Control

# Control with AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination delivers the top measured performance in Control, ranking first out of 2,888 tested combos. This pairing of a 16-core Zen 5 processor with NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell GPU produces frame rates that range from 83 FPS at 4K Ultra to 298 FPS at 1080p Low, demonstrating enormous headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. The benchmark data reveals a system where the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution climbs, while the CPU's substantial multi-threaded capabilities ensure no bottleneck at lower resolutions.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core, 32-thread processor built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using TSMC's 4 nm process. Its base clock of 4.30 GHz boosts up to 5.70 GHz, with a 170 W TDP. The CPU features 128 MB of L3 cache, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 80 KB of L1 cache per core, alongside dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth. The processor's benchmark scores indicate exceptional multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 42,018 points, while single-core hits 2,259 points. Geekbench multi-core scores 26,736 and single-core 3,064, placing the CPU in the 95th percentile among all processors.

In Control, the CPU's role is most visible at lower resolutions where frame rates climb dramatically. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 298 FPS, suggesting the processor can feed frames far beyond typical display refresh rates. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 16,374 and max-thread score of 17,184 indicate strong scaling across the 16 cores, which matters for a game like Control that uses multiple threads for physics and AI. The single-thread score of 1,292 in 3DMark, combined with the high boost clock, ensures responsive frame pacing in scenes with complex game logic.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the 9950X3D shows minimal separation. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 scores an average of 75,738, just 0.1% behind the 9950X3D's 75,779 average. The Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D trails by the same 0.1% margin, while the AMD EPYC 8224P and Intel Core Ultra 9 285 are 0.3% and 0.4% behind, respectively. This tight clustering suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, the 9950X3D's advantage is narrow, yet the measured FPS in Control at 1080p Low shows the processor still delivers elite performance.

The PassMark multi-thread score of 70,255 and integer math score of 243,209 demonstrate substantial computational throughput, while floating-point math at 159,724 and extended instructions at 73,011 indicate robust support for varied workloads. The data compression score of 908,421 and random string sorting at 95,423 show the cache hierarchy benefits memory-intensive tasks, which can influence how quickly game assets load and how smoothly streaming occurs during gameplay.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm process with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth — a critical asset for Control's high-resolution textures and particle effects. The GPU's base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, while memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs provide the raw compute power, with 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores supporting ray tracing and DLSS features.

The GPU's benchmark performance places it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with a PassMark G3D score of 44,065 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 310,674 and Vulkan score of 376,915 indicate strong compute capabilities across different APIs. In Control, the GPU's influence becomes apparent when comparing resolution scaling. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 83 FPS, while at 1080p Low it reaches 298 FPS — a 3.6x difference that highlights the GPU's workload scaling with pixel count.

The RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals in the benchmark database present an interesting comparison. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76,904, just 1.1% behind, while the RX 6850M XT is 1.6% ahead. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB and 16 GB variants lead by 2.1% and 2.4%, respectively. These deltas are small, suggesting that in synthetic benchmarks, the 5090 D is competitive but not overwhelmingly dominant. However, in Control specifically, the 32 GB VRAM capacity and high bandwidth provide headroom for the game's detailed environments at 4K Ultra without memory-related stutters.

The GPU's pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s directly impact how quickly Control's scenes render. The FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS supports the game's physics calculations, while the FP16 performance at 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio) can accelerate certain rendering paths. The 575 W TDP and suggested 950 W PSU indicate this is a power-hungry component, but the measured FPS data shows the performance payoff is substantial.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

At 4K resolution, the measured data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. High settings produce 96 FPS, while Ultra drops to 83 FPS — a 13 FPS difference for the highest quality preset. Medium settings at 4K yield 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS, providing a smoother experience than High while still maintaining respectable visuals. Low settings at 4K jump to 152 FPS, which may be excessive for most displays but demonstrates the GPU's capability when visual effects are minimized.

For 1440p displays, the sweet spot appears to be High settings at 142 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most 144 Hz monitors. Ultra at 1440p reaches 124 FPS, still comfortably above 120 FPS for high-refresh displays. Medium at 1440p delivers 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS, offering a buffer against frame drops. Low at 1440p scales to 225 FPS, which would benefit 240 Hz panels.

At 1080p, all presets deliver exceptional performance. High settings reach 188 FPS, Medium hits 211 FPS with a minimum of 180 FPS, and Ultra achieves 163 FPS. Low settings at 1080p produce 298 FPS, which is near the limit of what most displays can show. The data suggests that for the best balance of visual quality and performance, High settings at 1440p or 4K provide the most consistent experience, while Ultra is viable for those prioritizing image quality over frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in Control?

A: At 4K High, the combo delivers 96 FPS, while 1440p High reaches 142 FPS, and 1080p High hits 188 FPS. The 4K Medium preset offers 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS, making it the smoothest 4K option below High, while 1440p Medium reaches 160 FPS with a 136 FPS minimum.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77,712, which is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) and 1.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB and 16 GB score 79,396 and 79,605, respectively, placing them 2.1% and 2.4% ahead.

