Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, remains a demanding showcase for hardware due to its physics-heavy combat and particle effects. The data for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 reveals a configuration that is consistently playable, yet whose performance profile shifts dramatically depending on the resolution and quality preset selected. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across the board, interprets the scaling trends, and contextualizes the combo’s standing against other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and expected trend: performance degrades as resolution increases, but the rate of that degradation reveals where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p High, the combo produces 116.3 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops that to 89.3 FPS, a 23% reduction. Stepping up to 4K High yields 58.1 FPS, which is another 35% reduction from the 1440p figure. This pattern indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises.

However, the scaling is not perfectly linear across all settings. The most telling comparison is between Low and Ultra presets at each resolution. At 1080p, the spread from Low (185.1 FPS) to Ultra (98.2 FPS) is 86.9 FPS. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 62.2 FPS (139.1 to 76.9). At 4K, the spread compresses further to 41.1 FPS (90.6 to 49.5). This compression at higher resolutions is a classic sign of GPU-bound operation; the graphics card is saturated with pixel work, and the CPU's ability to feed frames becomes less relevant. Conversely, the huge FPS jump at 1080p Low (185.1 FPS) suggests that the Ryzen 7 5800X has headroom to push far beyond what the RX 9070 can render at higher quality settings.

The data further suggests that the transition from 1080p to 1440p is less punishing than the jump to 4K. For instance, at Medium settings, the drop from 1080p (127.5 FPS) to 1440p (100.5 FPS) is 27 FPS, while the drop from 1440p to 4K (64.7 FPS) is 35.8 FPS. This non-linear scaling points to the 4K resolution being the true stress test for this GPU, pushing it near its limits even on a game that is not the newest release.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, this pairing sits in the upper-middle tier. The comboRankInGame field places this specific CPU-GPU match at rank 531 out of 1636 total combos tested. This means the configuration outperforms roughly 68% of all other pairings in the database for Control. While not a top-tier enthusiast setup, it is far from a low-end compromise; it represents a solid, high-performance baseline.

The rank is a holistic measure, but the individual component benchmarks provide context. The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus is 84, meaning it is faster than 84% of all processors in the database. The GPU's percentileVsAllGpus is 79, placing it above 79% of all graphics cards. The fact that the CPU ranks slightly higher than the GPU suggests that in some scenarios, particularly at lower resolutions, the graphics card may be the limiting factor. This aligns with the resolution scaling analysis, which showed the GPU becoming the bottleneck as resolution increases. The combo's overall rank of 531 reflects a balanced system where neither component is drastically underpowered relative to the other, but the GPU is the component that will determine the ceiling at higher fidelity settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the star of this show, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU is based on the RDNA 4.0 architecture and the Navi 48 chip, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This substantial memory allocation is crucial for 4K textures and is a key reason why the card can still manage playable framerates at 3840x2160, even if those framerates are below 60 FPS on Ultra.

Clock speeds are a significant factor in the performance deltas observed. The GPU has a base clock of 1330 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with a game clock of 2070 MHz. The boost clock being much higher than the base clock indicates the card can aggressively scale its frequency when thermal and power headroom allow. This explains why the gap between High and Ultra settings is not always consistent; the card is likely hitting its power ceiling, causing the boost clock to fluctuate, which affects the average FPS. The pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s are ample for this game, allowing it to maintain high fill rates at 1440p without issue.

The GPU's benchmark scores corroborate its mid-to-high tier positioning. Its Passmark G3D score is 25381, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 6290. These numbers, combined with the measured FPS, indicate a card that can handle 1440p gaming with ease and is respectable at 4K, but is not a 4K Ultra powerhouse. The data shows that the card performs best when it is not fully saturated, meaning 1440p High (89.3 FPS) is a sweet spot for smooth, high-fidelity gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

A detailed look at the FPS table shows a clear hierarchy of performance. At 1920x1080, the combo is exceptionally strong, with all settings producing playable framerates. Low settings hit 185.1 FPS, Medium produces 127.5 FPS, High yields 116.3 FPS, and even Ultra stays comfortably above 60 FPS at 98.2 FPS. This resolution is clearly CPU-bound in some scenarios, as the jump from High to Low is 68.8 FPS, demonstrating the processor's ability to push frames quickly when the GPU is not the constraint.

Moving to 2560x1440, the picture changes subtly. Low settings still provide a high 139.1 FPS, but the gap between presets narrows. Medium drops to 100.5 FPS, High to 89.3 FPS, and Ultra to 76.9 FPS. These are all excellent numbers, showing that 1440p is the ideal territory for this combo, offering a blend of visual quality and high refresh rate capability. The difference between High and Ultra is only 12.4 FPS, suggesting that the visual upgrade from High to Ultra is relatively cheap in terms of performance at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the card’s limits become apparent. Low settings yield a respectable 90.6 FPS, but Medium drops to 64.7 FPS, High to 58.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49.5 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is 6.6 FPS, and High to Ultra is 8.6 FPS. These figures indicate that while 4K is playable on Low and Medium settings, it becomes a less smooth experience on High and Ultra. The data suggests that 4K gaming is possible, but users will need to make significant quality trade-offs to maintain a consistent 60+ FPS experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X provides the computational backbone for this setup. It is a Zen 3 (Vermeer) architecture chip on the AMD Socket AM4 platform, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz, which can boost up to 4.70 GHz. This high boost clock is critical for gaming performance, as it ensures strong single-threaded performance, which many game engines still rely on. The CPU's 32 MB of L3 cache and 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die size help it maintain high instruction throughput.

The CPU’s benchmark results show its strength in multi-threaded tasks, but its single-thread performance is more relevant for Control. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 23571, while the single-core score is 3327. The 3DMark single-thread score is 943, and the max-thread score is 7578. These numbers indicate a processor that can handle the game’s physics simulation and AI calculations without becoming a bottleneck. The data supports this: the FPS at 1080p Low (185.1 FPS) is far higher than the 4K Ultra (49.5 FPS), demonstrating that the CPU is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (average score 27535, deltaPct 0.3) and the Intel Core i5-12600KF (average score 27827, deltaPct -0.8). This indicates that the 5800X is squarely in the middle of its performance class. Its percentileVsAllCpus of 84 is strong, meaning it outperforms most CPUs on the market. For this specific game, the 8-core/16-thread configuration is more than sufficient, and the data shows that the CPU provides a solid foundation for the RX 9070 to operate effectively, particularly at 1080p and 1440p. The bottleneck in this system is overwhelmingly the GPU, especially when pushing towards 4K.