Control

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Radeon RX 7800 XT pairing delivers a robust Control experience, but the benchmark data reveals a clear performance hierarchy dictated by resolution and settings. At 1080p, the combination easily exceeds 96 FPS at all presets, while pushing to 4K Ultra drops the average to 45.8 FPS, signaling a shift in system bottleneck from the processor to the graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data paints a vivid picture of how Control scales across resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 175.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, that figure drops to 128.4 FPS, a 47 FPS decline. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 89.5 FPS. This pattern—where FPS nearly halves from 1080p to 4K—indicates a strong dependency on pixel throughput, a classic sign that the GPU is becoming the primary limiter as resolution climbs.

The scaling becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At Ultra, the 1080p average is 96.4 FPS, which drops to 74.9 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 45.8 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra is roughly 39%, while the drop from 1080p to 1440p is about 22%. This nonlinear scaling suggests that the RX 7800 XT’s compute resources are increasingly saturated at 4K, especially with the demanding Ultra preset, which likely includes heavy ray tracing or post-processing effects that tax the GPU’s 60 RT cores.

The data implies that at 1080p, the Ryzen 9 5900X with its 12 cores and 24 threads can keep the GPU well-fed, as evidenced by the 175.4 FPS low-setting result. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 79 FPS, indicating that even at this resolution, the GPU is still the dominant factor in determining final framerates. The 5900X’s boost clock of 4.80 GHz and single-thread score of 941 in 3DMark appear sufficient to avoid becoming a major constraint, as the FPS scales predictably with resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining a 60 FPS average?

A: The data shows that 1440p High yields an average of 83.9 FPS, and 4K High produces 56.1 FPS. For a solid 60+ FPS experience, 1440p is the safer choice, as 4K High falls short of that threshold.

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

A: At 1080p, the difference is 79 FPS (175.4 vs 96.4). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 53.5 FPS (128.4 vs 74.9), and at 4K, it is 43.7 FPS (89.5 vs 45.8). The absolute gap shrinks as resolution increases.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM on the RX 7800 XT matter for this game?

A: The GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. Since the game’s framerates scale consistently with resolution, the VRAM capacity appears sufficient at all tested settings, with no evidence of a memory capacity bottleneck.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested combinations?

A: This pairing ranks 589th out of 1636 total combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier. The GPU’s percentile versus all GPUs is 76, while the CPU sits at the 90th percentile, suggesting the processor is the stronger component relative to its peers.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to limit performance at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the 175.4 FPS result suggests the GPU is still the limiter, as the CPU is unlikely to bottleneck at such high framerates. The 5900X’s multi-threaded score of 10075 in 3DMark max threads indicates ample headroom.

Q: What is the weakest preset for this combo at 4K?

A: The Ultra preset at 4K produces the lowest average at 45.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. This is the only tested configuration that dips below 50 FPS.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7800 XT is the star of this show, and its specifications directly correlate with the measured results. The GPU boasts 3840 shading units and 96 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2430 MHz and a game clock of 2124 MHz. This translates to a pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s, which are critical for rendering Control’s detailed environments.

The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 19.5 Gbps effective provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This is especially relevant at 4K, where the memory bus must move large amounts of texture data. The benchmark results show that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 45.8, which is likely limited by the GPU’s compute throughput (37.32 TFLOPS FP32) rather than memory bandwidth, as the scaling from Medium to Ultra is consistent.

The GPU’s 60 RT cores are noteworthy for Control, which is known for its ray tracing features. However, the data does not separate RT from non-RT workloads. The fact that Ultra at 4K drops to 45.8 FPS suggests that the most demanding settings are heavily taxing the GPU’s resources, possibly including ray-traced reflections or shadows. The GPU’s passmark G3D score of 24176 and its percentile rank of 76 indicate it is a capable performer, but the 4K Ultra result shows its limits in this specific title.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 1636 tested combinations, this AMD pairing ranks 589th. This places it in the top 36% of all combos, which is respectable given the hardware’s mid-to-high-end positioning. The CPU’s percentile versus all CPUs is 90, while the GPU’s is 76, indicating that the processor is more dominant relative to its competition than the graphics card is.

The combo’s rank is likely influenced by the GPU’s performance ceiling in Control. The nearest rivals to the RX 7800 XT, such as the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 and NVIDIA P104-100, have average scores within 0.7% of each other, suggesting the GPU is well-matched with its direct competitors. The Ryzen 9 5900X, on the other hand, sits close to the Intel Core i7-13700F and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS, with delta percentages of 0.9% and -0.7% respectively.

This ranking suggests that the combo is balanced, but not exceptional. The 4K Ultra result of 45.8 FPS is the clear weak point, pulling the overall experience down. At 1440p, the combo performs admirably, with all settings exceeding 74 FPS, which is why it ranks in the upper-middle tier rather than lower.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the averages are 175.4 FPS (Low), 125.5 FPS (Medium), 110.4 FPS (High), and 96.4 FPS (Ultra). The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 45% reduction in framerate, demonstrating the significant cost of higher graphical fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 128.4 FPS (Low), 92.8 FPS (Medium), 83.9 FPS (High), and 74.9 FPS (Ultra). The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent, averaging around 27% across all settings. This indicates that the GPU is scaling predictably with pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 89.5 FPS (Low), 60.5 FPS (Medium), 56.1 FPS (High), and 45.8 FPS (Ultra). The jump from 1440p to 4K is more severe, with an average drop of 38%. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that fails to maintain a 60 FPS average, highlighting the extreme demands of 4K Ultra in Control.

Settings Recommendations

For players aiming for a 60 FPS average, the data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot. At this resolution, all settings from Low to Ultra exceed 74 FPS, providing a flexible range for visual quality. The High preset at 1440p offers 83.9 FPS, which is a good balance between fidelity and performance, likely enabling features like high-resolution textures without sacrificing smoothness.

At 1080p, even the Ultra preset maintains a 96.4 FPS average, making it the best choice for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Low preset at 1080p hits 175.4 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play if the game’s mechanics benefit from high framerates.

At 4K, the Medium preset provides 60.5 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset drops to 56.1 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced sections but could stutter during intense combat. The Ultra preset at 45.8 FPS is not recommended for a smooth experience, unless the player prioritizes visual quality over framerate.

The data recommends the High preset at 1440p as the most balanced configuration, offering a high average FPS while retaining visual detail. For 4K, the Medium preset is the only option that maintains a playable framerate, while 1080p allows for maximum performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X plays a supporting but crucial role in this combo. With 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it provides substantial multi-threaded performance. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.80 GHz and single-thread score of 941 in 3DMark indicate strong per-core performance, which is essential for game logic and physics in Control.

The CPU’s 64 MB of L3 cache is divided across two CCDs, which helps reduce memory latency. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 175.4 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s limit for this game. The fact that the FPS scales down consistently as resolution increases suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at higher resolutions, where the GPU takes over as the limiting factor.

The 5900X’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-13700F, have an average score 0.9% higher, indicating that the CPU is competitive with modern alternatives. The CPU’s 3DMark multi-thread score of 10075 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33150 show that it can handle heavy workloads, but Control does not appear to fully utilize all 12 cores, as evidenced by the FPS scaling pattern.

In summary, the CPU provides ample headroom for the GPU at all resolutions, ensuring that the RX 7800 XT is the primary determinant of performance. The data shows that the Ryzen 9 5900X does not hold back the GPU, even at 1080p High where the FPS is 110.4, allowing the GPU to work at its full potential.