Control

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks in the 56th percentile for this game, placing it at position 1632 out of 2888 tested combos. This mid-pack placement is notable given the components' individual standings; the CPU sits at the 87th percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 59th percentile. The data suggests that the pairing is balanced, but the overall ranking is dragged down by the GPU's relative position compared to the CPU's elite standing. For a 2019 action-adventure title, this combination delivers a playable experience across most settings, though 4K Ultra proves to be the one configuration where the hardware struggles to maintain smooth motion.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1632 out of 2888 tested combinations positions it in the lower-middle of the pack, which is a direct reflection of the GPU's modest standing. The Radeon RX 9060's average benchmark score of 16014 places it just 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, a rival that scores 16129, and 1% ahead of both the AMD Radeon R9 370X and the AMD Radeon RX 7700, which score 15862 and 15852 respectively. The deltaPct values are tight, indicating that the RX 9060 is in a crowded performance tier where small differences separate competitors.

Interestingly, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is in a completely different league relative to its rivals. Its average benchmark score of 39768 puts it 0.4% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS (39603) and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 (39485). However, it trails the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 by 0.7% (40048) and the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 by 0.8% (40081). This means the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo; it is performing at a level that would support much faster GPUs in this game.

The measured FPS data confirms this dynamic. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 130 FPS, which is strong, but at 4K Ultra it drops to just 36 FPS. The gap between the CPU's capability and the GPU's output is evident when comparing the 1080p Low result to the 4K Ultra result — a 72.3% reduction in performance. This is a GPU-bound scenario, where the RX 9060's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are the primary constraints.

Settings Recommendations

The data shows a clear hierarchy across the four tested presets, and the optimal choice depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 82 FPS, which is 15.5% faster than the Ultra preset's 71 FPS but 12.2% slower than Low's 130 FPS. The Medium preset sits between at 92 FPS. For most players, High at 1080p offers the best balance — it is 11 FPS faster than Ultra while still providing a substantial visual upgrade over Low.

At 1440p, the picture changes. High delivers 62 FPS, which is 14.8% faster than Ultra's 54 FPS, but the gap between Medium (70 FPS) and High (62 FPS) is 11.4%. The Low preset jumps to 98 FPS, which is 58.1% faster than High. For a smooth experience at 1440p, Medium is the recommended starting point, as it stays above 60 FPS on average with a measured minimum of 59 FPS. High is playable but dips below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. Low is the only preset that stays above 60 FPS, hitting 66 FPS. Medium averages 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS, High averages 42 FPS, and Ultra drops to 36 FPS. The recommendation for 4K is Low, as it is the only configuration that provides a consistently fluid experience. Medium is borderline, with the minimum FPS of 40 potentially causing noticeable stutter in fast-moving scenes.

The overall best experience across all resolutions is the High preset at 1080p, which delivers 82 FPS with no measured minimum below that threshold. This configuration leverages the CPU's strength while keeping the GPU workload manageable. For players prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, Low at 1440p (98 FPS) is the superior choice, offering nearly 100 FPS without the resolution drop.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-limited configuration. At High settings, the combo delivers 82 FPS at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p (a 24.4% drop), and 42 FPS at 4K (a 48.8% drop from 1440p and a 48.8% drop from 1080p). This steep decline indicates that the RX 9060 is the primary bottleneck, as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D has ample headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions.

The Low preset shows a similar pattern: 130 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p (a 24.6% drop), and 66 FPS at 4K (a 32.7% drop from 1440p). The scaling is slightly more efficient at Low settings, suggesting that the GPU's shading units and texture units are less stressed when the visual load is reduced.

The Medium preset, which has measured minimum and maximum values, provides additional insight. At 1080p, it averages 92 FPS with a range of 78 to 106 FPS. At 1440p, the average drops to 70 FPS with a range of 59 to 80 FPS. At 4K, the average falls to 47 FPS with a range of 40 to 54 FPS. The minimum FPS values show that even at Medium settings, the GPU struggles to maintain consistent frame times at higher resolutions, with the 4K minimum of 40 FPS representing a 48.7% drop from the 1080p minimum.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 71 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p (a 23.9% drop), and 36 FPS at 4K (a 33.3% drop from 1440p). This preset is clearly not viable at 4K, as the 36 FPS average falls below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The data collectively points to the RX 9060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus as the limiting factors, as the resolution scaling is consistent with a memory-bandwidth-bound GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 130 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium averages 92 FPS with a minimum of 78 FPS and a maximum of 106 FPS. High averages 82 FPS, and Ultra averages 71 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 59 FPS, representing a 45.4% performance gap between the most and least demanding presets.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops proportionally. Low averages 98 FPS, which is 24.6% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium averages 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS. High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 44 FPS, a 44.9% difference.

At 3840x2160, the combo is clearly stretched. Low averages 66 FPS, which is 32.7% lower than the 1440p Low result. Medium averages 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS. High averages 42 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 30 FPS, a 45.5% gap that mirrors the scaling seen at lower resolutions.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 78 to 106 FPS; at 1440p, it is 59 to 80 FPS; at 4K, it is 40 to 54 FPS. The minimum FPS values show that the combo can dip below 60 FPS at 1440p Medium and below 45 FPS at 4K Medium, indicating that real-world performance may be less stable than the averages suggest.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The GPU's boost clock is 2990 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz and a base clock of 1700 MHz. The memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in a competitive but not dominant position. Its PassMark G3D score of 17631 is the strongest in its benchmark suite, while the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 39476 are moderate. The PassMark DirectX 12 score of 44 is notably low, suggesting that the GPU's performance in modern APIs may be inconsistent. The GPU's percentile rank of 59 among all GPUs reflects this middling standing.

In the context of this game, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are the likely culprits for the 4K performance drop. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (36 FPS) is 49.3% lower than at 1080p Ultra (71 FPS), a scaling pattern that points to memory bandwidth saturation. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the increased memory pressure at 4K causes the frame rate to plummet. The GPU's 21.43 TFLOPS FP32 performance is adequate for this 2019 title, but the memory subsystem is the constraining factor.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a Zen 5 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, operating at a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz. It features 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a significant asset for gaming workloads. The CPU's benchmark scores are exceptional: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23230 and a single-core score of 2080, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 18696 and a single-core score of 2964.

The CPU's nearest rivals show that it is at the top of its class. It is 0.4% faster than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS and 0.7% faster than the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450, while trailing the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 by 0.7% and the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 by 0.8%. These small deltas indicate that the 9800X3D is performing at the expected level for a high-end desktop processor, with no signs of bottlenecking in this game.

In this combo, the CPU is operating well below its potential. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (130 FPS) is likely CPU-limited, but at higher resolutions, the GPU takes over as the limiting factor. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample parallelism for this game's engine, and the 96 MB L3 cache helps reduce memory latency. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10081 and max-thread score of 10067 confirm that the CPU can handle multi-threaded workloads effectively. The data shows that upgrading the GPU would yield significant FPS gains in this title, as the CPU has substantial headroom to support a faster graphics card.