Control

Control pairs an eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 9700F with a six-year-old NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, and the measured frames show a system that is firmly GPU-bound at every resolution. The CPU’s substantial headroom is wasted in this title, as the GTX 1660 Ti becomes the definitive bottleneck, with the 9700F’s capabilities only relevant when settings are dropped to their lowest preset. This combination ranks in the 14th percentile of all tested combos, placing it near the bottom of the database, a position dictated almost entirely by the aging graphics card rather than the modern processor.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a high-end desktop processor built on the Zen 5 architecture, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. It operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, drawing a 65 W TDP from the AMD Socket AM5 platform. The 9700F includes 32 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus, with a memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. This is a powerful CPU that scores in the 94th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 69996, placing it just 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X.

Despite this compute muscle, the CPU’s role in Control is minimal because the measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern: performance scales almost linearly with resolution and settings, which is the signature of a GPU-limited scenario. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 91 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra it drops to 50 FPS, a difference of 41 FPS that is entirely attributable to the graphics workload. If the 9700F were the limiting factor, we would expect to see frame rates plateau or become erratic at lower resolutions, but the data shows the opposite, with the CPU never breaking a sweat.

The 9700F’s single-thread performance is exceptional, as indicated by its Passmark single-thread score of 4691, but Control’s engine does not require that level of throughput to feed the GTX 1660 Ti. The CPU’s multithread score of 36470 and floating-point math score of 77955 are far beyond what this game needs for physics or AI calculations, especially at 1080p, where the GPU is already overwhelmed. The result is that the 9700F effectively idles while the GPU works at 100% utilization, making the processor an irrelevant factor for determining playable settings or resolutions in this title.

In practical terms, the data suggests that the 9700F is capable of supporting far higher frame rates than the GTX 1660 Ti can deliver. The measured 91 FPS at 1080p Low is likely near the ceiling for this GPU, and even that figure is modest compared to what the CPU could theoretically push. The Passmark data compression score of 421988 and integer math score of 120788 reinforce that this is a processor built for heavy workloads, not for bottlenecking a mid-range GPU from 2019. For Control specifically, the CPU role is to provide a stable platform that never introduces stutter or frame pacing issues, and the data confirms it does so without any signs of struggle.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is the clear limiting component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why. The GPU is based on the Turing architecture with the TU116 chip, manufactured on a 12 nm process, and features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and it has 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The GPU’s raw compute is rated at 5.437 TFLOPS for FP32, which is modest by modern standards, and it scores in the 41st percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 7723.

This specification sheet translates directly into the measured frame rates. At 1080p High, the combo averages 57 FPS, but dropping to Medium yields 64 FPS and Low yields 91 FPS, showing that the GPU is highly sensitive to settings changes. The VRAM capacity of 6 GB is also a concern, as Control is a texture-heavy game that can exceed this limit at higher resolutions. The data for 4K Ultra shows an average of 25 FPS, which is not only slow but also likely suffers from texture swapping due to VRAM exhaustion, though the min and max FPS values are not recorded for that preset to confirm stuttering.

The GTX 1660 Ti’s nearest rivals in the database are all significantly weaker, with the AMD Radeon 540 scoring just 0.7% lower, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 scoring 1.9% lower, and the Intel Arc A310 scoring 2.3% lower. This proximity indicates that the 1660 Ti is at the very bottom of the performance hierarchy, and its 41st percentile ranking confirms it is below average. The GPU’s Passmark DirectX 12 score of 51 and DirectX 11 score of 103 are particularly low, which is telling for Control, a game that relies on modern API features to maintain frame rates.

The GPU’s role in this combo is to be the bottleneck, and it does so consistently. The measured FPS at 4K Medium is 33 FPS with a minimum of 28 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, while 1440p Medium hits 49 FPS and 1080p Medium hits 64 FPS. This scaling pattern shows that the GPU is operating at its absolute limits, with no headroom for future patches or more demanding scenes. The 6 GB VRAM is especially problematic at 4K, where even Low settings only produce 46 FPS, suggesting that memory bandwidth and capacity are both constraining factors.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data provides a clear verdict on settings: Medium is the optimal preset for this combo, offering the best balance of visual fidelity and playable frame rates across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth action gameplay. This is the only preset at 1080p that exceeds 60 FPS average while still maintaining a reasonable visual quality, as High drops to 57 FPS and Ultra drops to 50 FPS.

At 1440p, Medium is still the best choice, producing 49 FPS average with a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 56 FPS. While not a locked 60 FPS, this is playable for a slower-paced action-adventure title, and it is significantly better than the 43 FPS at High and 38 FPS at Ultra. The Low preset at 1440p jumps to 69 FPS, but the visual degradation is likely too severe for a game like Control, which relies on atmospheric lighting and particle effects that are heavily reduced at Low settings.

