places it in the upper third of all tested systems.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA102 chip. It features 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1440 MHz with a boost clock of 1710 MHz. Its memory operates at 1188 MHz, which translates to 19 Gbps effective. This memory configuration is crucial for Control’s heavy use of textures and effects at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s benchmark scores show it is a capable performer. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4407. The PassMark G3D score is 25086, and the Geekbench OpenCL score is 167014. The GPU’s compute potential is highlighted by the FP32 performance of 29.77 TFLOPS. These numbers indicate that the GPU has substantial raw compute power, which directly translates to the frame rates observed in Control.

The data shows that the RTX 3080’s VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor at 4K Ultra. The measured 4K Ultra average FPS is 55, and the 4K High is 59.4. The 10 GB of VRAM is sufficient for this title’s demands at these settings, as the frame rates are consistent with the GPU’s compute capabilities rather than showing a sudden cliff from memory exhaustion. The 760.3 GB/s bandwidth also ensures that texture streaming does not cause stutters, which is supported by the fact that the minimum FPS data is not reported as a significant outlier.

The GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the GPU’s performance is partially masked by the CPU’s ability to keep up, but at 4K, the GPU’s rendering limits are fully exposed. The RTX 3080’s 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are relevant for Control’s ray tracing and DLSS features, though the measured FPS data does not specify whether these are enabled. Regardless, the raw rasterization performance, as evidenced by the 465.1 GTexel/s texture rate and 164.2 GPixel/s pixel rate, is what drives the observed frame rates. The GPU is the definitive performance arbiter at 4K, and its 80th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms it is a strong, but not top-tier, component for this demanding title.