Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure title, is a demanding showcase for both CPU and GPU. This analysis examines the measured performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070. The data provides a clear picture of how this combination handles the game’s physics-heavy combat and visual effects, revealing where the bottlenecks lie and which settings offer the most playable experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but significant drop in performance as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with High settings, the system averages 101.8 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 73.5 FPS, a reduction of roughly 28%. Jumping to 4K (3840x2160) further reduces the average to 54.1 FPS, which is about 47% lower than the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU-bound scenario, but the specific percentages reveal how the RTX 3070’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are stressed.

The most telling indicator is the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (158.5 FPS) and Ultra (86.7 FPS) is 71.8 FPS. At 1440p, that gap shrinks to 56.9 FPS (121 vs 64.1). At 4K, the gap narrows further to 34.8 FPS (79.3 vs 44.5). This compression of the settings range at higher resolutions strongly suggests that the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU, an 8-core/16-thread part with a 96 MB shared L3 cache, has enough headroom to feed the GPU at 1080p, but as pixel count rises, the RTX 3070’s rendering workload dominates, making the choice of graphics preset less impactful on raw FPS.

The data indicates that 4K is only viable for less demanding scenes. The 44.5 FPS at 4K Ultra confirms that maxing out settings at this resolution will push the system below the 60 FPS threshold. Even at 4K High, the 54.1 FPS average is borderline. The sweet spot for this resolution is Medium, which yields 55.9 FPS, or Low at 79.3 FPS for a smoother experience. This performance profile points directly at the GPU as the primary constraint at higher resolutions, with the CPU’s role diminishing as resolution scales.

Settings Recommendations

For a consistently smooth experience, the benchmark results point towards 1440p as the ideal resolution for this hardware combo. At 2560x1440 with High settings, the system delivers 73.5 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS target. This provides a significant visual upgrade over 1080p while maintaining playable frame rates. The Ultra preset at this resolution drops to 64.1 FPS, which is still playable, but the 9.4 FPS cost may not justify the marginal visual gains, especially during intense combat sequences where frame drops are most noticeable.

At 1080p, the system is clearly CPU-limited at lower settings, as evidenced by the 158.5 FPS on Low. However, the High preset at 101.8 FPS is the pragmatic choice here. It offers a substantial improvement over Medium (110.7 FPS) in visual fidelity for only an 8.9 FPS loss. Pushing to Ultra reduces the average to 86.7 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 15.1 FPS hit over High. Given that the 5800X3D has ample single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 884), the CPU is not the issue; the GPU is working harder to render the additional effects.

For 4K, the data suggests that High settings are the ceiling for an acceptable experience. The 54.1 FPS average on High is a compromise, but the 44.5 FPS on Ultra is likely to feel stuttery in fast-paced encounters. The Medium preset at 55.9 FPS offers nearly identical performance to High, indicating that the game’s higher presets have diminishing returns at this resolution. A practical recommendation is to play at 1440p High, which balances the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth with the CPU’s ability to maintain high minimum frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the central component in this analysis, and its specifications directly explain the measured results. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but it becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The benchmark scores support this: the RTX 3070 has a passmark g3d score of 22214 and a 3dmark steel nomad dx12 score of 3162, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (deltaPct 0.9) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (deltaPct 1), showing it sits in a competitive mid-to-high tier.

The GPU’s clock speeds, with a base of 1500 MHz and boost of 1725 MHz, are standard for the Ampere architecture. However, the 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is what drives the raw performance. The 4K results, where the High preset yields 54.1 FPS and Low yields 79.3 FPS, show that the GPU’s compute units are being saturated. The 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present, but Control’s implementation of these features is not isolated in the benchmark data, so their impact is folded into the overall FPS figures.

The VRAM capacity is a concern at 4K Ultra. With only 8 GB, the card may be exceeding its memory buffer, which could cause texture streaming hiccups. The fact that 4K Medium (55.9 FPS) performs almost identically to 4K High (54.1 FPS) suggests that the GPU is not merely compute-bound but may also be hitting memory bandwidth limits. This is a clear sign that for 4K play, the RTX 3070 is at the edge of its capabilities, and users should manage settings to avoid the Ultra preset.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum playable FPS at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 158.5 at 1080p with Low settings. For a more balanced experience, the High preset still achieves 101.8 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Control?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 4K High, the average FPS is 54.1, which is below 60. Dropping to Low settings at 4K yields 79.3 FPS, but this reduces visual quality significantly. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 44.5 FPS, which is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rival in terms of benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 28238. Its closest competitor, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, scores 27985, making the RTX 3070 0.9% faster. It also leads the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956) by 1%.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 73.5 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 64.1 FPS. This represents a 9.4 FPS drop, or roughly 13%, for the increased visual fidelity.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests that at 1080p with Low settings (158.5 FPS), the CPU may be a limiting factor. However, at higher resolutions like 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the smaller FPS differences between settings presets.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 60 FPS target at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 is the best match, delivering 73.5 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, ensuring that most scenes will remain smooth. The Medium preset at 89.2 FPS offers even more headroom if you prefer higher frame rates over visual details.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a unique processor, leveraging a 96 MB shared L3 cache on the Zen 3 architecture to improve gaming performance. In this benchmark, its role is to keep up with the RTX 3070. With 8 cores and 16 threads, and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, it has the multi-threaded muscle (cinebench r23 multicore score of 24063) and single-thread speed (cinebench r23 singlecore score of 3397) to handle Control’s physics and AI.

The CPU’s benchmark scores show it is a strong performer. It has a percentile rank of 83 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26574. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-11900K, which has a nearly identical average score of 26546 (deltaPct 0.1), and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600, which scores 26617 (deltaPct -0.2). This places the 5800X3D in a performance tier where it is not the limiting factor in most gaming scenarios.

In Control, the CPU’s impact is most visible at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the FPS jumps to 158.5, which is likely near the CPU’s limit for this game. However, the processor’s large cache helps maintain high minimum frame rates during intense scenes with many destructible objects. The data does not show min FPS values, but the average FPS at 1440p High (73.5) and 4K High (54.1) indicates that the CPU is providing consistent performance without dropping the GPU’s frame output. The 5800X3D is clearly capable of feeding the RTX 3070 at all tested settings, confirming that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset of measured average FPS is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 158.5 FPS
• Medium: 110.7 FPS
• High: 101.8 FPS
• Ultra: 86.7 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 121 FPS
• Medium: 89.2 FPS
• High: 73.5 FPS
• Ultra: 64.1 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 79.3 FPS
• Medium: 55.9 FPS
• High: 54.1 FPS
• Ultra: 44.5 FPS

The data shows a consistent hierarchy: Lower settings always produce higher frame rates, but the magnitude of the difference shrinks as resolution increases. At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 71.8 FPS. At 1440p, the spread is 56.9 FPS. At 4K, the spread narrows to 34.8 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 3070’s rendering capabilities are progressively overwhelmed by pixel count, reducing the relative impact of graphics settings. The combo rank of 747 out of 1636 tested combinations places this system in the upper-middle tier for this game, which aligns with the observed ability to play at 1440p High comfortably and 4K with significant settings compromises.