Control

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a strong 1440p and 1080p experience in Control, but the data shows that 4K Ultra remains out of reach for smooth gameplay. The measured results indicate that the High preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, making it the recommended setting for this combination.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific CPU-GPU pairing, the benchmark data clearly points to the High preset at 2560x1440 as the optimal experience. The measured 84.6 FPS average at this setting provides a fluid frame rate that exceeds standard 60 Hz displays while maintaining substantial graphical quality. Pushing to Ultra at the same resolution drops the average to 71.7 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 15% performance penalty for marginal visual gains.

At 1920x1080, the High preset achieves 114.7 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 129.5 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High costs only 14.8 FPS while providing noticeably better image quality. For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p reaches 178.2 FPS, but this is unnecessary for most displays.

The data suggests avoiding Ultra settings at 3840x2160 entirely. The 51.9 FPS average at 4K Ultra falls below the 60 FPS threshold that most gamers consider the minimum for smooth action gameplay. Even High at 4K only manages 57.8 FPS, which is borderline. The sweet spot for 4K owners is Medium at 63.7 FPS, which stays above 60 FPS while offering reasonable visual quality.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 6800 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This generous memory allocation is particularly relevant for Control, which is known for its demanding texture loads. The GPU's 4608 shading units and 128 ROPs work with a base clock of 1825 MHz and a boost clock of 2250 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2015 MHz.

The GPU's compute capabilities measure 20.74 TFLOPS FP32, which places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A550M, scores only 0.5% higher in average benchmark score, while the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti SUPER trails by 2.6%. The RDNA 2.0 architecture with 72 ray accelerators provides hardware support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, which Control can leverage for its reflective surfaces and lighting effects.

The 16 GB frame buffer proves sufficient across all tested settings, as no VRAM-related performance cliffs appear in the data. The transition from 1080p to 4K shows consistent scaling that suggests the bottleneck shifts from GPU compute to memory bandwidth at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 563rd out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the upper portion of the database. This ranking reflects a system that is well above average for this title but not at the absolute top tier. The percentile positioning makes sense given the 4K results: the combo can handle 4K at Medium settings but falls short of delivering Ultra-class performance at that resolution.

The rank suggests that roughly two-thirds of tested combinations outperform this pairing in Control, which is expected given that the RX 6800 XT is now an end-of-life product. However, within its own performance class, the combo demonstrates solid capability. The 12-core, 24-thread Ryzen 9 7900X with its 93rd percentile CPU ranking ensures that the processor is rarely the limiting factor in this game.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Control at 4K smoothly?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 51.9, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. Dropping to Medium settings at 4K raises the average to 63.7 FPS, making Medium the only 4K preset that consistently exceeds 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 84.6 FPS, which is the strongest balance of quality and performance. Ultra at the same resolution only reaches 71.7 FPS, while Medium achieves 95.8 FPS.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to High?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 99.4 FPS versus 114.7 FPS for High, a difference of 15.3 FPS. At 1440p, the gap is 12.9 FPS (71.7 vs 84.6), and at 4K it is 5.9 FPS (51.9 vs 57.8).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary constraint. The CPU scores in the 93rd percentile of all processors, while the GPU sits at the 87th percentile. The frame rate drops consistently as resolution increases, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios.

Q: Does the Low preset offer any advantages?

A: Yes, the Low preset at 1080p reaches 178.2 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the dataset. This is suitable for competitive play or very high refresh rate displays, though visual quality is significantly reduced.

Q: How does this combo compare to the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER?

A: In average GPU benchmark scores, the RX 6800 XT is 2.6% ahead of the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. The RX 6800 XT also outperforms the Intel Arc A550M by 0.5% but trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 by 1.7%.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 114.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p High reduces this to 84.6 FPS, a drop of 30.1 FPS or approximately 26%. At 4K High, the average falls to 57.8 FPS, which is 56.9 FPS below the 1080p result — a 50% reduction.

This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-limited scenario. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6168, ensures it can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions. The proportionally larger frame rate drops at higher resolutions indicate that the RX 6800 XT's compute and bandwidth resources are being saturated.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 178.2 FPS at 1080p drops to 134.8 FPS at 1440p and further to 89.7 FPS at 4K. This 50% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings confirms that even reduced graphical loads cannot compensate for the pixel count increase at 4K.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 7900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. Its base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide the single-thread performance that Control's engine requires. The CPU's 64 MB of shared L3 cache and support for dual-channel DDR5 memory with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth ensure fast data access for game assets.

In Control, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The measured frame rates scale predictably with resolution changes, which is the hallmark of GPU-bound performance. The processor's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 43695 and single-core score of 6168 both rank highly, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 235, which is only 0.1% faster on average, and the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT, which trails by 0.4%.

The 24 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks while gaming, but Control's engine does not appear to heavily utilize the full thread count. The PassMark multithread score of 51406 suggests the CPU can handle heavily threaded workloads, yet the game's frame rates remain primarily determined by GPU performance across all tested settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset averages 178.2 FPS, Medium reaches 129.5 FPS, High achieves 114.7 FPS, and Ultra settles at 99.4 FPS. All 1080p presets exceed 90 FPS, making this resolution fully playable at maximum settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains strong. Low averages 134.8 FPS, Medium hits 95.8 FPS, High reaches 84.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 71.7 FPS. Every preset at 1440p stays above 70 FPS, though Ultra approaches the lower boundary of smooth gameplay for action titles.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to struggle. Low manages 89.7 FPS, which is respectable. Medium averages 63.7 FPS, just clearing the 60 FPS mark. High falls to 57.8 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 51.9 FPS. The 4K results demonstrate that this combination is best suited for Medium settings at this resolution if a consistent 60 FPS experience is desired.

The full dataset shows a consistent ordering across resolutions: Low > Medium > High > Ultra. The performance gap between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution increases, from 78.8 FPS at 1080p to 37.8 FPS at 4K, indicating that pixel throughput becomes the dominant factor at higher resolutions.