Control

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

The measured FPS data for Control with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT shows a clear, predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Low preset, average FPS drops from 193 at 1080p to 146 at 1440p, and further to 98 at 4K. That is a 24% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 33% reduction moving from 1440p to 4K. The absolute frame rate at 4K Low remains very high, indicating that even at the most demanding resolution tested, the combo is not heavily constrained.

At the High preset, the scaling is slightly steeper in relative terms: 122 FPS at 1080p, 92 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K here is about 49%, compared to roughly 49% for the Low preset as well. The Medium preset shows 137 FPS at 1080p, 103 FPS at 1440p, and 70 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result including a minimum FPS of 59 and a maximum of 80. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, delivering 106 FPS at 1080p, 80 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K.

The fact that the drop from 1080p to 4K is proportionally similar across all presets suggests that the scaling is primarily driven by pixel count and GPU workload, rather than by CPU limitations. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller FPS difference between 1080p and 1440p, with the frame rate plateauing at higher resolutions. Instead, the consistent reduction in FPS as resolution increases indicates that the RX 9070 XT's rendering throughput is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, while the Ryzen 7 5800X has ample headroom even at 1080p.

Notably, the 4K Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 59, which is just below 60, while the average sits at 70. This suggests that while the average experience is smooth, occasional frame dips can occur under load. The 4K Ultra preset averages 54 FPS, which is below the typical 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The 1440p Ultra preset averages 80 FPS, which is comfortably above 60, while 1080p Ultra averages 106 FPS.

Overall, the data indicates that this combo is well-balanced for 1440p gaming across all presets, and capable of 4K gaming at Medium or High settings, depending on whether the user prioritizes visual fidelity or frame rate consistency. At 1080p, the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor; even the most demanding preset yields over 100 FPS, and the Low preset exceeds 190 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for a smooth 60 FPS experience with this combo?

A: At 1440p, all presets including Ultra average above 60 FPS, with Ultra at 80 FPS. At 4K, the Medium preset averages 70 FPS (with a minimum of 59), and High averages 62 FPS, while Ultra drops to 54 FPS. So 1440p is the safest choice for a consistent 60+ FPS experience.

Q: How does the RX 9070 XT perform at 4K in Control?

A: The measured results show 98 FPS at Low, 70 FPS at Medium, 62 FPS at High, and 54 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset is the only 4K setting with a recorded minimum FPS (59), indicating that frame pacing can dip below 60 even when the average is above it.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5800X a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 193 FPS, and at Ultra it delivers 106 FPS. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect to see a smaller gap between presets at the same resolution, but the scaling is consistent with GPU-bound rendering.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Low averages 146 FPS, Medium 103 FPS, High 92 FPS, and Ultra 80 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 66 FPS, which is a substantial margin, indicating that the Ultra preset carries a significant rendering cost.

Q: Does the 4K High preset maintain 60 FPS?

A: The average FPS at 4K High is 62, which is just above 60, but no minimum or maximum values are recorded for this preset. Given the 4K Medium preset's minimum of 59, it is plausible that 4K High could occasionally dip slightly below 60.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for Control?

A: The combo rank is 937 out of 3720 tested combos. This places it in the top 25% of all combinations, which is consistent with the high frame rates observed across most resolutions and presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT achieves a combo rank of 937 out of 3720 tested combinations for Control. This places the combo in the 75th percentile or higher, meaning it outperforms roughly 75% of all tested pairings. The ranking reflects the strong balance between the CPU and GPU, as neither component appears to be a significant bottleneck in this title.

To put this in perspective, the CPU's average benchmark score is 29123, placing it in the 81st percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H (average score 29093, delta 0.1%), the Intel Xeon Phi 7210 (29245, delta -0.4%), the Intel Core i5-13500HX (29270, delta -0.5%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (28940, delta 0.6%). All of these are within 1% of the 5800X's score, indicating that the CPU is a very typical mid-to-high-end performer.

The GPU, on the other hand, has an average benchmark score of 13543, placing it in the 55th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7770M (13536, delta 0.1%), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13515, delta 0.2%), the NVIDIA P106-090 (13470, delta 0.5%), and the AMD Radeon Pro 555 (13407, delta 1%). These are all older or lower-tier cards, which is surprising given the RX 9070 XT's modern architecture and high specifications. This suggests that the GPU's average benchmark score is dragged down by a mix of synthetic tests that do not fully reflect its gaming performance, or that the comparison pool includes many older entries.

In the context of Control specifically, the combination of the 5800X's strong single-threaded performance and the RX 9070 XT's high pixel throughput results in a combo that is well above the median. The rank of 937/3720 indicates that most tested combos are either less balanced or feature weaker components in one or both slots.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data is organized by resolution and settings preset. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 193 FPS. Medium averages 137 FPS, with a minimum of 116 and a maximum of 157. High averages 122 FPS. Ultra averages 106 FPS. No minimum or maximum values are recorded for Low, High, or Ultra at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 146 FPS. Medium averages 103 FPS, with a minimum of 88 and a maximum of 119. High averages 92 FPS. Ultra averages 80 FPS. Again, only Medium has recorded min/max values.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 98 FPS. Medium averages 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 and a maximum of 80. High averages 62 FPS. Ultra averages 54 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one at 4K with a recorded minimum, which is notable because it is the only preset where the minimum falls below 60 FPS.

