Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 5 9600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a formidable Control experience, with measured average framerates ranging from 69 FPS at 4K Ultra to 246 FPS at 1080p Low. This combination sits at rank 241 out of 3,720 tested combos, placing it in the top 6.5% of all configurations. The data indicates a system that excels at high-refresh 1440p gaming while remaining fully capable at 4K, with settings adjustments providing predictable and substantial performance headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the High preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, producing an average of 118 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and leaves ample headroom for demanding action sequences. At 3840x2160, High still delivers a playable 79 FPS average, making it the recommended choice for 4K displays where visual detail takes precedence over raw framerates.

For users prioritizing maximum smoothness on high-refresh-rate monitors, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 achieves 132 FPS average, with a measured minimum of 113 FPS and maximum of 152 FPS. This narrow frame-time distribution indicates consistent performance without significant dips. The Ultra preset, while visually superior, drops to 102 FPS at 1440p and 69 FPS at 4K — the latter being borderline for fast-paced action, though still technically playable.

At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 156 FPS average, which is excellent for competitive play, but the Medium preset's 175 FPS average with a 149 FPS minimum provides even greater consistency. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 246 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most displays, indicating that the CPU becomes the primary limiter at this resolution and settings level. For the best overall experience per the measured rows, the High preset at 1440p is the recommended choice — it provides strong visual quality, maintains 118 FPS average, and keeps all settings at a level where the GPU's capabilities are fully utilized without unnecessary strain.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, brings substantial graphics horsepower to Control. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for this 2019 Action Adventure title at any resolution tested. The GPU's 9,728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines process the game's physics-heavy environments efficiently.

Clock speeds are notable: the base clock of 2205 MHz boosts to 2505 MHz, and memory runs at 1400 MHz with 22.4 Gbps effective throughput. These figures translate into a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s, explaining why the card handles 4K resolution with relative ease. The FP32 compute throughput of 48.74 TFLOPS ensures that the game's particle effects and destructible environments remain fluid.

The RTX 4080's percentile ranking of 86 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,247, places it in the upper echelon of graphics cards. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% ahead) and AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% behind), indicating that this card sits at the very top of the performance pyramid. In Control specifically, the measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the dominant component at 4K, where the average framerate drops from 126 FPS at Low to 69 FPS at Ultra — a 45% reduction that reflects the game's increasing graphics load.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X, featuring 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), operates with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. This 4 nm part from TSMC includes 32 MB of shared L3 cache, with 80 KB L1 and 1 MB L2 per core. The CPU's single-thread performance is exceptional, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,183.5 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2,923, which are critical for Control's game logic and physics calculations.

Multi-threaded performance is solid for a 6-core part: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 17,528.5, while 3DMark's 16-thread test yields 7,585. The CPU's 81st percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 29,713, places it near the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT (0.6% behind) and AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (0.8% behind). This indicates that the 9600X performs like a high-end 8-core chip in many workloads despite having fewer physical cores.

In Control, the CPU role becomes increasingly apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 246 FPS average, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame output for this game. The boost clock of 5.40 GHz and single-thread score of 1,253 in 3DMark's single-thread test suggest strong IPC that keeps the frame rate high even when the GPU is not heavily taxed. The 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (89.6 GB/s bandwidth) ensure the CPU can feed the RTX 4080 without becoming a bottleneck in most scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 241 out of 3,720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 6.5% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the synergy between a high-IPC 6-core CPU and a top-tier GPU, which together deliver framerates that many other combinations cannot match.

The CPU's performance relative to its rivals is noteworthy: the 9600X's average benchmark score of 29,713 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE (0.2% ahead) and the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (0.5% behind). This means the 9600X provides comparable processing power to these 8-core alternatives in most workloads, though Control's reliance on single-thread performance likely favors the 9600X's higher boost clock.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4080's average benchmark score of 54,247 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% ahead), with the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X trailing by 1.1% and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB behind by 2.6%. This tight clustering at the top means that the RTX 4080 is indistinguishable from its immediate successor in practical terms, and it comfortably outperforms mid-range alternatives.

