Control

Control pairs AMD’s 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 2060, a combination that lands near the bottom quartile of tested configurations for this title. The benchmark data, drawn from measured gameplay, reveals a system that is clearly constrained by its graphics card at higher resolutions, while the processor’s substantial thread count provides ample headroom. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, component roles, ranking, and specific frame rate figures to characterize the experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a pronounced drop as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound system. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 110.3 FPS, but stepping up to 1440p Low reduces that to 80.1 FPS, a 27% decrease. Moving to 4K Low yields just 52.8 FPS, which is 52% lower than the 1080p Low result. This steep scaling curve indicates that the RTX 2060’s rendering throughput is the primary limiter; the CPU is not holding the frame rate back at these settings.

The pattern holds across all quality presets. With High settings, the transition from 1080p (66.2 FPS) to 1440p (53.9 FPS) is an 18.6% drop, and the jump to 4K (35.9 FPS) represents a 45.8% decline from the 1080p figure. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 60.8 FPS at 1080p, 46.6 FPS at 1440p, and 28.6 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these drops across presets reinforces that the bottleneck is the GPU’s pixel-pushing capability rather than any single setting.

The data also shows that the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K. For instance, at Medium settings, 1080p delivers 78.8 FPS, 1440p drops to 57.3 FPS, and 4K falls to 40.9 FPS. The incremental cost of 4K is disproportionately high, suggesting that the RTX 2060’s 192-bit memory bus and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth struggle to feed the massive pixel count. At 1080p, the processor’s strong single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 944) can keep the GPU fed, but at 4K, the GPU’s raw compute limits dominate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process. It carries 6 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card’s base clock is 1365 MHz, boosting to 1680 MHz, and it houses 1920 shading units alongside 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. These specifications position it as an entry-level ray tracing part, and the benchmark scores reflect that standing — its passmark g3d score is 14111, and its percentile versus all GPUs is 58.

In Control, the GPU’s memory capacity and bandwidth become critical at higher resolutions. The 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p in most scenes, as evidenced by the playable frame rates, but the 4K results (28.6 to 52.8 FPS depending on preset) suggest that both the memory size and the 201.6 GTexel/s texture rate are being taxed. The card’s fp32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS is modest by modern standards, and the data shows this limit clearly: even at Low settings, 4K only reaches 52.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU cannot push enough frames regardless of the CPU’s readiness.

The RTX 2060’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, which scores 15996 versus the RTX 2060’s 16074 average, a delta of 0.5%. The Radeon Pro 5600M and Pro 5700 both score 16351, which is 1.7% higher than the RTX 2060. These close margins suggest that the RTX 2060 sits in a crowded performance tier, and its Control results are typical for this class. The card’s directx 12 benchmark score of 53 and directx 11 score of 110 offer context: the DX12 path is significantly more demanding, which aligns with Control’s use of modern rendering features.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer), manufactured on TSMC’s 7 nm process. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz, boosting to 4.90 GHz, and it features 64 MB of L3 cache. The processor’s benchmark results are strong: a cinebench r23 multicore score of 38607 and a single-core score of 5450, with a passmark multithread score of 45424. Its percentile versus all CPUs is 93, placing it in the top tier of desktop processors.

In this game’s measured data, the CPU’s role is largely to avoid becoming a bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo hits 110.3 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the dataset. This frame rate is likely near the CPU’s limit for this title, given that the 5950X’s single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 944, geekbench singlecore of 2211) is excellent but not unlimited. The 16 cores and 32 threads are far more than Control requires, as the game typically scales well with fewer threads; the CPU’s excess capacity is evident in the fact that frame rates drop consistently with resolution, showing no sign of a CPU-imposed ceiling at higher settings.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600K, which has an average benchmark score of 49166 versus the 5950X’s 49062, a delta of -0.2%. The Core i5-14600KF scores 49367, which is 0.6% higher, while the AMD EPYC 4345P is 1.1% ahead at 49595. These minuscule differences mean that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would have virtually no impact on Control’s frame rates, since the GPU is the limiting factor in nearly all measured configurations. The data confirms that the 5950X’s role here is to provide a stable platform without introducing any CPU-side stutter or frame pacing issues.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 5950X and RTX 2060 ranks 1323 out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the bottom 19% of configurations. This low ranking is driven entirely by the GPU, as the CPU is among the fastest available. The rank reflects the average performance across all measured settings and resolutions, and the data shows that this combo’s frame rates are consistently below what higher-tier graphics cards would achieve.

