Control

Control pairs an 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT with an 8 GB AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT, and the measured frame rates in this Action Adventure title show a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but surprisingly capable at 1080p. The Ryzen 7 5800XT, a Zen 3 part with a 4.80 GHz boost clock, sits in the 86th percentile of all CPUs, while the RX 6650 XT, based on RDNA 2.0 with a 2635 MHz boost, holds the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. This combination lands at rank 1059 out of 1636 tested combos in this game, a mid-pack placement that reflects how the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution climbs.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the RX 6650 XT is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 78.3 at 1920x1080 to 57.7 at 2560x1440, a 26% reduction, and then to 41.2 at 3840x2160, another 29% drop from 1440p. The pattern is similar at Ultra, where the 66.3 FPS at 1080p declines to 51.5 at 1440p and ultimately to 35 at 4K. This scaling behavior indicates that the Ryzen 7 5800XT has ample headroom to feed the GPU at 1080p, but the RX 6650 XT's 128-bit memory bus and 280.3 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain high frame rates as pixel count quadruples.

The most telling comparison is at Low settings, where the CPU has the least graphical work to wait on. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 121.8 FPS, showing strong CPU throughput from the 8-core processor. At 1440p Low, it drops to 91.5 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls to 62.6 FPS. The fact that even the lowest preset cannot hold 60 FPS at 4K highlights that the GPU's raw compute, rated at 10.79 TFLOPS FP32, is simply insufficient for 4K in this title. The gap between High and Low at 4K is 21.4 FPS (41.2 vs 62.6), which is smaller than the 43.5 FPS gap at 1080p (78.3 vs 121.8), further evidence that resolution scaling compresses the differences between presets as the GPU saturates.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080, the data supports using High or Ultra presets. High delivers 78.3 FPS, which is smooth for most displays, while Ultra drops to 66.3 FPS, still playable but with diminishing returns. Low at 1080p hits 121.8 FPS, but that sacrifices visual fidelity for headroom that most 60 Hz or 144 Hz displays will not fully exploit. Medium at 88 FPS offers a balanced middle ground, but High is the better choice since it provides 78.3 FPS with fewer graphical compromises.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts to Medium or High. Medium averages 66.4 FPS, which is the sweet spot for maintaining 60 FPS gameplay. High at 57.7 FPS is borderline, dipping below 60 FPS, while Ultra at 51.5 FPS will feel less fluid. For 1440p users, Medium is the practical ceiling, as it keeps the experience above the 60 FPS threshold without the visual degradation of Low, which runs at 91.5 FPS but looks noticeably worse.

For 3840x2160, the measured results are uniformly below 60 FPS, with only Low achieving 62.6 FPS. Medium at 47.4 FPS and High at 41.2 FPS are playable for slower-paced sections but will struggle in combat-heavy scenes. Ultra at 35 FPS is not recommended for action sequences. Given that even Low just barely clears 60 FPS, 4K gaming with this combo requires accepting either Low settings or a frame rate below 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1059 out of 1636 tested combinations places this pairing in the lower third of all CPU-GPU combos tested in Control. This ranking reflects the GPU's limitations more than the CPU's capabilities. The Ryzen 7 5800XT, with an average benchmark score of 29774 and nearest rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (29856, -0.3% delta) and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE (29740, +0.1% delta), is a strong processor that performs within 0.3% of those comparable chips. The RX 6650 XT, with an average benchmark score of 29024, sits close to the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (29011, 0% delta) and Intel Arc A370M (29175, -0.5% delta), showing it is a mid-tier GPU.

The rank of 1059 suggests that many other combinations outperform this pairing in Control, likely because the RX 6650 XT's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface limit texture-heavy scenes at higher resolutions. The CPU's 32 MB L3 cache and 16 threads help maintain consistent frame pacing, but they cannot compensate for the GPU's throughput ceiling. In the context of the 1636 tested combos, this pairing is positioned for 1080p gaming, where it can leverage the CPU's strength without exposing the GPU's weaknesses.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS across presets is as follows: Low 121.8, Medium 88.0, High 78.3, and Ultra 66.3. The step from Low to Medium costs 33.8 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs only 9.7 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 12.0 FPS. This non-linear scaling indicates that the biggest visual quality jump, from Low to Medium, has the largest performance penalty, while subsequent preset increases are more efficient.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 91.5, Medium 66.4, High 57.7, and Ultra 51.5. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low is 30.3 FPS, at Medium it is 21.6 FPS, at High it is 20.6 FPS, and at Ultra it is 14.8 FPS. The smaller absolute drops at higher presets show that the GPU is already becoming the constraint at 1080p Ultra, so increasing resolution has a relatively smaller impact.

At 3840x2160, the measured FPS is: Low 62.6, Medium 47.4, High 41.2, and Ultra 35.0. From 1440p to 4K, the drops are: Low -28.9 FPS, Medium -19.0 FPS, High -16.5 FPS, and Ultra -16.5 FPS. The 4K results show that even the lowest preset barely holds 60 FPS, and every preset above Low falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making 4K viable only for users who prioritize resolution over smoothness.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT plays the decisive role in this game's performance, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 280.3 GB/s, the card has enough bandwidth for 1080p and 1440p, but 4K textures and high pixel counts overwhelm it. The GPU's 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs, running at a base clock of 2055 MHz and boosting to 2635 MHz, produce 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is adequate for 1080p but not for 4K Ultra.

The 32 ray accelerators on this RDNA 2.0 part enable ray tracing, but the measured results at 4K Ultra (35 FPS) suggest that enabling such features will push the card beyond its comfort zone. The GPU's 176 W TDP and 450 W suggested PSU are reasonable for a mid-range card, and its PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for this workload. The memory clock of 2190 MHz (17.5 Gbps effective) is a fixed parameter that, combined with the 128-bit bus, creates a hard ceiling on texture fill rates at high resolutions.

The GPU's percentile rank of 72 and its proximity to the RX 6800M and RX 470 in average score (within 0.1%) confirm it is a solid 1080p performer. However, the measured FPS in Control shows that the card's performance degrades predictably as resolution increases, with 4K High (41.2 FPS) being less than half of 1080p Low (121.8 FPS). This is the signature of a GPU that is well-matched to 1080p gaming but over-matched by 4K demands.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Control at 60 FPS in 4K?

A: Only at Low settings, which averages 62.6 FPS. Medium drops to 47.4 FPS, High to 41.2 FPS, and Ultra to 35.0 FPS, so 60 FPS at 4K requires Low or a lower internal resolution.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p?

A: Medium provides 66.4 FPS, which is the only preset above 60 FPS at 1440p. High runs at 57.7 FPS and Ultra at 51.5 FPS, so Medium is the recommended choice for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 5800XT has an average benchmark score of 29774, which is 0.1% higher than the Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE (29740) and 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (29682), but 0.3% lower than the Ryzen 7 6800HS (29856) and Ryzen 7 7840H (29868).

Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM enough for Control?

A: The RX 6650 XT's 8 GB GDDR6 memory is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, where the highest presets run at 66.3 and 51.5 FPS respectively. At 4K, the VRAM capacity combined with the 128-bit bus limits performance, as even Low settings only reach 62.6 FPS.

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

A: High runs at 78.3 FPS, while Ultra runs at 66.3 FPS, a difference of 12.0 FPS. This is a smaller penalty than the 33.8 FPS drop from Low to Medium, making Ultra a reasonable choice for 1080p if you prefer visual quality.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 1059 out of 1636 total combos tested in Control, placing it in the lower third. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-tier performance rather than the CPU, which scores in the 86th percentile of all CPUs.