Control

Resolution Scaling

Control's resolution scaling behavior reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at every tested setting tier. The measured frames per second data shows a consistent, predictable drop as pixel count increases, with the magnitude of that drop varying by preset. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 155 FPS at 1920x1080 to 117 FPS at 2560x1440, a 24.5% reduction, and then to 79 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 32.5% reduction from the 1440p figure. This trajectory is typical of a title where the rendering workload scales nearly linearly with pixel count, leaving the CPU with ample headroom.

The Low preset tells a similar story but with a slightly steeper curve at the top end. The average frame rate drops from 216 FPS at 1080p to 185 FPS at 1440p, a 14.4% decline, and then to 125 FPS at 4K, a 32.4% drop from 1440p. The fact that even at 1080p Low the system does not exceed 216 FPS suggests a frame rate ceiling that is not purely pixel-bound; however, the consistent scaling pattern indicates the GPU remains the primary limiter across all resolutions.

Medium settings provide the most complete dataset, including minimum and maximum frame rates. At 1080p Medium, the average is 174 FPS with a minimum of 148 FPS and a maximum of 200 FPS. Moving to 1440p Medium, the average drops to 132 FPS, with a minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 152 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 89 FPS, with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 102 FPS. The spread between minimum and maximum remains relatively tight, suggesting consistent frame pacing rather than sporadic spikes.

Ultra settings produce the lowest overall frame rates but still maintain playable averages. The progression from 134 FPS at 1080p to 102 FPS at 1440p to 69 FPS at 4K represents a 23.9% drop and then a 32.4% drop respectively. Notably, the 4K Ultra figure of 69 FPS is the only measured average below 70 FPS, indicating that this is the most demanding configuration tested. The data suggests that at 4K, even with this high-end GPU, the game's resolution scaling is the dominant factor, with the CPU's 8-core, 16-thread configuration never becoming a bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance on which preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance for this configuration. At 1920x1080, all four presets deliver average frame rates well above 130 FPS, making the choice purely about visual preference. The High preset at 155 FPS offers a 15.7% improvement over Ultra's 134 FPS while presumably retaining most of the visual enhancements. Medium at 174 FPS is also viable, but the jump from Medium to High is only 10.9%, whereas the jump from High to Ultra is 13.5% in the other direction. For competitive play or high refresh rate displays, Low at 216 FPS is the clear choice.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts toward High as the sweet spot. The High preset averages 117 FPS, which is sufficient for smooth gameplay on most high refresh rate monitors. Medium at 132 FPS is slightly faster, but the difference is only 11.4%. Ultra at 102 FPS remains playable, but the drop from High to Ultra is 12.8%, and the visual gains are often marginal in fast-paced action sequences. Low at 185 FPS is available for those prioritizing frame rate above all else, but at 1440p, the visual compromise is more noticeable.

The 3840x2160 resolution presents the most constrained environment. Here, High at 79 FPS is the recommended preset, as it stays above the 60 FPS threshold while offering better visuals than Medium's 89 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 11.2%, and the gap between High and Ultra is 12.7%. Ultra at 69 FPS is technically above 60 FPS but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. Low at 125 FPS is an outlier that shows the GPU's raw capability when visual effects are minimized, but the visual degradation at 4K is severe. The data indicates that High is the most balanced choice across all resolutions, with Medium serving as a fallback for 4K users who prioritize frame rate stability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2550 MHz, and it houses 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. These specifications are directly reflected in the measured performance data. The GPU's 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores are not explicitly benchmarked in the provided FPS data, but the raw compute throughput of 52.22 TFLOPS FP32 suggests substantial headroom for the game's physics and rendering workloads.

The average benchmark score for this GPU is 54209, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 with an average score of 54247 (a delta of -0.1%), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54828 (a delta of -1.1%). The extremely small deltaPct between the RTX 4080 SUPER and the standard RTX 4080 indicates that the SUPER variant offers only marginal performance gains in synthetic benchmarks, yet the measured game data shows it is more than capable of handling Control at high settings across all resolutions.

The memory configuration plays a crucial role in the 4K results. With 16 GB of VRAM, the GPU does not appear to be memory-constrained at any tested setting, as the frame rates scale consistently with resolution rather than exhibiting sudden drops that would indicate VRAM exhaustion. The 736.3 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient to feed the 10240 shading units at 4K, and the pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s aligns with the observed 4K performance. The texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s further supports the GPU-bound nature of the results, as the game's environment textures at Ultra settings do not appear to saturate this throughput.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved with this CPU and GPU combination in Control?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 216 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does the game maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 69 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold, though it leaves limited headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between 1080p High and 1440p High?

