Control

Control is a demanding action-adventure title that stresses both the CPU and GPU heavily, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers a robust, high-refresh-rate experience across all tested resolutions. The benchmark data shows a system that scales predictably with settings and resolution, with the GPU acting as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions while the CPU provides ample headroom at 1080p. The measured frames per second (FPS) indicate that this pairing is well-suited for high-fidelity gaming, though users targeting maximum refresh rates will need to make deliberate choices about settings and resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear and consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 208 FPS, which drops to 157 FPS at 1440p and further to 106 FPS at 4K. This represents a 49% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, demonstrating that the GPU is heavily involved even at the lowest quality presets. The scaling becomes more pronounced at higher settings; for instance, at Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 148 at 1080p to 112 at 1440p, then to 75 at 4K, showing a 49% drop from 1080p to 4K as well.

At High settings, the numbers tell a similar story: 131 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p, and 67 FPS at 4K. This is a 49% decrease from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the RX 7900 XT is the limiting factor as pixel count rises. The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, with 114 FPS at 1080p dropping to 86 FPS at 1440p and 58 FPS at 4K, a 49% reduction overall. The consistent percentage drop across all settings suggests that resolution scaling is purely GPU-bound, with the CPU maintaining sufficient performance to avoid becoming a bottleneck even at lower resolutions.

The data indicates that this system is best utilized at 1440p for a high-refresh-rate experience, as the 157 FPS at Low settings and 99 FPS at High settings are both excellent for competitive play. At 4K, the system still delivers playable frame rates, but the 58 FPS at Ultra settings falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it necessary to reduce settings for smoother gameplay. The 1080p results, with averages exceeding 200 FPS at Low settings, show that the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution, and the GPU is the sole determinant of performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combination in Control?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, with average FPS ranging from 86 at Ultra settings to 157 at Low settings. This resolution provides a high-refresh-rate experience without the significant frame rate drop seen at 3840x2160.

Q: How does the RX 7900 XT perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system achieves an average of 58 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, so users should consider lowering settings to High or Medium, which yield 67 FPS and 75 FPS respectively.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700F a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No, the benchmark results indicate that at 1920x1080, the system reaches 208 FPS at Low settings and 131 FPS at High settings. These high frame rates suggest the CPU is not limiting performance at this resolution, and the GPU is the primary constraint.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings produce an average of 112 FPS, while High settings produce 99 FPS. This 13 FPS difference is modest, indicating that High settings offer a better visual experience with only a small performance penalty.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F has a Passmark single-thread score of 4691. This places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, and it is within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and Intel Core i7-14700KF in average benchmark scores, showing competitive single-thread capabilities.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures at Medium settings?

A: The data reports minimum FPS only for Medium settings: 125 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. These figures show that even at the lowest point, the system maintains playable frame rates across all resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the measured FPS results. The GPU features 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, providing 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are crucial for Control, which is known for its dense environments and particle effects, and they allow the card to handle high-resolution textures without stuttering. The core clock specifications include a base clock of 1387 MHz, a game clock of 2025 MHz, and a boost clock of 2394 MHz, which are the frequencies at which the GPU operates during gaming workloads. The boost clock is particularly relevant, as it represents the maximum frequency the card can achieve under load, and the data suggests it is effectively utilized given the high frame rates observed.

The GPU's architecture, RDNA 3.0, is built on a 5 nm process with 57,700 million transistors and a die size of 529 mm². This design provides 5376 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 192 raster operation units, which are the core components that process the graphical data. The pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s are theoretical maximums, but the measured FPS shows that the card is capable of delivering on these specifications in real-world scenarios. The FP32 performance of 51.48 TFLOPS is a key indicator of raw compute power, and it aligns with the card's ability to maintain high frame rates at 1440p and 4K.

