Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + AMD Radeon RX 9070

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a compelling Control experience across resolutions, though the data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 51 FPS, which places it in a playable but not silky-smooth territory, while dropping to 1080p Low unlocks 182 FPS. The measured results show a clear scaling pattern: as resolution increases, the frame rate drops consistently, indicating that the Radeon RX 9070 is the primary performance limiter in this title, with the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D providing ample headroom even at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression across resolutions tells a story of GPU saturation. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, average FPS drops from 115 to 87, a reduction of 28 frames or roughly 24%. The jump from 1440p to 4K at High settings is even steeper: 87 FPS falls to 59 FPS, a 32% decrease. This pattern intensifies at Ultra settings, where the combo delivers 100 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K — a total loss of 49 FPS from the lowest to highest resolution.

The scaling behavior at Low settings is particularly revealing. At 1080p Low, the system produces 182 FPS, which drops to 137 FPS at 1440p and 93 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops here are 25% and 32% respectively, nearly identical to the High settings scaling. This consistency across quality presets strongly suggests that the GPU is the bottleneck even at Low settings; if the CPU were limiting performance, we would expect to see smaller absolute differences between resolutions at lower graphical loads.

At Medium settings, the measured data includes minimum and maximum frame times that offer additional insight. At 4K Medium, the combo averages 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 76 FPS. The 20 FPS spread between min and max indicates some frame time variance, though not severe enough to cause noticeable stuttering. At 1080p Medium, the average is 129 FPS with a min of 110 and max of 148, showing a similar 38 FPS range. The relative stability at both resolutions suggests the frame pacing is consistent, with the GPU handling the workload predictably.

The overall picture is that Control becomes progressively more demanding as pixel count rises, and the RX 9070's performance curve is smooth and predictable. The 4K Ultra result of 51 FPS is the only sub-60 average in the entire dataset, which means users targeting a locked 60 FPS at 4K will need to step down to High settings (59 FPS) or accept the Medium preset (66 FPS) for comfortable margins.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this CPU-GPU combination ranks 819th out of 2,888 tested combos for Control. That places it in the 72nd percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 28% of combinations deliver higher average frame rates in this game. The rank of 819 out of 2,888 combos indicates a solidly above-average position, though not elite-tier.

The ranking context is important because Control is a game that rewards GPU horsepower heavily, and the RX 9070's position in the GPU hierarchy (69th percentile vs all GPUs) aligns with the combo's overall standing. The CPU's percentile rank of 91 vs all CPUs is significantly higher than the GPU's 69, which further confirms that the graphics card is the limiting factor. If the combo ranked much higher than the GPU's percentile, it would suggest unusual scaling efficiency; instead, the near-match between the combo's top 28% position and the GPU's top 31% position shows typical behavior for a balanced pairing with a slight CPU advantage.

Compared to other tested combos in the database, the 819th rank puts this configuration in the upper echelon of systems capable of running Control at high frame rates. The ranking also implies that there are 2,069 combos that perform worse, which contextualizes the 4K results: 51 FPS at Ultra is a respectable outcome when considering the full spread of hardware in the database. The data does not include specific rival combo scores, but the GPU's nearest rivals — the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (deltaPct -1.2) and AMD Radeon RX 6800S (deltaPct -0.8) — provide a reference point for expected performance parity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge). The CPU operates at a base clock of 4.40 GHz and boosts up to 5.50 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The 128 MB of L3 cache (in addition to 80 KB L1 per core and 1 MB L2 per core) is a defining feature of the 3D V-Cache design, though the fact pack does not specify a separate vCache3d value.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 9900X3D demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 47,737, while single-core reaches 6,739. Geekbench results show 22,884 multicore and 3,041 single-core. The 3DMark 16-thread test scores 12,490, and the max-thread test reaches 13,795. PassMark multithread scores 56,154, with single-thread at 4,646. These numbers place the CPU at the 91st percentile vs all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54,762.

For Control, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The game is not known for being particularly CPU-intensive, and the 9900X3D's 12 cores provide far more parallelism than this 2019 title can utilize. The nearest rival data shows the 9900X3D trading blows with the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (deltaPct -0.6) and Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (deltaPct 1.3), meaning the AMD chip is essentially at parity with those mid-range Intel parts in aggregate benchmarks. This parity is irrelevant for Control, where the GPU dominates the performance equation.

