Palworld

Palworld on this AMD Ryzen 5 2600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D pairing shows a dataset that is heavily skewed by the CPU's age relative to the GPU's modern architecture. The measured frames per second (FPS) values reveal a system where the graphics card is rarely the limiting factor, even at the highest presets. The data indicates a consistent pattern of diminishing returns as resolution drops, with the CPU's Zen architecture becoming the primary bottleneck for high-refresh-rate gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience for this specific combination. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 161 FPS, while High produces 178 FPS, and Medium reaches 196 FPS. The Low preset tops out at 211 FPS. The jump from Ultra to Medium represents a 35 FPS gain (196 vs 161), which is a substantial 21.7% improvement in average frame rate. However, the step from Medium to Low only adds 15 FPS (211 vs 196), a 7.7% gain that comes with significant visual quality degradation.

For 2560x1440, the pattern shifts slightly. Ultra averages 119 FPS, High reaches 155 FPS, and Medium hits 170 FPS. Low again leads with 184 FPS. Here, the gap between Medium and Low narrows to just 14 FPS (184 vs 170), while the Ultra-to-High jump is a more pronounced 36 FPS (155 vs 119). The data suggests that High at 1440p provides a balanced point, offering a 30.3% improvement over Ultra while retaining most visual fidelity.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset drops to an average of 66 FPS, which is below the 87 FPS achieved by High. Medium reaches 114 FPS, and Low hits 140 FPS. The most efficient choice at 4K is High, as it provides a 31.8% increase over Ultra (87 vs 66) while maintaining a playable frame rate. Medium offers a further 27 FPS improvement over High (114 vs 87), but the visual trade-off becomes more noticeable at this resolution.

The optimal recommendation is the Medium preset for 1080p and 1440p, as it delivers the best balance of frame rate and visual quality without hitting the CPU bottleneck that caps Low settings. For 4K, the High preset is the recommended choice, as it keeps the average above 85 FPS while avoiding the steep drop to Ultra's 66 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D brings substantial hardware to this pairing. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s, with a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The GPU's 21,760 shading units and 680 tensor cores place it in a high-performance tier, as reflected in its 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 77712.

In Palworld, the GPU's role is most evident at 3840x2160 resolution. The measured data shows a clear scaling pattern: Ultra averages 66 FPS, High reaches 87 FPS, Medium hits 114 FPS, and Low achieves 140 FPS. This 74 FPS spread between Ultra and Low (140 vs 66) demonstrates that the GPU does become a limiting factor at 4K, particularly at higher settings. The GPU's 32 GB VRAM is unlikely to be a constraint in this game, as Palworld's asset streaming would need to exceed that capacity to cause issues.

At lower resolutions, the GPU's performance headroom becomes apparent. The 1080p Low preset reaches 211 FPS, but the 1440p Low preset only drops to 184 FPS, a modest 12.8% reduction. This suggests that the GPU is capable of far higher frame rates than the CPU can feed it. The GPU's benchmark scores, including a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376915, indicate processing power that is largely untapped in this configuration at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 270th out of 2944 tested combos in Palworld, placing it in the top 9.2% of all configurations. This ranking is notable given the CPU's age. The AMD Ryzen 5 2600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, has a 75th percentile ranking among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 21484. Its nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (0.2% higher score) and the Intel Core i9-11900H (0.5% higher), which suggests the 2600 is performing near its expected tier.

The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking is significantly higher than the CPU's 75th percentile, creating an imbalance. In Palworld, this imbalance manifests as a combo rank that is higher than what the CPU alone would suggest but lower than what the GPU could achieve with a newer processor. The rank of 270 out of 2944 indicates that many other combos with more balanced pairings achieve better in-game performance, despite the RTX 5090 D's raw power.

The data shows that the combo's performance is constrained by the CPU's single-thread capabilities. The Ryzen 5 2600's passmark single-thread score of 2239 and geekbench single-core score of 1154 are modest by modern standards. In a game like Palworld, which relies on physics and world simulation, this CPU limitation directly impacts the measured FPS, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is waiting on the CPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this combo for maximum frame rate?

A: The 1920x1080 Low preset yields the highest average FPS at 211. However, the Medium preset at 1080p provides 196 FPS, which is only 7.1% lower and offers better visual quality. For a balance of quality and speed, Medium at 1440p (170 FPS) is the most versatile option.

Q: Why does the Ultra preset perform so much worse than High at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 66 FPS while High reaches 87 FPS, a 31.8% difference. This drop indicates that the Ultra preset introduces rendering effects that heavily tax the GPU, even with the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The GPU's performance at Ultra is the bottleneck, not the CPU.

