Control

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and Radeon RX 6800 XT combination delivers a formidable Control experience, securing the 852nd position out of 2,888 tested combos. This placement in the top 30% of all configurations underscores a system built for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming and capable 4K performance. The pairing of a modern 8-core Zen 5 processor with a high-end RDNA 2 graphics card creates a balanced platform where neither component becomes a consistent bottleneck, allowing the game’s physics-driven combat and particle effects to run smoothly across a wide range of settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 852 out of 2,888 tested configurations places it in the upper echelon of gaming systems, though not at the absolute peak. This indicates a hardware pairing that is well-suited for demanding titles like Control, but one that still leaves headroom for more powerful—and significantly more expensive—flagship components. The data suggests this is a sweet spot for high-fidelity gaming without venturing into the extreme enthusiast tier.

The CPU’s performance is a critical factor in this ranking. The Ryzen 7 9700F’s average benchmark score of 69,996 places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, putting it in a dead heat with its nearest rivals. It is a mere 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and a marginal 0.2% behind the Intel Core i7-14700KF. The gap widens only slightly to 0.7% and 0.9% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Intel Core i7-14700K, respectively. This indicates that the processor is delivering performance perfectly in line with other top-tier chips, ensuring that it will not hold back the GPU in most gaming scenarios.

On the graphics side, the RX 6800 XT’s average benchmark score of 48,477 puts it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals show a more varied competitive landscape. The data shows it is 1.5% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile, but 2.5% behind the Intel Arc A550M and 3% behind both the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64. This suggests that while the GPU is a strong performer, its position in the market is more contested than the CPU’s, with several competitors offering comparable or slightly better raw compute power. The overall combo rank reflects this: a top-tier CPU paired with a solid, but not class-leading, GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimizing the visual experience in Control. At 1920x1080, the system provides such high frame rates that users can prioritize visual fidelity without compromise. The Ultra preset delivers an average of 98 FPS, which is already excellent for a smooth experience. However, dropping to High yields a substantial increase to 113 FPS, and the Medium preset pushes that to 127 FPS. Given the sheer headroom, the High or Ultra presets are the logical choices for 1080p, as the difference in fluidity between 98 and 127 FPS is far less impactful than the visual upgrade from Medium to Ultra.

For 2560x1440, the system remains highly capable, but the choice of settings becomes more consequential. The Ultra preset produces an average of 74 FPS, which is playable but may not fully satiate users with high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset, however, hits a sweet spot with an average of 86 FPS, offering a significant performance boost with a minimal visual sacrifice in most scenes. This makes High the recommended preset for a balanced 1440p experience, providing the smoothness needed for the game’s fast-paced action while retaining most of the graphical bells and whistles.

At 3840x2160, the RX 6800 XT begins to show its limits, and settings management is crucial. The Ultra preset dips to an average of 50 FPS, which is on the edge of playability for a game that benefits from higher frame rates. The High preset improves this to 58 FPS, which is more comfortable but still not ideal. For a consistently smooth 4K experience, the Medium preset is the best option, delivering an average of 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS, ensuring that frame times remain stable even during intense combat sequences. Pushing to Low yields 92 FPS, but the visual downgrade is too severe for a game as atmospheric as Control. The data clearly points to Medium as the optimal 4K setting.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern as resolution increases. The jump from 1080p to 1440p is substantial, and the jump to 4K is even more demanding. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 113 FPS at 1920x1080 to 86 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 27 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is being pushed harder, but the CPU is still feeding it enough data to maintain high performance.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is even more pronounced. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 86 to 58, a drop of 28 FPS. This steep decline highlights that the RX 6800 XT’s 16 GB of VRAM and 512.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are being taxed heavily at 3840x2160. The performance curve suggests that the system is firmly GPU-limited at 4K, with the CPU’s ample 8-core, 16-thread configuration having plenty of headroom to spare.

