Control

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers playable frame rates in Control, but the data clearly shows a system constrained by the graphics card at higher resolutions. The combination ranks in the 74th percentile of tested combos, indicating solid mid-pack performance that is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and revealing. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 73 at 1920x1080 to 55 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 18 FPS, and then plummets to 37 at 3840x2160. This represents a 49% performance loss when moving from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings, indicating that the RX 5700 XT's rendering throughput is the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases.

The data suggests the Ryzen 9 5900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, is not the limiting factor here. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 115 FPS, which is a high enough ceiling that the CPU is likely saturating the GPU's capabilities. However, the dramatic drop to 59 FPS at 4K Low shows that the GPU cannot sustain high output when the pixel workload quadruples. The 5900X’s single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3dmark single-thread score of 941, ensures that the CPU side remains responsive even when the GPU is overloaded.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (115 FPS) and Ultra (63 FPS) is 52 FPS. At 4K, that gap narrows to 27 FPS (59 vs 32). This compression indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so overwhelmed that even lowering settings cannot fully compensate for the raw pixel count, whereas at 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to deliver large setting-based gains.

Settings Recommendations

For a balance of visual quality and smooth gameplay, the Medium preset is the clear sweet spot in this dataset. At 1920x1080, Medium yields 82 FPS average, with a minimum of 70 FPS and a maximum of 94 FPS. This is a substantial improvement over High’s 73 FPS while maintaining a frame rate well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. The 70 FPS minimum also indicates that the framerate stays relatively stable, avoiding severe dips.

At 2560x1440, Medium remains viable with an average of 62 FPS and a minimum of 53 FPS. While the average is just above 60, the minimum suggests occasional stutter. High settings at this resolution drop the average to 55 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced exploration but risky for action sequences. For players prioritizing fluidity at 1440p, Medium is the recommended choice, as it offers a 13% performance increase over High (62 vs 55 FPS).

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves a consistently smooth experience. Medium delivers 42 FPS average with a minimum of 36 FPS, while High drops to 37 FPS and Ultra to 32 FPS. Low settings are the only option that approaches playability at 59 FPS, but this comes with significant visual compromises. The data indicates that 4K gaming with this combo requires accepting either Low settings or a sub-60 FPS experience.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 5700 XT is the decisive component in this system’s Control performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game’s textures at 1080p and 1440p. However, the memory capacity appears to be a limiting factor at 4K, where the combination of higher resolution textures and larger frame buffers strains the 8 GB allocation.

The GPU’s clock speeds show a notable range: a base clock of 1605 MHz, a game clock of 1755 MHz, and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. The boost behavior is critical for sustained performance, as the card must maintain higher clocks under load to achieve the measured FPS. The FP32 performance of 9.754 TFLOPS provides the raw compute power, but the pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s is what dictates how many pixels can be filled per second, directly influencing the resolution scaling observed.

The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 59 versus all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, has an average score of 16351, which is only 0.1% lower, indicating that the RX 5700 XT is performing as expected for its class. Notably, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 are within 0.3% of its score, despite being professional workstation cards, suggesting the RX 5700 XT is well-matched to its gaming segment.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 115 FPS, Medium yields 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 and a maximum of 94, High achieves 73 FPS, and Ultra drops to 63 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with each step up in quality costing approximately 10-12 FPS. The 52 FPS spread between the lowest and highest settings demonstrates the GPU’s ability to scale its workload effectively at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 87 FPS for Low, 62 FPS for Medium (min 53, max 71), 55 FPS for High, and 48 FPS for Ultra. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant: Low loses 24% of its performance (115 to 87 FPS), while Ultra loses 24% as well (63 to 48 FPS). This uniform scaling rate confirms that the GPU’s fill rate and shading capacity are the dominant factors, with the CPU maintaining consistent frame delivery.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses further. Low settings average 59 FPS, Medium averages 42 FPS (min 36, max 48), High averages 37 FPS, and Ultra averages 32 FPS. The jump from 1440p to 4K causes a 32% drop for Low settings (87 to 59 FPS) and a 33% drop for Ultra (48 to 32 FPS). The minimum FPS of 36 at 4K Medium indicates that frametime spikes are present, potentially causing noticeable hitches during intense combat scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 2767 out of 3720 tested combos in Control. This places it in the 74th percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly three-quarters of all tested systems. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where the CPU’s strength compensates for the GPU’s mid-range positioning, but it does not break into the top tier reserved for high-end graphics cards.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 41376 puts it at the 87th percentile versus all CPUs, showing that the Ryzen 9 5900X is a high-performing processor. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H (0.3% higher score) and the Intel Core i7-14650HX (0.5% lower score), are all within a narrow band, indicating that the 5900X is competitive with modern mid-high-end mobile and desktop chips. This CPU strength is what allows the combo to achieve the measured FPS, as it prevents bottlenecking at lower resolutions.

The GPU’s ranking is less impressive, sitting at the 59th percentile versus all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 16361 is closely matched by the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351) and NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16408), with deltas of only 0.1% and -0.3% respectively. This suggests that the RX 5700 XT is a competent but not exceptional graphics solution. The combo’s overall rank of 2767 reflects the GPU’s limitation, as the CPU could support a much higher-performing graphics card without becoming a constraint.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Control at 4K with playable framerates?*

A: Only at Low settings, where the average FPS is 59. Medium settings drop to 42 FPS, and High/Ultra fall to 37 and 32 FPS respectively, making 4K gaming a compromise between visual quality and smoothness.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all settings except Ultra achieve over 60 FPS on average, with Medium hitting 82 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (87 FPS) and Medium (62 FPS) exceed 60 FPS on average.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 5900X’s performance impact the gaming experience?

A: The CPU’s high single-thread score (941 in 3dmark single_thread) and multicore capability (10075 in 3dmark max_threads) ensure it does not bottleneck the GPU. This is evidenced by the 115 FPS result at 1080p Low, which shows the CPU can feed the GPU effectively.

*Q: Is the RX 5700 XT’s 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Control?*

A: The 8 GB GDDR6 memory is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, where the system achieves playable framerates. At 4K, the significant FPS drops suggest that VRAM capacity or bandwidth may be a limiting factor, though the data does not directly measure VRAM usage.

Q: How does this combo compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU’s average score of 16361 is within 0.3% of the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16415) and 0.9% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 (16504). The CPU’s score of 41376 is just 0.5% behind the Intel Core i7-14650HX (41576).

Q: What settings should be used for the smoothest experience at 1440p?

A: Medium settings provide the best balance, with an average of 62 FPS and a minimum of 53 FPS. This is preferable to High, which drops to 55 FPS average, or Ultra, which falls to 48 FPS.