Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 7 7700X + AMD Radeon RX 9060

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a playable but not overwhelming experience in Control, a 2019 Action Adventure title. The CPU sits in the 85th percentile among all processors, while the GPU lands in the 59th percentile, making this a system where the graphics card is the primary constraint at higher resolutions. Measured performance shows the combo handling 1080p and 1440p well, but 4K demands compromises on settings to stay fluid. The data indicates a balanced pairing for 1440p gaming, with the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and the CPU's 8-core/16-thread design each playing distinct roles in the final frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 71 frames per second. This is the lowest measured 1080p preset, while Low settings reach 130 FPS, High hits 82 FPS, and Medium sits at 92 FPS.

Q: Does the RX 9060 outperform the RTX 3060 Ti in Control?

A: The RX 9060's average benchmark score is 16014, while the RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129, representing a delta of -0.7 percent. This means the RTX 3060 Ti is marginally ahead by less than one percent in synthetic benchmarks, but the measured FPS data for Control comes specifically from the RX 9060.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo based on the measured data?

A: The data indicates 2560x1440 is the sweet spot. At High settings, 1440p produces 62 FPS, which is comfortably playable, while 1080p High produces 82 FPS and 4K High drops to 42 FPS. The 1440p result balances visual quality with performance better than the other tested resolutions.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 7700X compare to its nearest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 7700X has an average benchmark score of 35909. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scores 35802, a delta of 0.3 percent. The Intel Core 7 250H trails by 0.5 percent with a score of 35728.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this setup?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 36 on Ultra to 66 on Low. High settings produce 42 FPS, and Medium hits 47 FPS. Only Low settings approach 60 FPS, so 4K is viable only with significant graphical compromises.

Q: What is the VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth of the RX 9060?

A: The RX 9060 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), and the GPU has a boost clock of 2990 MHz.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, indicating where the bottleneck shifts between CPU and GPU. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 130 FPS, which drops to 98 FPS at 1440p Low (a 24.6 percent reduction) and further to 66 FPS at 4K Low (a 49.2 percent reduction from 1080p). This steep decline at lower settings suggests the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises, since the CPU has ample headroom at 1080p.

Moving to High settings, the scaling changes slightly. The 1080p High result is 82 FPS, 1440p High is 62 FPS (a 24.4 percent drop), and 4K High is 42 FPS (a 48.8 percent drop from 1080p). The consistent percentage reductions across Low and High settings indicate that the GPU is the dominant constraint even at 1080p, though the CPU still provides enough throughput to avoid additional bottlenecks. The 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 7700X with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz is more than capable of feeding the GPU at all tested resolutions.

At Medium settings, the measured data includes minimum and maximum FPS values, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the average is 92 FPS with a minimum of 78 and maximum of 106. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 70 FPS (a 23.9 percent reduction) with a minimum of 59 and maximum of 80. The 4K Medium result averages 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 54. The minimum FPS values at 4K Medium (40) approach the threshold where gameplay can feel stuttery, highlighting that 4K is marginal for this pairing.

The percentage drops from 1080p to 4K are remarkably consistent across all settings, ranging from 48.8 percent at High to 49.2 percent at Low. This uniformity indicates a purely GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the RX 9060's 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs are working at their limits. The CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases, with the 4K results showing that even a high-end processor like the Ryzen 7 7700X cannot compensate for the GPU's pixel-pushing limitations.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, Ultra settings deliver 71 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data shows that High settings at 1080p produce 82 FPS, offering a 15.5 percent improvement over Ultra with presumably minor visual differences. For players prioritizing maximum fidelity at 1080p, Ultra is viable, but High provides a better safety margin for demanding scenes.

At 1440p, Ultra settings drop to 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. High settings at 1440p produce 62 FPS, making this the recommended preset for this resolution. The jump from High to Medium at 1440p yields 70 FPS, a 12.9 percent increase, but the visual trade-off may not be worth it for most players. The measured minimum of 59 FPS at 1440p Medium shows that even this setting occasionally dips below 60, so High settings with a 62 FPS average provide a better experience than the raw numbers suggest.