The pattern across all resolutions is consistent: the gap between Low and Ultra is roughly 45% of the Low value. For example, at 1080p, the gap is 87 FPS (193 to 106), at 1440p it is 66 FPS (146 to 80), and at 4K it is 44 FPS (98 to 54). The relative cost of the Ultra preset remains constant regardless of resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 48 chip. It uses a 4 nm process from TSMC, containing 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die. The GPU has 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs. It also includes 64 ray tracing cores. The base clock is 1660 MHz, the boost clock is 2970 MHz, and the game clock is 2400 MHz. The memory operates at 2518 MHz, which translates to 20.1 Gbps effective, across a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s.

The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. This is more than sufficient for Control at any of the tested settings, as the game's memory usage at 4K Ultra is well within this capacity. The high memory bandwidth is also relevant, as Control features a physics-heavy environment with destructible objects and particle effects that can tax memory bandwidth.

The pixel rate is 380.2 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 760.3 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 48.66 TFLOPS, with FP16 also at 48.66 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). These figures explain why the GPU is able to maintain high frame rates at 1440p even at Ultra settings, and why the 4K Ultra preset is the only setting that dips below the 60 FPS average threshold.

The GPU's benchmark scores include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7260, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 17428, a Geekbench Vulkan score of 65879, and a Passmark G3D score of 26795. The Passmark DirectX 12 score is notably low at 78, which may reflect a driver or test-specific issue rather than actual gaming performance.

The GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs is 55, which places it in the lower half of the distribution when including all historical entries. This is likely due to the inclusion of many older, lower-tier cards in the comparison pool, as well as the synthetic nature of some benchmarks. In Control specifically, the measured FPS data shows a much stronger performance than the percentile would suggest.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience depends on the target resolution and the user's preference for visual fidelity versus frame rate consistency.

At 1920x1080, all presets deliver well above 60 FPS, so the choice is purely about visual quality. The Ultra preset averages 106 FPS, which is still very smooth, and there is no reason to drop below High (122 FPS) unless the user wants to maximize frame rate for a high-refresh-rate display. The Low preset at 193 FPS is only useful for competitive play or if the user has a 240 Hz monitor.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 80 FPS, which is above 60 and provides the best visual experience. The High preset at 92 FPS is also excellent. Given that the Medium preset's minimum is 88 FPS, there is no risk of dropping below 60 at any of these settings. The Ultra preset is recommended for 1440p, as it provides the highest visual quality while still maintaining a comfortable frame rate margin.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more nuanced. The Ultra preset averages 54 FPS, which is below 60, and no minimum is recorded, but it is likely that frame dips will occur. The High preset averages 62 FPS, which is just above 60, but again no minimum is recorded. The Medium preset averages 70 FPS with a minimum of 59, meaning that while the average is smooth, there are occasional dips below 60. Given that the Medium preset's minimum is the only recorded value below 60 at 4K, and the High preset's average is still above 60, the High preset is the recommended choice for 4K if the user prioritizes a stable experience while accepting slightly lower visual quality than Ultra. If the user prefers to avoid any risk of sub-60 dips, Medium is the safer option, as its average is higher and the minimum is just at 59.

For the best overall experience, 1440p Ultra is the recommended configuration, as it balances high visual fidelity with a comfortable frame rate margin. For 4K, the High preset is the recommended balance, though users who are sensitive to frame dips may prefer Medium.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer). It is manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC, with 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. The base clock is 3.80 GHz, and the boost clock is 4.70 GHz. It has a TDP of 105 W and supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The CPU supports PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes.

In terms of benchmark scores, the 5800X achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15476 and a single-core score of 1574.5. The Geekbench multi-core score is 11036, and the single-core score is 2032. The 3DMark 16-thread score is 7586, and the single-thread score is 943. Passmark scores include a multithread score of 27732, a single-thread score of 3445, and a physics score of 1364.

For Control, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle the game's physics and AI. Control is known for its use of the Northlight engine, which can be demanding on the CPU during scenes with many destructible objects. The 5800X's 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample parallelism for these tasks. The single-thread performance, as indicated by the 3DMark single-thread score of 943 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1574.5, is strong enough to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at 1080p, as the data shows no plateau in FPS across resolutions.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 29123 places it in the 81st percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-13500HX (29270, delta -0.5%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (28940, delta 0.6%), are within 1% in average score. This indicates that the 5800X is a solid, mid-to-high-end performer that is well-matched with the RX 9070 XT for this game.

The fact that the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all presets confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo for Control. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the CPU is able to maintain 193 FPS, which is a strong indicator of its headroom.