Palworld

Intel Core i5-12400 + Intel Arc B580 — Palworld Performance Analysis

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the Intel Arc B580 delivers a fundamentally playable Palworld experience at 1080p and 1440p, but the data shows a hard wall at 4K. At 1920x1080, the combination handles every preset from Low to Ultra above the 60 FPS playable threshold, with the Ultra preset averaging 70.5 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the system maintains 60+ FPS on High, Medium, and Low settings, but Ultra drops to 44.6 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset clears the 60 FPS mark, with even Low settings averaging only 56.1 FPS. The measured results indicate this is a strong 1080p and capable 1440p machine, not a 4K solution.

FAQ

Q: What is the playable threshold for this analysis?

A: The playable threshold is defined as 60 FPS. Any preset at a given resolution that averages at or above 60 FPS is considered playable.

Q: Can this combo run Palworld at 1080p on Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 70.5 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. This is the most demanding preset tested at this resolution.

Q: What is the best playable preset at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset is the best playable option, averaging 62.3 FPS. Low and Medium also clear the threshold with 98.1 FPS and 80.1 FPS respectively, but Ultra falls short at 44.6 FPS.

Q: Is 4K playable with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the best average FPS across all presets is 56.1 FPS on Low settings. High averages 35.4 FPS, Medium 41.6 FPS, and Ultra 27.1 FPS. None reach the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 18683. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores 18697, a delta of -0.1%. The Intel Core i7-1355U scores 18730 (-0.3%), the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 scores 18811 (-0.7%), and the Intel Core i3-14100F scores 18519 (0.9%). The i5-12400 sits at the 72nd percentile among all CPUs.

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

A: The Intel Arc B580 has an average benchmark score of 23021. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP scores 23061 (-0.2%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 scores 22895 (0.6%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 scores 23172 (-0.7%), and the NVIDIA P106-100 scores 23249 (-1%). The Arc B580 sits at the 68th percentile among all GPUs.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a clear shift in component bottleneck behavior as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the gap between Low and Ultra settings is substantial: 146.1 FPS versus 70.5 FPS. This 75.6 FPS spread indicates that the GPU is heavily taxed by higher presets, but the CPU's six cores and twelve threads are sufficient to feed the Arc B580 at lower settings. The 1080p Low result of 146.1 FPS suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution, since even the most demanding GPU work at Ultra still yields 70.5 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. The Low preset delivers 98.1 FPS, while High drops to 62.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 18.0 FPS, and between Medium and High is 17.8 FPS. This consistent scaling implies a GPU-bound scenario where each preset step increases rendering load proportionally. The CPU's role becomes less prominent here, as the Arc B580's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are the primary drivers of the frame rate differences.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unequivocally the dominant factor. The Ultra preset averages 27.1 FPS, while Low reaches 56.1 FPS. The scaling between Low and Ultra is a 29.0 FPS drop, nearly double the spread seen at 1440p. The CPU's benchmark scores—such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15989 and single-core score of 2257—are more than adequate for Palworld's survival genre workloads. The data indicates that at 4K, the Arc B580's 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 213.6 GPixel/s pixel rate simply cannot sustain the rendering load above 60 FPS at any preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers twelve combinations of four resolutions and three presets, with all min and max FPS values not reported. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 146.1 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium averages 119.5 FPS, High averages 92.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 70.5 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 75.6 FPS, with each preset step costing roughly 25 FPS on average.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 98.1 FPS, a 48.0 FPS drop from 1080p Low. Medium averages 80.1 FPS, High averages 62.3 FPS, and Ultra averages 44.6 FPS. The step from High to Ultra is a 17.7 FPS reduction, the largest single-preset drop at this resolution. The data shows that 1440p Ultra is the first preset to fall below the 60 FPS threshold in this dataset.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 56.1 FPS, which is 42.0 FPS lower than 1440p Low. Medium averages 41.6 FPS, High averages 35.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 27.1 FPS. The step from Medium to High is a 6.2 FPS drop, while High to Ultra is an 8.3 FPS drop. Every preset at 4K falls below the playable threshold, making this resolution unusable for consistent 60 FPS gameplay.

The Verdict

The data clearly answers whether this PC can run Palworld: yes, but not at every resolution. At 1920x1080, all four tested presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—average above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset delivers 70.5 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above the playable threshold. This makes 1080p the fully playable resolution for this combo, with no preset compromises required.

At 2560x1440, three of four presets clear the threshold. High averages 62.3 FPS, which is the best playable setting. Medium averages 80.1 FPS, and Low averages 98.1 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 44.6 FPS, making it unplayable by the 60 FPS standard. The verdict for 1440p is playable with settings capped at High.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches the playable threshold. The best result is Low at 56.1 FPS, which is 3.9 FPS short of 60. Medium averages 41.6 FPS, High averages 35.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 27.1 FPS. The verdict is unplayable at 4K. The combo rank of 2760 out of 3711 tested combinations places this hardware in the lower 25th percentile of tested combos, which aligns with the 4K failure but does not diminish its 1080p and 1440p capability.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide context for what similar hardware would behave like. For the Intel Core i5-12400, the closest matches by average benchmark score are the AMD EPYC 7643 (18697, -0.1% delta), the Intel Core i7-1355U (18730, -0.3%), the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811, -0.7%), and the Intel Core i3-14100F (18519, 0.9%). These CPUs would all exhibit nearly identical frame pacing in Palworld, given their benchmark scores are within 1% of the i5-12400.

For the Intel Arc B580, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061, -0.2%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, 0.6%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172, -0.7%), and the NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, -1%). The RTX 2080 and RTX 3080 are notably older architectures but produce similar average benchmark scores. A system pairing the i5-12400 with any of these GPUs would likely produce Palworld frame rates within a few FPS of the measured results, since the GPU benchmark deltas are all under 1%.

The practical implication is that users with an RTX 2080 or RTX 3080 from previous generations would see comparable Palworld performance to the Arc B580. Similarly, the EPYC 7643 or i3-14100F would not meaningfully change the CPU-bound behavior at 1080p, where the i5-12400's 146.1 FPS Low preset already demonstrates headroom.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which averages 70.5 FPS. This is the highest quality setting tested, and it clears the threshold by 10.5 FPS. Since all four presets are playable, Ultra is the unambiguous recommendation for 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the best playable preset is High, averaging 62.3 FPS. This clears the 60 FPS threshold by only 2.3 FPS, which is a narrow margin. Medium averages 80.1 FPS and Low averages 98.1 FPS, providing more headroom but lower visual quality. The data suggests High is viable, but users seeking a buffer against frame drops might prefer Medium.

At 3840x2160, there is no playable preset. The best average is Low at 56.1 FPS, which misses the threshold by 3.9 FPS. Since no preset reaches 60 FPS, the recommendation is to either lower the resolution to 1440p or accept sub-60 FPS performance at 4K. The measured data provides no playable settings for this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 + Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 2760 out of 3711 tested combos in Palworld, placing it in the 74th percentile of tested hardware configurations. This rank reflects the 4K failure, but the 1080p and 1440p results are competitive. The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 68th percentile among all GPUs both contribute to this overall position.

The rank implies that roughly 25% of tested combos perform worse than this setup, while 75% perform better. Given that the 1080p Ultra preset averages 70.5 FPS and the 1440p High preset averages 62.3 FPS, the combo's mid-to-low tier ranking is consistent with its inability to handle 4K. The data indicates that this hardware is a solid choice for 1080p gaming and a reasonable choice for 1440p with settings capped at High, but it cannot compete with higher-tier combos at 4K resolution.