Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D + AMD Radeon RX 7700

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a solid 1080p experience in Control, with average frame rates ranging from 81 FPS at Ultra settings to 148 FPS at Low settings. This combination ranks in the 55th percentile of all tested combos (rank 1294 out of 2888), indicating a mid-pack performance tier that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The data shows a clear pattern: the RX 7700 is the limiting factor as resolution increases, while the 9850X3D provides ample headroom for this 2019 action-adventure title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 93 at 1920x1080 to 71 at 2560x1440, then to 48 at 3840x2160. That represents a 23.7% reduction going from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 32.4% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The overall drop from 1080p High to 4K High is 48.4%, which is substantial but not catastrophic for a game of this era.

Low settings tell a similar story with steeper absolute numbers. The RX 7700 produces 148 FPS at 1080p Low, 112 FPS at 1440p Low, and 76 FPS at 4K Low. The scaling here shows a 24.3% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 32.1% drop from 1440p to 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that resolution scaling is governed by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth rather than any CPU limitation.

Medium settings provide the only complete min/max data in the dataset. At 1080p Medium, the average is 105 FPS with a minimum of 89 and maximum of 121. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 80 FPS with a range of 68 to 92. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 54 FPS with a range of 46 to 62. The minimum frame rates scale proportionally with averages, indicating stable performance without sudden stutters or frame-time spikes.

Ultra settings push the combination hardest. Starting at 81 FPS for 1080p Ultra, the average falls to 61 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and finally to 41 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider playable, suggesting that this resolution/settings combination is best avoided for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra shows a 49.4% reduction, nearly identical to the High settings drop.

The resolution scaling pattern indicates that the RX 7700's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for Control's textures, but the raw compute throughput becomes the bottleneck at higher pixel counts. The 5 nm Navi 32 chip, with 2560 shading units and 96 ROPs, simply cannot maintain high frame rates when pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the dominant component in this pairing for Control. Its benchmark profile shows a PassMark G3D score of 20974, placing it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Radeon R9 370X (0.1% lower score), AMD Radeon RX 9060 (1% lower), AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (1.1% higher), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (1.7% higher). These close margins in synthetic tests translate to the real-world performance seen in Control, where the card delivers playable but not exceptional frame rates at higher resolutions.

The GPU's clock behavior matters for this game. With a base clock of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz, the RX 7700 can dynamically adjust its frequency based on workload. Control's particle effects and physics simulations create variable load, allowing the card to operate near its boost clock in less demanding scenes. The 40 ray tracing cores are present but Control's implementation of ray tracing is not the primary performance driver in the measured data, as the dataset does not distinguish between RT and non-RT settings.

Memory configuration plays a role in the 4K results. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Control, which was released in 2019 and does not require large texture pools even at Ultra settings. The 624.1 GB/s memory bandwidth, however, becomes a factor at 4K where the GPU must fetch and process significantly more pixel data per frame. The 256-bit bus width provides adequate throughput for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K scaling shows diminishing returns as memory bandwidth utilization approaches saturation.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 25.18 TFLOPS is the raw compute resource that Control draws upon for its rendering. At 1080p Low, the card achieves 148 FPS, suggesting significant headroom. At 4K Ultra, the 41 FPS result indicates that the card is working near its practical limits for this title. The texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s provide theoretical ceilings that align with the observed scaling behavior across resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination run Control at 60 FPS in 4K?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average FPS is 76. At Medium settings, the average drops to 54 FPS, and at High and Ultra settings, the averages are 48 and 41 FPS respectively. For a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K, Low settings are required.

Q: What is the best settings/resolution balance for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: At 1080p, Low settings achieve 148 FPS and Medium achieves 105 FPS, both exceeding 144 FPS and 100 FPS thresholds respectively. High settings at 93 FPS and Ultra at 81 FPS are better suited for 60-75 Hz displays. At 1440p, only Low settings (112 FPS) come close to 144 Hz, while Medium (80 FPS) and High (71 FPS) are more appropriate for 75 Hz monitors.

Q: How does the RX 7700 compare to the RTX 3060 Ti in this game?

A: The RX 7700's synthetic benchmark score is 1.7% lower than the RTX 3060 Ti (16129 vs 20974 on PassMark G3D). This margin is small enough that real-world Control performance would be nearly identical between the two cards, with the RX 7700 potentially trading blows depending on specific scenes and driver optimizations.

Q: Is the 9850X3D CPU holding back the RX 7700 in Control?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22807 and single-core score of 2228, place it in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs. The resolution scaling data shows consistent FPS drops as pixel count increases, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck rather than a CPU limitation.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1440p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 61 FPS at 2560x1440 Ultra. This is playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. For smoother performance at 1440p, High settings provide 71 FPS and Medium provides 80 FPS.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM provide any advantage in this game?

