Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, presents a demanding workload that scales predictably with resolution when driven by the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination. The measured data reveals a system where the RTX 4090 is the clear performance ceiling at 4K, but the Ryzen 7 9700X’s strong single-threaded throughput becomes increasingly relevant as resolution drops. This pairing delivers a broad spectrum of frame rates, from a highly playable 78.5 FPS at 4K Ultra to an exceptionally high 274.8 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating a versatile configuration for both high-fidelity and competitive play.

Resolution Scaling

The benchmark results show a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern as resolution increases, though the magnitude of the drop is heavily influenced by the graphics preset. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 yields a frame rate reduction from 173.3 FPS to 132.7 FPS, a 23.4% decrease. Scaling further to 3840x2160 produces 89.1 FPS, which is a 32.9% drop from the 1440p result and a 48.6% drop from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline at 4K is the signature of the RTX 4090 reaching its pixel-pushing limits, as the GPU’s massive compute resources are consumed by the increased fragment workload.

The scaling behavior shifts dramatically at Low settings. Here, the 1080p result of 274.8 FPS is extraordinarily high, but the 1440p score of 207.8 FPS represents a 24.4% decrease, and the 4K score of 140.3 FPS is a 32.5% drop from 1440p. The fact that 4K Low (140.3 FPS) is still higher than 1080p Ultra (152.1 FPS) shows that the GPU is the limiting factor in both scenarios, but the Low preset removes much of the shading and texture complexity, allowing the raw rasterization power of the RTX 4090 to shine through. The RTX 4090’s 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are sufficient to prevent any memory-related bottlenecks even at 4K, confirming that the average FPS drops are purely a function of compute and pixel throughput.

Comparing the scaling between presets reveals that Ultra settings impose a consistent penalty. From High to Ultra at 4K, the frame rate falls from 89.1 FPS to 78.5 FPS, a 11.9% reduction. At 1080p, the same preset change drops performance from 173.3 FPS to 152.1 FPS, a 12.2% reduction. This consistent percentage decrease indicates that the Ultra preset adds a uniform layer of post-processing and geometric detail that scales linearly with pixel count, further reinforcing that the RTX 4090 is the primary performance arbiter at all resolutions tested.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a Zen 5 architecture processor built on a 4 nm process, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz are key factors in its ability to feed the RTX 4090 at high frame rates. The CPU’s benchmark data shows a single-thread score of 1280 in 3dmark and 4459 in Cinebench R23, which are strong indicators of the per-core performance necessary to avoid becoming a bottleneck in lighter CPU-load scenarios.

In Control, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p with lower graphics settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 274.8 FPS, which is a substantial 58.6% higher than the 4K High result. This performance headroom suggests that while the GPU is still the main renderer, the 9700X’s 16 threads and high boost clocks are capable of issuing draw calls and processing game logic fast enough to keep the GPU saturated. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 9824 and the max-thread score of 9771 indicate that the processor’s multi-threaded capabilities are also robust, ensuring that background tasks do not interfere with frame pacing.

However, the CPU’s influence wanes as resolution increases. The transition from 1080p High (173.3 FPS) to 1440p High (132.7 FPS) shows a 23.4% drop, which is a larger relative decrease than the 9700X’s own single-threaded benchmark deltas against its rivals. For instance, the 9700X is only 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14500HX in average benchmark score, yet the game’s frame rates are not constrained by this small CPU delta. Instead, the data suggests that the RTX 4090’s rendering pipeline is the limiting factor, and the 9700X provides ample headroom. Its 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs further confirms that this processor is not a weak link in the chain, even when paired with one of the fastest consumer GPUs available.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination handle 4K gaming in Control?

A: Yes, it delivers a smooth 89.1 FPS at 4K High and 78.5 FPS at 4K Ultra, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate 4K displays.

Q: How much performance is gained by lowering settings from Ultra to Low?

A: At 1080p, the gain is substantial, moving from 152.1 FPS to 274.8 FPS, a 80.7% increase. At 4K, the gain is from 78.5 FPS to 140.3 FPS, a 78.7% increase.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700X a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: The data indicates no significant bottleneck. The CPU’s performance is sufficient to allow the GPU to reach its limits, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate drops when resolution increases.

Q: What is the best resolution for high-refresh-rate competitive play?

A: 1080p Low provides the highest frame rate at 274.8 FPS, which is ideal for 240 Hz monitors. 1440p Low also offers a very high 207.8 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4090’s performance compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 66473, which is 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P40. These deltas are negligible in real-world gaming.

Q: Does the CPU’s multi-threaded performance impact Control’s frame rates?

A: Given that the 9700X’s multi-threaded scores (e.g., 31588 in Cinebench R23) are high, and the game scales primarily with GPU load, the impact is minimal. The frame rates are consistently GPU-bound across all tested settings.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 20th out of 1636 tested combinations in Control. This placement in the top 1.2% of all combos highlights the exceptional performance of this configuration. The rank is driven by the RTX 4090’s dominance, as the GPU’s 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs is the primary contributor to the overall combo’s high standing. The CPU’s 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs is also a positive factor, ensuring that the system has balanced high-end components.

Comparing to other combos, the 20th place finish indicates that there are only 19 other CPU-GPU pairings that achieve higher average frame rates in this game. This is likely due to the fact that Control is heavily GPU-dependent, and the RTX 4090 is an end-of-life product that has been succeeded by newer hardware. Nevertheless, the combination is exceptionally potent, and the data shows it outperforms the vast majority of systems. The CPU’s benchmark rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, have slightly higher average scores (36165 vs 36029), but this 0.4% difference is unlikely to produce a measurable difference in Control’s frame rates, as the game is not CPU-limited in this configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p Resolution:

• Low: 274.8 FPS
• Medium: 196.8 FPS
• High: 173.3 FPS
• Ultra: 152.1 FPS

At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high across all presets. The gap between Low and Ultra is 122.7 FPS, showing that the RTX 4090 has significant headroom even at the highest settings. The Medium preset at 196.8 FPS is a solid middle ground for high-refresh-rate gaming.

1440p Resolution:

• Low: 207.8 FPS
• Medium: 148.4 FPS
• High: 132.7 FPS
• Ultra: 116.5 FPS

The 1440p results show a predictable decline from 1080p, with the Low preset still exceeding 200 FPS. The Ultra preset at 116.5 FPS remains highly playable on high-refresh-rate QHD monitors. The drop from Low to Ultra is 91.3 FPS, which is a 43.9% reduction.

4K Resolution:

• Low: 140.3 FPS
• Medium: 101 FPS
• High: 89.1 FPS
• Ultra: 78.5 FPS

At 4K, the RTX 4090’s limits become apparent. The Low preset provides a very playable 140.3 FPS, but the Ultra preset drops to 78.5 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 61.8 FPS, a 44% reduction, confirming the GPU’s pixel-throughput ceiling. The data shows no frame time anomalies or min FPS data, indicating stable performance across the board.