The ranking is illustrative of a mismatch: a top-tier CPU paired with a mid-range GPU. In games that are less GPU-intensive, the 5950X could boost the combo’s standing, but Control’s demanding visuals and the RTX 2060’s 58th percentile GPU score hold the pairing back. The combo’s position near the bottom quartile is not a reflection of poor component quality, but rather of the GPU’s limits at 4K and Ultra settings, where frame rates dip below 30 FPS.

Compared to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RTX 2060’s performance is within 1.8% of the Radeon Pro W5500 and 1.7% of the Radeon Pro 5600M, so swapping to any of these cards would yield nearly identical rankings. The CPU’s high percentile (93) does little to improve the combo’s standing, because the game’s frame rates are so heavily dependent on the graphics card. The data suggests that for this specific game, the CPU’s contribution to the final score is minimal, and the combo’s rank is effectively a measure of the GPU’s tier.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results range from 60.8 FPS on Ultra to 110.3 FPS on Low, with Medium at 78.8 FPS and High at 66.2 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 49.5 FPS, showing that the RTX 2060 has significant headroom at this resolution, and even the most demanding preset stays above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates compress downward: Low delivers 80.1 FPS, Medium 57.3 FPS, High 53.9 FPS, and Ultra 46.6 FPS. Here, the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 33.5 FPS, and Ultra falls below the 60 FPS threshold. This resolution is where the GPU’s limitations become apparent, as the 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are more heavily taxed.

At 3840x2160, the results are the weakest: Low yields 52.8 FPS, Medium 40.9 FPS, High 35.9 FPS, and Ultra 28.6 FPS. Only the Low preset manages to approach playable frame rates, while Ultra dips below 30 FPS. The 4K data clearly shows that this combo is not suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution, and even medium settings struggle to maintain a smooth experience.

The progression across resolutions follows a consistent pattern: each setting preset loses roughly 15-20 FPS when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 15-20 FPS from 1440p to 4K. The Low preset is the exception, dropping from 110.3 to 80.1 to 52.8, which is a larger absolute decline because it starts from a higher baseline. This data highlights that the GPU’s compute and memory resources are the determining factor at every step.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and frame rate depends on the target resolution. At 1080p, the High preset (66.2 FPS) offers a solid experience, but the Ultra preset (60.8 FPS) remains playable and provides the best visual fidelity without dropping below the 60 FPS mark. For users prioritizing smoothness, the Medium preset at 78.8 FPS is a strong choice, as it maintains high frame rates while still offering improved visuals over Low.

At 1440p, the data suggests that Medium (57.3 FPS) is the practical ceiling for a consistently smooth experience, while High (53.9 FPS) is borderline. The Ultra preset (46.6 FPS) is playable but will show noticeable frame pacing issues on high-refresh displays. For the best experience at 1440p, Medium offers the ideal compromise, as it stays above 57 FPS while delivering a balanced visual package.

At 4K, the measured results indicate that only Low (52.8 FPS) provides a fluid experience, while Medium (40.9 FPS) and High (35.9 FPS) are noticeably stuttery. The Ultra preset (28.6 FPS) is not recommended for anything other than screenshot purposes. Given the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit bus, 4K gaming with this combo requires significant compromises, and the Low preset is the only one that approaches a playable frame rate.

Across all resolutions, the data shows that the Low preset provides the highest frame rates, but the Medium preset offers the best relative value in terms of frames per visual quality increment. At 1080p and 1440p, Medium is the recommended setting for a balanced experience, while at 4K, users must accept Low to maintain playability. The Ultra preset is consistently the worst performer, and its visual gains do not justify the 36.8% frame rate drop from Medium at 1080p, the 18.7% drop at 1440p, and the 30.1% drop at 4K.