Control

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a playable yet resolution-sensitive experience in Control. The data indicates a clear hierarchy across settings, with the GPU serving as the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the 12-core CPU provides ample headroom to avoid bottlenecking the frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

Benchmark results across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K indicate that the High preset offers the most balanced experience for this combination. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 74 FPS, which is only 11 FPS below the Ultra setting’s 65 FPS but provides a substantial jump from the 84 FPS Medium preset. The frame pacing data for Medium shows a variance from 71 to 96 FPS, suggesting potential stutter; High’s steadier performance is preferable for consistent gameplay.

For users with 1440p monitors, the High preset remains the optimal choice, yielding 56 FPS on average. This is a playable frame rate for a single-player action-adventure title, and it sits comfortably above the 49 FPS achieved at Ultra. The step from Medium to High costs only 7 FPS (63 to 56), a reasonable trade for the visual fidelity gains. Pushing to Ultra at this resolution begins to compromise the experience, dropping below the 60 FPS threshold that many players target.

At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. The Low preset is the only configuration that achieves an average of 60 FPS, while High drops to 38 FPS and Ultra falls to 33 FPS. The 4K Low preset is the recommended setting for this resolution, as it maintains a smooth frame rate without demanding the hardware beyond its capabilities. The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum of 36 FPS and a maximum of 49 FPS, indicating noticeable frame time variance that would detract from the experience.

The data suggests that players should prioritize the High preset for 1080p and 1440p gaming. This setting provides a strong balance between visual quality and performance, leveraging the GPU’s capabilities without sacrificing the smoothness that the CPU can support. For 4K, dropping to Low is necessary to maintain fluid motion, as the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and compute throughput are insufficient for higher presets at that pixel count.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the decisive component in this pairing’s gaming performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p at most settings but becomes a limiting factor at 4K with higher presets. The GPU’s 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, running at a base clock of 1470 MHz and a boost clock of 1650 MHz, deliver a raw compute throughput that directly correlates with the measured frame rates.

The performance scaling across presets illustrates the GPU’s workload capacity. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 118 at Low to 65 at Ultra, a difference of 53 FPS. This spread highlights that the GPU is managing the rendering load effectively at lower settings but is increasingly taxed as more effects and higher-quality assets are enabled. The 4K results are more telling: the average FPS plummets from 60 at Low to 33 at Ultra, showing that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are saturated by the higher resolution and settings.

Benchmark indices place the RTX 2060 SUPER in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18093. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (avg score 18159, deltaPct -0.4) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (avg score 18189, deltaPct -0.5). These comparisons show that the card sits in a competitive mid-range tier, but the data from Control confirms that its 8 GB VRAM is a bottleneck for 4K Ultra settings. The GPU’s 175 W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with its performance class, but the frame rates indicate it is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance drop as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 74 at 1080p to 56 at 1440p, a 24.3% reduction, and then to 38 at 4K, a further 32.1% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern is more aggressive than what a CPU-bound system would exhibit, confirming that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the limiting component.

The Low preset scaling tells a similar story but with higher absolute values: 118 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p (a 24.6% drop), and 60 FPS at 4K (a 32.6% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that resolution is the primary variable affecting performance, with the GPU’s pixel throughput being the constraining factor. The 4K Low result of 60 FPS is notable, as it indicates the GPU can handle the pixel count when the shading workload is minimized.

At Medium settings, the frame rate variance is recorded, with 1080p showing a range of 71 to 96 FPS (average 84), 1440p showing 54 to 73 FPS (average 63), and 4K showing 36 to 49 FPS (average 43). The variance widens slightly at higher resolutions relative to the average, which could indicate memory bandwidth pressure. The data strongly suggests that for this combo, 1080p and 1440p are the target resolutions, while 4K is only viable at the lowest settings preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 2650 out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the 28.8th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects the GPU’s mid-range positioning; the CPU is far more capable than the graphics card, but the overall system performance is constrained by the GPU’s limits. The rank indicates that this is not a top-tier gaming setup for demanding titles like Control, but it is far from the bottom of the list.

The gap between the CPU’s and GPU’s capabilities is stark. The Ryzen 9 7900X sits in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 2060 SUPER is in the 62nd percentile. This imbalance means that in Control, the system is heavily GPU-limited, and the CPU’s potential is not fully utilized. The combo rank of 2650 suggests that many other pairings, likely those with more balanced or higher-end GPUs, achieve better performance.

Despite the mid-pack ranking, the data shows that the combo is fully functional across all tested configurations, with no crashes or unplayable results. The 1080p High preset’s 74 FPS average is a respectable outcome for a game of Control’s visual complexity. The rank also implies that users seeking higher frame rates or higher resolutions would need to upgrade the GPU, as the CPU is unlikely to be the bottleneck in any scenario.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X provides a robust foundation for this gaming system, even though its capabilities are not fully taxed in Control. With 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, the CPU offers substantial multi-threaded performance that is largely irrelevant for this game’s frame rate. The base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz are high, ensuring that single-threaded performance is excellent, which is more relevant for gaming workloads.

The CPU’s benchmark scores confirm its strength. In Cinebench R23, it scores 29300 in multi-core and 2016.5 in single-core. The 3DMark tests show a progression from 1093 in single-thread to 12536 in max threads, indicating strong scaling. However, in Control, the measured FPS does not vary based on CPU settings because the game’s frame rate is dictated by the GPU. The CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data, and its 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are more than sufficient for this task.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD EPYC 7313P (avg score 53206, deltaPct 0.2) and the Intel Core i7-14700F (avg score 53620, deltaPct -0.6). These scores show that the 7900X is competitive with other high-end processors, but this does not translate to higher FPS in Control because the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU’s 5 nm process node and 13,140 million transistors contribute to its efficiency, but the game’s performance ceiling is set by the RTX 2060 SUPER.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset is recommended for 1920x1080, as it delivers an average of 74 FPS. This is a solid improvement over the Medium preset’s 84 FPS only if you prioritize visual quality, but the frame rate is still well above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra drops to 65 FPS, making High the best balance.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Control?*

A: Yes, but only at the Low preset, which achieves an average of 60 FPS. The High and Ultra presets at 4K yield 38 FPS and 33 FPS respectively, which are below playable thresholds for most users. The Medium preset offers 43 FPS but with a minimum of 36 FPS, indicating frame pacing issues.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is steep, dropping by over 50% from 1080p High to 4K High, which is characteristic of GPU limitations. The CPU’s high benchmark scores and the lack of CPU-specific performance variation confirm that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the constraining component.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 2060 SUPER has an average score of 18093. It sits just below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (avg 18159, deltaPct -0.4) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (avg 18189, deltaPct -0.5). This places it in a competitive mid-range tier, but its performance in Control is limited by its 8 GB VRAM at higher resolutions.

*Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking in Control?*

A: This CPU-GPU pairing ranks 2650 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the 28.8th percentile. This rank reflects the GPU’s mid-range performance, as the CPU is significantly more capable than the graphics card in this pairing.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 7900X’s high core count affect gaming performance?

A: For Control, the 12-core/24-thread CPU provides no additional benefit over a lower-core-count processor. The game’s frame rate is determined by the GPU, and the CPU’s excellent single-thread score of 2016.5 in Cinebench R23 ensures it does not become a bottleneck, but the extra cores are not utilized for this workload.