Control

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination delivers a playable yet demanding experience in Control, with performance that scales predictably across resolutions. The data shows a system that is firmly GPU-bound at higher settings, while the CPU provides ample headroom at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent decline in performance as resolution increases, which is typical for a graphically intensive title like Control. At 1080p with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 82 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that average to 62 FPS, a 24% reduction. At 4K, the average falls further to 42 FPS, representing a 49% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern indicates that the Radeon RX 9060 is the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The trend holds across all settings tiers. With Low settings, the system runs at 130 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is 32 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K is also 32 FPS, showing a nearly linear decline. For Medium settings, the averages are 92 FPS, 70 FPS, and 47 FPS respectively. At Ultra, the numbers compress to 71 FPS, 54 FPS, and 36 FPS.

The interesting detail emerges when comparing the scaling between Low and Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (130 FPS) and Ultra (71 FPS) is 59 FPS, a 45% performance hit. At 4K, the same comparison shows Low (66 FPS) versus Ultra (36 FPS), a 30 FPS difference or 45% reduction again. This consistency suggests the GPU's compute and memory subsystems are being taxed proportionally regardless of resolution, with the 4K Ultra result of 36 FPS being the most demanding scenario in the dataset.

Notably, the frame time consistency also degrades with resolution. At 1080p Medium, the measured range spans 78 to 106 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it tightens to 59 to 80 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range narrows further to 40 to 54 FPS. This compression of the frame time envelope at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is approaching its saturation point, leaving less variance for scene complexity to exploit.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the context of Control, this specific CPU-GPU pairing achieves a combo rank of 1632 out of 2888 tested combinations. This places it in the 43rd percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 57% of combinations deliver higher average frame rates in this game. The ranking reflects a mid-pack position, consistent with the measured averages that hover between 36 FPS at 4K Ultra and 130 FPS at 1080p Low.

The percentile ranking is noteworthy because it sits below what the individual component benchmarks might suggest. The CPU alone ranks in the 79th percentile against all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 59th percentile against all graphics cards. The combo's 43rd percentile position in Control indicates that the game's specific rendering workload does not favor this pairing as strongly as synthetic benchmarks would imply. This could stem from the game's reliance on certain GPU features or memory bandwidth characteristics that the RX 9060 handles less efficiently than its raw compute numbers suggest.

When comparing to the nearest rival components, the picture becomes clearer. The RX 9060's average benchmark score of 16014 sits just 0.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti's 16129, and 1% below both the AMD Radeon R9 370X and AMD Radeon RX 7700. This places the GPU in a tight competitive cluster where small architectural differences can shift real-world game performance. The CPU side shows the Ryzen 7 5700X matching the Intel Core i5-12600K exactly with a delta of 0%, while running 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and 0.3% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H.

The combination of a 79th percentile CPU with a 59th percentile GPU yields a 43rd percentile game result, which suggests that Control is more sensitive to GPU performance than CPU capability. The data indicates that users seeking higher rankings in this title would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU swap.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 serves as the primary performance arbiter in this pairing, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is a critical factor in Control, a game known for its dense particle effects and physics simulations that can stress memory throughput. The 8 GB capacity is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data suggests it may be a limiting factor at 4K where the 42 FPS High average and 36 FPS Ultra average indicate the GPU struggling to maintain fluid frame delivery.

Clock speeds play a significant role in the observed scaling. The GPU's base clock of 1700 MHz, game clock of 2400 MHz, and boost clock of 2990 MHz show a wide dynamic range. The boost clock's 2990 MHz ceiling is rarely sustainable under sustained load, and the game clock of 2400 MHz is a more realistic indicator of sustained performance. This explains why the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows at higher resolutions—the GPU is already running near its thermal and power limits, so additional graphical work has diminishing returns.

The RDNA 4.0 architecture, built on TSMC's 4 nm process, packs 29,700 million transistors into a 199 mm² die. The 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output pipelines deliver a theoretical FP32 throughput of 21.43 TFLOPS. In Control, this translates to the measured frame rates, with the GPU's 21.43 TFLOPS being the key compute resource that determines whether the game can hit 60 FPS at 1440p High (it does, at 62 FPS) or falls short at 4K Ultra (36 FPS).

The 64 ROPS and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth combination is particularly relevant for Control's rendering style. The game's use of ray-traced reflections and volumetric lighting places heavy demands on pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth. The data shows that at 4K, even Medium settings (47 FPS) cannot sustain 60 FPS, indicating that the 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit bus are insufficient for the game's highest resolution demands.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a comprehensive view of performance across twelve distinct configurations. At 3840x2160, the averages span from 36 FPS at Ultra to 66 FPS at Low, with Medium producing 47 FPS and High yielding 42 FPS. The 4K Medium configuration is the only one at this resolution with min/max data, showing a range of 40 to 54 FPS, which indicates a stable experience despite the sub-60 average.

