Control

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti pairing delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Control, but it falls short of maintaining high refresh rates at 4K Ultra. The data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 3070 Ti becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X provides ample headroom even at lower settings. This is a balanced combo for 1440p High, but pushing to 4K requires significant settings compromises.

FAQ

Q: What average frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 77.9. This is a smooth, playable experience for most action-adventure titles, though not quite enough for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X's average benchmark score is 54450. This puts it 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D. It trails the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K by 1.5% and the 245KF by 1.8%.

*Q: Is the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Control?*

A: Based on the data, yes. The GPU scores in the 74th percentile of all tested GPUs. While 8 GB is not excessive by today's standards, the benchmark results show playable frame rates at all tested settings and resolutions, indicating that VRAM capacity is not causing a hard failure in this specific game.

Q: What is the biggest performance jump between settings at 1080p?

A: The largest gap is between Low and Medium settings. The average FPS jumps from 167.9 on Low to 117.2 on Medium, a difference of 50.7 FPS. This suggests that the Low preset is significantly less demanding on the GPU.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 630 out of 1636 tested combinations. This places it in the top 38.5% of all tested systems, indicating a strong, above-average pairing.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p Low?

A: The data suggests no. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 167.9 FPS. Given the Ryzen 9 9900X's high multi-threaded score of 46438 in Cinebench R23, it is unlikely to be the limiting factor at this resolution and settings level.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the defining component in this combo's gaming performance. It features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, built on the Ampere architecture with 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores. The 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s, which is a substantial amount of memory throughput for a card in this class.

In Control, the GPU's role is clearly demonstrated by the frame rate scaling with settings. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is stark. The card produces 84.4 FPS on Low, but that drops to 49.5 FPS on Ultra. This 34.9 FPS swing shows the card's raw fillrate and shader power are heavily taxed by the game's effects at higher presets. The GPU's 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is being pushed hard at 4K, but it still manages to deliver a playable 52.6 FPS at High settings.

The GPU's benchmark percentile of 74 places it above average, but its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon RX 6700, which is 0.8% slower in average benchmark score, and the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME, which is 0.3% faster. This indicates the RTX 3070 Ti is a very consistent performer. The card's 48 RT cores are relevant for Control, which features ray-traced reflections and other effects, though the measured FPS data does not separate RT performance. The 169.9 GPixel/s pixel rate and 339.8 GTexel/s texture rate are the key specs driving the 1080p and 1440p results.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is significant and highlights the GPU as the limiting component. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 106.6 at 1080p to 77.9 at 1440p, and then to 52.6 at 4K. This represents a 27% loss from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 32.5% loss from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, showing that the 4K resolution is disproportionately more demanding on the RTX 3070 Ti.

This pattern is consistent across all settings. At Low, the frame rate drops from 167.9 at 1080p to 125.2 at 1440p, and then to 84.4 at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is 42.7 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K is 40.8 FPS. The fact that the absolute drop is similar suggests the GPU is hitting a compute or bandwidth ceiling as pixel count increases.

The data indicates that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo. The drop from 1080p is noticeable but not drastic, and the frame rates at High (77.9 FPS) and Medium (91.5 FPS) are smooth. At 4K, only the Low preset achieves a frame rate above 60 FPS. The scaling behavior strongly suggests that the Ryzen 9 9900X has plenty of headroom, and the RTX 3070 Ti's 256-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM are the primary factors limiting 4K performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Ryzen 9 9900X and RTX 3070 Ti is ranked 630 out of 1636 in the database. This is a strong showing, placing it in the upper half of all tested combinations. The rank reflects a balance between the CPU's high 94th percentile performance and the GPU's solid 74th percentile score.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 54450 is a significant factor in this ranking. It is within 1.8% of all its nearest rivals, meaning the CPU is not a point of weakness. The GPU's average score of 30849 is also competitive, with its nearest rivals all within 1.2% of its score. This consistency means the combo's performance is predictable and reliable across different workloads.

The ranking also implies that the system is well-matched. A much weaker GPU would drag the ranking down, while a much stronger GPU would be held back by the CPU at lower resolutions. Here, the CPU's power ensures that the GPU is fed with data, but at 4K, the GPU's limits become the defining factor for the combo's overall position. The combo's rank suggests it is a well-balanced pairing for 1440p gaming, which is reflected in the measured FPS data.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This high boost clock is critical for gaming, where single-threaded performance often dictates frame pacing. The CPU's L3 cache is a large 64 MB, shared across all cores, which helps reduce memory latency in games.

In Control, the CPU's role is to maintain a high frame rate floor. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 167.9 FPS. This high number is only possible if the CPU can issue draw calls and process game logic quickly enough. The Ryzen 9 9900X's single-threaded score of 6555 in Cinebench R23 and 1286 in 3DMark single-thread tests indicate it has ample power for this task.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is also a factor. The 46438 score in Cinebench R23 shows that it can handle background tasks and complex game simulations without causing frame drops. The 94th percentile ranking for the CPU means it outperforms the vast majority of processors in the database. The nearest rivals show how tight the competition is: the 9900X is only 0.7% faster than the Intel Core i7-14700F and 1.5% slower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K. This suggests that for Control, the choice of CPU is less critical than the GPU, as all these processors have enough power to avoid being the bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the RTX 3070 Ti delivers excellent performance. The average FPS ranges from 167.9 on Low to 93.6 on Ultra. The High preset hits 106.6 FPS, and Medium is at 117.2 FPS. These numbers show that the combo is capable of high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p, even with maxed-out settings. The 74.3 FPS difference between Low and Ultra demonstrates the GPU's scaling with graphical fidelity.

Moving to 1440p, the performance remains strong but is more moderate. The Low preset achieves 125.2 FPS, which is excellent. Medium produces 91.5 FPS, and High drops to 77.9 FPS. Ultra is the only setting below 60 FPS at 71.7 FPS. This resolution is the practical limit for this combo if you want to enable high or ultra settings while staying above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 4K, the RTX 3070 Ti begins to struggle. The Low preset is the only one that maintains a comfortable frame rate at 84.4 FPS. Medium drops to 58.8 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target. High is at 52.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 49.5 FPS. These numbers indicate that 4K gaming with this combo is only viable with the Low preset or by accepting a sub-60 FPS experience at higher settings. The data shows a clear, predictable progression of frame rates that aligns with the GPU's specifications and its position in the performance hierarchy.