Control

Control, the 2019 action-adventure title from Remedy Entertainment, is a demanding showcase of physics-based combat and destructible environments. In this analysis, we examine the performance of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT. The measured data reveals a configuration that delivers high frame rates across all tested resolutions, though the scaling characteristics expose distinct bottlenecks depending on the graphics preset. With a combination rank of 518 out of 2888 tested configurations, this pairing sits in the upper echelon of systems, but its behavior across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions provides a nuanced picture of where its strengths and limitations lie.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling of average FPS from 1080p to 4K provides a clear indication of the system's balance. At the Low preset, the frame rate drops from 208 FPS at 1920x1080 to 157 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 24.5%. Moving to 3840x2160, the average further falls to 106 FPS, representing a 49% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This substantial drop suggests that while the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, the graphics card becomes increasingly strained as pixel count rises.

The High preset shows a similar pattern with a slightly different starting point. At 1080p, the average is 131 FPS, which falls to 99 FPS at 1440p (a 24.4% reduction) and then to 67 FPS at 4K (a 48.9% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and High presets indicates that resolution scaling is largely independent of the visual complexity, pointing to a system that is well-balanced in terms of CPU and GPU throughput at these settings.

However, the Medium and Ultra presets tell a slightly different story. At Medium, the 1080p average is 148 FPS, dropping to 112 FPS at 1440p (24.3% reduction) and then to 75 FPS at 4K (49.3% decrease). The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, shows averages of 114 FPS at 1080p, 86 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra is 32.6%, which is notably larger than the corresponding drops at other presets. This suggests that at the highest settings, the GPU's compute resources become the limiting factor more aggressively as resolution increases, with the 4K Ultra result of 58 FPS being the only sub-60 FPS average recorded.

The pattern across all presets indicates that this system is heavily GPU-limited at 4K, particularly at higher settings. At 1080p, the CPU has sufficient headroom to push frame rates well above 200 FPS on Low, but the GPU's rendering capabilities cap performance at 208 FPS. The fact that the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 94 FPS (from 208 to 114) versus the 48 FPS gap at 4K (from 106 to 58) reinforces that the RX 7900 XT's pixel throughput is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable at 1080p with this configuration?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 208 at the Low preset with a resolution of 1920x1080. This represents the peak performance of the system, limited by the GPU's rendering capabilities rather than the CPU.

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

A: No. At 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the average FPS is 58. This is the only tested configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 4K achieves 67 FPS, which clears the mark, but Ultra does not.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-core performance compare to its closest rival?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus achieves an average score of 84003. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, scores 83807, making the 290K Plus 0.2% faster. The data shows a negligible difference between these two processors.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT ranks in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, indicating that it performs better than the median but is not at the top end. Its average benchmark score is 13745.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate at 1440p exceeds the 1080p performance of a lower tier?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440 with the Low preset, the average FPS is 157. This is higher than the 1080p Ultra average of 114 FPS, demonstrating that resolution is not the sole determinant of performance; the preset has a significant impact.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between the Low and Ultra presets at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, the difference is 94 FPS (208 vs 114). At 1440p, the difference is 71 FPS (157 vs 86). At 4K, the difference is 48 FPS (106 vs 58). This shrinking delta indicates that the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p, the High preset delivers a robust 131 FPS average, which is well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 148 FPS offers a slight improvement, but the jump to Low at 208 FPS is substantial. For competitive play or maximum smoothness, Low at 1080p is the best choice, but for visual fidelity with still excellent performance, High is the sweet spot, as the Ultra preset at 114 FPS provides only a marginal visual upgrade for a noticeable performance cost.

At 1440p, the High preset produces 99 FPS, which is ideal for 100Hz displays. The Medium preset at 112 FPS is also a strong option, offering a good balance. The Ultra preset at 86 FPS is playable but does not fully utilize high-refresh panels. The Low preset at 157 FPS is the best for esports-style play, but for a single-player action game like Control, the visual enhancements from High are generally worth the 58 FPS reduction compared to Low.

