Control

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Control with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 shows a clear progression as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 148 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 112 FPS, a 24% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 76 FPS, which is another 32% reduction from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the system has ample headroom, but the GPU becomes increasingly stressed as pixel count rises.

The High settings row tells a similar story. At 1080p High, the average is 93 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 71 FPS (a 24% decline), and at 4K High, it reaches 48 FPS (a 32% decline from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and High settings suggests that resolution scaling is behaving predictably, with the rendering load increasing roughly in proportion to pixel count.

Ultra settings show the steepest curve. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 81 FPS average. At 1440p Ultra, that falls to 61 FPS (a 25% drop). At 4K Ultra, only 41 FPS average is achieved, representing a 33% reduction from 1440p. The 4K Ultra result falls below the 48 FPS High setting at the same resolution, confirming that the Ultra preset's additional effects impose a significant cost.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU and GPU are both capable of high frame rates, with the 148 FPS Low result suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently. As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The RX 7700's 16 GB of VRAM is not the limiting factor here, as even 4K Ultra stays within memory capacity. Instead, the rendering throughput at higher pixel counts is what drives the observed declines. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution remains relatively consistent: roughly 67 FPS at 1080p (148 vs 81), 51 FPS at 1440p (112 vs 61), and 35 FPS at 4K (76 vs 41). This narrowing gap suggests that at 4K, even Low settings cannot escape the GPU's raw pixel throughput limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Control with this CPU-GPU combo?

A: The data shows 1440p offers the best balance. At 1440p High, the average FPS is 71, which is comfortably playable, while 4K High drops to 48 FPS average. At 1080p High, the 93 FPS average provides smoother motion, but 1440p maintains higher visual fidelity without sacrificing playability.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Ultra produces 81 FPS average versus 93 FPS on High, a difference of 12 FPS. The Medium setting sits between them at 105 FPS, while Low reaches 148 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is modest, suggesting Ultra's additional effects carry a noticeable but not prohibitive cost.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this combination?

A: At 4K, the measured results show 76 FPS on Low, 54 FPS on Medium, 48 FPS on High, and 41 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting at 4K provides 54 FPS average with a minimum of 46 FPS, which is borderline but workable. High and Ultra fall below the 60 FPS threshold, making 4K viable only at lower presets.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured 1440p Medium result is 80 FPS average, with a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS. This represents the only 1440p setting with min/max data provided, indicating relatively stable performance. The 68 FPS minimum suggests occasional dips but nothing severe.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score relate to Control's performance?

A: The Ryzen 9 5900X has an average benchmark score of 41376 and sits at the 87th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H, scores 41263, a 0.3% difference. This high CPU score suggests the processor is not the bottleneck in Control at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 148 FPS Low result at 1080p.

Q: Does the GPU's benchmark percentile reflect its in-game performance?

A: The RX 7700 has a 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 15852. In Control, the combo ranks 1294 out of 2888 tested combinations, which places it in the 45th percentile of combos. This discrepancy suggests that while the GPU is mid-range in synthetic tests, its performance in Control is slightly below its overall standing, likely due to the game's specific rendering demands.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 plays the decisive role in determining Control's frame rates, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is substantial for a game released in 2019, and the data shows no evidence of VRAM capacity limiting performance at any tested resolution or setting.

The GPU's clock behavior is worth examining. The base clock is 1900 MHz, with a game clock of 2041 MHz and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. The 5 nm process node and 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die contribute to the card's efficiency. The RDNA 3.0 architecture, with 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units, provides the raw throughput needed for Control's physics-heavy combat sequences.

The pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s are the specifications most relevant to Control's performance at 4K. At 3840x2160, the GPU must fill approximately 8.3 million pixels per frame. The observed 4K results — 48 FPS High, 54 FPS Medium, 76 FPS Low — indicate that the GPU's fill rate becomes the limiting factor as resolution climbs. The 25.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is less critical here, as Control's visual effects rely more on traditional rasterization than compute-heavy workloads.

The GPU's benchmark results place it at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 15852. Its nearest rival in the database is the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15862 (0.1% higher), followed by the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 at 15679 (1.1% lower). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129, which is 1.7% higher. These close margins suggest the RX 7700 sits in a competitive mid-range tier, and Control's performance reflects this positioning.

The 40 ray tracing cores on the RX 7700 are present but not directly measured in the provided FPS data. Control supports ray tracing, but the measured rows do not indicate whether it was enabled. Given that the GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) includes ray tracing capabilities, the Ultra preset may incorporate some of these effects, which could explain the 41 FPS result at 4K Ultra versus 48 FPS at 4K High.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 93 FPS average, which is smooth for an action-adventure game. The Ultra preset offers 81 FPS, a 12 FPS reduction for what are likely marginal visual improvements in most scenes. The Medium preset at 105 FPS provides additional headroom for players with high-refresh-rate displays, but the jump from Medium to High appears to be the sweet spot for visual quality per frame.

At 2560x1440, the High preset produces 71 FPS average, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset drops to 61 FPS, still technically playable but with less margin for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 80 FPS offers a safer buffer. For 1440p, High is the recommended preset because it maintains playable frame rates while providing the full High-quality textures and effects that Control's art direction benefits from.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The High preset manages 48 FPS average, which falls below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset averages 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS, indicating occasional dips below 50 FPS. The Low preset reaches 76 FPS but sacrifices substantial visual quality. For 4K, the Medium preset is the best compromise, as it keeps the average above 50 FPS while retaining more visual fidelity than Low.

Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset shows diminishing returns. At 1080p, Ultra is 12 FPS slower than High. At 1440p, the gap is 10 FPS. At 4K, it is 7 FPS. The narrowing gap at 4K indicates that the GPU is already saturated, and Ultra's additional effects have less impact on the final frame rate because the system is pixel-bound. For most players, High at 1080p or 1440p provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, with Medium serving as a fallback for 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1294 out of 2888 tested combos in Control. This places the pairing in the middle of the distribution, which is consistent with the individual component standings. The CPU ranks at the 87th percentile among all processors, while the GPU sits at the 58th percentile. The combo's overall position reflects the GPU's more modest standing dragging down the CPU's high performance.

The discrepancy between the CPU's strong benchmark position and the combo's mid-pack ranking indicates that Control is GPU-limited in most scenarios for this pairing. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads, with a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, are more than sufficient for Control's demands. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16262 and single-core score of 1527 demonstrate strong processing capability, but the game's frame rates are governed by the GPU at 1440p and above.

The combo's rank of 1294 out of 2888 means that roughly 55% of tested combinations perform better in Control. This is a lower placement than the GPU's individual 58th percentile would suggest, implying that some combinations with slightly weaker GPUs may achieve higher frame rates due to other system factors. The data shows that the RX 7700's nearest GPU rivals — the RX 9060 at 16014 (1% higher) and RTX 3060 Ti at 16129 (1.7% higher) — would likely produce similar or slightly better Control performance when paired with comparable CPUs.

For context, the CPU's nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores are the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H (41263, 0.3% lower), Intel Core Ultra 7 356H (41215, 0.4% lower), and AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440 (41208, 0.4% lower). These processors would be expected to perform nearly identically in Control when paired with the same GPU, as the game does not heavily stress multi-threaded performance. The combo's ranking is therefore primarily a function of GPU selection rather than CPU choice.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results across four settings presets show a clear hierarchy. Low settings produce 148 FPS average, Medium produces 105 FPS, High produces 93 FPS, and Ultra produces 81 FPS. The Medium preset has the only min/max data at this resolution: 89 FPS minimum and 121 FPS maximum. The 56 FPS gap between Low and Medium is the largest single-step difference, indicating that Medium adds significant visual effects over Low. The 12 FPS difference between High and Ultra is the smallest step, suggesting diminishing returns at the top end.

At 2560x1440, the results scale down proportionally. Low settings average 112 FPS, Medium averages 80 FPS, High averages 71 FPS, and Ultra averages 61 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a minimum of 68 FPS and maximum of 92 FPS, providing a 24 FPS range. The gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is 32 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 10 FPS. The Ultra result at 61 FPS is just above the 60 FPS threshold, making it technically playable but with little headroom.

At 3840x2160, the results show the GPU's limits. Low settings average 76 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS, High averages 48 FPS, and Ultra averages 41 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K has min/max data: 46 FPS minimum and 62 FPS maximum, a 16 FPS range that indicates some scene-to-scene variability. The 35 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is the smallest of any resolution, reinforcing that the GPU is the binding constraint at this resolution.

The full data set reveals consistent step patterns. Across all resolutions, the Low-to-Medium step costs roughly 30% of the Low FPS value, while the High-to-Ultra step costs roughly 13-15% of the High FPS value. This consistency suggests that the game's settings presets have uniform relative costs regardless of resolution. The only anomaly is the 4K Ultra result at 41 FPS, which is 85% of the 4K High result, a slightly larger drop than at other resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X provides substantial processing headroom for Control. With 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, the CPU offers significant multi-threaded capability. The 3.70 GHz base clock and 4.80 GHz boost clock, combined with 64 MB of L3 cache, ensure that the processor can handle Control's physics calculations and AI routines without becoming a bottleneck. The CPU's 7 nm process node from TSMC, with 8,300 million transistors across a dual-chiplet design (2x 74 mm²), contributes to its efficiency.

The CPU's benchmark results support its capability. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16262 and single-core score of 1527 indicate strong performance in both threaded and single-threaded workloads. The Geekbench multicore score of 14118 and single-core score of 2083 further confirm this. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9075 and max-thread score of 10075 show consistent scaling across thread counts, which is relevant for games that use multiple cores for streaming and physics.

In Control specifically, the CPU's role is evident in the 1080p results. The 148 FPS Low result at 1080p demonstrates that the CPU can feed the GPU at high frame rates. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 81 FPS result suggests the CPU is not limiting, as the GPU is still able to render at respectable speeds. The CPU's 87th percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms the majority of CPUs in the database, and its average benchmark score of 41376 places it in the upper tier.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR4 is adequate for Control. The game's data streaming requirements are modest compared to open-world titles, and the 64 MB L3 cache helps mitigate memory latency. The CPU supports PCIe Gen 4, which allows the GPU to communicate at full bandwidth, though Control's performance is unlikely to be affected by PCIe bandwidth at these frame rates.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are all within 0.5% of its average score. This tight grouping indicates that the Ryzen 9 5900X is in a competitive performance tier, but the differences among these CPUs would be imperceptible in Control. The game's frame rates are governed by the GPU at 1440p and 4K, so the CPU choice has minimal impact on the measured results at those resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU's strong single-thread performance helps maintain high frame rates, but the GPU still determines the ceiling.