At 4K, no preset is truly playable, but Medium is the least objectionable with 33 FPS average and a minimum of 28 FPS. Low at 4K produces 46 FPS, which is above 30 FPS but still below the 60 FPS target, and the visual quality loss is substantial. The data indicates that users should avoid Ultra at any resolution, as it only yields 25 FPS at 4K, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 1080p, all of which are below the preferred 60 FPS for action sequences. High is a middling option, but Medium consistently offers the highest frame rate without sacrificing all visual detail.

The recommendation is unequivocal: run Control at Medium settings. The 1080p Medium row is the only configuration that achieves a 60+ FPS average, and it does so with a minimum FPS of 55, indicating that even demanding scenes will not drop below the playable threshold. For users with 1440p monitors, Medium is still the best compromise, and for 4K, the game is best played at Low or Medium with the understanding that frame rates will be below 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This particular combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti ranks 2471 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the bottom 14% of all systems in the database. This is a poor ranking that reflects the GPU’s age and performance class, not the CPU’s capabilities. The rank is determined by the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, and the GTX 1660 Ti’s inability to push high frame rates drags the entire combo down despite the 9700F’s excellent processor scores.

The data shows that the combo’s ranking is almost entirely a function of the GPU, as the 9700F sits in the 94th percentile of CPUs, while the 1660 Ti sits in the 41st percentile of GPUs. This disparity means that the combo is severely unbalanced, with the CPU performance being wasted on a GPU that cannot utilize it. The rank of 2471 indicates that the vast majority of other tested systems, even those with much weaker CPUs, likely outperform this combo because they are paired with more capable graphics cards.

For context, the 9700F’s nearest CPU rivals all score within 1% of it, including the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.2% higher), Intel Core i7-14700KF (0.2% lower), and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.7% higher). However, the GTX 1660 Ti’s nearest GPU rivals are all significantly weaker, with the AMD Radeon 540 being the closest at 0.7% higher. This means that any combo with a similarly modern CPU but a better GPU would rank substantially higher, while any combo with this GPU but a weaker CPU would rank similarly. The ranking confirms the GPU’s dominance in determining Control’s performance, and it underscores that this combo is not recommended for this game.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions confirms that the GTX 1660 Ti is the limiting component, with performance dropping sharply as resolution increases. At Medium settings, the combo delivers 64 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and 33 FPS at 4K. This represents a 23% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 48% drop from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, which is the expected behavior for a GPU-bound scenario where the number of pixels rendered directly impacts the workload.

At High settings, the drops are similar: 57 FPS at 1080p, 43 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. This is a 25% drop to 1440p and a 49% drop to 4K, again indicating that the GPU is the sole bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect to see frame rates converge at lower resolutions, but instead, the FPS continues to rise as resolution falls to 1080p, reaching 91 FPS at Low settings. This 91 FPS figure is likely close to the GPU’s absolute maximum, and it shows that even at the lowest settings, the 1660 Ti cannot break past the 100 FPS mark.

The data also reveals that the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s and 6 GB VRAM are insufficient for 4K, as the FPS at 4K Low (46 FPS) is only slightly better than 1440p High (43 FPS), suggesting that the GPU is not just fill-rate limited but also memory-limited. The 4K Ultra row at 25 FPS is the worst-case scenario, and the lack of min/max FPS data for that preset suggests the game may be unplayable with severe drops. This resolution scaling analysis definitively shows that the CPU has zero impact on performance in this game, and any attempt to improve frame rates must involve upgrading the GPU, not the processor.

FAQ

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

A: The best measured configuration is 1080p with Medium settings, which achieves an average of 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS. This is the only preset that exceeds 60 FPS average at any resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 2471 out of 2888 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 14% of all systems. This ranking is primarily due to the GTX 1660 Ti’s low performance, as the CPU scores in the 94th percentile.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F bottlenecking the GTX 1660 Ti in this game?

A: No, the data shows the opposite. The CPU is not the limiting factor, as evidenced by the FPS scaling with resolution and settings. The GPU is the bottleneck, and the 9700F has significant headroom that is unused.

Q: What is the frame rate at 4K Medium, and is it playable?

A: The average FPS at 4K Medium is 33 FPS, with a minimum of 28 FPS and a maximum of 38 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS target and is generally not considered playable for a demanding action-adventure game.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti scores 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon 540, 1.9% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100, 2.2% higher than the AMD Radeon R7 250, and 2.3% higher than the Intel Arc A310. This indicates it is at the very bottom of the performance hierarchy.

Q: Should users choose Low settings to get higher FPS?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 91 FPS, but this comes at a significant visual quality cost, particularly for lighting effects. Medium at 1080p offers a better balance with 64 FPS, which is above the playable threshold.