Control

Control is an action-adventure title from 2019 that pushes both GPU and CPU hard, and the data for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combo shows a system that is heavily balanced toward high refresh rates at lower resolutions, with the GPU becoming the clear limiting factor as you scale up to 4K. The benchmark results provide a clear picture of how this pairing handles the game’s physics-heavy environments and graphical effects.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable but steep drop in performance as resolution increases, confirming that the Radeon RX 9070 XT is the primary bottleneck for this game at higher pixel counts. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 122 FPS, but this falls to 92 FPS at 1440p and further down to 62 FPS at 4K. This represents a 49% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at the High preset, which is a substantial hit that points directly at the GPU's rendering limits.

Looking at the Medium preset, the scaling follows a similar pattern. The system achieves 137 FPS at 1080p, drops to 103 FPS at 1440p, and lands at 70 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K here is 67 FPS, or a 49% decline, which is nearly identical to the High preset’s scaling. This consistency suggests that the game’s graphical settings are not changing the fundamental balance of the system; the GPU is simply running out of throughput as pixel count increases.

The Low preset offers the most dramatic example of resolution scaling. At 1080p, the combo reaches 193 FPS, which is an extremely high frame rate that suggests the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU at this level. However, at 1440p this drops to 146 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 98 FPS. The jump from 1080p to 4K is a 95 FPS loss, or a 49% decrease, again confirming that the GPU is the dominant factor in performance degradation.

The Ultra preset shows the heaviest load, with the system producing 106 FPS at 1080p, 80 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. This 52 FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is a 49% reduction, which is in line with the other presets. The fact that all presets exhibit nearly the same percentage loss from 1080p to 4K strongly indicates that the limiting component is the GPU’s raw fill rate and memory bandwidth, not the CPU or any other subsystem. The data suggests that the Ryzen 7 9700F has enough headroom to handle the CPU-side work at all resolutions, but the RX 9070 XT simply cannot maintain higher frame rates as the pixel workload increases.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting a smooth experience at 4K, the data shows that the Ultra preset is not viable, as it only produces 54 FPS on average. The High preset at 62 FPS is marginally better but still falls short of a locked 60 FPS experience. The Medium preset at 4K, however, delivers 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS, which is the most balanced option for this resolution. This suggests that dropping from High to Medium is the right move for 4K displays, as it provides a playable frame rate without a massive visual compromise.

At 1440p, the situation is much more favorable. The Ultra preset produces 80 FPS, which is smooth for most players, but the High preset at 92 FPS offers a better balance of visual fidelity and performance. The Medium preset at 103 FPS is the best choice for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, as it provides a significant frame rate boost over High while still maintaining good image quality. The Low preset at 146 FPS is only recommended for competitive play or for users who prioritize frame rate above all else.

For 1080p gamers, the Ultra preset at 106 FPS is the best experience per the measured rows, as it provides the highest visual quality while still maintaining a frame rate above 100 FPS. The High preset at 122 FPS is also excellent and offers a noticeable improvement in smoothness for those with 144Hz displays. The Medium preset at 137 FPS is the sweet spot for maximizing refresh rate without dropping to Low, which at 193 FPS is only useful for extreme esports-style settings where visual quality is secondary.

The data indicates that the system’s performance scaling is not linear with settings. For example, at 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 56 FPS, while moving from Medium to High costs only 15 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 16 FPS. This suggests that the Medium preset is a strong value in terms of frame rate per visual quality, while the jump from Low to Medium is the most substantial performance hit.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank in this game is 670 out of 2888 tested combinations, placing it in the top 23% of all systems tested. This is a strong showing, but it is not exceptional, indicating that while this pairing is capable, there are many other combinations that deliver higher frame rates in Control. The percentile data from the individual components provides context: the CPU ranks in the 94th percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 55th percentile against all GPUs.

This discrepancy between CPU and GPU percentiles is telling. The Ryzen 7 9700F is a top-tier processor in terms of overall benchmark scores, but the RX 9070 XT is only a mid-pack performer when compared to all GPUs. This suggests that the combo’s rank in Control is likely held back by the GPU, not the CPU. The measured FPS data supports this, as the system shows strong performance at 1080p where the CPU matters more, but falls off at 4K where the GPU is the sole bottleneck.

The combo’s rank of 670 indicates that it is roughly in the upper quarter of all tested systems, which is a respectable position for a modern mid-range to high-end pairing. However, the data shows that the GPU’s relatively low percentile ranking compared to the CPU means that users could potentially achieve better results in this game by pairing the Ryzen 7 9700F with a more powerful GPU, or by accepting lower settings at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers a wide range of frame rates depending on the preset. The Low preset produces an average of 193 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates that the CPU is capable of pushing the GPU to its limits. The Medium preset achieves 137 FPS with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS, showing good consistency. The High preset produces 122 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 106 FPS. This spread of 87 FPS between Low and Ultra at 1080p highlights how sensitive the game is to settings changes at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are lower but still very playable. The Low preset averages 146 FPS, which is still high enough for a 144Hz monitor. The Medium preset averages 103 FPS with a minimum of 88 FPS and a maximum of 119 FPS, which is a solid 60+ FPS experience with headroom. The High preset produces 92 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 80 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 66 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p, again showing the GPU becoming more of a factor.

At 3840x2160, the performance is constrained by the GPU’s limits. The Low preset averages 98 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K and suggests that the game’s low settings are not GPU-bound in the same way as higher presets. The Medium preset averages 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS, providing a playable experience near 60 FPS. The High preset averages 62 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 54 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 44 FPS, which is the smallest absolute gap across all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the dominant constraint.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the core of this system’s performance in Control, and its specifications explain the observed frame rates. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a substantial amount of memory bandwidth, but the data shows that it is not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K with Ultra settings, where the average drops to 54 FPS.

The GPU’s boost clock is rated at 2970 MHz, with a base clock of 1660 MHz and a game clock of 2400 MHz. The high boost clock helps with single-threaded performance, but Control’s rendering load is more dependent on the GPU’s shading units and texture units. With 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, the RX 9070 XT is a capable rasterizer, but its performance in this game is clearly limited by its overall throughput rather than any specific feature.

The GPU’s FP32 performance is rated at 48.66 TFLOPS, which is a high number, but the measured FPS at 4K Ultra suggests that this theoretical peak is not easily achieved in real-world scenarios. The fact that the GPU ranks in the 55th percentile against all GPUs on average benchmark scores, while the CPU ranks in the 94th percentile, indicates that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing for Control. The GPU’s memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s is likely a limiting factor at 4K, as the game’s textures and effects require significant data throughput.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a Zen 5 architecture processor built on a 4 nm process, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz, with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and it has 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark scores show strong multithreaded performance, with a Passmark multithread score of 36470 and a single-thread score of 4691. These numbers place the CPU in the 94th percentile against all CPUs, indicating that it is a high-end processor.

In Control, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p with lower settings, where the system achieves 193 FPS on the Low preset. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is able to feed the GPU efficiently, and the 8 cores and 16 threads are sufficient to handle the game’s physics and AI workloads. The CPU’s 5.50 GHz boost clock is likely a key factor in maintaining high frame rates at 1080p, as Control can be sensitive to single-threaded performance.

However, as resolution increases, the CPU’s importance diminishes. At 4K, the frame rates are nearly identical across all presets in terms of percentage loss, which indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The CPU’s 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR5 support provide enough data throughput to avoid starving the GPU, but the system’s overall performance in Control is clearly GPU-limited at 1440p and above. The CPU’s boost clock and cache configuration are sufficient to keep up with the GPU’s demands, but they do not compensate for the GPU’s limitations at 4K.