Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptional performance in Control, a 2019 Action Adventure title that remains demanding at higher settings. Across all tested resolutions and settings presets, this combination never dips below 76 FPS on average, demonstrating that it is well-suited for high-refresh-rate displays at 1440p and solid 4K gameplay. The measured data indicates a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while at 1080p the processor's strong single-thread capabilities allow the graphics card to reach very high frame rates. The combination ranks in the 121st position out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the top percentile of all configurations evaluated.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy across the four settings presets at each resolution. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 149 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth for most displays. However, the Medium preset offers a substantial improvement to 194 FPS average, a 30% increase over Ultra. The Low preset pushes performance to 272 FPS average, which is 82% higher than Ultra. For competitive play or extremely high refresh rate displays (240Hz+), the Low preset at 1080p is the only option that approaches the maximum capability of the hardware, though the Medium preset at 194 FPS is more than sufficient for 165Hz panels while providing better visual quality.

At 1440p, the Medium preset achieves 146 FPS average with a minimum of 124 FPS, which is an excellent balance for the resolution. The High preset drops to 130 FPS average, while Ultra maintains a respectable 113 FPS average. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 206 FPS average, but this comes with significant visual compromises that may not be worth the frame rate gain on a 1440p monitor. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p is the sweet spot, as it stays comfortably above 120 FPS with only a 29% reduction from Low, while providing a much better visual experience than Low.

At 4K, the High preset delivers 88 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal for high refresh rate displays. The Medium preset achieves 99 FPS average with a minimum of 84 FPS, making it the best choice for 4K gaming on this hardware. The Ultra preset drops to 76 FPS average, which is still playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset at 4K reaches 139 FPS average, but the visual quality reduction at this resolution is more noticeable than at lower resolutions. For the best overall experience at 4K, Medium is the recommended preset, as it provides the highest average FPS that stays above 90 FPS while maintaining acceptable visual fidelity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This large memory allocation is more than sufficient for Control at any resolution, as even at 4K Ultra the game's memory footprint remains well within the card's capacity. The GPU's 16384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units allow it to process the game's complex particle effects and destructible environments with ease. The RTX 4090's boost clock of 2520 MHz, up from a base of 2235 MHz, contributes to its ability to maintain high frame rates across all settings.

The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks reflects its gaming capabilities. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 4090 scores 9223 points, while its PassMark G3D score is 38194. These scores indicate that the card performs at the 88th percentile compared to all GPUs, positioning it as a top-tier graphics solution. The measured FPS data in Control shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, where even the Low preset only achieves 139 FPS average. At 1080p, the GPU's raw power allows frame rates to reach 272 FPS on Low settings, but the CPU's performance still plays a role in preventing higher frame rates.

The RTX 4090's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are particularly relevant for Control, which was one of the early titles to feature real-time ray tracing. While the measured data does not include ray tracing benchmarks, the hardware's capability in this area is substantial. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance ensures that even with ray tracing enabled, the card can maintain playable frame rates, though the measured results without ray tracing already demonstrate strong performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 121st out of 3720 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 3.3% of all configurations evaluated. This ranking reflects the exceptional performance of both components when paired together. The CPU alone ranks in the 92nd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 57498. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 9015, scores 57555 (0.1% higher), while the Intel Core i9-14900 scores 58115 (1.1% higher). This indicates that the 9900X is competitive with the best server and desktop processors available.

The GPU ranks in the 88th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, scores 60326 (0% difference), while the AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657 (2.9% lower). The RTX 4090's position in the top 12% of all GPUs, combined with the CPU's top 8% position, explains why this combo performs so well in Control. The rank of 121 out of 3720 suggests that there are 120 combinations that perform better, which likely include newer or more specialized hardware configurations.

The measured FPS data shows that this combo is well-balanced, with no single component bottlenecking the other at any resolution. At 1080p, the system achieves frame rates that are 82% higher than at 4K on the same settings, indicating that the GPU is still capable of pushing higher frame rates when the resolution is lowered. The rank of 121 out of 3720 positions this combo in the upper echelon of gaming systems, suitable for enthusiast-level gaming at all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the measured average FPS values show a clear scaling pattern across settings. The Low preset achieves 272 FPS average, which is the highest recorded in any configuration. The Medium preset delivers 194 FPS average with a minimum of 165 FPS and a maximum of 223 FPS. The High preset reduces performance to 172 FPS average, while the Ultra preset drops further to 149 FPS average. The data shows that the step from Low to Medium costs 78 FPS (29% reduction), while the step from Medium to High costs 22 FPS (11% reduction), and the step from High to Ultra costs 23 FPS (13% reduction). This indicates diminishing returns in frame rate as settings increase, with the largest performance penalty occurring between Low and Medium.