The combo rank of 241 suggests that while the individual components are excellent, there are 240 combinations that achieve higher framerates in Control — likely those pairing even faster CPUs (such as high-end 16-core parts) with the RTX 4080 or better. However, the measured FPS data shows that this combo delivers 135 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 102 FPS at 1440p Ultra, which are exceptional results for a 6-core configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that highlights the GPU as the primary limiter at higher resolutions. From 1080p to 1440p, average framerates drop by approximately 24-25% across all settings: High goes from 156 to 118 FPS, Low from 246 to 186 FPS, Medium from 175 to 132 FPS, and Ultra from 135 to 102 FPS. This consistent reduction indicates that the RTX 4080 is scaling predictably with pixel count, and the CPU is not yet a bottleneck at 1440p.

The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a more pronounced drop of approximately 32-33%: High falls from 118 to 79 FPS, Low from 186 to 126 FPS, Medium from 132 to 89 FPS, and Ultra from 102 to 69 FPS. The larger percentage drop at 4K suggests that the GPU is becoming increasingly saturated, and the 16 GB VRAM and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed more heavily. The fact that Ultra 4K still maintains 69 FPS average indicates that the RTX 4080 has sufficient headroom for this resolution, though the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K (126 vs 69 FPS, a 45% difference) is wider than at 1080p (246 vs 135 FPS, a 45% difference), showing that the game's higher settings have a proportionally similar impact regardless of resolution.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance (boost clock of 5.40 GHz) becomes more relevant, as evidenced by the 246 FPS Low result that approaches typical CPU-bound limits. At 4K, the GPU's fill rate (280.6 GPixel/s) and texture rate (761.5 GTexel/s) are the determining factors, with the CPU having ample headroom to feed the GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 at High settings provides the best experience with 118 FPS average. It balances visual quality with high framerates, offering significant headroom above 60 FPS while maintaining smooth performance.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, but marginally. The 4K Ultra preset averages 69 FPS, which is playable but close to the 60 FPS threshold. For a more comfortable margin, 4K High at 79 FPS or 4K Medium at 89 FPS are better choices.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 4080's average benchmark score is 54,247, which is 0.1% behind the RTX 4080 SUPER and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X. It outperforms the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6%.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 9600X a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 246 FPS average, which suggests the CPU's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1,253) is sufficient to push very high framerates. The CPU is not a significant bottleneck, though it may limit frame rates above this level.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and Ultra settings?

A: At 1440p, Medium averages 132 FPS while Ultra averages 102 FPS, a 22.7% reduction. At 4K, the difference is similar: Medium at 89 FPS versus Ultra at 69 FPS, a 22.5% reduction. The Medium preset also shows lower frame-time variance with a 113 FPS minimum versus Ultra's unmeasured minimum.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 241 out of 3,720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 6.5%. This reflects the strong performance of both the CPU (81st percentile) and GPU (86th percentile) in their respective categories.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4080 and Ryzen 5 9600X deliver exceptional performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 246 FPS, which is the highest measured value in this dataset. Medium averages 175 FPS with a minimum of 149 FPS and maximum of 201 FPS, showing excellent consistency. High averages 156 FPS, while Ultra averages 135 FPS. The range from Low to Ultra spans 111 FPS, indicating that settings have a significant impact on frame rate at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but scales down predictably. Low averages 186 FPS, Medium averages 132 FPS (with 113 FPS minimum and 152 FPS maximum), High averages 118 FPS, and Ultra averages 102 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 84 FPS, reflecting the increased GPU load at this resolution. All presets remain above 100 FPS, making 1440p an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limits become apparent. Low averages 126 FPS, Medium averages 89 FPS (with 76 FPS minimum and 103 FPS maximum), High averages 79 FPS, and Ultra averages 69 FPS. The Ultra preset is the only configuration that dips below 70 FPS, though it remains above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The Medium preset's minimum of 76 FPS indicates that even at 4K, the system maintains smooth performance without significant frame drops. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent 49% reduction in average FPS across all settings, confirming that the RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 4K gaming in Control, though not with maximum settings for those seeking 120+ FPS.