Control

Control is a demanding Action Adventure title that stresses both CPU and GPU, and the pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a performance profile that is clearly GPU-limited at higher resolutions. Benchmark results for this combo show a rank of 1071 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the top 29% of all tested systems. This is a strong result, though not an elite one, and the data indicates that the RTX 3080 is the primary factor driving frame rates, with the Ryzen 7 5800X providing ample headroom even at 1080p. The measured FPS across all settings and resolutions reveals a consistent pattern: the system is capable of smooth 60 FPS gameplay at 4K High, and it scales aggressively at lower resolutions, with the 1080p Low preset reaching almost triple the 4K Ultra frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s overall rank of 1071 out of 3720 tested combos places it in the 71st percentile of all systems tested, which is a solidly above-average result. This rank reflects a balanced pairing where neither component is a glaring bottleneck in Control, though the data strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at most settings. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, posts a benchmark average score of 29123, which places it at the 81st percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H with an average score of 29093 (a 0.1% delta), the Intel Xeon Phi 7210 at 29245 (a -0.4% delta), and the Intel Core i5-13500HX at 29270 (a -0.5% delta). These deltas are minuscule, indicating that the 5800X is statistically tied with several modern and older high-end processors in general compute workloads.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 achieves an average benchmark score of 23172, putting it at the 68th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA P106-100 with an average score of 23249 (a -0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 at 23250 (a -0.3% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 6600M at 23273 (a -0.4% delta). These rival deltas are all within half a percent, meaning the RTX 3080’s general compute performance is essentially equivalent to those cards in the aggregate benchmark, even though its gaming performance in Control, as measured by the FPS data, is clearly substantial. The combination of a top-quartile CPU and a solidly above-median GPU yields a combo rank that is higher than the GPU’s individual percentile, confirming that the 5800X is not holding back the RTX 3080 in this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, fabricated on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It carries 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1440 MHz, with a boost clock of 1710 MHz, and its memory runs at 1188 MHz, which translates to 19 Gbps effective. These specifications are directly relevant to Control’s performance, as the game’s use of high-resolution textures and effects places significant demands on both memory capacity and bandwidth. The 10 GB VRAM is sufficient for the tested settings, but the data shows that at 4K Ultra, average FPS drops to 52, suggesting that the GPU is approaching its limits in terms of raw compute and memory throughput.

The RTX 3080’s shading units number 8704, with 272 texture mapping units and 96 raster output units. It also includes 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores, which are relevant for Control’s ray tracing and DLSS features, though the measured FPS data does not specify whether these features were enabled. The pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 29.77 TFLOPS. These figures indicate a GPU that is designed for high-resolution gaming, and the measured results confirm that it delivers playable frame rates at 4K with High settings, averaging 60 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 52 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many players target, but still within a playable range for a game like Control. The GPU’s 320 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for a high-end card of this generation, and its launch MSRP was 699 USD, which is stated here for reference only.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance scaling across 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves an average of 185 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the dataset. This suggests that at this resolution, the CPU is still able to feed the GPU efficiently, and the GPU has plenty of headroom. As resolution increases, the frame rate drops predictably, with 1440p Low averaging 140 FPS, a 24.3% decrease from 1080p Low. At 4K Low, the average is 94 FPS, which is a 49.2% decrease from 1080p Low. This scaling indicates that the RTX 3080 is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the workload shifts from CPU-bound to GPU-bound.

Looking at the High settings, the scaling is similar but less steep in percentage terms. 1080p High averages 117 FPS, 1440p High drops to 88 FPS (a 24.8% decrease), and 4K High averages 60 FPS (a 48.7% decrease from 1080p). The fact that the percentage drops are nearly identical between Low and High settings suggests that the GPU is consistently the bottleneck across all settings, and the CPU is not being stressed differently by changing resolution. For Ultra settings, 1080p averages 101 FPS, 1440p drops to 77 FPS (a 23.8% decrease), and 4K drops to 52 FPS (a 48.5% decrease). This consistent ~49% drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings is a strong indicator that the RTX 3080’s performance scales predictably with pixel count, and the Ryzen 7 5800X’s 16 threads are sufficient to keep up even at the lowest resolution tested.

The data also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, Low is 185 FPS and Ultra is 101 FPS, a difference of 84 FPS or 83.2%. At 4K, Low is 94 FPS and Ultra is 52 FPS, a difference of 42 FPS or 80.8%. This suggests that the GPU is becoming more saturated at higher resolutions, and the relative cost of increasing settings is slightly less impactful at 4K. The minimum and maximum FPS values are only provided for Medium settings, where 4K Medium shows a min of 57 and a max of 77, 1440p Medium shows a min of 84 and a max of 114, and 1080p Medium shows a min of 111 and a max of 151. These ranges indicate a fairly stable frame time experience, with the spread between min and max being roughly 20 FPS at each resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 185 FPS, which is the fastest result in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 131 FPS, with a minimum of 111 and a maximum of 151. High settings average 117 FPS, and Ultra settings average 101 FPS. These numbers show that even at Ultra, the system is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and at Low, it is approaching the 200 FPS mark, which would be suitable for high refresh rate monitors. The step from Low to Medium is a 29.2% drop, from Medium to High is a 10.7% drop, and from High to Ultra is a 13.7% drop, indicating that the most significant performance hit comes from moving off the Low preset.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but start to show the GPU’s workload. Low settings average 140 FPS, which is still excellent. Medium settings average 99 FPS, with a minimum of 84 and a maximum of 114. High settings average 88 FPS, and Ultra averages 77 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs approximately 24% performance at every setting, which aligns with the increase in pixel count. At this resolution, the system is still capable of maintaining 60 FPS at Ultra, with a 17 FPS margin to spare. The Medium preset’s minimum of 84 FPS suggests that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate rarely dips below the 60 FPS target.