This is further evidenced by the performance at lower settings. At Low settings, the system achieves 179 FPS at 1080p, 136 FPS at 1440p, and 92 FPS at 4K. The fact that 4K Low still yields nearly 100 FPS shows that the GPU can handle the resolution when the pixel shading workload is reduced. The 65 FPS at 4K Medium versus the 98 FPS at 4K Ultra (which is lower than Medium) confirms that the game’s Ultra preset introduces a significant amount of additional GPU work, likely from advanced lighting and shadow effects, that has a disproportionate impact on performance at this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The detailed FPS measurements provide a comprehensive view of the system’s capabilities across all settings and resolutions. The data shows a consistent hierarchy where higher resolutions and more demanding settings proportionally reduce performance.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Ultra: The most demanding configuration yields an average of 50 FPS, placing it at the threshold of cinematic acceptability.
• High: A more comfortable 58 FPS average makes this a viable, though not ideal, 4K option.
• Medium: This is the standout 4K setting, delivering a solid 65 FPS average, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 75 FPS, indicating a stable frame rate.
• Low: The least demanding setting achieves 92 FPS, showing the GPU’s raw power when freed from complex shading.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Ultra: An average of 74 FPS provides a good experience for most users, though it may not fully utilize a 144Hz monitor.
• High: The recommended setting for 1440p, hitting an average of 86 FPS and balancing visual quality with fluidity.
• Medium: This setting pushes performance to 96 FPS, with a minimum of 82 FPS and a maximum of 111 FPS, offering a very smooth experience.
• Low: The system scales impressively to 136 FPS, making it ideal for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Ultra: An average of 98 FPS is more than sufficient for a great experience, showcasing the game’s visual potential.
• High: The performance jumps to 113 FPS, providing excellent fluidity for the game’s action sequences.
• Medium: A very high 127 FPS average, with a minimum of 108 FPS and a maximum of 146 FPS, makes this a great choice for high-refresh-rate gaming.
• Low: The system achieves a staggering 179 FPS, demonstrating a massive amount of headroom at this resolution.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Control at 4K with high settings?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the system averages 58 FPS. While playable, it is not perfectly smooth. For a more consistent experience, the Medium preset is recommended, as it averages 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS.

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

A: The data indicates the High preset is the optimal choice for 2560x1440. It delivers an average of 86 FPS, providing a smooth and visually impressive experience. While the Ultra preset is playable at 74 FPS, the High preset offers a better balance of performance and visual fidelity.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The benchmark data indicates the system becomes GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 9700F has significant performance headroom, while the RX 6800 XT’s frame rates drop considerably when moving from 1440p to 4K, indicating the graphics card is the primary bottleneck at those settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700F compare to its closest competitors?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F’s average benchmark score is essentially tied with its nearest rivals. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. It trails the Intel Core i7-14700KF by a negligible 0.2% and the Intel Core i7-14700K by 0.9%.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the difference is substantial. The Ultra preset averages 98 FPS, while the Low preset averages 179 FPS. This represents an 81 FPS increase, or roughly an 83% performance uplift, when sacrificing most visual effects.

Q: Is the RX 6800 XT’s 16GB of VRAM sufficient for Control?

A: The 16 GB of VRAM is more than adequate for Control, even at 4K with High settings. The performance drops at 4K are more attributable to the GPU’s raw compute power and memory bandwidth, not a lack of VRAM capacity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a powerhouse processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This configuration is well-suited for modern gaming, providing ample multi-threaded performance for the game’s physics and AI systems, while its high boost clock ensures strong single-thread performance for game logic.

The CPU’s benchmark results in the FACT PACK illustrate its strengths. Its Passmark single-thread score of 4,691 is robust, and its multi-thread score of 36,470 is impressive. More telling for gaming are the synthetic tests: a floating-point math score of 77,955 and an integer math score of 120,788. These numbers indicate the processor can handle complex calculations quickly, which is essential for maintaining high frame rates in a physics-heavy game like Control, particularly when many objects are being manipulated or destroyed simultaneously.

The CPU’s performance relative to its rivals is remarkably tight. Being within 0.9% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Intel Core i7-14700K in average benchmark scores confirms that the 9700F is not a performance outlier but a solid, mid-range-to-high-end offering. In the context of Control’s measured FPS, the CPU’s role is to ensure that it never becomes the bottleneck. The fact that frame rates scale so predictably with resolution and settings suggests the CPU is consistently feeding the GPU with enough data. The 89.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth and support for DDR5 memory further ensure that data can flow to the processor quickly, preventing stutters. Overall, the Ryzen 7 9700F provides a stable, high-performance foundation that allows the RX 6800 XT to perform to its full potential.