Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 7 5700 + AMD Radeon RX 580

This combination ranks 1522nd out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower 7% of all configurations. The data shows a system that can handle the game at 1080p with reduced settings, but struggles significantly at higher resolutions. The pairing of an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 3 CPU with a Polaris 20 GPU creates a system where the graphics card is the clear bottleneck across most settings, though the CPU's strong multi-threading capabilities prevent it from being a limiting factor in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1522 out of 1636 tested combinations places it firmly in the bottom tier of systems tested for Control. This low ranking is primarily driven by the GPU's age and performance class, as the Radeon RX 580 sits at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs tested. In contrast, the Ryzen 7 5700 achieves an 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs, highlighting a significant performance disparity between the two components.

Benchmark results indicate that the GPU's average benchmark score of 13559 puts it in direct competition with much older hardware. The nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, shows a delta of 0%, meaning the RX 580 performs essentially identically to a graphics card from several generations earlier. This explains why the combo struggles to achieve playable frame rates at higher resolutions, as the GPU simply lacks the raw compute power needed for modern game rendering.

The CPU-side performance tells a different story. With an average benchmark score of 27220, the Ryzen 7 5700 sits just 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-9900K and 0.8% ahead of both the Intel Core i7-12700H and Core i7-1370P. This indicates that the processor is performing at a level comparable to some of Intel's best desktop and mobile offerings, making it more than capable of feeding the GPU with data in Control's physics-heavy gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 brings 8 cores and 16 threads to this combination, running at a base clock of 3.70 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This Zen 3 architecture processor, built on TSMC's 7 nm process, delivers strong single-thread performance as evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 901 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2916. These results suggest the CPU can handle Control's game logic and physics calculations without becoming a bottleneck.

Multi-threaded performance is similarly impressive, with the Cinebench R23 multicore score reaching 20655 and PassMark's multithread test showing 24303. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 6628 and max-thread score of 6617 indicate that the processor scales well when all cores are utilized, which matters for a game like Control that features complex environmental destruction and physics simulations.

The CPU's 16 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide adequate data throughput for gaming workloads. PassMark tests show strong integer math performance at 90091 and floating-point math at 51427, both of which contribute to smooth gameplay in action-adventure titles. The processor's 65 W TDP and 7 nm process node mean it runs efficiently, but the data suggests that in this particular combo, the CPU is rarely the limiting factor.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580, built on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1257 MHz with a boost clock of 1340 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). These specifications, combined with 2304 shading units and 32 ROPs, produce a theoretical FP32 performance of 6.175 TFLOPS.

The GPU's 53rd percentile ranking among all tested GPUs places it squarely in the mid-range of graphics hardware. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 with a 0% delta and the GTX 950 with a 0.1% delta, indicating the RX 580's performance is closely matched to these older NVIDIA offerings. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1005 and PassMark G3D score of 8813 provide context for how this GPU handles modern game workloads.

In Control, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p gaming, but the data shows the card's computational limits become apparent at higher resolutions. The PassMark DirectX 11 score of 60 versus DirectX 12 score of 43 suggests some API overhead, though the GPU supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The 185 W TDP and suggested 450 W PSU requirement indicate this is a power-hungry card by modern standards.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its best results. Low settings produce an average of 60.3 FPS, which is the only setting where the game reaches smooth 60 FPS territory. Medium settings drop to 47.4 FPS average, High settings reach 42.8 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 35.8 FPS. These numbers show that 1080p gaming is viable, but only at lower presets for a consistently smooth experience.

Moving to 2560x1440 reveals significant performance degradation. Low settings average 51.1 FPS, which remains playable, but Medium drops to 32.6 FPS, High to 28.8 FPS, and Ultra to 23.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium settings at this resolution is particularly striking, showing a 18.5 FPS difference that suggests the GPU's memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 32.8 FPS, while Medium drops to 20.7 FPS, High to 19.3 FPS, and Ultra to 20.9 FPS. Interestingly, Ultra performs slightly better than Medium at 4K, which may indicate inconsistent scaling with the game's rendering pipeline at this resolution.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS gaming in Control?

A: Only at 1080p with Low settings, where the average frame rate reaches 60.3 FPS. All other settings and resolutions fall below this threshold.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5700 compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The CPU outperforms the Intel Core i9-9900K by 0.7%, the Core i7-12700H by 0.8%, and the Core i7-1370P by 0.8% in average benchmark scores.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combination?

A: 1080p provides the most consistent results, with all settings remaining above 35 FPS average, while 1440p and 4K show significant drops in playability.

Q: Does the RX 580's 8 GB VRAM matter in Control?

A: The 8 GB capacity appears sufficient even at 4K, as the frame rate drops are more likely tied to compute performance rather than memory capacity.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GPU matches the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 with a 0% delta and performs within 0.1% of the GTX 950.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this combo?

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the bottleneck, as the CPU ranks in the 84th percentile while the GPU sits at the 53rd percentile.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience per the measured data, 1080p with Low settings provides the only average frame rate above 60 FPS at 60.3 FPS. If visual quality is preferred, Medium settings at 1080p offer a reasonable compromise at 47.4 FPS average, which remains playable for most action-adventure titles.

At 1440p, Low settings are the only viable option, delivering 51.1 FPS average. The jump to Medium at 32.6 FPS represents a 36% performance drop, which is too severe for smooth gameplay. At 4K, all settings produce average frame rates below 33 FPS, making this resolution unsuitable for comfortable play.

The data suggests that players should prioritize resolution over visual fidelity. A 1080p Medium preset delivers a better balance of performance and visual quality than 1440p Low, with the former providing 47.4 FPS average compared to the latter's 51.1 FPS. The difference in frame rate is modest, but the visual improvement from Medium settings is substantial.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p High, the system averages 42.8 FPS, dropping to 28.8 FPS at 1440p High (a 32.7% reduction) and further to 19.3 FPS at 4K High (a 55% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU that has limited compute resources.

Low settings show better scaling characteristics, with 60.3 FPS at 1080p dropping to 51.1 FPS at 1440p (a 15.3% reduction) and 32.8 FPS at 4K (a 45.6% reduction from 1080p). The smaller performance penalty at 1440p Low compared to 1440p High indicates that the GPU's ROPs and texture units become saturated at higher quality settings.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU, as the CPU's strong multi-threading performance would not be expected to cause such dramatic frame rate drops across resolutions. The RX 580's 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth appear insufficient for the higher pixel counts and texture loads at 1440p and 4K, particularly at Medium and above settings. This resolution scaling analysis confirms that the system is best suited for 1080p gaming, with acceptable performance at 1440p only when using Low settings.