Control

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a predictable bottleneck pattern in Control, with the GPU clearly dictating performance at higher resolutions. This combination ranks in the 17th percentile of tested combos, making it a pairing where the processor’s substantial headroom is largely left untapped by the graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers 106.9 FPS, but this drops to 80.9 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 53.7 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 49.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the RTX 2060 is working progressively harder to fill the additional pixels.

The scaling pattern becomes even more telling at higher quality presets. With High settings, the frame rate falls from 65.3 FPS at 1080p to 49.7 FPS at 1440p and then to 35 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 23.9%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 29.6%. This non-linear decline suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading capacity are being saturated as pixel count rises.

At Ultra settings, the situation is similar but with lower absolute numbers: 59.7 FPS at 1080p, 47.2 FPS at 1440p, and 33.1 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K is 44.5%, which is less severe than at Low settings. This is because the CPU’s role diminishes as the GPU becomes more loaded, meaning the 7900X has ample power to feed the RTX 2060 even at high settings.

The key insight is that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution tested. The Ryzen 9 7900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, can easily handle Control’s draw calls and physics at 1080p, yet the frame rate still drops by 41.6 FPS when moving from Low to Ultra at that resolution. The bottleneck is entirely on the GPU side, and users should expect 4K Ultra to be playable only at 33.1 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target most gamers prefer.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 is a Turing-architecture card with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Control, a game known for its physics-heavy environments and particle effects, this memory configuration proves adequate at 1080p but strained at higher resolutions. The measured data shows that at 4K, even Low settings only reach 53.7 FPS, suggesting that the 6 GB frame buffer is likely being exceeded, forcing the card to manage memory more aggressively.

The GPU’s boost clock is listed at 1680 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These clocks are modest by modern standards, and the card’s FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS places it in the lower-midrange tier. The passmark G3D score of 14111 and the percentileVsAllGpus of 58 indicate that this GPU sits near the median of all tested cards, which aligns with its measured performance in Control.

The nearest rivals show how close the RTX 2060 is to its competition. The AMD Radeon RX 7600S scores 15996, which is 0.5% lower than the RTX 2060’s average benchmark score of 16074. The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Pro 5700 both score 16351, putting them 1.7% ahead. This tight grouping means that in Control, the RTX 2060’s performance is representative of its class, and the 33.1 FPS at 4K Ultra is typical for this performance tier.

The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) is theoretically beneficial for a game like Control, which uses DX12 features. However, the passmark DirectX 12 score of 53 is low, indicating that the card’s implementation may not be the strongest. The 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present but do not translate into exceptional ray tracing performance in this title, likely because Control’s RT effects are demanding even for more powerful cards.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Ryzen 9 7900X and RTX 2060 ranks 1357 out of 1636 tested combos in Control. This places it in the lower 17% of all pairings, which is a poor result for a CPU that sits in the 93rd percentile among all processors. The disparity between the CPU’s high ranking and the combo’s low ranking underscores that the GPU is the limiting factor.

The CPU’s nearest rivals provide context for its theoretical capability. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 scores 50598, which is 0.1% higher than the 7900X’s average benchmark score of 50556. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT is 0.4% ahead with a score of 50738, and the Intel Core i7-13850HX is 0.5% ahead at 50827. These minuscule deltas mean that swapping the 7900X for any of these CPUs would not materially change the Control results, because the GPU bottleneck dominates.

In practical terms, the combo rank suggests that the 7900X is wasted in this pairing for Control. The CPU’s cinebench R23 multicore score of 43695 and single-core score of 6168 are exceptional, but the game only needs a fraction of that power to keep the RTX 2060 fed. A less powerful CPU would likely deliver nearly identical FPS in this title, making the 7900X a poor match for the RTX 2060 unless the user plans to upgrade the GPU soon.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Control at 60 FPS on 1080p?

A: Yes, at Medium settings the combo achieves 77.3 FPS at 1920x1080. High settings reach 65.3 FPS, and Low settings reach 106.9 FPS. Ultra settings fall to 59.7 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?

A: The data shows 2560x1440 on Low settings yields 80.9 FPS, which is smooth, but High settings at 1440p drop to 49.7 FPS. For a balance of quality and performance, 1920x1080 on High settings at 65.3 FPS is the most practical option.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rival in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074. The AMD Radeon RX 7600S is 0.5% lower at 15996, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Pro 5700 are both 1.7% higher at 16351.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 7900X overkill for this GPU?

A: The combo rank of 1357 out of 1636 indicates that the CPU’s power is not being utilized. The 7900X’s nearest rivals all score within 0.8% of its average, meaning any of them would perform similarly in Control with the RTX 2060.

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

A: The measured average is 33.1 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is not a smooth experience for most players, but dropping to Low settings raises it to 53.7 FPS.

Q: Does the 6 GB VRAM cause issues in Control?

A: The data suggests so at higher resolutions. At 4K, the frame rate drops sharply compared to 1440p at the same settings, which is consistent with VRAM limitations. The 336.0 GB/s bandwidth and 6 GB capacity are sufficient for 1080p but strained at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for this combo. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Medium costs 29.6 FPS (from 106.9 to 77.3), while the jump from Medium to High costs 12 FPS (to 65.3). The jump from High to Ultra costs only 5.6 FPS (to 59.7), which is a surprisingly small penalty. This suggests that Ultra at 1080p is nearly free relative to High, making it the best choice for users who prioritize visual fidelity without sacrificing much performance.

At 2560x1440, the situation is different. Low settings deliver 80.9 FPS, which is excellent, but Medium drops to 59.4 FPS, and High falls to 49.7 FPS. Ultra at 47.2 FPS is marginally worse than High. The sweet spot at 1440p is Medium, which stays above 60 FPS and provides a significant visual upgrade over Low. High and Ultra are playable but will dip below the 60 FPS mark, which many users find noticeable.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS. Low settings at 53.7 FPS is the only option that approaches playability, while Medium (37.7 FPS), High (35 FPS), and Ultra (33.1 FPS) are all below 40 FPS. For 4K, the recommendation is to use Low settings and accept the compromise, or to scale down to 1440p for a better experience. Given that the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus is 58, this is expected behavior for a midrange card in a demanding game.

The best overall experience is 1920x1080 with Ultra settings at 59.7 FPS. This provides the highest visual quality while staying close to the 60 FPS target, and the minimal difference between High and Ultra at this resolution makes Ultra the logical pick. For users willing to trade some visual flair for headroom, Medium at 1080p offers 77.3 FPS, which is more comfortable for fast-paced combat.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 7900X is a Zen 4 architecture processor with 12 cores and 24 threads, running at a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its benchmark scores are exceptional, with a cinebench R23 multicore score of 43695 and a single-core score of 6168. The passmark multithread score of 51406 and single-thread score of 4238 further confirm its high-end status. The 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample data throughput for any game.

In Control, however, the CPU’s role is minimal. The measured FPS data shows that the frame rate scales almost entirely with GPU settings and resolution, not CPU capability. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 106.9 FPS, but this is not a CPU limit—the RTX 2060 is still the bottleneck at this setting. If the CPU were the limiter, we would expect to see a ceiling across all settings at a given resolution, but the FPS varies wildly from 106.9 to 59.7 at 1080p, proving the GPU is in charge.

The CPU’s nearest rivals all score within 0.8% of its average benchmark score, indicating that the 7900X is not uniquely beneficial for this game. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235, AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT, and Intel Core i7-13850HX would all produce nearly identical Control results when paired with the RTX 2060. The 7900X’s high percentileVsAllCpus of 93 is irrelevant when the GPU can only produce a percentileVsAllGpus of 58.

The practical takeaway is that this CPU is far more capable than the GPU requires. Its 12 cores and 24 threads are useful for productivity workloads, as shown by the 3dmark max threads score of 12536 and the passmark data compression score of 632505. But in Control, the 7900X is effectively idle, waiting on the RTX 2060 to render each frame. Users with this combo should focus their optimization efforts on GPU settings, as the processor will not be the source of any performance issues in this title.