Control

The pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 7 9700X with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a study in extremes, pitting one of the most capable modern desktop CPUs against a legacy entry-level graphics card. Benchmark data from Control shows a system where the processor’s immense headroom is almost entirely capped by the GPU’s age and limited memory pool. The measured frames per second (FPS) across all resolutions and settings tell a story of a component bottleneck that no amount of CPU muscle can overcome. This analysis dissects the measured results to understand the practical experience this combination delivers in Remedy’s action-adventure title.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best frame rate this combo can achieve in Control?*

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 47.7, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This is the only configuration in the measured data that approaches playable smoothness, though it still falls short of a 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the CPU’s benchmark standing compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700X sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36029. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14500HX, scores 35940, making the AMD part 0.2% faster. The gap is similarly narrow against the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which it leads by 0.6%.

Q: What is the GPU’s performance percentile, and who are its direct competitors?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti is in the 30th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 5316. This places it in direct competition with the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (score 5317, 0% difference) and the NVIDIA GeForce 940M (score 5297, where the 1050 Ti is 0.4% faster).

Q: Is there a significant performance drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: Yes, the data shows a substantial penalty. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 32.1 at 1920x1080 to 20.2 at 2560x1440, a decline of roughly 37%. This indicates the GPU is struggling considerably as pixel count increases.

Q: Does the CPU’s core and thread count translate to high FPS in this game?

A: No. Despite having 8 cores and 16 threads, the measured FPS remains low across all settings. For instance, at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average is 47.7 FPS. This suggests the GPU’s processing limits are reached long before the Ryzen 7 9700X’s multi-threaded capabilities can be fully utilized.

*Q: How does this system rank among all tested combos for Control?*

A: The data places this specific combination at rank 1613 out of 1636 total tested combos. This places it in the bottom 1.4% of all systems benchmarked for this game, highlighting its severe performance limitations in Control.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the optimal experience is found at the Low settings preset. At 1920x1080, this setting yields an average of 47.7 FPS, which is the only configuration that provides a semblance of fluid motion. Moving to Medium settings at the same resolution drops the average to 35.1 FPS, a significant 26% reduction that makes the action less responsive. High settings further reduce the average to 32.1 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 27.7 FPS.

The delta between Low and Medium is substantial, and the trade-off for slightly better visuals is a considerable loss in frame rate. For a game like Control with fast-paced combat and environmental destruction, maintaining a higher frame rate is crucial for playability. The data suggests that even at 1080p, the GTX 1050 Ti is the limiting factor, and the visual fidelity offered by higher presets is not worth the performance cost. The 47.7 FPS average at Low is still below 60, indicating that even this setting does not provide a flawless experience, but it is the most viable option within the measured results.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are stark and reveal the GPU as the definitive bottleneck. At High settings, the progression is 32.1 FPS at 1920x1080, falling to 20.2 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally collapsing to 14.3 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 55% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K. The trend is consistent across all presets; for example, at Low settings, the frame rate drops from 47.7 at 1080p to 32.3 at 1440p and then to 25 at 4K.

This scaling pattern is characteristic of a system that is severely limited by its graphics card. The Ryzen 7 9700X is more than capable of feeding the GTX 1050 Ti with draw calls and geometry data. However, the GPU’s 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the increasing resolution. The 128-bit memory bus and limited 2.138 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power mean that every additional pixel demands a proportionally larger share of the GPU’s finite resources, leading to the precipitous frame rate drops observed in the data. The CPU is not the limiting factor here; the GPU simply cannot render the frames fast enough.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall ranking for this combo in Control is rank 1613 out of 1636 tested combinations. This position places it in the bottom 2% of all systems benchmarked, a clear indication of its performance tier. This is a remarkably low ranking, especially when considering the potential of the processor. The Ryzen 7 9700X ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, showcasing its high-end capabilities. In contrast, the GTX 1050 Ti ranks in the 30th percentile among GPUs, and its direct rivals are mobile and entry-level desktop parts like the GeForce 930A and Radeon R7 240.

The disparity between the CPU’s high percentile and the combo’s bottom-tier ranking underscores the profound impact of the GPU on gaming performance. The data suggests that in this specific game, the GPU is responsible for nearly all of the system’s limitations. The processor’s strength is irrelevant when the graphics card can only produce frame rates in the teens and twenties at higher resolutions. This rank is a direct consequence of the GPU’s age and performance class, not the CPU’s.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the primary constraint in this configuration. Its specifications—4 GB of GDDR5 memory, a 128-bit memory bus, and a peak FP32 performance of 2.138 TFLOPS—are insufficient for the demands of Control. The measured FPS data confirms this, with the highest average being just 47.7 FPS at 1080p Low. At 4K Ultra, the average plummets to 11.1 FPS, making the game unplayable.

The GPU’s clock speeds, with a base of 1291 MHz and a boost of 1392 MHz, are typical for the Pascal architecture, but they cannot compensate for the limited memory bandwidth and raw compute throughput. The 4 GB VRAM is a critical bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions and settings where texture data exceeds this capacity. The benchmark results show that it sits in the 30th percentile, with its average score of 5316 placing it on par with integrated and entry-level discrete solutions. This is the component that dictates the low frame rates, and its performance caps the system regardless of the CPU’s capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance is as follows: Low settings yield the highest average at 47.7 FPS. Medium settings reduce this to 35.1 FPS. High settings produce an average of 32.1 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 27.7 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is a 42% performance loss, indicating that the GPU struggles to handle higher graphical loads even at the lowest resolution.

At 2560x1440, all averages fall below playable thresholds for a fast-paced action game. Low settings average 32.3 FPS. Medium settings average 25 FPS. High settings drop to 20.2 FPS, and Ultra settings average just 16.4 FPS. The jump from 1080p to 1440p alone costs over 32% of the frame rate at Low settings.

At 3840x2160, the results are extremely low. Low settings average 25 FPS. Medium settings average 16.6 FPS. High settings average 14.3 FPS, and Ultra settings produce a mere 11.1 FPS average. These numbers indicate that 4K gaming is not a viable option for this hardware combination, as even the lowest preset fails to maintain a consistent 30 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a high-end processor, but its role in this gaming configuration is largely passive. With 8 cores, 16 threads, and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, it has more than enough compute power for Control. The CPU’s strong benchmark scores, such as 31588 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4459 in single-core, place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. However, these strengths are not reflected in the measured FPS.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution or settings preset. For example, the FPS difference between the 4K Low (25 FPS) and 1080p Low (47.7 FPS) settings is significant, but this is a result of the GPU’s workload changing, not the CPU’s. The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and DDR5 memory support are irrelevant when the GPU is unable to render frames quickly. The processor is effectively waiting for the graphics card, and its capabilities are left unused. The combo’s low ranking is not a CPU fault; it is the consequence of pairing a top-tier processor with a severely underpowered GPU.