Control

Control, the 2019 action-adventure from Remedy, is a demanding title that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and the measured data for the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile reveals a system that is consistently capable but requires careful settings management to hit high refresh rates at higher resolutions. The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy: performance scales predictably with resolution and settings, with the most significant bottlenecks appearing at 4K with Ultra settings, where the average frame rate dips below 40 FPS. For the best balance of visual fidelity and smooth gameplay, the data points to the High preset at 1440p as the sweet spot, while 1080p at High provides an excellent high-refresh experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how this specific combination of CPU and GPU handles Control across different presets. The most striking result is at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the system achieves an average of 137 FPS. This is the only setting that breaks the 120 FPS barrier, indicating that for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, the Low preset at 1080p is the only option that fully utilizes a 144Hz display. However, the jump from Low to High at 1080p is substantial, with the average dropping from 137 FPS to 87 FPS, a reduction of 50 FPS that highlights the significant cost of the higher visual fidelity.

For most players, the High preset at 2560x1440 offers the most compelling combination of image quality and performance. The average of 66 FPS at this setting is comfortably above the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, and it represents a 24 FPS improvement over the Ultra preset at the same resolution, which averages 57 FPS. The data shows that the Ultra preset at 1440p is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, whereas High provides a more stable experience. The Medium preset at 1440p, averaging 74 FPS, is another viable option, but the incremental gain over High is modest compared to the visual compromise.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. The High preset at 3840x2160 averages 44 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and will result in noticeable stutter on standard 60Hz displays. The Medium preset at 4K averages 50 FPS, with a minimum of 42 FPS and a maximum of 57 FPS, indicating significant frame time variance that could detract from the experience. The Low preset at 4K achieves an average of 70 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that provides a consistently smooth experience, but it does so by sacrificing most of the graphical enhancements that define the game's atmosphere. The Ultra preset at 4K is the most demanding, with an average of just 39 FPS, making it unsuitable for anything other than a visual showcase or screenshot capture.

The recommendation is clear: for a standard 60Hz display at 1440p, the High preset is the optimal choice, delivering 66 FPS with a strong balance of quality and performance. For 1080p displays, the High preset at 87 FPS is excellent, and the Low preset at 137 FPS is available for those prioritizing frame rate above all else. At 4K, players should accept the Low preset's 70 FPS for playability, or explore Medium at 50 FPS if they can tolerate the frame pacing inconsistencies. The Ultra preset should be avoided for actual gameplay across all resolutions, as it consistently delivers the lowest average FPS: 75 at 1080p, 57 at 1440p, and 39 at 4K.

FAQ

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

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average of 66 FPS, which is the highest quality setting that consistently exceeds the 60 FPS target at this resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset averages 87 FPS, providing excellent performance with high visual fidelity.

Q: Can this system run Control at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but with significant compromises. The Low preset at 3840x2160 averages 70 FPS, which is playable. The Medium preset averages 50 FPS with a minimum of 42 FPS, which may be acceptable for some, while High and Ultra average 44 FPS and 39 FPS respectively, which are below the 60 FPS threshold and not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: The Ultra preset consistently reduces performance by a significant margin across all resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra averages 75 FPS compared to High's 87 FPS, a 12 FPS difference. At 1440p, Ultra averages 57 FPS versus High's 66 FPS, a 9 FPS difference. At 4K, Ultra averages 39 FPS versus High's 44 FPS, a 5 FPS difference.

Q: What is the maximum frame rate achievable with this hardware in Control?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 137 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only configuration that breaks the 120 FPS barrier, making it the sole option for high-refresh-rate displays seeking maximum frame rates.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM of the RTX 5070 Mobile a limiting factor at high settings?

A: The measured data does not indicate VRAM capacity as a primary bottleneck. The FPS drops from High to Ultra are consistent with increased rendering load, but the system still functions across all settings. However, the 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are notable specifications that may influence texture streaming in more demanding scenarios, though the data does not directly measure this.

Q: How does the performance at 2560x1440 compare to 1920x1080?

A: At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 87 at 1080p to 66 at 1440p, a 24% reduction. At the Low preset, it drops from 137 to 104, a 24% reduction. At Medium, it drops from 98 to 74, a 24% reduction, and at Ultra, it drops from 75 to 57, a 24% reduction. This consistent scaling indicates a balanced load between CPU and GPU at these resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile is the primary driver of Control's rendering performance, and its specifications provide context for the measured FPS. The GPU features 4608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines. Its boost clock is rated at 1425 MHz, with a base clock of 907 MHz. This configuration delivers a theoretical FP32 performance of 13.13 TFLOPS, which is a modest figure for a modern mobile GPU but sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming in this title.

The memory subsystem is a critical factor. The RTX 5070 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. This is a relatively narrow memory interface, and it likely contributes to the significant performance drop at 4K where memory bandwidth demands are highest. The transition from 1440p High (66 FPS) to 4K High (44 FPS) represents a 33% reduction in performance, while the transition from 1080p High (87 FPS) to 1440p High (66 FPS) is a 24% reduction. The larger drop at 4K suggests that memory bandwidth becomes a more pronounced bottleneck at higher pixel counts, despite the 8 GB capacity being sufficient for the game's asset sizes at these settings.

The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks places it in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29928. Its nearest rivals in these metrics are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, which scores 29945 (a delta of -0.1%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 29783 (a delta of 0.5%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 at 30095 (a delta of -0.6%). These deltas are all within 2% of the RTX 5070 Mobile, indicating that its raw compute performance is nearly identical to a previous-generation high-end desktop GPU. The measured FPS in Control aligns with this positioning, as the system performs admirably at 1080p and 1440p but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K, consistent with a GPU that offers solid mid-to-high-end performance rather than flagship-level capability.