At 1440p, the Low preset achieves 206 FPS average, which is 24% lower than at 1080p. The Medium preset delivers 146 FPS average with a minimum of 124 FPS and a maximum of 168 FPS. The High preset reaches 130 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 113 FPS average. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p shows a 45% reduction in frame rate, which is similar to the 45% reduction observed at 1080p. This consistency suggests that the GPU is handling the resolution increase uniformly across settings.

At 4K, the Low preset achieves 139 FPS average, which is 49% lower than at 1080p. The Medium preset delivers 99 FPS average with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS. The High preset reaches 88 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 76 FPS average. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 45% reduction in frame rate, consistent with the other resolutions. The minimum FPS at Medium 4K (84 FPS) is still well above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate remains playable.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant but not uniform across settings. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 272 at 1080p to 139 at 4K, a 49% reduction. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 194 at 1080p to 99 at 4K, a 49% reduction. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 172 at 1080p to 88 at 4K, a 49% reduction. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 149 at 1080p to 76 at 4K, a 49% reduction. This consistent 49% reduction across all settings indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor when moving to higher resolutions.

The FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p is also consistent across settings. At Low, the drop is 24% (272 to 206). At Medium, the drop is 25% (194 to 146). At High, the drop is 24% (172 to 130). At Ultra, the drop is 24% (149 to 113). This uniformity suggests that the GPU's rendering workload scales linearly with pixel count, and the CPU is not introducing additional bottlenecks at lower resolutions.

The FPS drop from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced. At Low, the drop is 33% (206 to 139). At Medium, the drop is 32% (146 to 99). At High, the drop is 32% (130 to 88). At Ultra, the drop is 33% (113 to 76). This larger drop from 1440p to 4K compared to 1080p to 1440p indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly saturated at higher resolutions, and the frame rate is approaching the GPU's maximum rendering capability. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of VRAM and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K, but the GPU's compute resources are the limiting factor.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo in Control?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 272 at 1080p with Low settings. This represents the maximum performance the hardware can deliver in this game.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming at high refresh rates?

A: Yes, at 4K Medium settings, the system achieves 99 FPS average with a minimum of 84 FPS. At 4K High, it maintains 88 FPS average. This is sufficient for 90Hz displays but not for 120Hz+ panels at 4K.

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 57498, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD EPYC 9015 and 1.1% lower than the Intel Core i9-14900. It outperforms the AMD EPYC 7313 by 0.2% and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M by 1.4%.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 146 FPS average with a minimum of 124 FPS, making it the best balance of visual quality and performance. The High preset at 130 FPS average is also viable for 120Hz displays.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck the CPU at any resolution?

A: Yes, at 4K the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the consistent 49% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings. At 1080p, the CPU's performance is sufficient to feed the GPU, but the GPU's rendering capability limits frame rates.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 121st out of 3720 tested combos, placing it in the top 3.3% of all configurations. This is consistent with the CPU's 92nd percentile ranking and the GPU's 88th percentile ranking.

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, which are competitive with the best desktop processors available. The CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core provide ample fast memory for gaming workloads. In Control, which is a well-threaded title, the CPU's multi-threaded performance is important for maintaining consistent frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck.

The CPU's benchmark scores demonstrate its strong gaming performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 32172 in multi-core and 2253 in single-core. The Geekbench scores are 22174 multi-core and 3010 single-core. In 3DMark, the CPU scores 13929 in max threads and 1286 in single thread. These scores place the CPU in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 57498. The high single-core performance is particularly relevant for Control, as the game's physics and AI systems rely on single-threaded performance.

At 1080p, the CPU's role is more pronounced. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (272 FPS average) suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at very high frame rates. However, the consistent 49% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads ensure that even in demanding scenes with many physics interactions, the frame rate remains stable. The CPU's 120W TDP and 4 nm process node from TSMC allow it to maintain high clocks without excessive power consumption, contributing to consistent performance over long gaming sessions.