Control

Control with the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT demonstrates a clear GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, while the high-refresh-rate 1080p results reveal the substantial headroom provided by the 8-core Zen 5 processor. The benchmark data across the measured presets shows a performance curve that scales predictably with resolution, though the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as pixel count increases, indicating where the rendering pipeline's bottleneck shifts.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 122 FPS at 1080p to 92 FPS at 1440p, a 24.6% reduction, and then further to 62 FPS at 4K, a 32.6% reduction from the 1440p figure. This pattern strongly suggests that the RX 9070 XT's rendering throughput becomes the limiting factor at 4K, where the GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are fully taxed by the higher pixel workload.

The scaling between Low and Ultra presets at each resolution provides additional insight. At 1080p, the spread between Low (193 FPS) and Ultra (106 FPS) is 87 FPS, a 45% performance swing. At 1440p, that spread narrows to 66 FPS (146 FPS Low versus 80 FPS Ultra), and at 4K it compresses further to 44 FPS (98 FPS Low versus 54 FPS Ultra). The diminishing gap between presets as resolution rises is a classic sign of the GPU becoming the primary constraint, since the relative cost of additional shading and texture work grows faster than the CPU's ability to feed frames.

Interestingly, the 4K Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 59 and maximum of 80, with an average of 70 FPS. This 21 FPS variance is notably tighter than the 1080p Medium variance (116 min, 157 max, 41 FPS spread), reinforcing that at 4K the workload is more uniform and less dependent on scene complexity spikes that would otherwise be smoothed by CPU-side frame pacing. The data indicates that for smooth 4K gameplay, the Ultra preset at 54 FPS average sits below the 60 FPS threshold, while High at 62 FPS just crosses it, making High the practical ceiling for 4K on this combo.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable at 1920x1080 with this combo?

A: The Low preset delivers the peak measured average at 193 FPS, followed by Medium at 137 FPS, High at 122 FPS, and Ultra at 106 FPS. All four presets exceed 100 FPS at 1080p, indicating the CPU has ample headroom for competitive or high-refresh-rate play.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra preset compare to the 4K High preset in terms of average FPS?

A: The 4K Ultra preset averages 54 FPS, while the 4K High preset averages 62 FPS, a difference of 8 FPS or roughly 13%. The Ultra preset falls below the 60 FPS target, whereas High maintains a playable average.

Q: Is the combo more CPU-limited or GPU-limited at 2560x1440?

A: At 1440p, the data shows a 66 FPS difference between Low (146 FPS) and Ultra (80 FPS), suggesting the GPU still has significant influence. However, the High preset at 92 FPS and Medium at 103 FPS indicate that the CPU can maintain high frame delivery, so the combo is balanced with a slight lean toward GPU limitation at this resolution.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all measured settings?

A: The lowest minimum FPS noted is 59 FPS, which occurs at the 4K Medium preset. This is the only measured configuration where the minimum dips below 60 FPS, while all other presets with reported minimums stay above that threshold.

Q: How does the RX 9070 XT's memory bandwidth correlate with the 4K performance drop?

A: The GPU has 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth across a 256-bit bus with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. The 4K results show a 36% reduction from 1440p High (92 to 62 FPS), which aligns with the increased memory pressure from higher resolution textures and pixel fill, though the exact correlation requires deeper profiling.

Q: Which preset at 2560x1440 offers the highest average FPS above 100?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p averages 103 FPS, with a minimum of 88 FPS and maximum of 119 FPS. The Low preset is higher at 146 FPS, but for a balanced quality/performance trade-off, Medium is the only preset above 100 FPS that retains moderate visual fidelity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 9850X3D and RX 9070 XT sits at rank 670 out of 2888 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 23.2% of all configurations. This percentile position is notable given that the GPU alone holds a 55th percentile rank among all GPUs, while the CPU holds a 92nd percentile rank among all CPUs. The disparity between the component percentiles and the combo rank suggests that Control's engine does not fully leverage the CPU's capabilities, or that the GPU's absolute performance ceiling limits the overall result.

Compared to the nearest rival GPUs in the database, the RX 9070 XT's average benchmark score of 13543 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon HD 7770M (13536, 0.1% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13515, 0.2% delta). This is a striking data point, as those rivals are from a much older generation, yet the aggregate benchmark scores cluster within 1% of each other. However, the measured FPS in Control shows the RX 9070 XT delivering playable frame rates at 4K, which implies that the synthetic benchmark averages may not fully capture the modern architecture's efficiency in this specific title.

