Control

Control pairs the 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D with the 8 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, and the measured frames per second across resolutions and presets show a configuration that is clearly bound by the graphics card rather than the processor. This 2019 Action Adventure title rewards a balanced platform, but the data indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the component dictating playability, especially as resolution climbs toward 4K and as settings are pushed past Medium.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and steady, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 76.3 at 1920x1080 to 54.7 at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 28% when moving to 1440p, and then plummets to 38.7 at 3840x2160, which is only about 51% of the 1080p performance. This pattern is typical of a GPU-heavy workload where the RTX 2060 SUPER's 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are simply overwhelmed by the pixel count.

The scaling behavior changes when you lower the preset to Low. At Low, the 1080p average is 118.1 FPS, which drops to 90.3 at 1440p (a 24% decline) and then to 62.5 at 4K (a 47% decline from 1080p). The relative drop from 1440p to 4K at Low is still significant, but the absolute numbers are much higher, suggesting that the CPU can push well over 100 FPS when the GPU is unburdened. The fact that 4K Low delivers 62.5 FPS while 4K High delivers only 38.7 FPS shows that the bottleneck is almost entirely on the graphics side; the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has ample headroom.

The gap between Medium and High is also revealing. At 1080p, Medium yields 82.9 FPS while High yields 76.3 FPS, a modest 8% difference. At 4K, Medium drops to 44.5 FPS and High to 38.7 FPS, a similar relative gap. The largest single step is from Low to Medium at 4K, where performance falls from 62.5 to 44.5 FPS, a 29% penalty, indicating that the first tier of settings upgrades introduces a substantial shader and texture load that the 2060 SUPER cannot sustain at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a Turing-generation card with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1470 MHz with a boost of 1650 MHz, and it features 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. These specifications place it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 19774. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (deltaPct 0.3), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (deltaPct 0.5), and the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (deltaPct 0.8), meaning it is statistically a near-tie with those cards in synthetic tests.

In Control, the 8 GB frame buffer is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest that memory capacity and bandwidth are stretched thin. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is just 32.6, and at 4K High it is 38.7. These numbers are below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play, and they align with the GPU's position relative to the RTX 2070, which is only 0.5% faster on average. The card's 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present but do not rescue performance; the measured data does not include ray tracing settings, so the traditional rasterization load is what drives these scores.

The texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s are the theoretical limits, and the 4K numbers indicate that the card is hitting those limits hard. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is a 48% drop (62.5 to 32.6 FPS), which is a larger penalty than at 1080p, where the same settings change only drops performance from 118.1 to 63.8 FPS (46% drop). This shows that the GPU's compute resources degrade more steeply with settings at higher resolutions, a classic sign of a card that is out of its comfort zone.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a Zen 4 (Raphael) part on AMD Socket AM5, built on a 5 nm process with 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock is 4.20 GHz with a boost of 5.00 GHz, and it carries 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a significant advantage for gaming workloads. The CPU's average benchmark score is 31580, placing it in the 87th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-12700F (deltaPct 0.1), AMD Ryzen 9 5980HX (deltaPct 0.3), AMD Ryzen 7 8700G (deltaPct 0.6), and AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX (deltaPct 0.6). This means the 7800X3D is effectively tied with those processors in synthetic tests, but its 3D V-Cache (implied by the X3D designation) is designed to boost game performance specifically.

In Control, the CPU is not the constraint. At 1080p Low, the system produces 118.1 FPS, which is well above the 1440p Low result of 90.3 FPS and the 4K Low result of 62.5 FPS. This scaling pattern is the opposite of a CPU bottleneck; if the CPU were limiting, the frame rates would stay flat across resolutions. Instead, the frame rate drops as resolution increases, which is the signature of a GPU limit. The 16 threads and high boost clock ensure that even the most complex scenes in Control, which is known for its physics and particle effects, do not create a CPU-side stall.