Q: What is the CPU's benchmark percentile and how does it compare to rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 9950X3D sits in the 95th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 75,779. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755, scores 75,738 (0.1% behind), while the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 scores 75,488 (0.4% behind).

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM sufficient for Control at 4K Ultra?

A: The measured data shows 83 FPS at 4K Ultra, with no minimum FPS reported for that preset. The 32 GB GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provides ample capacity for Control's textures, and the 4K Medium preset shows a 92 FPS minimum, indicating no memory-related performance collapse.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1080p with this combo?

A: At 1080p, the lowest measured average is 163 FPS on Ultra settings, while Low reaches 298 FPS. Medium produces 211 FPS with a minimum of 180 FPS, and High delivers 188 FPS. All presets exceed 160 FPS, making this combination suitable for 144 Hz and 240 Hz displays.

Q: How does the combo's ranking in Control compare to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks first out of 2,888 tested combos in Control, indicating it is the top performer among all systems in the benchmark database for this game.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals how the performance scales across resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 188 at 1080p to 142 at 1440p (a 24.5% decrease) and further to 96 at 4K (a 48.9% decrease from 1080p). This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly the limiting component as resolution rises, since the CPU's workload remains relatively constant while pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

For Low settings, the scaling is more dramatic: 298 FPS at 1080p falls to 225 FPS at 1440p (24.5% drop) and 152 FPS at 4K (49.0% drop from 1080p). The proportional decreases across settings suggest that Control's rendering load scales consistently with resolution, with the GPU handling the additional pixel workload. At 1080p Low, the 298 FPS figure approaches the CPU's frame delivery limit, as the processor's single-thread and multi-thread performance becomes the bottleneck.

Medium settings show a similar pattern: 211 FPS at 1080p, 160 FPS at 1440p (24.2% decrease), and 108 FPS at 4K (48.8% decrease). Ultra settings follow with 163 FPS at 1080p, 124 FPS at 1440p (23.9% decrease), and 83 FPS at 4K (49.1% decrease). The consistent percentage drops across all presets indicate that the GPU's fill rate and bandwidth are the primary constraints at higher resolutions, while the CPU maintains sufficient headroom even at 1080p Ultra where the frame rate remains above 160 FPS.

The minimum FPS data for Medium settings provides additional insight: at 1080p the minimum is 180 FPS (85.3% of average), at 1440p it's 136 FPS (85.0% of average), and at 4K it's 92 FPS (85.2% of average). This consistency suggests that frame time variance scales proportionally with resolution, pointing to the GPU as the dominant factor in determining both average and minimum performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the benchmark results show the following averages: Low settings produce 298 FPS, Medium reaches 211 FPS with a minimum of 180 FPS and maximum of 243 FPS, High achieves 188 FPS, and Ultra delivers 163 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 135 FPS, representing a 45.3% reduction in frame rate when maximizing visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 225 FPS, Medium at 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS and maximum of 184 FPS, High at 142 FPS, and Ultra at 124 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 101 FPS, a 44.9% decrease. The Medium preset's maximum of 184 FPS shows that the hardware can briefly exceed the average by 15%, indicating some scenes are less demanding.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 152 FPS, Medium at 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS and maximum of 124 FPS, High at 96 FPS, and Ultra at 83 FPS. The Low to Ultra spread is 69 FPS, a 45.4% reduction. The Medium preset's minimum of 92 FPS ensures that even the most demanding scenes remain above 90 FPS, while the maximum of 124 FPS shows occasional lighter scenes.

Comparing across resolutions at High settings, the 1080p average of 188 FPS drops to 142 FPS at 1440p and 96 FPS at 4K. At Ultra settings, the progression is 163 FPS at 1080p, 124 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset shows the most balanced frame times, with the 4K minimum of 92 FPS being just 14.8% below the 1080p minimum of 180 FPS when scaled proportionally.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks first overall in Control, outperforming all other 2,887 tested combinations. This top ranking is supported by the measured FPS data showing that even at 4K Ultra, the combo produces 83 FPS, which is playable, while at 1440p High it reaches 142 FPS, suitable for high-refresh displays.

The significance of this rank becomes clear when considering the CPU's benchmark position. The 9950X3D sits in the 95th percentile among all CPUs, with its nearest rivals being within 0.4% in average score. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking, with rivals spanning -2.4% to +1.1% in average score, suggests that the combination of a top-tier CPU and a high-end GPU is what secures the number one position in this game.

The data shows that Control benefits from both strong single-thread performance (for game logic) and substantial multi-thread capabilities (for physics and streaming). The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42,018 and single-core of 2,259, combined with the GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 14,326, create a balanced platform that maximizes frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings.

The rank of 1 out of 2,888 combos means this system outperforms configurations with potentially higher-clocked CPUs or different GPU pairings. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (298 FPS) approaches the practical ceiling for most displays, while the 4K Ultra result of 83 FPS indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at maximum resolution, yet still delivers a smooth experience for a game released in 2019. The combination's ability to maintain high frame rates across all settings and resolutions demonstrates why it holds the top position in the database for Control.