For 4K gaming, no preset consistently hits 60 FPS. Ultra produces 36 FPS, High produces 42 FPS, and Medium produces 47 FPS with a minimum of 40. Low settings at 4K achieve 66 FPS, which is the only 4K preset above the 60 FPS mark. However, Low settings in Control will noticeably reduce visual quality, including shadows, textures, and effects. The data suggests that 4K is not a practical target for this combo unless players are willing to accept Low settings, which undermines the purpose of 4K resolution.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1440p High settings. This configuration delivers 62 FPS average with no reported minimum below 59 FPS (based on the Medium preset's minimum), which is close enough to 60 FPS for most players to perceive as smooth. Alternatively, 1080p High at 82 FPS provides a higher frame rate for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, while 1440p High offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 1080p Ultra at 71 FPS is also reasonable if the player wants maximum quality and has a 60 Hz display.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are 130 on Low, 92 on Medium, 82 on High, and 71 on Ultra. The Medium preset includes a minimum of 78 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS, indicating a frame time spread of 28 FPS. This range suggests that while the average is solid, there are noticeable fluctuations during intense scenes. The gap between Low and Ultra is 59 FPS, showing that settings have a substantial impact on performance at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 98 on Low, 70 on Medium, 62 on High, and 54 on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS, with a 21 FPS spread. The drop from Low to Ultra is 44 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more constrained at higher resolutions. The 1440p Ultra result of 54 FPS is the only preset below 60 FPS that still maintains a playable average.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are 66 on Low, 47 on Medium, 42 on High, and 36 on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS, with a 14 FPS spread. The gap between Low and Ultra is 30 FPS, which is the smallest of the three resolutions, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated at 4K. The Low preset at 66 FPS is the only 4K configuration that meets the 60 FPS target, while the High and Ultra presets fall well below.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings shows reductions of 24.6 percent at Low, 23.9 percent at Medium, 24.4 percent at High, and 23.9 percent at Ultra. From 1440p to 4K, the reductions are 32.7 percent at Low, 32.9 percent at Medium, 32.3 percent at High, and 33.3 percent at Ultra. The larger percentage drops from 1440p to 4K indicate that the RX 9060's 8 GB VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are increasingly strained as pixel count grows.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 44 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, with 28 ray tracing cores. The boost clock reaches 2990 MHz, while the game clock is 2400 MHz and the base clock is 1700 MHz. These specifications result in a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s, a texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s, and 21.43 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, with memory clocked at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). The 8 GB capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Control, as the measured FPS shows playable performance at these resolutions. However, at 4K, the combination of higher VRAM usage and memory bandwidth limitations likely contributes to the sharp FPS drops. The 4K High preset produces 42 FPS, which is a 48.8 percent reduction from 1080p High, suggesting the GPU is hitting both compute and memory limits.

The RX 9060's benchmark scores place it in the 59th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129, a delta of -0.7 percent, meaning the RX 9060 trails by less than one percent. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 scores 15852 (a 1 percent delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15679 (a 2.1 percent delta). These results show the RX 9060 is competitive with mid-range GPUs from previous generations.

The measured FPS data in Control aligns with the GPU's synthetic benchmark performance. At 1080p High, the 82 FPS result is strong for a GPU in this class, while the 4K High result of 42 FPS is consistent with a GPU that has 8 GB of VRAM and a 128-bit memory interface. The 28 ray tracing cores are present, but Control's implementation may not heavily utilize them, as the game predates widespread RT adoption. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) ensures compatibility with modern rendering techniques, while the OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4 support provides flexibility for various game engines.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael, and manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The CPU has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache, totaling 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die. The processor supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth, and it uses the AMD Socket AM5 interface.

The Ryzen 7 7700X sits in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35909. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scores 35802 (a 0.3 percent delta), while the Intel Core 7 250H scores 35728 (a 0.5 percent delta), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 scores 35719 (a 0.5 percent delta). These results show the 7700X is marginally faster than similar-class processors, with single-thread performance of 1090 in 3DMark and 1987 in Cinebench R23.

In Control, the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample processing power for the game's physics and AI simulations. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (130 FPS) is likely close to the CPU's limit, but the consistent scaling across resolutions suggests the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases. The high boost clock of 5.40 GHz helps maintain frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios, while the 32 MB of L3 cache reduces memory latency for frequently accessed data.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, combined with DDR5 support, ensures the GPU receives data quickly enough to avoid starvation. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the RX 9060's PCIe 5.0 x16 connection, though the GPU's 8 GB VRAM means it relies on system memory for overflow, which could impact performance at 4K. The 7700X's integrated Radeon Graphics are irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU, but they provide a fallback for troubleshooting.

The measured FPS data shows the CPU is not the limiting factor in Control. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings results in a 24.6 percent FPS drop, which is too large to be CPU-related given the 7700X's capabilities. Instead, the RX 9060's 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM are the primary constraints at higher resolutions. The CPU's strong single-thread performance (4190 in PassMark single-thread) ensures that Control's main thread, which is typically the limiting CPU factor in games, runs efficiently. The 16 threads also handle multi-threaded tasks like physics and streaming without issue, as evidenced by the PassMark multithread score of 35686.