Control

# Control — AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination produces a stratified performance profile in Control, with average frame rates ranging from 40.8 FPS at 4K Ultra to 150.8 FPS at 1080p Low. The combo ranks 760th out of 1,636 tested combinations in this title, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database. Measured results across twelve resolution/settings pairs reveal a system that scales predictably with graphical load, though the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface emerge as notable constraints at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K is substantial and consistent across all settings presets. At High settings, average FPS drops from 96.1 at 1080p to 69.5 at 1440p (a 27.7% reduction), then to 51.2 at 4K (another 26.3% reduction from 1440p). This progression indicates that the RTX 5060 becomes the primary bottleneck as pixel count rises, with the Ryzen 9 9900X's 12 cores and 24 threads providing ample headroom even at lower resolutions.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling curve: 150.8 FPS at 1080p, 112.1 at 1440p, and 77.2 at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Low (38.7 FPS) is larger than the 1440p-to-4K gap (34.9 FPS), suggesting that at 1080p Low, the CPU is still contributing meaningfully to frame delivery. At 4K Low, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as the frame rate drops to less than half of the 1080p Low figure.

Ultra settings exhibit the steepest resolution penalty. The 1080p Ultra result of 82.9 FPS falls to 59.8 at 1440p (27.9% drop) and further to 40.8 at 4K (31.8% drop from 1440p). This pattern confirms that Control's highest preset pushes the RTX 5060's 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth to their limits, particularly at 4K where the 8 GB GDDR7 frame buffer may also be a factor.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 760 out of 1,636 tested combinations, this pairing sits at approximately the 46th percentile in Control. This placement is modest relative to the CPU's standalone standing — the Ryzen 9 9900X ranks in the 94th percentile among all processors with an average benchmark score of 54,450. The GPU's 73rd percentile ranking (average score 30,109) better aligns with the combo's overall position, indicating that the graphics card exerts more influence on this game's outcome.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks show tightly clustered scores. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D scores 54,681 (0.4% higher), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF scores 55,421 (1.8% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K scores 55,304 (1.5% higher). The Intel Core i7-14700F scores 54,097 (0.7% lower). These sub-2% deltas suggest that any of these processors would perform nearly identically in Control when paired with the same GPU, reinforcing that the RTX 5060 is the performance arbiter here.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5060's average score of 30,109 places it within 0.6% of the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30,097), the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (29,969, 0.5% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (29,928, 0.6% lower). The AMD Radeon RX 570 scores 30,158, just 0.2% higher. This near-parity in synthetic benchmarks translates to similar real-world expectations in Control, though the measured FPS data here represents the actual outcome for this specific pairing.

GPU Role

The RTX 5060's specifications directly explain several observed performance characteristics. Its 8 GB GDDR7 memory with a 128-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes strained at 4K Ultra where the 40.8 FPS result suggests memory capacity or bandwidth limitations. The 48 ROPs and 120 TMUs handle pixel and texture throughput at rates of 119.9 GPixel/s and 299.6 GTexel/s respectively, figures that align with the measured frame rates at mid-range settings.

Clock behavior plays a role in the scaling pattern. The GPU's base clock of 2280 MHz and boost clock of 2497 MHz are modest for the 50-series, and the 145 W TDP with a 300 W suggested PSU indicates a power-constrained design. The 5 nm TSMC process with 21,900 million transistors on a 181 mm² die yields a transistor density of 121.0M per mm², which is efficient but not exceptional for this generation.

The RTX 5060's PCIe 5.0 x8 interface provides adequate bandwidth for the CPU-GPU data transfer in Control, and the 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores support the game's ray tracing and DLSS features, though neither was explicitly tested in the measured data. The GPU's 73rd percentile standing and average score of 30,109, alongside its nearest rivals being within 0.6%, confirms it as a mid-range part that delivers consistent, predictable performance in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the RTX 5060 delivers playable frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce 150.8 FPS average, Medium yields 106.5 FPS, High reaches 96.1 FPS, and Ultra drops to 82.9 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 67.9 FPS, demonstrating that Control's settings have a strong impact on GPU load even at the lowest resolution.

At 1440p, the same pattern persists but with compressed margins. Low averages 112.1 FPS, Medium 82.6 FPS, High 69.5 FPS, and Ultra 59.8 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread narrows to 52.3 FPS, showing that resolution scaling begins to dominate over settings changes. All four presets remain above 60 FPS except Ultra, which falls just short at 59.8 FPS.

At 4K, the picture changes dramatically. Low averages 77.2 FPS, but Medium drops to 54 FPS, High to 51.2 FPS, and Ultra to 40.8 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 36.4 FPS, and only the Low preset maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Medium and High results are nearly identical (54 vs 51.2 FPS), suggesting that at 4K, the GPU is saturated and additional settings changes yield diminishing returns. The Ultra preset's 40.8 FPS is the only result below 50 FPS in the entire dataset.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the data supports Ultra settings as the optimal choice. The 82.9 FPS average is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the 12.7% drop from High (96.1 FPS) to Ultra (82.9 FPS) is a reasonable trade for maximum visual fidelity. Players prioritizing high refresh rates could select Low for 150.8 FPS, but the Medium preset's 106.5 FPS offers a strong balance of quality and speed.

At 1440p, High settings at 69.5 FPS represent the best quality-to-performance ratio. The drop from Medium (82.6 FPS) to High (69.5 FPS) is 15.9%, while Ultra falls to 59.8 FPS — just below the 60 FPS target. Choosing High avoids the sub-60 territory while retaining most visual features. For competitive play, Low at 112.1 FPS is the only preset that fully utilizes a 100 Hz+ display.

At 4K, the recommendation is Low settings at 77.2 FPS. This is the sole preset that clears 60 FPS at this resolution. Medium (54 FPS) and High (51.2 FPS) are playable but require accepting sub-60 frame pacing, while Ultra's 40.8 FPS is best reserved for screenshot scenarios or slower-paced exploration. The data indicates that 4K Ultra exceeds this GPU's practical capability in Control, and players seeking higher fidelity at 4K would need a more powerful graphics solution.

The overall pattern across all resolutions and settings shows that the RTX 5060 pairs effectively with the Ryzen 9 9900X for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with the 9900X's 4.40 GHz base and 5.60 GHz boost clocks providing consistent frame delivery. The 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus become the limiting factors at 4K, where even Medium settings struggle to maintain 60 FPS.