Q: Does this combo suffer from a CPU bottleneck?

A: Yes, the data strongly suggests a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (211 FPS) and Ultra (161 FPS) is 50 FPS, but the difference between 1080p Low and 1440p Low is only 27 FPS (211 vs 184). This small drop with a 2.25x increase in pixel count indicates the CPU is limiting frame rates, not the GPU.

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

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712, placing it 1.1% above the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76904) and 1.6% below the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940). Its percentile ranking of 92 places it in the top 8% of all GPUs.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS values recorded for Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum FPS is 166 and the maximum is 225. At 1440p Medium, the range is 145 to 196. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 96 and the maximum is 131. These ranges indicate consistent frame pacing without severe drops.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of CPU limitation. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 211 to 184, a 12.8% reduction. From 1440p to 3840x2160 at Low, the drop is from 184 to 140, a 23.9% reduction. The total drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 71 FPS (211 to 140), which is a 33.6% decrease despite a 4x increase in pixel count.

At High settings, the scaling is more pronounced. 1080p High averages 178 FPS, 1440p High drops to 155 FPS (12.9% lower), and 4K High falls to 87 FPS (43.9% lower than 1440p). The dramatic drop from 1440p to 4K at High settings (155 to 87) indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at this resolution, as the CPU's 12 threads are sufficient to maintain frame rates above 150 FPS at 1440p.

The Medium settings show a similar trend to Low. 1080p Medium averages 196 FPS, 1440p Medium drops to 170 FPS (13.3% lower), and 4K Medium falls to 114 FPS (32.9% lower than 1440p). The Ultra preset shows the steepest scaling curve: 1080p Ultra at 161 FPS, 1440p Ultra at 119 FPS (26.1% lower), and 4K Ultra at 66 FPS (44.5% lower than 1440p).

This data indicates that the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p and 1440p, where frame rates hover above 160 FPS regardless of settings. At 4K, the GPU's workload increases sufficiently to become the limiting factor, particularly at High and Ultra settings where the frame rate drops below 100 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, built on the Zen architecture with a 12 nm process node. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz with a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, and it has a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 96 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s.

In Palworld, the CPU's role is critical for world simulation and physics calculations. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 211 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it only reaches 161 FPS. This 50 FPS difference at the same resolution indicates that the CPU is not the sole limiter, as the GPU's load increases with settings. However, the fact that 1080p Low (211 FPS) is only 12.8% faster than 1440p Low (184 FPS) suggests the CPU's 12 threads are reaching their limit around 200 FPS.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide context. Its passmark multithread score is 13160, and its cinebench R15 multicore score is 1248. The single-core performance is notably weaker, with a passmark single-thread score of 2239 and a geekbench single-core score of 1154. This single-core limitation is likely the primary constraint in Palworld, as the game's main thread handles core simulation tasks.

The CPU's 75th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 21484 place it in the mid-range of desktop processors. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (0.2% higher) and the AMD EPYC 9454 (1.2% higher), which indicates the 2600 is performing at the expected level for its architecture. However, this performance tier is mismatched with the RTX 5090 D's 92nd percentile GPU ranking, creating the bottleneck observed in the measured FPS data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides average FPS for all resolution and settings combinations, with minimum and maximum values only for Medium settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves the highest average at 211 FPS. Medium follows at 196 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 166 FPS and maximum of 225 FPS. High averages 178 FPS, and Ultra drops to 161 FPS. The 50 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p highlights the GPU's sensitivity to settings at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset remains the fastest at 184 FPS. Medium averages 170 FPS, with a minimum of 145 FPS and maximum of 196 FPS. High reaches 155 FPS, and Ultra falls to 119 FPS. The 65 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is larger than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more involved as pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 140 FPS, which is the only setting above 120 FPS at this resolution. Medium averages 114 FPS, with a minimum of 96 FPS and maximum of 131 FPS. High drops to 87 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 66 FPS. The 74 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is the largest of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K.

Comparing the Medium settings across resolutions, the 1080p average of 196 FPS drops to 170 FPS at 1440p (13.3% lower) and then to 114 FPS at 4K (32.9% lower than 1440p). The minimum FPS values follow a similar trend: 166 at 1080p, 145 at 1440p, and 96 at 4K. The maximum values are 225, 196, and 131 respectively. These ranges demonstrate that while the combo is capable of high frame rates at lower resolutions, the 4K experience is more variable and significantly slower.