Control

Control with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a benchmark dataset that consistently favors high-refresh-rate play across all tested resolutions. The measured average frame rates place this combination in the 96th percentile for the CPU and 91st percentile for the GPU, with a combo rank of 24 out of 1636 tested configurations. Across the twelve measured data points, the system never drops below 77.9 FPS, indicating that even the most demanding preset remains comfortably playable at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data shows that the Ultra preset provides the most visually consistent experience relative to the system's capability at 4K, delivering an average of 77.9 FPS. This is notably above the 60 FPS threshold, though it leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset achieves 115.6 FPS, and at 1920x1080 it reaches 152.7 FPS, which means the visual ceiling can be maintained without sacrificing frame rates at lower resolutions.

For users prioritizing frame rate stability over visual fidelity, the High preset offers a balanced compromise. At 4K, High averages 86.3 FPS, which is 8.4 FPS higher than Ultra while presumably retaining most visual features. At 1440p, High delivers 131.7 FPS, and at 1080p it reaches 175.5 FPS. The step from High to Medium produces a larger performance jump—4K goes from 86.3 to 99.7 FPS, 1440p from 131.7 to 147.9 FPS, and 1080p from 175.5 to 198.1 FPS—suggesting that Medium may be the optimal choice for high-refresh-rate monitors at 4K.

The Low preset is the only setting that approaches the 240 Hz class at 1080p, hitting 274.7 FPS, and it also delivers 208.8 FPS at 1440p and 138 FPS at 4K. Given the data, the best experience per the measured rows depends on the display: for 4K owners, High is the sweet spot; for 1440p users, Ultra is viable; and for 1080p competitive play, Low unlocks the highest measurable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Control?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 produces the highest average frame rates across all settings, with the Low preset reaching 274.7 FPS. However, the system still delivers 115.6 FPS at 2560x1440 on Ultra, making 1440p the highest resolution where the Ultra preset exceeds 100 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D has an average benchmark score of 71660, which is 0.9% ahead of the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 and 1.8% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X. It trails the Intel Xeon 6517P by 1.9%, placing it in a tight cluster with its closest competitors.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 66473, which is 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 but 0.4% behind the NVIDIA Tesla T4. It also trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 by 0.9% and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 by 1.3% in the synthetic benchmark average.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS for 4K Ultra is 77.9 FPS, which is well above the standard 60 FPS playability threshold. While it is the lowest measured score in the dataset, it remains smooth for single-player action-adventure gameplay.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 274.7 FPS while the Ultra preset averages 152.7 FPS. This represents a difference of 122 FPS, or roughly 80% higher performance on Low compared to Ultra.

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

A: The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 24th out of 1636 tested combos in Control, placing it in the top 1.5% of all configurations measured for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 24 out of 1636 tested configurations places this system in the 98.5th percentile of all measured hardware pairings for Control. This high ranking is consistent with the CPU's 96th percentile standing among all CPUs and the GPU's 91st percentile among all GPUs. The data indicates that this pairing is exceptionally well-suited to Control's engine, as the combined rank is proportionally higher than either component's individual percentile.

Examining the CPU's nearest rivals, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D edges out the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 by 0.9% and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X by 1.8%, while the Intel Xeon 6517P is 1.9% ahead. On the GPU side, the RTX 4090's nearest rivals are all workstation or datacenter cards—the NVIDIA Tesla T4, Tesla P40, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, and NVIDIA Quadro P6000—with deltas ranging from -1.3% to +0.5%. This suggests that in synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4090 sits in a performance tier comparable to professional-grade accelerators, but in actual Control gameplay, the consumer-oriented drivers and architecture yield the measured high frame rates.

The rank of 24 indicates that only 23 other hardware combinations deliver higher average FPS in Control. Given the dataset's resolution and settings coverage, this rank reflects a system that can max out the game at 1440p and maintain high settings at 4K, which is a rare capability among the 1636 tested configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the system delivers an average of 86.3 FPS on High, 99.7 FPS on Medium, 138 FPS on Low, and 77.9 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Ultra to Low is 60.1 FPS, with Medium being 13.4 FPS faster than High and Low being 38.3 FPS faster than Medium. This resolution shows the most significant sensitivity to settings changes, as the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

At 2560x1440, the measured averages are 131.7 FPS on High, 147.9 FPS on Medium, 208.8 FPS on Low, and 115.6 FPS on Ultra. The gap between High and Medium narrows to 16.2 FPS, while Low is 60.9 FPS ahead of Medium. The Ultra preset remains viable at 115.6 FPS, which is 37.7 FPS higher than the 4K Ultra score.

At 1920x1080, the system achieves 175.5 FPS on High, 198.1 FPS on Medium, 274.7 FPS on Low, and 152.7 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p results show the largest absolute frame rates, with Low breaking past 270 FPS. The difference between Ultra and High is 22.8 FPS, while Medium to Low is 76.6 FPS, indicating that Low settings unlock significant headroom at this resolution.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset consistently delivers the highest frame rates, while Ultra delivers the lowest. The High and Medium presets sit in between, with Medium always outperforming High by a margin that grows from 13.4 FPS at 4K to 22.6 FPS at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system scales with pixel count. On the Low preset, 4K produces 138 FPS compared to 274.7 FPS at 1080p, representing a 49.8% reduction in frame rate. On the High preset, 4K drops to 86.3 FPS from 175.5 FPS at 1080p, a 50.8% reduction. The Medium preset falls from 198.1 FPS at 1080p to 99.7 FPS at 4K, a 49.7% reduction, and Ultra drops from 152.7 FPS to 77.9 FPS, a 49.0% reduction.

The consistency of this reduction—hovering around 50% across all settings—indicates that the scaling is primarily driven by the GPU's pixel throughput. The RTX 4090's 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate appear to be the limiting factors when moving from 1440p to 4K. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 128 MB of shared L3 cache, provides ample headroom even at 1080p Low, where 274.7 FPS suggests the render thread is not the bottleneck.

The transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a smaller relative drop: Low goes from 274.7 to 208.8 FPS (24.0% reduction), High from 175.5 to 131.7 FPS (25.0% reduction), Medium from 198.1 to 147.9 FPS (25.3% reduction), and Ultra from 152.7 to 115.6 FPS (24.3% reduction). This more moderate scaling at 1440p suggests that the GPU still has spare capacity at this resolution, and the system is partially CPU-limited. The fact that frame rates exceed 200 FPS on Low at 1440p further supports this interpretation, as the RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is not fully saturated until 4K.