At 3840x2160, the system becomes more constrained. Low settings average 94 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS. Medium settings average 67 FPS, with a minimum of 57 and a maximum of 77 alerting to occasional dips below 60 FPS. High settings average 60 FPS exactly, which is the target for most console players. Ultra settings average 52 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K data shows that the RTX 3080 is the limiting factor here, as the CPU, which is capable of 185 FPS at 1080p Low, is not the bottleneck at 4K. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 42 FPS, which is a smaller absolute gap than at 1080p, but still significant in relative terms alerting to the GPU’s saturation.

The measured FPS data is marked as “dataIsMeasured: true,” meaning these are actual observed results rather than projections. The absence of min/max FPS for Low, High, and Ultra presets is notable, but the Medium preset’s min/max values provide insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the min is 111 and the max is 151, a spread of 40 FPS alerting to some variance. At 1440p Medium, the spread is 30 FPS (84 to 114), and at 4K Medium, the spread is 20 FPS (57 to 77). This tightening of the frame time range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU’s workload is more consistent when it is fully utilized, whereas at 1080p, the CPU may occasionally cause frame rate spikes.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control if targeting 60 FPS?

A: The data shows that 4K High averages exactly 60 FPS, making it the highest resolution and settings combination that achieves the 60 FPS target. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 52 FPS, which is below 60 FPS, while 1440p Ultra averages 77 FPS, providing a comfortable margin.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 the bottleneck in this game?

A: The resolution scaling analysis indicates the GPU is the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 185 FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 94 FPS, a 49.2% decrease that aligns with the pixel count increase. The CPU’s benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15476 and a single-core score of 1574.5, are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking at the tested resolutions.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 1071 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the top 28.8% of all systems. This is a strong rank, and it is higher than the GPU’s individual percentile of 68, suggesting the CPU contributes positively to the overall performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low settings average 185 FPS, while Ultra settings average 101 FPS, a difference of 84 FPS or 83.2%. This shows that Ultra settings cost a significant amount of performance, but the system remains well above 60 FPS even at Ultra.

Q: Does the 10 GB VRAM on the RTX 3080 cause any issues at 4K in Control?

A: The measured data shows that 4K High averages 60 FPS and 4K Medium averages 67 FPS, with a minimum of 57 FPS. This indicates that the 10 GB of GDDR6X memory is sufficient for the tested settings, as the performance drops are consistent with GPU compute limits rather than memory capacity issues.

Q: What are the nearest rivals to the RTX 3080 in terms of benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3080’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA P106-100 with a score of 23249 (a -0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 at 23250 (a -0.3% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 6600M at 23273 (a -0.4% delta). These rivals have nearly identical average benchmark scores, though their gaming performance in Control is not directly compared in this dataset.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the ideal settings depend on the target resolution and frame rate preference. For 4K gaming, the High preset is the optimal choice, as it averages exactly 60 FPS, which is the standard target for a smooth experience. The Ultra preset averages 52 FPS, which is below 60 and may result in noticeable stutters for some players, while the Medium preset averages 67 FPS, but with a minimum of 57 FPS, it does not guarantee a locked 60 FPS. The Low preset at 4K averages 94 FPS, but the visual quality reduction is likely too severe for a game like Control, which relies on atmosphere and detail.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset is a strong recommendation, as it averages 77 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The High preset averages 88 FPS, which is also excellent, but the data shows that Ultra is still well within playable range. For players with high refresh rate monitors (144 Hz or above), the Medium preset at 1440p averages 99 FPS, and the Low preset averages 140 FPS, which would be suitable for competitive play, though Control is not typically a competitive title. The Medium preset’s minimum of 84 FPS at 1440p ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 60 FPS.

At 1080p, all presets deliver well above 60 FPS, so the choice comes down to visual fidelity versus frame rate headroom. The Ultra preset averages 101 FPS, which is excellent for a smooth experience on most displays. The High preset averages 117 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 131 FPS, with a minimum of 111 FPS. The Low preset averages 185 FPS, which is the only setting that approaches the 200 FPS mark, making it suitable for 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors if maximum frame rate is the priority. Given that the CPU and GPU combo can handle Ultra at 1080p without dropping below 100 FPS, the Ultra preset is the recommended choice for 1080p, as the visual improvements are likely worth the 16 FPS cost compared to High.

The overall recommendation, based on the data, is to prioritize the High preset at 4K for the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, the Ultra preset at 1440p for a high-quality experience with a 77 FPS average, and the Ultra preset at 1080p for a smooth experience with over 100 FPS. The Medium preset can be considered at 4K if the 57 FPS minimum is acceptable, but the High preset’s exact 60 FPS average is a more consistent target. The data does not include ray tracing or DLSS measurements, so these recommendations are based solely on the standard rasterization performance. The combo’s rank of 1071 out of 3720 confirms that this is a capable system for Control, and the measured FPS values show that it can handle the game at high settings across all common resolutions.