Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, is a demanding title that stresses both the CPU and GPU heavily, particularly with its physics-driven environments and ray tracing options. The pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces a fascinating dataset, revealing a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but shows signs of CPU limitation at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, component roles, and overall ranking of this high-end combination.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies in this configuration. At 1080p with High settings, the system delivers an average of 188 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 142 FPS, a 24.5% reduction, and then to 4K, it falls further to 96 FPS, a 32.4% reduction from 1440p. This steep, consistent decline as resolution increases is the classic signature of a GPU-bound workload. The RTX 5090 D is being pushed harder with every pixel added, and the frame rate scales inversely with the pixel count.

However, the scaling pattern shifts when we look at lower settings. At 1080p on Low settings, the system hits 232 FPS. When we jump to 1440p Low, it drops to 212 FPS, a much smaller 8.6% decrease. This suggests that at 1080p Low, the game is no longer fully stressing the GPU, and the CPU is beginning to cap the frame rate. The RTX 5090 D is so fast that it can render those frames quickly, but the Ryzen 9 5950X has to keep up with the game's logic and draw calls. The data shows this clearly: the GPU has headroom at 1080p Low, but the CPU is nearing its limit for this specific title.

The story is even more pronounced when comparing the 4K to 1080p delta. At High settings, 4K performance is 48.9% lower than 1080p. At Low settings, 4K performance is 34.5% lower than 1080p. This larger percentage drop at High settings confirms that the higher graphical load is fully engaging the GPU, whereas at Low settings, the CPU limitation at 1080p artificially inflates the lower-resolution score, making the 4K drop seem less severe. The benchmark results indicate that for users targeting maximum refresh rates at 1080p, this combination is overkill on the GPU side, but for 4K gaming, it is a perfectly balanced pairing.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, with its 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, is a formidable processor. Its benchmark scores reflect this, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26017 and a single-core score of 1614. The 3DMark results show a strong scaling from 944 points in single-thread to 11597 in max-threads, indicating excellent multi-threading capabilities. This hardware is more than capable of feeding a high-end GPU in most scenarios.

In Control, however, the CPU's role becomes more complex. The data suggests that at 1080p with Low settings, the 5950X becomes the limiting factor. While its average benchmark score of 51947 places it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, the game's engine seems to have a ceiling. The 232 FPS at 1080p Low is likely near that ceiling. This is not a criticism of the CPU's raw power, but rather an observation that even a 16-core processor can become a bottleneck in a game that may not be perfectly optimized for high-thread-count scaling.

The CPU's high clock speeds, with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, are crucial for the single-threaded tasks that games often rely on. The PassMark single-thread score of 3470 is strong, and the 3DMark 2-thread score of 1856 shows good performance in lightly-threaded scenarios. When the resolution increases to 4K, the CPU's job becomes easier relative to the GPU's. The frame rate drops, giving the CPU more time to process each frame, and the bottleneck shifts entirely to the GPU. The data indicates that while the 5950X is a top-tier part, in Control, its immense multi-core power is less of a factor than its strong single-core performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 5950X and the RTX 5090 D achieves a combo rank of 40 out of 2888 tested combinations. This places it in the top 1.4% of all system configurations in the database for Control. This is a stellar result, showcasing the sheer power of both components. The GPU's high percentile ranking of 92 and the CPU's ranking of 91 combine to form a system that is near the apex of performance.

When examining the CPU's nearest rivals, we see how close the 5950X is to modern competitors. Its average score of 51947 is nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX, which scores 52073, a delta of -0.2%. It also trades blows with the Intel Core i9-13900F and the Intel Core i7-14700, with deltas of 0.4% and -0.7% respectively. This indicates that in terms of raw processing power, the 5950X is still highly competitive, even against newer parts. However, this does not translate to a higher combo rank, as the ranking is specific to the game's performance.

The GPU's rank is also notable. Its average benchmark score of 77712 is flanked by the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76904, delta 1.1%) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940, delta -1.6%). This is an odd grouping, as those AMD parts are typically mobile or lower-tier desktop parts, but the data shows they score similarly in synthetic benchmarks. Despite this, the RTX 5090 D's rank of 40 out of 2888 combos reflects its real-world gaming performance in Control, which is likely driven by its massive memory bandwidth and raw compute power.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's capabilities across a grid of resolutions and settings.