A: Control released in 2019 and does not require 16 GB of VRAM, even at 4K Ultra. The 16 GB capacity ensures no texture loading issues or memory-related stutters, but the card's compute performance is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, not its memory capacity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RX 7700 delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 148 FPS, which is the highest recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 105 FPS with a minimum of 89 and maximum of 121, providing a smooth experience with minimal variance. High settings average 93 FPS, while Ultra settings average 81 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 67 FPS, showing that Control's settings have a significant impact on performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop across all settings. Low settings maintain playability at 112 FPS, which is still excellent for competitive play. Medium settings average 80 FPS with a range of 68 to 92, keeping minimums above 60 FPS. High settings average 71 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 61 FPS. The 1440p results show that this combination can handle Ultra settings at near-60 FPS, making it a viable resolution for quality-oriented play.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings average 76 FPS, which is playable but requires visual compromises. Medium settings average 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 and maximum of 62, placing it below the 60 FPS threshold. High settings average 48 FPS, and Ultra settings average 41 FPS. The 4K results indicate that this combination is not ideal for 4K gaming unless the user prioritizes frame rate over visual fidelity.

The Medium settings data provides the only complete min/max information across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the 89 FPS minimum and 121 FPS maximum represent a 32 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the 68 FPS minimum and 92 FPS maximum represent a 24 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the 46 FPS minimum and 62 FPS maximum represent a 16 FPS spread. This narrowing of variance at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU's workload becomes more consistent as it becomes fully utilized, reducing frame-time spikes that occur when the GPU has spare capacity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1294 out of 2888 tested combinations in Control, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects a system that can comfortably handle the game at 1080p and 1440p but struggles at 4K with higher settings. The 44.8% of tested combos that rank above this system likely incorporate more powerful GPUs, while the 55.2% below it include older or lower-tier hardware.

The CPU's individual ranking is substantially higher than the combo ranking. The 9850X3D sits in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 58386. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (0.1% higher score), Intel Xeon w5-2545 (0.2% higher), Intel Core i9-14900 (0.5% lower), and AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (0.7% higher). This places the CPU in elite territory for processing power, confirming that it is not the bottleneck in this pairing.

The GPU's individual ranking is significantly lower. The RX 7700 sits in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15852. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon R9 370X (0.1% higher), AMD Radeon RX 9060 (1% higher), AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (1.1% lower), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (1.7% higher). This mid-range positioning means the GPU determines the combo's overall rank, as the CPU's high percentile cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations in GPU-bound scenarios.

The disparity between CPU and GPU rankings is the defining characteristic of this combo. A 92nd percentile CPU paired with a 58th percentile GPU creates a system that is well-balanced for CPU-intensive workloads but GPU-limited in gaming. In Control specifically, the combo rank of 1294 out of 2888 reflects this imbalance, with the GPU's performance ceiling dictating the final results.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D plays a supporting role in Control, providing ample processing headroom that prevents CPU-related bottlenecks. With 8 cores and 16 threads based on Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), the CPU's base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensure that physics calculations, AI routines, and game logic are never starved for processing power. The 96 MB of shared L3 cache is particularly beneficial for games that access large datasets, though Control's workload does not appear to stress this resource heavily.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate its capability. Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22807 and single-core score of 2228 show strong performance in both threaded and single-threaded workloads. PassMark tests reveal specific strengths: multithread score of 41318, integer math score of 123140, floating point math score of 81998, and physics score of 4171. These scores indicate that the CPU can easily handle Control's demands, which are modest by modern standards given the game's 2019 release.

The memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s from dual-channel DDR5 support is sufficient for feeding the CPU's cores. The 4 nm process node with 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die demonstrates efficient power characteristics, with a TDP of 120 W. The CPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all CPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of processors in synthetic benchmarks, providing a comfortable margin for game performance.

In the context of this combo, the CPU's role is to ensure that frame rates are not limited by processing power. The measured FPS data shows consistent scaling with resolution changes, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound system. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would remain relatively constant regardless of resolution changes, but the data shows significant drops from 1080p to 4K. The CPU's high single-thread performance ensures that Control's main thread, which handles game logic and scene management, is never a bottleneck.

The 9850X3D's 16 threads provide ample capacity for background tasks and streaming while gaming. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4704 and data encryption score of 22856 indicate strong per-core performance that translates well to game engines. The 5.60 GHz boost clock gives the CPU the ability to rapidly respond to workload changes, though Control's GPU-bound nature means this capability is rarely tested to its limits.