Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers a formidable Control experience, with the combo ranking 730th out of 2888 tested configurations. This places it comfortably in the upper quartile of all tested combos, reflecting strong overall capability. The measured frame rates show that this pairing is well-balanced for the game, with the GPU often being the primary driver of performance scaling across resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 120 FPS at 1920x1080 to 91 FPS at 2560x1440, a 24% reduction, and then to 61 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 33% reduction. This consistent decline as pixel count increases strongly indicates that the RTX 5080 is the limiting component at higher resolutions, with the Ryzen 9 8945HX providing ample headroom.

The scaling becomes even more pronounced when examining the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 190 FPS, which drops to 144 FPS at 1440p and 97 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p reduction of 24% is identical to the High preset, but the 1440p to 4K drop of 33% matches as well. This uniformity across settings suggests that resolution scaling is dominated by the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities rather than CPU or memory constraints.

At Ultra settings, the frame rates follow the same trajectory but at lower absolute values: 104 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are consistent with other presets, reinforcing that the RTX 5080's rendering pipeline is the bottleneck. Notably, the 4K Ultra result of 53 FPS is the only measured configuration below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this setting pushes the GPU to its limits.

The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max data: at 1080p, the average is 135 FPS with a minimum of 115 and maximum of 155; at 1440p, the average is 102 FPS with a minimum of 87 and maximum of 117; at 4K, the average is 69 FPS with a minimum of 59 and maximum of 79. The narrowing of the min-max range at higher resolutions—from a 40 FPS spread at 1080p to a 20 FPS spread at 4K—suggests that as the GPU becomes more saturated, frame time variability decreases, providing a more consistent experience even if the average is lower.

Settings Recommendations

The data indicates that High settings at 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, delivering 91 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience while maintaining substantial graphical fidelity. At 1080p, High settings achieve 120 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays, and the jump to Ultra only costs 16 FPS (120 to 104), making Ultra a viable option for those prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rate.

For 4K gaming, Medium settings at 69 FPS is the recommended choice, as it stays above the 60 FPS threshold while providing a significant improvement over Low's 97 FPS—which, while faster, sacrifices considerable visual fidelity. The 4K High setting at 61 FPS is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes, whereas Ultra at 53 FPS falls below the smoothness threshold and is best avoided for competitive or action-oriented play.

The min/max data for Medium settings provides additional insight: at 4K, the minimum of 59 FPS is only 1 FPS below the 60 FPS target, indicating that the experience is generally smooth with occasional minor dips. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 87 FPS ensures a consistently fluid experience, making this preset a safe choice for those who prefer headroom over maximum visual detail.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable at 4K with this combo?

A: The highest 4K average is 97 FPS on Low settings. For a balanced experience, Medium delivers 69 FPS, while High and Ultra produce 61 FPS and 53 FPS, respectively.

Q: How does the combo perform at 1080p for esports or high-refresh-rate gaming?

A: At 1080p, the combo exceeds 100 FPS on all presets, with Low achieving 190 FPS, Medium 135 FPS, High 120 FPS, and Ultra 104 FPS. This makes it suitable for 144Hz displays on High settings or lower.

Q: Is the RTX 5080 or the Ryzen 9 8945HX the bottleneck in Control?

A: The resolution scaling data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter. From 1080p to 4K, frame rates drop consistently across all presets, while the CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads provide sufficient processing power even at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset?

A: The minimum FPS values are 115 at 1080p, 87 at 1440p, and 59 at 4K. These represent the lowest measured frame rates and indicate good frame pacing, especially at 1440p and above.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Control?

A: This combo ranks 730th out of 2888 total combos, placing it in the top 25% of all tested systems. This reflects strong overall performance relative to a broad range of hardware pairings.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Low achieves 144 FPS while Ultra achieves 79 FPS, a difference of 65 FPS. This demonstrates a significant performance cost for the highest visual settings, but Ultra remains playable.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 730 out of 2888 tested configurations places this system in the 74.7th percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly three-quarters of all tested combos in Control. This is a strong result, though not top-tier, reflecting the balance of a high-end mobile CPU with a desktop-class GPU.

The Ryzen 9 8945HX itself sits at the 95th percentile among all CPUs in benchmark scores, with an average score of 76212. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (0.1% higher), AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (0.4% higher), AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (0.4% higher), and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (0.6% lower). This indicates the CPU is near the top of its class, with negligible differences among the top contenders.

The RTX 5080, meanwhile, ranks at the 87th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 56083. Its nearest rivals show a tight grouping: the AMD Radeon 8060S is 0.6% higher, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 0.7% higher, the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 2.3% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE is 2.2% lower. This clustering suggests the RTX 5080 is competitively positioned, though not decisively ahead of its closest alternatives.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC, featuring the GB203 chip with 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. It operates with a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2617 MHz, with memory clocked at 1875 MHz (30 Gbps effective). The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s, which is substantial for 4K texture streaming and high-resolution rendering.

In Control, the GPU's role is clearly dominant. The measured data shows a consistent FPS drop as resolution increases, with the 4K Ultra setting (53 FPS) representing the most demanding scenario. The GPU's 10752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 56.28 TFLOPS supports the compute demands of the game's physics and particle effects.

The 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for ray tracing and DLSS, though the measured data does not include ray-traced scenarios. The GPU's 360 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate it is a high-power part, with the 1x 16-pin power connector and 750 W suggested PSU reflecting its energy requirements. The PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensures ample bandwidth for data transfer from the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 190 FPS on Low, 135 FPS on Medium (min 115, max 155), 120 FPS on High, and 104 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 86 FPS, showing that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution. The Medium preset's min-max range of 40 FPS indicates some variability, but all presets remain well above playable thresholds.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 144 FPS on Low, 102 FPS on Medium (min 87, max 117), 91 FPS on High, and 79 FPS on Ultra. The reduction from 1080p is consistent across presets, with Low dropping 24%, Medium 24%, High 24%, and Ultra 24%. This uniformity reinforces the GPU-bound nature of the workload at these resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the performance is 97 FPS on Low, 69 FPS on Medium (min 59, max 79), 61 FPS on High, and 53 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results show the most significant strain on the GPU, with Ultra falling below 60 FPS. The Medium preset's min of 59 FPS is just shy of the 60 FPS target, while Low maintains a comfortable margin. The percentage drops from 1440p range from 31% (Low) to 33% (Medium), indicating a slightly steeper scaling curve at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor from the 8000 series, based on the Zen 4 architecture with the Dragon Range codename. It operates at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 55 W TDP. The CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache, distributed as 1 MB L2 per core and 64 KB L1 per core, provides ample cache for gaming workloads.

In Control, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU but not negligible. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 190 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's limit for frame delivery in this game. However, the single-thread performance of 6030 in Cinebench R23 and 3907 in Passmark indicates strong per-core capability, while the multicore score of 42713 in Cinebench R23 demonstrates the CPU's ability to handle background tasks and physics calculations.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 83.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures fast data access, though Control's requirements are not heavily memory-bandwidth dependent. The 5 nm process node and 13,140 million transistors on a 2x 71 mm² die reflect a modern, efficient design. The integrated Radeon 610M graphics are present but not used in this configuration, as the RTX 5080 handles all rendering.

The CPU's percentile rank of 95 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 76212, confirms it is a top-tier mobile processor. In the context of Control, the CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads provide more than enough processing power to avoid bottlenecking the GPU, as evidenced by the consistent GPU-bound scaling pattern across resolutions.