1080p:

• Low: 232 FPS average. This is the highest frame rate recorded, but it is likely CPU-limited.
• Medium: 205 FPS average, with a minimum of 174 FPS and a maximum of 235 FPS. The 61 FPS variance suggests some scene complexity is causing dips.
• High: 188 FPS average. A significant drop from Medium, indicating a jump in GPU load.
• Ultra: 163 FPS average. This is still incredibly smooth and shows the GPU is capable of high refresh-rate gaming at the highest settings.

1440p:

• Low: 212 FPS average. The drop from 1080p is only 20 FPS, reinforcing that the CPU was the limit at 1080p Low.
• Medium: 160 FPS average, with a minimum of 136 FPS and a maximum of 184 FPS. The 48 FPS variance is similar to 1080p Medium.
• High: 142 FPS average. This is a solid result for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming.
• Ultra: 124 FPS average. This is the point where the GPU is really starting to work hard.

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 152 FPS average. This is an excellent result, showing the GPU can handle 4K even at low settings with high frame rates.
• Medium: 108 FPS average, with a minimum of 92 FPS and a maximum of 124 FPS. This is the first setting where the frame rate dips below 100 on average.
• High: 96 FPS average. This is the sweet spot for a 4K 120Hz display, though it is near the limit.
• Ultra: 83 FPS average. This is a playable frame rate for a cinematic experience, but not ideal for competitive play.

The data shows a clear pattern: the system is capable of 4K Ultra at 83 FPS and 1080p Low at 232 FPS, providing a wide range of experiences. The Medium settings at all resolutions show a consistent minimum-to-maximum spread, suggesting that the game's dynamic effects cause frame time spikes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a monstrous GPU, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its core clocks are high, with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and it packs 21760 shading units. This hardware is designed for extreme 4K and ray tracing workloads, and the benchmark results in Control confirm this.

The GPU's role is clear: it is the primary driver of performance at 1440p and 4K. The FPS scaling with resolution and settings is entirely dictated by the GPU's ability to rasterize the scene. At 4K Ultra, the 83 FPS average is a direct reflection of the GPU's raw compute power (104.8 TFLOPS FP32) and pixel fill rate (423.6 GPixel/s). The 32 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for any texture or asset the game can throw at it at 4K, preventing any memory-related stutters.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores support its gaming performance. A PassMark G3D score of 44065 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376915 place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. However, its nearest rivals in the database are unexpected, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT. This is likely a quirk of the benchmark database, but the real-world FPS numbers in Control paint a different picture. The RTX 5090 D is clearly a top-tier part, and its performance in this game is exceptional. The data shows that its massive memory bandwidth is the key to maintaining high frame rates at 4K, where the game's texture streaming and high-resolution effects demand a lot of data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a stable 100+ FPS in Control?

A: The data shows that at 4K with High settings, the average FPS is 96. To consistently stay above 100 FPS, dropping to Medium settings at 4K yields an average of 108 FPS. At 1440p, all settings from Low to Ultra exceed 124 FPS.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 D in this game?

A: The data suggests a CPU limitation is present at 1080p with Low settings, where the average FPS peaks at 232. The relatively small FPS increase from 1440p Low (212 FPS) to 1080p Low (232 FPS) indicates the CPU is reaching its performance ceiling for this title at that resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D's VRAM capacity affect performance in Control?

A: The GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This is more than ample for Control, ensuring that memory capacity or bandwidth is not a limiting factor at any tested resolution or settings.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Ryzen 9 5950X and its closest rivals?

A: Based on average benchmark scores, the Ryzen 9 5950X scores 51947. This is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (52073), 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i9-13900F (51730), and 0.7% lower than the Intel Core i7-14700 (52301). These are all within a 1% margin.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The measured data shows an average FPS of 83 at the 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This indicates a highly playable, but not high-refresh-rate, experience.

Q: How does this system compare to other tested combos in the database?

A: The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 40th out of 2888 total combinations for Control. This places it in the top 1.4% of all tested systems.