On the CPU side, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D's average benchmark score of 58386 places it just above the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323, 0.1% delta) and just below the Intel Xeon w5-2545 (58504, -0.2% delta). The near-zero deltas against these server-class processors underline that the 9850X3D's gaming-oriented design, with 8 cores and 16 threads, delivers compute performance that rivals much larger multi-core parts in aggregate workloads, even if the core count is lower.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full preset range is available, and the data shows a monotonic decrease in average FPS as settings increase. Low averages 193 FPS, Medium averages 137 FPS with a 116-157 FPS range, High averages 122 FPS, and Ultra averages 106 FPS. The 1080p Medium preset's minimum of 116 FPS is the highest minimum recorded at any resolution, indicating that even the most demanding scene at this resolution stays well above 100 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance curve shifts down but remains strong. Low averages 146 FPS, Medium averages 103 FPS (88-119 FPS range), High averages 92 FPS, and Ultra averages 80 FPS. The 1440p Medium preset's minimum of 88 FPS shows that the combo can maintain a solid frame rate even during intense action sequences, though the maximum of 119 FPS is 38 FPS lower than the 1080p Medium maximum.

At 3840x2160, the results become more constrained. Low averages 98 FPS, Medium averages 70 FPS (59-80 FPS range), High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. The 4K Medium preset is the only configuration across all resolutions and settings where the minimum FPS (59) dips below 60, which is a critical threshold for smooth gameplay. The 4K High preset's 62 FPS average provides a slim margin above 60 FPS, but the lack of a reported minimum for that preset leaves some uncertainty about worst-case dips.

The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent 44-45% performance penalty at 1080p and 4K, while 1440p shows a slightly larger 45% penalty (146 to 80 FPS). This uniformity suggests that the settings scaling is well-balanced across the resolution spectrum, with no single preset causing an anomalous performance cliff.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, based on the Navi 48 chip with RDNA 4.0 architecture, provides the rendering backbone for this combo. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the 4K Medium and High presets that maintain playable averages. The GPU's 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs work together to achieve a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s, figures that directly influence how quickly Control's environments and particle effects are drawn.

The clock speeds show a base of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. The boost clock is particularly relevant for the 4K results, where sustained load can push the GPU to its maximum frequency if thermal and power limits allow. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 54 FPS, which is 8 FPS below the 60 FPS target, indicating that the GPU's compute throughput, rather than memory bandwidth, is the limiting factor at the highest settings.

The GPU's 48.66 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 48.66 TFLOPS of FP16 (1:1 ratio) provide the raw compute for Control's physics and lighting calculations. The 64 RT cores are relevant if ray tracing is enabled, though the measured presets do not specify RT settings, so their impact is not directly observable in this data. The passmark G3D score of 26795 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7260 provide synthetic benchmarks, but the in-game FPS data is more telling: the combo achieves 62 FPS at 4K High, which positions the GPU as capable of high-fidelity 4K gaming in this title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D brings 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This high boost clock is crucial for maintaining the high average FPS seen at 1080p, where the CPU must feed frames quickly to the GPU. The 96 MB of shared L3 cache is substantial and likely benefits Control's frequently accessed game data, though the vCache3d field is null, indicating this may not be a 3D V-Cache variant.

The CPU's benchmark scores reinforce its capability: Cinebench R23 multicore at 22807 and singlecore at 2228, with a Passmark multithread score of 41318 and singlethread of 4704. These scores place the CPU at the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, with near-equal average scores to the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (0.1% delta) and Intel Xeon w5-2545 (-0.2% delta). The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support is adequate for feeding the GPU at 1080p and 1440p, though at 4K the GPU's rendering time dominates.

The 1080p Low preset hitting 193 FPS average indicates that the CPU can sustain frame delivery well beyond 144 Hz, making this combo suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors at lower settings. However, the 4K results show that the CPU is not the bottleneck there, as the GPU's workload limits frame rates to 54-98 FPS across presets. The CPU's 120 W TDP and PCIe Gen 5, 24-lane support provide a capable platform, but the in-game data suggests that Control's engine scales more with GPU throughput than with CPU core count beyond 8 cores.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080 gaming, the Ultra preset at 106 FPS average provides the best visual quality while remaining well above 60 FPS, and even the minimum FPS for Medium (116 FPS) suggests that Ultra would not dip below playable thresholds. The High preset at 122 FPS offers a 15% performance uplift over Ultra with a modest visual reduction, making it the recommended choice for 1080p if aiming for 144 Hz displays, as the extra 16 FPS may help maintain frame times during complex scenes.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 92 FPS is the sweet spot for quality, delivering a 12 FPS improvement over Ultra's 80 FPS average. For users prioritizing higher refresh rates, the Medium preset at 103 FPS average (88-119 FPS range) is the best option, as it stays above 85 FPS even at the minimum and provides a 23 FPS advantage over High. The Low preset at 146 FPS is available for competitive play, but the visual degradation is substantial.

For 3840x2160, the High preset at 62 FPS average is the only setting that consistently hits the 60 FPS target, while Ultra dips to 54 FPS and Medium averages 70 FPS with a 59 FPS minimum. The Medium preset offers the highest average FPS above 60 (70 FPS) but comes with a risk of occasional dips below 60, as evidenced by the 59 FPS minimum. Therefore, the High preset is recommended for 4K as the safest choice for consistent frame pacing, while users willing to accept occasional sub-60 FPS dips may prefer Medium for its higher average. The Low preset at 98 FPS is viable for 4K high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual trade-off is significant for a cinematic title like Control.