A: The average frame rate drops from 155 FPS at 1920x1080 to 117 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 38 FPS or approximately 24.5%.

Q: Which preset provides the most consistent frame times according to the data?

A: Medium settings are the only preset with reported minimum and maximum frame rates, showing a spread of 52 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K, suggesting tighter frame pacing at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to the standard RTX 4080 in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54209, which is 0.1% lower than the RTX 4080's score of 54247, indicating virtually identical synthetic performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low settings?

A: The 216 FPS average at 1080p Low suggests the GPU is still the primary limiter, as the 8-core, 16-thread CPU has substantial headroom based on its benchmark scores.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3.40 GHz with a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, and its defining feature is the 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is significantly larger than typical desktop processors. The CPU's average benchmark score is 27896, placing it in the 80th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U with a score of 27887 (delta 0%), the Intel Core i9-10900K at 27872 (delta 0.1%), and the Intel Core i5-12600KF at 27799 (delta 0.3%).

In Control, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling patterns. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 216 FPS, which is the highest measured value. This suggests that even at the lowest graphical settings, the GPU is still capable of rendering frames faster than the CPU can feed it, but the 216 FPS ceiling indicates a potential CPU limitation at this extreme setting. However, the CPU's multi-threaded performance, as shown by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14317 and Geekbench multicore score of 11765, is more than adequate for the game's physics and AI workloads.

The large L3 cache is particularly relevant for Control, a game known for its complex environments and destructible objects. The 96 MB cache allows for more efficient data reuse, which can reduce memory latency in scenarios where the CPU must frequently access level geometry and object state data. The CPU's single-thread performance, measured at 1452 in Cinebench R23 and 2017 in Geekbench, ensures that the game's main thread does not become a bottleneck, especially at resolutions where the GPU workload is lower relative to CPU overhead.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU's performance is consistent across thread counts, with a 3dmark 16-thread score of 7299 and a max-thread score of 7285. This indicates that the processor scales well with multi-threaded workloads, but the marginal difference between 16-thread and max-thread scores suggests that the additional threads beyond 16 provide negligible benefit, as expected for a 16-thread processor. In Control, this means that the CPU can handle the game's background tasks without impacting frame rates, allowing the GPU to remain the performance limiter at all tested resolutions and settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings achieve 216 FPS, Medium settings achieve 174 FPS with a minimum of 148 FPS and a maximum of 200 FPS, High settings achieve 155 FPS, and Ultra settings achieve 134 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 38.0% decrease in average frame rate. The Medium preset's data shows a frame time spread of 52 FPS, which is the widest of any resolution, indicating that the GPU's workload at 1080p allows for more variable frame times.

At 2560x1440 resolution, the average frame rates are: Low at 185 FPS, Medium at 132 FPS with a minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 152 FPS, High at 117 FPS, and Ultra at 102 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 44.9%, which is steeper than at 1080p, reflecting the increased pixel count's impact on the GPU. The Medium preset's spread narrows to 40 FPS, suggesting more consistent frame pacing as the GPU becomes more heavily loaded.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the average frame rates are: Low at 125 FPS, Medium at 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 102 FPS, High at 79 FPS, and Ultra at 69 FPS. The Low to Ultra decrease is 44.8%, similar to the 1440p scaling. The Medium preset's spread tightens further to 26 FPS, indicating that at 4K, the GPU is working consistently without large frame time spikes. The minimum frame rate of 76 FPS at 4K Medium is particularly notable, as it shows that even in demanding scenes, the configuration maintains a playable frame rate.

Comparing across resolutions, the 1080p Low to 4K Low drop is 42.1%, while the 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra drop is 48.5%. This suggests that higher settings amplify the resolution scaling effect, likely due to increased shader complexity and texture memory pressure at 4K. The data consistently shows that the RTX 4080 SUPER, with its 16 GB VRAM and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth, can handle Control's most demanding configurations while maintaining an average frame rate above 60 FPS, and the Ryzen 7 5800X3D's 8-core, 16-thread configuration never becomes the limiting factor in any measured scenario.