Control

How This Combo Ranks

The pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti lands at rank 3176 out of 3720 tested combos for Control, placing it in the lower 15% of all systems. This is a stark illustration of a bottleneck: the CPU sits in the 92nd percentile of all processors, while the GPU rests in the 41st percentile. The data suggests this is a configuration where a high-end 12-core processor is held back by a mid-range graphics card from the previous generation.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 7723 places it just 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon 540 and 1.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100, indicating that its performance class is far below the CPU's capabilities. In contrast, the Ryzen 9 9900X delivers an average score of 57498, sitting within 1.1% of the Intel Core i9-14900 and 1.4% of the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M. This massive disparity in component strength explains the combo's low overall rank; the system's gaming performance is dictated almost entirely by the GTX 1660 Ti's limits, not the CPU's potential.

The measured frame rates confirm this assessment. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 50 FPS, which is the maximum quality setting available in the data. Given that the CPU can handle far more demanding workloads—evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32172—the GPU is clearly the constraining factor. The rank of 3176 is a reflection of this imbalance, showing that while the CPU is a top-tier part, the overall gaming experience is capped by a GPU that is now end-of-life and outperformed by even entry-level modern parts.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the most balanced experience for this combo is the Medium preset at 1920x1080, which delivers an average of 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS. This is the only resolution and settings combination that maintains an average above the 60 FPS threshold while also providing a recorded minimum that stays playable. The Low preset at 1080p hits 91 FPS average, but the jump to Medium only costs 27 FPS while likely providing a substantial visual uplift.

For players prioritizing smoothness over fidelity, the Low preset at 2560x1440 provides 69 FPS average, which is a viable alternative for those with 1440p monitors. However, the Medium preset at this resolution drops to 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The data shows that pushing to High or Ultra at 1080p reduces the average to 57 FPS and 50 FPS respectively, which is a significant compromise for visual gains that may not be noticeable on all displays.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combo, as it yields a 50 FPS average at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K. These figures indicate that the GTX 1660 Ti lacks the raw compute power to handle the game's highest settings smoothly, even with a top-tier CPU behind it. The Medium preset at 1080p offers the best compromise between frame rate and image quality, as it is the only configuration that consistently stays above 55 FPS with a comfortable average.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and clearly identifies the GPU as the limiting component. At Medium settings, the combo achieves 64 FPS at 1920x1080, 49 FPS at 2560x1440, and 33 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 23% performance loss from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 33% loss from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the increase in pixel count directly taxes the rendering pipeline.

The Low preset shows similar behavior: 91 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 46 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is nearly half the 1080p Low figure, indicating that the GTX 1660 Ti's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus are overwhelmed by the 4K resolution's bandwidth requirements. The fact that the CPU's performance is virtually irrelevant here is proven by the fact that the Ryzen 9 9900X can push 3DMark single-thread scores of 1286 and multicore scores of 13929, yet the frame rates scale purely with resolution.

This resolution scaling pattern suggests that the system is severely GPU-limited at all resolutions tested. Even at 1080p Low, the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the GPU's 1536 shading units are fully saturated. Moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings drops the average from 57 FPS to 29 FPS, a 49% reduction, which is a typical curve for a mid-range GPU with limited memory bandwidth. The data shows no scenario where the CPU becomes the limiting factor, confirming that the Ryzen 9 9900X is overpowered for this graphics card in Control.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a full range of playable results. The Low preset achieves an average of 91 FPS, which is the highest measured for this system. Medium drops to 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS. High yields 57 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 50 FPS. These numbers show that at 1080p, the system can handle all presets, but only Low and Medium consistently stay above the 60 FPS mark.

At 2560x1440, the performance gap widens. Low still provides a smooth 69 FPS average, but Medium drops to 49 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 56 FPS. High yields 43 FPS, and Ultra produces 38 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs approximately 24% performance across all settings, which is expected for a GPU with 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playability. Low yields 46 FPS average, Medium drops to 33 FPS with a minimum of 28 FPS and a maximum of 38 FPS, High falls to 29 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 25 FPS. The 4K results are all below the 60 FPS target, and even the Low preset dips below 30 FPS in demanding scenes, as indicated by the Medium minimum of 28 FPS. These figures underscore that 4K gaming is not viable for this combination.

The absence of min/max data for most settings (only Medium presets have recorded minimums and maximums) suggests that the testing methodology focused on average frame rates for other configurations. The Medium preset's minimums of 55 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p, and 28 FPS at 4K provide insight into 1% low performance, which shows that frame pacing degrades significantly as resolution increases.

FAQ

*Q: Is this combo capable of running Control at 60 FPS?*

A: Yes, but only at 1080p with Low or Medium settings. The data shows 91 FPS at Low and 64 FPS at Medium for 1920x1080. At 1440p, only Low achieves 69 FPS; all other settings fall below 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this system?

A: 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution. The Medium preset delivers 64 FPS average with a 55 FPS minimum, which is the best balance of performance and visual quality. At 1440p, the system can only maintain 60+ FPS on Low settings.

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

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has an average benchmark score of 7723, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon 540 (7673), 1.9% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7580), and 2.3% higher than the Intel Arc A310 (7550). It sits in the 41st percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Is the CPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: No. The Ryzen 9 9900X ranks in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs and has an average benchmark score of 57498, while the GPU is in the 41st percentile. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly shows the GPU as the limiting factor.

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

A: Not at playable frame rates. The highest 4K average is 46 FPS on Low settings, and Medium drops to 33 FPS with a minimum of 28 FPS. Ultra yields only 25 FPS average.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking?

A: The combo ranks 3176 out of 3720 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 15% of systems. This is due to the GPU's performance class, not the CPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a 64 MB L3 cache, along with support for DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration delivering 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Control, the CPU's role is minimal due to the GPU bottleneck. The game's frame rates are consistently limited by the GTX 1660 Ti, as shown by the dramatic FPS drops at higher resolutions. The CPU's benchmark scores—such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32172 and a single-core score of 2253—indicate it has far more processing power than the game requires at the tested settings. Even the 3DMark 16-thread score of 12552 and max-thread score of 13929 suggest that the CPU can handle complex physics and AI workloads without breaking a sweat.

The CPU's high single-thread performance (Passmark single-thread score of 4672) ensures that the game's primary thread is never starved, but this advantage is wasted when the GPU can only produce 50 FPS at 1080p Ultra. The data shows that the Ryzen 9 9900X would be better paired with a more powerful GPU to unlock its potential, as its 12 cores and 24 threads are grossly underutilized in this configuration. The CPU's 4 nm process and 16,630 million transistors provide ample headroom for future GPU upgrades, but in this specific combo, it is the proverbial race car engine attached to a commuter car chassis.