Control

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT lands at rank 1172 out of 1636 tested combos in Control. That places this configuration in the lower-middle tier of the database, which is a somewhat surprising outcome given the individual components' general benchmark standings. The ranking suggests that while neither part is a slouch in synthetic tests, the combination does not translate into top-tier performance specifically within this game's engine.

The CPU itself holds an 83rd percentile ranking against all processors, with an average benchmark score of 26574. That is a strong result, placing it neck-and-neck with the AMD EPYC 8024P (26555, 0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i9-11900K (26546, 0.1% delta). It also slightly edges out the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 (26617, -0.2% delta) and the Intel Core i9-12900HK (26672, -0.4% delta). The 5800X3D's 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a distinctive feature that typically benefits gaming workloads, yet the combo ranking in Control indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The GPU's percentile standing is 71 against all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 27985. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956, 0.1% delta), while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (28238, -0.9% delta) sits just ahead. This suggests the RX 6600 XT is a mid-range performer, and in Control—a game known for its physics-heavy environments and particle effects—that mid-range positioning becomes evident in the final combo rank. The data shows a configuration that can play the game, but not dominate it, especially when compared to higher-tier GPU pairings in the database.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 6600 XT brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 2000 MHz, with 16 Gbps effective transfer rate. These specifications are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the memory bus width is narrow compared to higher-end cards, which becomes a constraint as resolution increases.

The GPU's clock speeds are relatively high: a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz. The chip is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. It also includes 32 ray accelerators, though Control's implementation of ray tracing is modest and the benchmark data here does not include RT-specific measurements. The FP32 performance is 10.60 TFLOPS, which is solid for rasterized rendering.

In Control, the GPU's role is pivotal. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 31.9, which is barely playable. The data shows a clear pattern: the GPU struggles at 4K with high preset levels. At 2560x1440 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 48.6, still below the 60 FPS threshold. Only at 1920x1080 does the card consistently deliver playable framerates across all settings, with Low settings hitting 117.7 FPS average and Ultra managing 68.1 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM capacity appears sufficient for this title, but the 128-bit memory interface limits bandwidth-intensive scenarios, which likely contributes to the performance drop at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Control with this combo?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all settings presets maintain playable framerates. At 1080p, even Ultra settings average 68.1 FPS, while at 2560x1440 the Ultra preset drops to 48.6 FPS average.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the data shows mixed results. Low settings average 60.4 FPS, Medium averages 43 FPS, High averages 37.1 FPS, and Ultra averages 31.9 FPS. Only Low settings at 4K achieve a 60 FPS average.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The combo rank of 1172 out of 1636, combined with the GPU's 71st percentile standing versus the CPU's 83rd percentile, indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's strong multi-threaded scores, such as 24063 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, suggest it has ample headroom for this game.

Q: How does the RX 6600 XT compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The RX 6600 XT scores 27985 on average, which is 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956) and 0.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (28238). This places it in a competitive mid-range segment.

Q: What settings should a user choose for 1440p gaming?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 90.4 FPS, Medium averages 63.3 FPS, and High averages 54 FPS. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, Medium settings are the highest preset that achieves that target.

Q: Does the 5800X3D's large cache benefit Control specifically?

A: The CPU's 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a notable feature, but the measured FPS data shows that performance scales primarily with resolution and settings, suggesting the game is not heavily cache-sensitive in this pairing. The CPU's overall scores, such as 28309 in Passmark multithread, indicate strong general capability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings average 117.7 FPS, Medium averages 84.2 FPS, High averages 78.1 FPS, and Ultra averages 68.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 49.6 FPS, showing a significant scaling curve across presets. All four presets clear the 60 FPS threshold, making 1080p the most comfortable experience for this configuration.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. Low settings average 90.4 FPS, which remains smooth, but Medium drops to 63.3 FPS, High to 54 FPS, and Ultra to 48.6 FPS. The data shows that only Low and Medium presets maintain 60 FPS or above at this resolution. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 41.8 FPS, a slightly smaller absolute difference than at 1080p but with lower overall headroom.

At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles to keep up. Low settings average 60.4 FPS, just clearing the 60 FPS mark, but Medium drops to 43 FPS, High to 37.1 FPS, and Ultra to 31.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 28.5 FPS, the smallest absolute spread across all resolutions, indicating that the GPU is hitting a performance ceiling at 4K rather than being limited by settings scaling. The Ultra preset at 4K produces an average FPS that is less than half of the 1080p Low result, demonstrating the resolution's heavy impact on this GPU.

The scaling pattern across resolutions is consistent: each step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reduces framerates substantially. The 1080p Low result of 117.7 FPS is nearly double the 4K Low result of 60.4 FPS. Similarly, 1080p Ultra at 68.1 FPS is more than double the 4K Ultra at 31.9 FPS. These numbers indicate that the RX 6600 XT is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p viable only at lower presets.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates on the AMD Socket AM4 platform with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. Its 96 MB of shared L3 cache is the standout feature, offering a large pool of fast-access memory for game data.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates balanced performance. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24063 and single-core score of 3397 both indicate strong throughput. The Geekbench multi-core score of 11061 and single-core score of 2116 reinforce this picture. The Passmark multithread score of 28309 and single-thread score of 3234 show consistent scaling from single to multi-threaded workloads. The 3DMark results, including 7299 for 16 threads and 884 for single thread, further confirm the CPU's capability across different thread counts.

For Control, the CPU's role is less demanding than the GPU's. The game is primarily GPU-bound, especially at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 117.7 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently at that level. At 4K Ultra, the 31.9 FPS result is clearly limited by the GPU, not the processor. The CPU's percentile ranking of 83 against all CPUs, combined with its 0.1% delta from the AMD EPYC 8024P and Intel Core i9-11900K, indicates that the processor is not the weak link in this pairing.

The 5800X3D's architecture, with its 7 nm process node from TSMC and 8,850 million transistors on a 74 mm² die, is designed for gaming efficiency. The 105 W TDP is modest for the performance offered. However, in Control, the data shows that the CPU's strengths do not boost the combo's rank significantly because the GPU's mid-range positioning caps overall performance. The combination works well at 1080p, where the CPU can push high framerates, but at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck.