Control

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX + AMD Radeon 8050S combo rank in Control?

A: This combo ranks 2127th out of 2888 tested combinations in Control, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. The rank reflects the combined CPU and GPU performance in this specific title, not overall system capability.

Q: What is the best resolution for smooth gameplay with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 116 FPS average, which is the only tested configuration that exceeds 100 FPS. Medium settings at 1080p still deliver 82 FPS, making 1080p the only resolution where all settings presets remain above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the Radeon 8050S compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Radeon 8050S has an average benchmark score of 62108, placing it 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61896). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 by 2.5% (63693) and the AMD Radeon RX 7600M by 2.6% (63775). The GPU sits in the 89th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 8945HX bottleneck the Radeon 8050S in Control?

A: The CPU’s 16 cores and 32 threads, with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, are far beyond what Control typically demands. The CPU ranks in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 89th percentile — the GPU is the more likely performance limiter in this pairing.

Q: What preset delivers the best balance of quality and performance at 2560x1440?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 produce 62 FPS average with a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 71 FPS. This is the only 1440p preset that stays above 60 FPS on average, while High drops to 55 FPS and Ultra falls to 48 FPS.

Q: Is the 4K experience playable with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low settings achieve 59 FPS average. Medium drops to 42 FPS, High to 37 FPS, and Ultra to 32 FPS. The data suggests 4K is only viable with the lowest preset, and even then, it barely holds 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 2127 out of 2888 tested configurations places it in the 26th percentile of all tested combos in Control. This is a modest result for a system with a high-end mobile CPU and a mid-range integrated GPU. The ranking reflects that while the CPU is a top-tier part, the Radeon 8050S — despite being a capable integrated GPU — cannot push this title into the upper echelon of performance.

The rank becomes more understandable when examining the component-level data. The Ryzen 9 8945HX achieves an average benchmark score of 76212, which is nearly identical to its nearest rivals. It sits 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (76155), 0.4% behind the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (76492), and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (76513). The CPU also edges out the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D by 0.6% (75779). This places the CPU in the 95th percentile of all CPUs — a top-5% processor.

The GPU, by contrast, has an average score of 62108 and ranks in the 89th percentile. Its nearest rivals are all within a narrow band: the Radeon Pro W6600M at 61896 (0.3% slower), the Radeon Pro Vega 56 at 63693 (2.5% faster), the Radeon RX 7600M at 63775 (2.6% faster), and the Radeon RX 9060 XT LP at 63830 (2.7% faster). This indicates the GPU is competitive with mid-range discrete mobile parts, but not exceptional.

The combination of a top-5% CPU with an 89th-percentile GPU yields a system that is CPU-heavy in its performance profile. In Control, where the GPU typically carries most of the rendering load, the combo lands in the lower-middle of the tested field. The rank of 2127/2888 suggests that many combos with more balanced or GPU-focused pairings outperform this configuration in this specific game.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 8050S is an integrated GPU based on the Strix Halo chip, built on RDNA 3.5 architecture at a 4 nm process node. It features 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, along with 32 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1295 MHz and boosts to 2800 MHz, delivering a pixel rate of 179.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 358.4 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is rated at 11.47 TFLOPS.

Memory configuration is unusual: the GPU uses System Shared memory, with system-dependent bandwidth. This means the Radeon 8050S draws from the same DDR5 pool as the CPU, and its memory bus width is likewise system shared. The CPU’s memory bandwidth is rated at 83.2 GB/s, which is the effective ceiling for GPU memory traffic. This shared-memory architecture can limit performance in memory-intensive scenarios, though Control’s demands appear manageable at lower presets.

The GPU’s benchmark results show a Geekbench OpenCL score of 65818 and a Vulkan score of 58398. These scores, combined with its 89th-percentile ranking, indicate a solid mid-range part. In Control, the GPU’s role is decisive: at 3840x2160, the average frame rate drops from 59 FPS on Low to 32 FPS on Ultra — a 46% reduction. The same pattern holds at lower resolutions, with the gap between Low and Ultra widening as resolution decreases.

The GPU’s clock behavior is also relevant. The boost clock of 2800 MHz is high for an integrated part, but the 55 W TDP shared with the CPU means thermal and power constraints can limit sustained boost behavior. The data shows this in the measured FPS: Medium settings at 1080p produce an average of 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS, while High settings yield 73 FPS. The GPU is clearly the dominant factor in these results, as the CPU is far more powerful than what Control requires.

Settings Recommendations

For a consistently smooth experience, 1920x1080 with Medium settings is the strongest choice. The data shows 82 FPS average with a minimum of 70 FPS and a maximum of 94 FPS. This preset keeps frame times stable enough for responsive gameplay while offering a visual quality step above Low. High settings at 1080p still deliver 73 FPS, but the drop of 9 FPS from Medium may not justify the visual gain for all users.

At 2560x1440, Medium is the only preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS, hitting 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS. High drops to 55 FPS and Low reaches 87 FPS, but the visual leap from Low to Medium is substantial for only a 25 FPS cost. Ultra at 48 FPS is playable but will feel less fluid during intense combat sequences.

For 3840x2160, the options are limited. Low settings produce 59 FPS average, which is borderline for smooth play. Medium drops to 42 FPS, and High falls to 37 FPS. Ultra at 32 FPS is not recommended for action sequences. Users who prioritize resolution over visual fidelity should use Low at 4K; those who want better visuals should drop to 1440p Medium.

The overall recommendation is to use Medium settings at 1080p for the best experience, with 1440p Medium as a viable alternative for users with higher-resolution displays. The measured FPS data shows that Medium consistently provides the most stable frame delivery, with minimum FPS figures that are proportionally closer to the average than other presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the combo produces the following results:

• Low: 59 FPS average
• Medium: 42 FPS average, with a minimum of 36 FPS and maximum of 48 FPS
• High: 37 FPS average
• Ultra: 32 FPS average

The 4K results show a steep performance cliff as settings increase. The jump from Low to Medium costs 17 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs 5 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 5 FPS. This suggests the GPU’s memory bandwidth is the limiting factor at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results improve significantly:

• Low: 87 FPS average
• Medium: 62 FPS average, with a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 71 FPS
• High: 55 FPS average
• Ultra: 48 FPS average

The 1440p data shows a more gradual degradation from Low to Medium (25 FPS drop) than from Medium to High (7 FPS drop). The minimum FPS at Medium (53) remains above the average for High (55), indicating that Medium provides a more consistent experience.

At 1920x1080, the combo is at its best:

• Low: 116 FPS average
• Medium: 82 FPS average, with a minimum of 70 FPS and maximum of 94 FPS
• High: 73 FPS average
• Ultra: 63 FPS average

The 1080p results show the largest absolute spread, from 116 FPS at Low to 63 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset’s minimum of 70 FPS is higher than the Ultra average of 63 FPS, reinforcing that Medium offers the best stability-to-quality ratio.

Comparing across resolutions, the scaling is roughly linear: 1080p Medium (82 FPS) drops to 1440p Medium (62 FPS), a 24% reduction, and then to 4K Medium (42 FPS), a further 32% reduction. This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU with shared memory, where bandwidth constraints become more pronounced at higher pixel counts.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Dragon Range. It operates at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boosts to 5.40 GHz, with a 55 W TDP. The CPU is built on a 5 nm process at TSMC and contains 13,140 million transistors across a dual-die design of 2x 71 mm². It features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 64 MB of L3 cache.

The CPU’s benchmark results are strong across the board. In Cinebench R23, it scores 42713 multi-core and 6030 single-core. Cinebench R20 shows 17939 multi-core and 2532 single-core, while R15 shows 4305 multi-core and 607 single-core. PassMark results include a multithread score of 51405, single-thread score of 3907, and a physics score of 2168. The average benchmark score of 76212 places it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs.

In Control, the CPU’s role is minimal compared to the GPU. The game is primarily GPU-bound, and the 8945HX’s 16 cores and 32 threads are far more than the game can utilize. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is heavily loaded at 32 FPS average, the CPU is unlikely to be the bottleneck. The CPU’s single-thread performance, evidenced by the 6030 Cinebench R23 single-core score, is more relevant for game logic and physics, but Control’s demands are modest.

The CPU’s memory support includes DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 83.2 GB/s bandwidth. This bandwidth is shared with the GPU, which is a more significant factor in Control’s performance than CPU compute. The CPU’s PCIe Gen 5 support with 28 lanes allows for fast data transfer, but the integrated GPU’s system-shared memory means the CPU and GPU compete for the same memory bandwidth.

The nearest CPU rivals all score within 0.6% of the 8945HX, indicating that the CPU’s performance is well established at this tier. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX is 0.1% slower, while the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P and Threadripper PRO 9945WX are both 0.4% faster, and the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is 0.6% faster. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming, including Control.

Given the CPU’s high percentile ranking and the game’s GPU-bound nature, the 8945HX does not limit performance in this combo. All measured FPS differences across settings and resolutions can be attributed to GPU and memory bandwidth constraints rather than CPU capability.