The high single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1,269 and Cinebench R15 single-core of 679) is more relevant for gaming than raw core counts. Control's engine benefits from strong per-core performance, and the 5.50 GHz boost clock ensures that the CPU never becomes a bottleneck in the measured scenarios. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work to do and the CPU would be most likely to limit performance, the system still achieves 182 FPS — a figure that indicates the 9900X3D is handling the game's CPU demands with ease.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 182 FPS, which is the single highest result in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 129 FPS, with a minimum of 110 FPS and maximum of 148 FPS. High settings produce 115 FPS, while Ultra settles at 100 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 45% reduction in frame rate, from 182 to 100 FPS.

Moving to 1440p, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings average 137 FPS, which is a 25% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium settings yield 98 FPS, with a minimum of 83 FPS and maximum of 112 FPS. High settings produce 87 FPS, and Ultra drops to 75 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 62 FPS, representing a 45% performance penalty for maxing out the quality settings.

At 4K, the results show the GPU working hardest. Low settings still manage a respectable 93 FPS, which is playable even for competitive-oriented users. Medium settings average 66 FPS, with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 76 FPS. High settings produce 59 FPS, just shy of a 60 FPS lock. Ultra settings bring the average down to 51 FPS, which is the only result below 60 FPS in the entire measured dataset. The 4K Low to Ultra spread is 42 FPS, a 45% reduction that mirrors the lower resolutions.

The Medium settings data is the only preset with full min/max information across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the 110-148 FPS range shows a 38 FPS spread; at 1440p, the 83-112 FPS range has a 29 FPS spread; and at 4K, the 56-76 FPS range has a 20 FPS spread. This narrowing variance at higher resolutions is typical, as the GPU becomes more consistently saturated and frame times stabilize.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the performance anchor in this pairing, built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 48 chip. The GPU features 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs, along with 56 ray tracing cores. It operates at a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at an effective 20.1 Gbps across a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s.

In synthetic testing, the RX 9070 scores 25,381 in PassMark G3D and 14,737 in PassMark GPU Compute. DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 tests show scores of 281 and 74 respectively, while 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 reaches 6,290. Geekbench OpenCL scores 131,539 and Vulkan scores 58,705. These results place the GPU at the 69th percentile vs all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23,877.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the database are notable for their age and mobility focus. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER shows a deltaPct of -1.2, meaning the RX 9070 is 1.2% faster on average. The AMD Radeon RX 6800S has a deltaPct of -0.8, putting it 0.8% behind. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile is 1.1% slower, and the GTX TITAN Z is 0.6% slower. These comparisons suggest that the RX 9070's raw compute performance sits in a familiar range, though the 16 GB VRAM capacity and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth provide modern advantages.

For Control, the GPU's 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient; the game does not require high memory capacities even at 4K Ultra. The 128 ROPs and 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate handle the rendering workload effectively, as evidenced by the 51 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 performance provides ample compute for the game's physics and particle effects. The 56 ray tracing cores are present, though the fact pack does not specify whether Control's ray tracing features were enabled in the measured results; the data reflects standard rasterization performance.

The RX 9070's 220 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a power-efficient implementation on TSMC's 4 nm process. The 53,900 million transistors packed into a 357 mm² die (151.0M transistors per mm²) show a dense, modern architecture. The PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensures no bandwidth limitations, and the 644.6 GB/s memory bandwidth supports high-resolution textures without bottlenecking.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for a locked 60 FPS experience in Control?

A: The 4K High preset averages 59 FPS, which is just below a 60 FPS lock. Stepping up to 4K Medium yields 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS, or users can drop to 1440p Ultra for 75 FPS to ensure a stable 60 FPS with higher visual quality.

Q: How does this combo perform at 1080p for high-refresh-rate displays?

A: At 1080p, the combo exceeds 100 FPS at every settings preset. Low settings hit 182 FPS, Medium reaches 129 FPS, High manages 115 FPS, and Ultra still delivers 100 FPS. This makes the pairing suitable for 144 Hz displays, though not for 240 Hz at Ultra settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Control with this combination?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting component. The CPU ranks at the 91st percentile vs all CPUs, while the GPU sits at the 69th percentile. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all settings, indicating GPU saturation rather than CPU limitations.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in the database?

A: This combination ranks 819th out of 2,888 tested combos for Control, placing it in the top 28% of all tested systems. The rank aligns closely with the GPU's 69th percentile standing, confirming balanced performance.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the minimum and maximum FPS data shows a 38 FPS spread at 1080p (110-148), a 29 FPS spread at 1440p (83-112), and a 20 FPS spread at 4K (56-76). Higher resolutions show tighter frame time distributions, indicating more consistent GPU utilization.

Q: How does the RX 9070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The RX 9070 is 1.2% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER, 0.8% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 6800S, 1.1% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile, and 0.6% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z. These are the four closest GPUs by average benchmark score.