For 4K gaming, the situation is more constrained. The Ultra preset at 58 FPS is the only one that falls below 60, making it less desirable. The High preset at 67 FPS provides a stable experience above the 60 FPS mark, making it the recommended choice for 4K. The Medium preset at 75 FPS offers more headroom, but the difference between Medium and High in terms of visual quality is typically more noticeable than the 8 FPS performance gap. The Low preset at 106 FPS is the highest performing 4K option, but it sacrifices significant visual detail. For most players at 4K, the High preset strikes the best balance between visual quality and smoothness, while those prioritizing frame rate should consider Medium.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration demonstrates its full potential. The Low preset delivers an average of 208 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset follows with 148 FPS, with a minimum of 125 and a maximum of 170. High comes next at 131 FPS, and Ultra trails at 114 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is significant, showing that the CPU and GPU combination can easily saturate even high-refresh 1080p displays at lower settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset maintains an impressive 157 FPS, which is still higher than most systems can achieve at this resolution. Medium drops to 112 FPS, with a minimum of 95 and a maximum of 128. High averages 99 FPS, and Ultra settles at 86 FPS. The ordering remains consistent, with each step up in settings costing roughly 25-30 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU workload becomes the dominant factor. The Low preset still manages 106 FPS, which is a strong result for 4K. Medium achieves 75 FPS (minimum 64, maximum 87), while High reaches 67 FPS. The Ultra preset, as previously noted, produces 58 FPS. The performance delta between Medium and High at 4K is only 8 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is nearing its limits and the additional settings have a diminishing impact on frame rate.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the primary driver of frame rates in this configuration, particularly at higher resolutions. With 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, the card offers substantial bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s, which is ample for the textures and geometry in Control. The GPU's 5376 shading units and 192 ROPs provide the raw compute and pixel throughput necessary for the game's particle effects and physics interactions.

The clock speeds of the RX 7900 XT are notable, with a base clock of 1387 MHz and a boost clock of 2394 MHz. These clocks, combined with the 84 RT cores, enable the card to handle DirectX 12 workloads efficiently. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's performance scales predictably with resolution, but the 4K Ultra result of 58 FPS indicates that the card's compute resources are fully taxed at the highest settings.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 13745 places it in the 55th percentile, which is moderate. Interestingly, its nearest rival in benchmark scores is the AMD Radeon 660M, which has a delta of -0.5%, indicating that the RX 7900 XT is actually slightly slower in synthetic tests. However, this does not translate to poor gaming performance, as the measured FPS shows strong results. The GPU's 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 459.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are more relevant to real-world gaming than the average score, and the data confirms that the card is well-suited for Control at resolutions up to 1440p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a formidable processor that ensures the GPU is rarely starved of data. With 24 cores and 24 threads, the CPU provides massive multi-threading capabilities, which is beneficial for Control's physics engine and AI routines. The boost clock of 5.80 GHz is among the highest available, ensuring strong single-threaded performance for game logic and draw call submission.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves an average score of 84003, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. This high percentile is reflected in the gaming results, particularly at lower resolutions. At 1080p with the Low preset, the system reaches 208 FPS, which is likely near the GPU's maximum output. The fact that the frame rate does not increase further at 1080p Low suggests that the GPU, not the CPU, is the limiting factor even at this resolution.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, is only 0.2% slower, indicating that the 290K Plus offers no meaningful advantage in this workload. The 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample fast memory for game data, and the DDR5 memory support with 115.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures smooth data flow. The CPU's role becomes more apparent when comparing the 1080p Low result to the 1440p Low result: the drop from 208 to 157 FPS is primarily due to the GPU, but the CPU's ability to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions suggests it has headroom to spare.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of all tested configurations for Control, this combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT ranks 518th out of 2888 systems. This places it in the top 18% of all tested combos, which is a strong result given the GPU's moderate 55th percentile ranking. The high CPU percentile (96th) helps to boost the overall ranking, as the processor ensures that the GPU operates at its full potential.

The ranking is particularly impressive when considering the GPU's benchmark score. The RX 7900 XT's average score of 13745 is only 1.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, which is a close rival. However, the actual gaming performance in Control, as measured by the FPS data, shows that this combo is capable of delivering high frame rates at all resolutions, with the only sub-60 result being 4K Ultra at 58 FPS.

Compared to other combos with similar CPU performance, the 0.2% delta over the Core Ultra 9 285K does not translate into a significant gaming advantage, as both processors are likely to be GPU-limited in most scenarios. The ranking of 518th out of 2888 indicates that while there are many faster configurations, particularly those with higher-end GPUs, this system offers a well-rounded experience that is suitable for high-refresh 1440p gaming and solid 4K playability with adjusted settings. The data shows that the combination is better than 82% of all tested systems, making it a capable choice for Control enthusiasts.