The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, as the FPS drops precipitously regardless of settings. Even at Low settings, the 4K average of 70 FPS is 34 FPS lower than the 1080p Low average of 137 FPS, a 49% reduction. This is a clear indication that the pixel throughput demands of 4K exceed what the RTX 5070 Mobile can deliver comfortably, and users should not expect a high-refresh 4K experience from this hardware in Control.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS data provides a granular view of performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset leads with an average of 137 FPS. The Medium preset averages 98 FPS, with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 112 FPS, indicating a stable frame delivery in the tested scenario. The High preset averages 87 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 75 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a total performance drop of 62 FPS, from 137 to 75, which is a 45% reduction. This demonstrates that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy rendering cost, but even at its lowest, the system remains well above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 104 FPS, which is still excellent for a high-resolution experience. The Medium preset averages 74 FPS, with a minimum of 63 FPS and a maximum of 85 FPS. The High preset averages 66 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 57 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 47 FPS, from 104 to 57, a 45% reduction, mirroring the scaling at 1080p. The minimum FPS of 63 FPS at Medium is noteworthy, as it shows that even at this setting, the system can dip below the 60 FPS target in demanding scenes, though the average remains comfortable.

At 3840x2160, the performance landscape changes significantly. The Low preset averages 70 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that provides a consistently smooth experience. The Medium preset averages 50 FPS, with a minimum of 42 FPS and a maximum of 57 FPS. The High preset averages 44 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 39 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 31 FPS, from 70 to 39, a 44% reduction. The minimum FPS of 42 FPS at Medium is particularly notable, as it indicates that frame pacing can become erratic at 4K, with dips well below the average that could cause noticeable stutter.

The data reveals that the Medium preset at each resolution provides a consistent pattern: 98 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K. This represents a clear scaling curve, with each resolution step resulting in a 24 FPS drop at Medium settings. Similarly, the High preset shows a pattern of 87 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K, which is a 21 FPS drop per resolution step. The Ultra preset shows 75, 57, and 39 FPS, a 18 FPS drop per step. The Low preset shows 137, 104, and 70 FPS, a 33 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 34 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K. This consistency suggests a balanced system where the GPU's load scales uniformly with pixel count, but the larger absolute drops at 4K confirm that the GPU is the primary constraint at that resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior in Control reveals important insights about the system's balance. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops by 24% across all settings: from 137 to 104 at Low, 98 to 74 at Medium, 87 to 66 at High, and 75 to 57 at Ultra. This consistent 24% reduction indicates that the system is scaling proportionally with the increase in pixel count, which is 1.78 times more pixels. The fact that the FPS drop is less than the pixel count increase (24% FPS drop vs 78% more pixels) suggests that the GPU is not the sole bottleneck at 1440p; the CPU and memory system are also contributing to overall performance.

However, the transition from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 shows a different pattern. The FPS drops are more severe: from 104 to 70 at Low (a 33% reduction), 74 to 50 at Medium (a 32% reduction), 66 to 44 at High (a 33% reduction), and 57 to 39 at Ultra (a 32% reduction). The pixel count increase from 1440p to 4K is 2.25 times, but the FPS drops by roughly one-third. This indicates that the GPU's rendering pipeline is becoming increasingly saturated at 4K, and the memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s is likely a limiting factor. The RTX 5070 Mobile's 128-bit memory bus is narrow, and at 4K, the demand for texture and frame buffer data exceeds what this bandwidth can efficiently supply, resulting in the larger performance degradation.

This data suggests that the CPU, the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, is not the primary bottleneck at any resolution. The consistent FPS scaling from 1080p to 1440p, and the larger drops at 4K, point to the GPU as the dominant constraint. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 32 threads, is more than capable of feeding the GPU at all settings, and the 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth of the system memory is ample for the game's data streaming. The limiting component is clearly the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth, which cannot keep pace with the demands of 4K rendering in Control.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a high-end mobile processor with 16 cores and 32 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture. It has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. This is a powerful CPU, and its benchmark results confirm its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 35314 in multi-core and 2044 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 20992 multi-core and 2464 single-core. The Passmark multithread score is 54934, and the single-thread score is 4147. These scores place the CPU in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77740.

The nearest rivals provide context for its performance. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX has an average score of 76513, which is 1.6% lower than the Ryzen AI Max+ 395. The AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P scores 76492, also 1.6% lower. The Intel Core i9-14900K scores 79097, which is 1.7% higher. The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX scores 76212, 2% lower. These close margins indicate that the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a top-tier mobile CPU, delivering performance comparable to high-end desktop processors.

In the context of Control, the CPU's role is to manage game logic, physics, and rendering commands. The measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any tested resolution or settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 137 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would stress the CPU's ability to issue draw calls. The fact that it maintains this level indicates that the CPU's single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2044, is sufficient for the game's demands. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU has ample headroom to maintain consistent frame delivery.

The CPU's high multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35314, is not directly utilized by Control, which is primarily a single-threaded game for its main logic. However, the strong single-core performance ensures that frame times remain stable, preventing CPU-induced stutters. The data shows no evidence of CPU-related performance limitations, as the FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings changes, which is the expected behavior when the GPU is the primary constraint. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is more than adequate for this title, and its capabilities exceed the demands of Control at all settings.