The CPU's single-thread performance, as indicated by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4115, is more than adequate for a game that relies on a few primary threads. The multi-core score of 29149 in the same test shows that the 8-core design is not the issue either. The data from the measured FPS rows shows that even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is clearly struggling at 32.6 FPS, there is no evidence of the CPU holding back the system; the bottleneck is entirely on the graphics card.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1148 out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the lower third of all configurations. This ranking reflects the fact that the GPU is a mid-range part from 2019, while the CPU is a high-end part from 2023, creating a mismatch that drags the overall performance down. The combo's position is not a reflection of the CPU's capability; rather, it is a direct consequence of the RTX 2060 SUPER's 63rd percentile standing among GPUs.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing sits below configurations that pair the same CPU with faster graphics cards, and it also sits below combos with slower CPUs but much stronger GPUs. The data suggests that if the goal is to play Control at 1440p or 4K, this GPU is the weak link. At 1080p, the combo is more competitive, but the ranking still places it in the lower half, meaning that many other tested combinations achieve higher average FPS. The deltaPct values for the GPU's nearest rivals (0.3% to 1.3%) indicate that swapping to a marginally faster card would not change the ranking much, but a significant GPU upgrade would be required to move this combo substantially higher in the list.

The rank of 1148 out of 1636 also implies that there are 488 combos that perform worse, so this is not a bottom-tier setup. It is a playable configuration for 1080p and acceptable for 1440p at lower settings, but the 4K results are poor enough to limit its appeal for high-resolution gaming.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?

A: The measured data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the average FPS stays above 60 across all presets, with Low at 118.1, Medium at 82.9, High at 76.3, and Ultra at 63.8. At 2560x1440, only Low exceeds 60 FPS (90.3), while High (54.7) and Medium (66.2) are below or near the threshold. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS; the highest is Low at 62.5.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 2070?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, while the RTX 2070 score is 19680, giving a deltaPct of 0.5. This means the 2060 SUPER is slightly faster on average, but the difference is negligible in real-world terms.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 7800X3D a bottleneck for the RTX 2060 SUPER in this game?

A: No. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent drop as resolution increases, which indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the CPU drives 118.1 FPS, and at 4K Low it drops to 62.5 FPS, proving the GPU is the constraint.

Q: What settings preset delivers the highest average FPS at 1440p?

A: Low settings at 2560x1440 produce an average of 90.3 FPS, which is the highest 1440p result. Medium yields 66.2 FPS, High yields 54.7 FPS, and Ultra yields 49.0 FPS.

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

A: It ranks 1148 out of 1636 combos, placing it in the lower third of the database. This rank is primarily due to the GPU's performance ceiling, not the CPU.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low averages 62.5 FPS, while Ultra averages 32.6 FPS. This is a 48% reduction in performance, showing how heavily the Ultra preset impacts the GPU at high resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth experience at 1080p, the Ultra preset is viable, with an average of 63.8 FPS, but High at 76.3 FPS offers a better balance if you prefer higher frame rates. Medium at 82.9 FPS is also a strong choice if you want to stay well above 60 FPS without sacrificing much visual quality. Low at 118.1 FPS is only necessary for high-refresh-rate displays or if you want maximum headroom.

At 1440p, the data suggests that Low (90.3 FPS) is the only preset that guarantees a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Medium (66.2 FPS) is playable but close to the threshold, while High (54.7 FPS) and Ultra (49.0 FPS) will be noticeably less smooth. If you own a 1440p monitor, Medium is the highest preset that keeps the average above 60 FPS, but Low is the safer recommendation for consistent performance.

At 4K, none of the presets reach 60 FPS, so the choice comes down to whether you prioritize visual fidelity or frame rate. Low (62.5 FPS) is the only preset that stays above 60 FPS, making it the best option for a playable experience. Medium (44.5 FPS), High (38.7 FPS), and Ultra (32.6 FPS) are all sub-60, and the drop from Low to Medium is a significant 29% penalty. Given the GPU's limitations at this resolution, Low is the only sensible choice for 4K gaming on this combo.