Control

Control, Remedy’s 2019 action-adventure, is a demanding title that stresses both the CPU and GPU heavily due to its physics-driven environments and real-time ray tracing options. The pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER produces a wide spectrum of performance, ranging from high-refresh 1080p play to playable 4K. The measured data reveals a system that is well-balanced, though the scaling patterns indicate where each component’s influence begins and ends.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, which is typical for a GPU-bound title at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 144 FPS at 1920x1080 to 109 FPS at 2560x1440, a 24.3% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 73 FPS, a 33.0% reduction from the 1440p figure. This cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 49.3%, meaning the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER loses nearly half its 1080p performance when pushing four times the pixels.

The pattern is similar across other presets. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 228 at 1080p to 172 at 1440p (a 24.6% drop) and then to 116 at 4K (a 32.6% drop from 1440p). The Medium preset shows a 24.7% drop from 1080p (162 FPS) to 1440p (122 FPS), followed by a 32.0% drop to 4K (83 FPS). Ultra settings follow the same trajectory: 125 FPS at 1080p, 94 FPS at 1440p (a 24.8% drop), and 64 FPS at 4K (a 31.9% drop from 1440p).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets is telling. The relative performance penalty for increasing resolution is nearly identical regardless of the graphics preset, which strongly suggests that the limiting component at these resolutions is the GPU. The CPU’s role is to feed the GPU, and the Ryzen 9 9900X appears to do so without introducing a bottleneck that would flatten the scaling curve. The data implies that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER’s rendering pipeline is the primary constraint, as the frame rate scales inversely with pixel count in a predictable, linear fashion.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Control, this specific pairing of the Ryzen 9 9900X and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER holds a rank of 443 out of 3720 tested combos. This places it in the top 11.9% of all systems tested for this game. The percentile ranking is strong, indicating that this configuration delivers performance that is significantly above the median for Control.

The combo rank is a holistic measure, but the individual component rankings provide context. The CPU’s average benchmark score places it in the 92nd percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU’s average score places it in the 76th percentile against all GPUs. The disparity between these two percentiles suggests that the CPU is relatively more powerful than the GPU in a general sense. However, the combo’s rank of 443 out of 3720 suggests that the GPU is not holding the system back to a degree that would push the combo into a lower tier. The data indicates a synergistic pairing where the CPU’s high single-thread and multi-thread performance supports the GPU’s capabilities effectively in this specific title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 672.3 GB/s. The GPU’s boost clock is rated at 2610 MHz, with a base clock of 2340 MHz. These specifications are directly relevant to Control’s performance, as the game’s high-resolution textures and effects can be memory-intensive.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is a significant asset for 4K gaming. At 3840x2160 with the Medium preset, the measured average FPS is 83, with a minimum of 70 and a maximum of 95. The fact that the minimum FPS is not drastically lower than the average suggests that the GPU is not running out of memory, which would cause severe stutters and frame-time spikes. The data shows a smooth performance envelope at 4K Medium, which is a strong indicator that the 16 GB frame buffer is sufficient for this game at this resolution.

The GPU’s raw compute power, measured at 44.10 TFLOPS for FP32, is what drives the high frame rates at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 228 FPS, which confirms the GPU’s ability to process geometry and pixels quickly when not constrained by resolution. The pixel rate of 250.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 689.0 GTexel/s are high, and the benchmark results reflect this capability. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 31087 places it in the 76th percentile, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA TITAN RTX, has an average score of 31676, a delta of -1.9%. This indicates that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is performing within a close margin of a previous flagship, which is notable for a 40-series card.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system is capable of very high frame rates. The Low preset yields an average of 228 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset averages 162 FPS, with a minimum of 137 and a maximum of 186. High settings average 144 FPS, while Ultra settings average 125 FPS. All 1080p presets are above 120 FPS, indicating that the system is never CPU-bound at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong. Low settings average 172 FPS, Medium averages 122 FPS (with a min of 104 and max of 141), High averages 109 FPS, and Ultra averages 94 FPS. The 1440p results show that the system can comfortably drive high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors on High settings, and even Ultra settings remain above 90 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the system transitions from high-refresh territory to standard 60 FPS territory. Low settings average 116 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium settings average 83 FPS, with a minimum of 70 and a maximum of 95, which is a solid 4K experience. High settings average 73 FPS, and Ultra settings average 64 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is right at the edge of the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that for a locked 60 FPS experience, the Medium or High preset is the safer choice.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1920x1080, the High preset at 144 FPS is an excellent balance, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium (162 FPS) while still maintaining a frame rate that exceeds most 144Hz monitors. The Ultra preset at 125 FPS is also viable for 120Hz displays, but the 19 FPS difference between High and Ultra may not justify the visual gains for all users.

For 2560x1440, the High preset at 109 FPS is the recommended choice for 100Hz+ monitors. The Medium preset at 122 FPS is better for 120Hz+ displays, but the jump to High is a meaningful visual improvement. The Ultra preset at 94 FPS is suitable for 90Hz monitors, but the data shows that High offers a 15 FPS advantage over Ultra, which is a more comfortable margin for maintaining a stable frame rate.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset at 83 FPS is the sweet spot. It provides a 10 FPS advantage over High (73 FPS) and a 19 FPS advantage over Ultra (64 FPS). The minimum FPS of 70 for Medium is also higher than the average FPS for Ultra, indicating that Medium offers a more consistent experience. For users with 60Hz 4K displays, the High preset at 73 FPS is also a strong option, as it provides better visual fidelity while still staying well above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 64 FPS is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with High settings?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings is 73 FPS.

Q: How does the 1080p Low preset compare to the 4K Ultra preset?

A: The 1080p Low preset achieves an average of 228 FPS, while the 4K Ultra preset achieves an average of 64 FPS. This represents a 72% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest settings at 1080p to the highest settings at 4K.

Q: Is the system capable of 144 FPS at 1440p?

A: No, the highest average FPS at 2560x1440 is 172 FPS on the Low preset. The High preset averages 109 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 122 FPS. None of the 1440p presets reach 144 FPS except for Low.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the 4K Medium preset?

A: The minimum FPS for the 3840x2160 Medium preset is 70 FPS, with a maximum of 95 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank in the database for Control?

A: The combo of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER ranks 443 out of 3720 tested combos for Control.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has a memory bandwidth of 672.3 GB/s, which is supported by its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a 64 MB L3 cache. This configuration provides substantial single-thread and multi-thread performance, as evidenced by its benchmark scores.

In Control, the CPU’s role is to handle the game’s physics and AI calculations, which can be demanding. The Ryzen 9 9900X’s high boost clock of 5.60 GHz is crucial for maintaining high frame rates, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 228 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to reach very high frame rates. The CPU’s single-thread performance, measured at 1286 in 3dmark_single_thread and 2253 in cinebench_r23_singlecore, is robust and ensures that the game’s main thread is not a limiting factor.

The CPU’s multi-thread performance is also relevant, as Control can utilize multiple cores for various tasks. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32172 and the Geekbench multicore score of 22174 indicate that the CPU has ample headroom for background tasks and any game engine threads that scale across cores. The CPU’s percentile rank of 92 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 57498, places it in the top tier of processors. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-14900, has an average score of 58115, a delta of -1.1%, showing that the Ryzen 9 9900X is competitive with the best consumer CPUs. The data suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this pairing, as the frame rate scaling with resolution is consistent and GPU-bound.