Control

# Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveal a system that scales predictably with resolution, but with a clear GPU bottleneck emerging at higher settings. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 94.7 FPS average. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 70.3 FPS, a reduction of approximately 25.8%. At 4K High, the average falls to 45.9 FPS, representing another 34.7% drop from 1440p. This pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where the RTX 5060's 8 GB GDDR7 memory and 128-bit bus become the limiting factors.

The Low preset tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 148.6 FPS, which drops to 114.4 FPS at 1440p Low (a 23.0% reduction) and 76 FPS at 4K Low (a 33.6% reduction from 1440p). The fact that even at Low settings the 4K frame rate falls below 80 FPS suggests that the GPU's raw throughput, not just its memory subsystem, is a constraint at higher resolutions.

The scaling from Medium to High to Ultra at each resolution is instructive. At 1080p, the difference between Medium (105 FPS) and High (94.7 FPS) is 10.3 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra (81.9 FPS) is 12.8 FPS. At 1440p, Medium (79.1 FPS) to High (70.3 FPS) is an 8.8 FPS drop, and High to Ultra (61.4 FPS) is another 8.9 FPS. At 4K, Medium (53.6 FPS) to High (45.9 FPS) costs 7.7 FPS, while High to Ultra (43.1 FPS) costs only 2.8 FPS. This narrowing delta at 4K Ultra indicates that the GPU is nearing its effective ceiling, with diminishing returns from additional graphical complexity.

The resolution scaling data suggests that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is not the primary constraint in this title. The 16-core, 32-thread processor with a 128 MB shared L3 cache provides ample headroom, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate progression across resolutions. The bottleneck is squarely on the GPU side, particularly at 4K where even Low settings cannot maintain a 60 FPS average.

# Settings Recommendations

For players targeting a smooth experience at their display's native resolution, the measured data offers clear guidance. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 81.9 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and provides the highest visual fidelity without sacrificing playability. However, the jump from High to Ultra costs 12.8 FPS, which may be a meaningful trade-off for those seeking maximum frame rates on high-refresh displays. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 148.6 FPS, nearly double the Ultra result, but at a significant visual quality cost.

At 1440p, the High preset with 70.3 FPS represents the sweet spot for most users. It maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while offering substantially better visual quality than Medium (79.1 FPS) or Low (114.4 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 61.4 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. Given that the difference between High and Ultra is only 8.9 FPS, High is the recommended choice for 1440p unless the user prioritizes maximum image quality over frame rate stability.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. The High preset delivers 45.9 FPS, which falls short of the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 53.6 FPS is closer but still below 60. The Low preset at 76 FPS is the only option that clears the 60 FPS threshold at 4K. For users with 4K displays, the data suggests that Medium (53.6 FPS) offers the best balance between visual quality and playability, though those who prioritize smooth motion should consider Low (76 FPS) or reducing resolution to 1440p High (70.3 FPS).

The Ultra preset at any resolution above 1080p results in frame rates below 62 FPS, making it unsuitable for competitive play or fast-paced action sequences. The measured data indicates that High settings provide the most consistent experience across all three resolutions, with 94.7 FPS at 1080p, 70.3 FPS at 1440p, and 45.9 FPS at 4K.

# FAQ

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Only at Low settings, where the measured average is 76 FPS. At Medium, the average drops to 53.6 FPS, and at High it falls to 45.9 FPS. Ultra yields 43.1 FPS.

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

A: High settings provide 70.3 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium offers 79.1 FPS, and Low reaches 114.4 FPS, but High delivers the best combination of visual quality and performance.

Q: How does the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM affect performance?

A: The 8 GB GDDR7 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient for this title at 1080p and 1440p, but the frame rate drops at 4K suggest memory capacity or bandwidth constraints at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9950X3D the limiting factor in Control?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 59712 and a single-core score of 8430, indicate it has ample headroom. The frame rate scaling across resolutions points to the GPU as the primary constraint.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p Ultra?

A: The measured average is 81.9 FPS. This is lower than High (94.7 FPS) but still above 60 FPS, making Ultra viable for 1080p displays.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for Control?

A: It ranks 789 out of 1636 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database for this game.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 ranks 789 out of 1636 tested combos for Control, placing it in the 48th percentile of all configurations. This mid-pack ranking reflects a significant imbalance between the CPU and GPU components. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a top-tier processor, with a percentileVsAllCpus of 96 and an average benchmark score of 71660. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (avgScore 71056, deltaPct 0.9), the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (avgScore 70420, deltaPct 1.8), and the Intel Core i7-14700KF (avgScore 70104, deltaPct 2.2). The 9950X3D outperforms all of these by small margins, confirming its position at the high end of CPU performance.

In contrast, the RTX 5060 has a percentileVsAllGpus of 73 and an average benchmark score of 30109. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (avgScore 30097, deltaPct 0), the AMD Radeon RX 570 (avgScore 30158, deltaPct -0.2), and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (avgScore 29969, deltaPct 0.5). These near-identical scores indicate that the RTX 5060 sits in a crowded mid-range GPU segment, where performance differences between competing models are minimal.

The combination of an elite CPU with a mid-range GPU means that the overall combo ranking in Control is largely determined by the GPU's capabilities. The 789th position out of 1636 suggests that many other combos with more balanced or higher-end GPU configurations achieve better results in this game. The CPU's immense computational power, evidenced by its 3DMark max threads score of 17184 and Passmark multithread score of 70255, does not translate into a top-tier gaming ranking because Control is not CPU-bound at the tested settings.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 plays the decisive role in determining the gaming experience in Control. Its 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's base clock of 2280 MHz and boost clock of 2497 MHz, combined with 3840 shading units and 120 texture mapping units, deliver a FP32 performance of 19.18 TFLOPS. These specifications place the RTX 5060 in the mid-range of the GeForce 50-series, with a Passmark G3D score of 20891 and a Passmark GPU compute score of 10899.

The GPU's 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores support DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, making it technically capable of handling modern game features. However, the measured frame rates in Control suggest that the GPU's 48 ROPs and 119.9 GPixel/s pixel rate are the constraining factors at higher resolutions. The pixel rate, in particular, explains why 4K performance drops so significantly: rendering four times the pixels of 1080p requires proportionally more pixel throughput.

The RTX 5060's 145 W TDP and dual-slot design with a single 8-pin power connector indicate a power-efficient card, but this efficiency comes at the cost of raw performance headroom. The GPU's 5 nm process node and 21,900 million transistors on a 181 mm² die allow for high density, yet the 8 GB VRAM capacity is a notable limitation for 4K gaming. The measured 4K results, where even Low settings only reach 76 FPS, reflect this constraint.

The GPU's benchmark scores, including a Geekbench OpenCL score of 120785 and a Vulkan score of 116626, show balanced compute capabilities. However, the Passmark DirectX 12 score of 77 and DirectX 11 score of 200 indicate that real-world gaming performance may not fully align with synthetic compute benchmarks. The 73rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30109, places it slightly above the midpoint of the database, confirming its mid-range positioning.