Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, presents a demanding mix of physics-based combat and destructible environments. Benchmark data for the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti shows a configuration that scales predictably across resolutions, with the CPU’s 3D V-Cache proving largely irrelevant to the GPU-bound workload at higher settings. The measured frames per second reveal a system that can deliver smooth gameplay, but only with careful attention to the graphics preset.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combo in Control?

A: At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 106.2 fps on High settings, making it the most fluid experience. At 2560x1440, the average drops to 81.6 fps on High, which remains highly playable. The 3840x2160 resolution yields 53.3 fps on High, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced combat.

Q: How much of a performance difference is there between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: The gap is significant. At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces an average of 128.5 fps, while the Ultra preset produces 71.8 fps. This represents a 56.7 fps difference, indicating that the Ultra preset places a substantial load on the RTX 3070 Ti.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D a bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests it is not a bottleneck at higher resolutions. The frame rate scales inversely with resolution, dropping from 166.4 fps at 1080p Low to 84.1 fps at 2160p Low. This indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, while the CPU has ample headroom.

Q: Does the RTX 3070 Ti’s 8 GB VRAM cause issues at 4K?

A: The measured results show a significant performance drop at 3840x2160, with the Ultra preset averaging just 46.7 fps. While this could be due to raw compute limits, the steep decline from the High preset’s 53.3 fps suggests that the 8 GB frame buffer is under considerable strain at this resolution.

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

A: The combo ranks 632nd out of 1636 total tested combinations for Control. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer for this title, it is far from the bottom of the pack.

Q: What is the difference between the High and Medium presets at 1080p?

A: The High preset averages 106.2 fps, while Medium averages 118 fps. The 11.8 fps difference is modest, suggesting that High settings offer a better visual experience for a relatively small performance cost.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the Ultra preset is the most demanding, with average frame rates falling to 46.7 fps at 4K and 89.9 fps at 1080p. While the 1080p result is playable, the 4K result is not. The High preset offers the best balance for most users. At 2560x1440, High settings produce an average of 81.6 fps, which is smooth enough for the game's action sequences. At 1920x1080, High delivers 106.2 fps, providing a substantial margin above 60 fps.

For users with a 1440p monitor, the High preset is the clear recommendation, as it offers a 9.4 fps improvement over Ultra while likely providing a nearly identical visual experience. At 4K, users must compromise. The Medium preset averages 62.4 fps, which is playable, while the Low preset reaches 84.1 fps. Given that Low sacrifices significant visual fidelity, Medium appears to be the minimum viable preset for 4K, though High at 53.3 fps is a viable option for those who prioritize image quality over a locked 60 fps. At 1080p, the High preset is the sweet spot, as the jump to Ultra costs 16.3 fps for a marginal visual gain, while dropping to Medium only gains 11.8 fps for a noticeable reduction in fidelity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is built on the Zen 5 architecture and features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz. Its defining feature is the 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is designed to improve gaming performance by reducing memory latency. However, the benchmark data for Control suggests that this cache advantage has little impact on the game's frame rates, as the performance deltas between resolutions are consistent with a GPU-bound workload.

The CPU's 3DMark scores indicate strong multi-threaded capability, with a 16-thread score of 10081 and a max-thread score of 10067, but these are synthetic metrics. In Control, the game's engine appears to scale primarily with GPU load. For example, at 1080p Low, the average frame rate is 166.4 fps, which is high enough to potentially stress the CPU. However, the fact that the frame rate drops to 128.5 fps at 1440p Low and 84.1 fps at 4K Low shows that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, even at low settings. The CPU is not the bottleneck in this configuration.

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s 4 nm process and 120 W TDP make it a capable processor for this title, but the data shows that its high-end specifications do not translate to a significant advantage in Control. The game is more dependent on the GPU's raw throughput and memory bandwidth than on CPU cache size. The CPU's performance percentile of 90 versus all CPUs confirms its high standing, but the measured frame rates in this game are dictated by the RTX 3070 Ti.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RTX 3070 Ti ranks 632nd out of 1636 tested combos for Control. This places it in the 38th percentile of all configurations, meaning that 61% of tested systems perform better in this specific game. While this may seem like a low ranking, it is important to note that the list includes many high-end and newer GPUs that are expected to outperform the RTX 3070 Ti. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range position in the current market, rather than a specific failure of this pairing.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 30849, which puts it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs. However, its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (with a delta of 0.3% slower) and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 (with a delta of -0.8% faster). This indicates that the RTX 3070 Ti sits in a performance tier that is competitive with older and newer mid-range cards. In the context of Control, this translates to playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but not at 4K with high settings.

The CPU's rank is significantly higher, with an average benchmark score of 37780, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6353P, has a delta of -0.1%, showing that the 9800X3D is essentially tied with that processor in synthetic tests. This contrast between the CPU's high ranking and the combo's mid-tier ranking confirms that the RTX 3070 Ti is the limiting factor in this pairing for Control.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1575 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. These specifications are central to understanding the measured performance in Control, as the game relies heavily on texture streaming and particle effects.

At 1080p, the GPU is able to maintain high frame rates, with the Low preset averaging 166.4 fps. This suggests that the 8 GB frame buffer is sufficient for lower resolutions, and the GPU's 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is more than adequate. However, as resolution increases, the demand on the 8 GB VRAM becomes more apparent. At 4K, the average frame rate drops to 84.1 fps on Low, and further to 53.3 fps on High. This steep drop-off indicates that the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth are being saturated.

The RTX 3070 Ti’s 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores provide hardware support for ray tracing and DLSS, but the benchmark data does not include any measurements with these features enabled. The measured results are all for native rendering. The GPU's performance percentile of 74 versus all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 30849, place it in the mid-range tier. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6700, is only 0.8% faster in synthetic tests, but in Control, the frame rates at 1440p High (81.6 fps) show a playable experience, while the 4K Ultra result of 46.7 fps is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The GPU's 8 GB memory size is the critical constraint at higher resolutions, as the game's asset complexity exceeds what the frame buffer can efficiently hold.