The GPU's performance relative to its peers is interesting, as its average benchmark score of 13745 places it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. However, its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, which scores 13543 and is 1.5% slower, and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile, which scores 13821 and is 0.5% faster. This suggests that the RX 7900 XT is a capable card, but not the absolute top-tier option. In Control specifically, the measured FPS shows that it is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, though it struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The VRAM capacity of 20 GB is a significant advantage for this game, as Control's high-resolution textures can consume large amounts of memory. The 800.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures that the GPU can quickly access this memory, preventing bottlenecks that could cause frame drops. The clock speeds, particularly the boost clock of 2394 MHz, are the frequencies that determine how quickly the GPU processes each frame, and the data shows that they are effective at delivering the observed performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience for this system. At 1920x1080, all presets deliver high frame rates, with Low at 208 FPS, Medium at 148 FPS, High at 131 FPS, and Ultra at 114 FPS. Given that the difference between High and Ultra is only 17 FPS, but the visual quality improvement is often substantial, High is the recommended preset for 1080p gaming. It offers a 131 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience on most monitors.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts to High settings, which produce an average of 99 FPS. This is a 13 FPS improvement over Ultra at 86 FPS, while still providing excellent visual fidelity. Medium settings at 112 FPS are also viable for users who prioritize frame rate over visual quality, but the 99 FPS at High is a better balance. The minimum FPS at Medium settings is 95, which is still very high, indicating that even the lowest frame rates are smooth.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more nuanced. Ultra settings average 58 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and may result in noticeable stuttering. High settings at 67 FPS and Medium settings at 75 FPS are both above this threshold, making them the recommended choices for 4K gaming. Medium settings provide the highest frame rate at 75 FPS, but the visual quality reduction from High may be noticeable. High settings at 67 FPS offer a good compromise, and the data shows that this is the optimal preset for 4K on this system.

The overall recommendation is to use High settings for the best experience at 1080p and 1440p, and to choose between High and Medium at 4K depending on whether visual fidelity or frame rate is the priority. The Ultra preset is only recommended for users who have a 1080p monitor and prioritize maximum visual quality, as it still delivers 114 FPS at this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 208 at Low settings to 114 at Ultra settings. The Medium preset records an average of 148 FPS with a minimum of 125 FPS and a maximum of 170 FPS, showing that frame times are relatively consistent. High settings average 131 FPS, while Ultra averages 114 FPS, indicating that the performance drop from High to Ultra is 17 FPS, which is a 13% reduction.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS ranges from 157 at Low settings to 86 at Ultra settings. Medium settings average 112 FPS with a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 128 FPS, which shows a wider variance than at 1080p. High settings average 99 FPS, and Ultra averages 86 FPS, representing a 13 FPS difference between the two presets. The data shows that the system loses approximately 26% of its performance when moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings, which is consistent across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 106 at Low settings to 58 at Ultra settings. Medium settings average 75 FPS with a minimum of 64 FPS and a maximum of 87 FPS, showing that even the minimum frame rate is playable. High settings average 67 FPS, and Ultra averages 58 FPS, which is the only preset that falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The transition from 1440p to 4K results in a further 32% performance drop, as seen in the High preset going from 99 FPS to 67 FPS.

The minimum FPS values are only recorded for Medium settings, and they are 125 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. These figures are important because they represent the worst-case frame times, and they show that the system never drops below 60 FPS at any resolution when using Medium settings. The maximum FPS values at Medium settings are 170 FPS at 1080p, 128 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS at 4K, which show the upper end of the performance envelope.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F plays a crucial role in ensuring that the RX 7900 XT is not bottlenecked, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. This CPU features 8 cores and 16 threads, which is a configuration well-suited for modern games like Control that can utilize multiple threads for physics, AI, and rendering tasks. The base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz are key specifications, as the boost clock represents the maximum frequency the CPU can achieve during single-threaded workloads, which is critical for gaming performance.

The CPU's architecture, Zen 5, is built on a 4 nm process with 8,315 million transistors and a die size of 70.6 mm². This design provides a robust foundation for gaming, with a large 32 MB shared L3 cache that helps reduce memory latency and improve performance in cache-sensitive workloads. The memory support for DDR5 with a dual-channel bus and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth ensures that the CPU can quickly feed data to the GPU, preventing stalls that could reduce frame rates.

In terms of benchmark performance, the Ryzen 7 9700F has a Passmark multi-thread score of 36470 and a single-thread score of 4691, which places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 69996 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scoring 69875 (0.2% slower) and the Intel Core i7-14700KF scoring 70163 (0.2% faster). This indicates that the CPU is competitive with the best gaming processors available, and its high single-thread performance is particularly important for Control, which relies heavily on single-threaded game logic.

The measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this system. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 208 FPS, which is a very high frame rate that would strain many CPUs. The fact that the system maintains such high performance at this resolution suggests that the Ryzen 7 9700F has ample headroom, and the GPU is the bottleneck even at lower resolutions. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads provide enough processing power to handle the game's demands without causing frame drops, and the high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks are processed quickly.

The CPU's TDP of 65 W is relatively low for a high-performance desktop processor, which means it generates less heat and can maintain its boost clock for longer periods without thermal throttling. This is beneficial for sustained gaming sessions, as it ensures consistent performance. The socket is AMD Socket AM5, which is a modern platform that supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes, providing ample bandwidth for the GPU and other components. Overall, the Ryzen 7 9700F is a strong match for the RX 7900 XT, and the data confirms that it does not hold back the GPU in Control.