At 2560x1440, the averages improve substantially: Low hits 98 FPS, Medium reaches 70 FPS, High achieves 62 FPS, and Ultra drops to 54 FPS. The 1440p Medium configuration shows a min of 59 and max of 80 FPS, suggesting that most of the experience hovers near the 70 FPS average with occasional dips and spikes. This resolution represents the sweet spot for this combo, with High settings delivering 62 FPS—just above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth.

The 1920x1080 results show the system's full potential. Low settings produce 130 FPS, Medium runs at 92 FPS, High reaches 82 FPS, and Ultra manages 71 FPS. The 1080p Medium configuration has a range of 78 to 106 FPS, demonstrating that even with headroom, the frame pacing is consistent. At 1080p Ultra, the 71 FPS average is the highest Ultra result across all resolutions, confirming that the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution—the GPU is still the constraint, but it has enough resources to maintain high frame rates.

The progression from 1080p Ultra (71 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (54 FPS) to 4K Ultra (36 FPS) shows a 25% and 49% reduction respectively. This scaling is steeper than the resolution pixel count increase (2.25x from 1080p to 4K), indicating that Control's rendering demands exceed the GPU's ability to scale efficiently with resolution. The data strongly suggests that 1440p is the target resolution for this combo, with 4K reserved for users willing to accept lower settings or frame rates below 60 FPS.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Control at 60 FPS on 4K?*

A: No. The highest 4K average is 66 FPS at Low settings, but High settings drop to 42 FPS and Ultra falls to 36 FPS. Only Low settings at 4K exceed 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for a smooth experience?

A: 1440p High settings produce 62 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. 1440p Medium runs at 70 FPS, and 1080p Ultra reaches 71 FPS, both also viable for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to the RTX 3060 Ti?

A: The RX 9060's average benchmark score is 16014, which is 0.7% lower than the RTX 3060 Ti's 16129. This places them in the same performance tier, with the RX 9060 slightly behind in synthetic tests.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5700X holding back the GPU?

A: The data does not indicate CPU bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 130 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it maintains 71 FPS. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking and 8-core/16-thread configuration provide sufficient headroom for the GPU's performance level.

Q: What are the worst-case frame rates?

A: The minimum recorded FPS across all configurations is 36 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 4K Medium configuration has a min of 40 FPS, and 1440p Medium has a min of 59 FPS. No other configurations have min FPS data.

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

A: It ranks 1632 out of 2888 total combinations, placing it in the 43rd percentile. This means 57% of tested systems achieve higher average frame rates in Control.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X provides the processing foundation for this combo, with 8 cores and 16 threads operating at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Built on the Zen 3 architecture using TSMC's 7 nm process, this CPU delivers strong single-thread and multi-thread performance that proves more than adequate for Control's demands. The benchmark data shows a single-thread score of 921 in 3DMark and 1499 in Cinebench R23, with multi-thread scores of 6858 and 13184 respectively.

The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache is particularly relevant for gaming workloads. Control's physics and AI systems benefit from low-latency memory access, and the 32 MB cache helps reduce reliance on system memory. The dual-channel DDR4 support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provides ample data throughput for the GPU, as evidenced by the consistent frame delivery across resolutions.

In the context of Control, the CPU's role becomes clearer when examining the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 130 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate that the CPU's per-core performance becomes relevant. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1821 and single-thread score of 921 indicate strong single-core capability, essential for games that rely on a few heavily loaded threads. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1499 confirms this—it's a competitive result that ensures the game's main thread isn't a bottleneck.

The CPU's 79th percentile ranking against all processors places it above the median, and its nearest rivals show tight competition. The Intel Core i5-12600K matches the Ryzen 7 5700X exactly with a 0% delta, while the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 is 0.2% faster and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is 0.2% slower. This cluster of CPUs performs nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks, and the game data reflects this—the combo's performance is more dependent on the GPU than the CPU.

The 65W TDP of the Ryzen 7 5700X is notably efficient for an 8-core processor, allowing sustained boost clocks without excessive thermal throttling. This efficiency contributes to consistent frame pacing, as the CPU can maintain its 4.60 GHz boost clock during extended gaming sessions. The data shows no evidence of CPU-related frame drops, with the minimum FPS values scaling proportionally with resolution and settings rather than showing random spikes typical of CPU bottlenecks.

The CPU's PCIe Gen 4 support with 20 lanes provides sufficient bandwidth for the RX 9060's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface. While the GPU is capable of PCIe 5.0, the Gen 4 connection from the CPU does not appear to limit performance in Control, as the measured FPS values align with what the GPU's compute capabilities suggest. The combination of a strong 8-core CPU with a mid-range GPU creates a balanced system where the CPU provides headroom for future GPU upgrades without becoming a limiting factor in this title.