Palworld

Palworld on the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 presents a fascinating case of a last-gen CPU paired with a current-gen GPU. The measured data shows a system that is capable of very high frame rates, but the relationship between the processor and graphics card shifts dramatically depending on resolution and settings. This analysis explores those dynamics, interpreting the benchmark results to understand where the bottlenecks lie and how to get the best experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p with High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo delivers an average of 109 FPS. This suggests a smooth experience for high-refresh-rate monitors at this resolution.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 17035, placing it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs. Its closest rivals include the Intel Core i7-1260P, which is 0.2% slower, and the AMD EPYC 7573X, which is also 0.2% slower.

Q: What is the maximum frame rate recorded at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The max FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings reaches 247 FPS, with an average of 215 FPS. This indicates the system can push well beyond the refresh rate of most standard monitors.

Q: Which preset at 4K provides a playable frame rate above 60 FPS?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves an average of 97 FPS, and the Medium preset achieves an average of 79 FPS. Both are above the 60 FPS threshold, while the High preset sits right at 60 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's compute performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40377, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. It is 0.1% faster than the AMD Radeon Pro 580 and 2% faster than the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile.

Q: What is the performance drop when moving from the Medium to Ultra preset at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 141 on Medium to 83 on Ultra. This represents a significant 41% performance hit for the increased visual fidelity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. It features a 32 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory. Its benchmark scores show a strong multi-threaded capability, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15045 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 7372. Single-thread performance is more modest, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2124.

In Palworld, a game that involves significant world simulation and AI for its creature population, multi-core performance is often relevant. The data suggests this CPU is not the primary limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the system achieves an average of 165 FPS on High settings and 125 FPS on Ultra. These numbers indicate the processor can feed the GPU adequately, as frame rates scale well with GPU load. However, the CPU's performance ceiling becomes more apparent when examining the scaling from 1080p to 4K, where the frame rate differences are not purely linear.

The CPU's 71st percentile ranking and its closeness to rivals like the Intel Core i7-1260P and Intel Core i5-11400, which are within 0.2% in average score, suggest it is a capable mid-range part. For a survival game like Palworld, the combination of 6 cores and 12 threads is generally sufficient to handle background simulation tasks while the GPU renders the main scene. The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is likely able to maintain high frame rates, but the gap between Low and Ultra settings (242 FPS vs 125 FPS) shows that the GPU is still the primary driver of performance changes.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience for different priorities. For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers an average of 242 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play or extremely high-refresh-rate displays. However, for a balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot.

At 1080p, the Medium preset achieves an average of 215 FPS, with a minimum of 183 FPS, ensuring a consistently smooth experience. The jump from Medium to High reduces the average to 165 FPS, a 23% decrease. Moving to Ultra drops it further to 125 FPS. The Medium preset offers a significant visual improvement over Low while maintaining frame rates well above 144 FPS, making it the recommended choice for most users.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again provides a robust experience with an average of 141 FPS and a minimum of 120 FPS. The High preset at 109 FPS is also very playable, but the Medium preset's 141 FPS average provides more headroom for demanding scenes. At 4K, the Low preset at 97 FPS is the only option that provides a clear margin above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 79 FPS is also playable, but the High preset at exactly 60 FPS leaves no room for dips in performance.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 808th out of 3711 tested combos in Palworld. This places it in the top 22% of all tested systems, indicating a strong performance level. This ranking is significant because it shows that despite the CPU being a few generations old, the pairing with the RTX 5070 results in a system that outperforms the vast majority of other configurations.

The GPU's high percentile ranking of 82nd and its strong average benchmark score of 40377 are the primary drivers of this overall combo ranking. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking is also respectable. The fact that this combo ranks highly suggests that Palworld is not exceptionally CPU-bound at the settings tested, or that the RTX 5070's raw power is sufficient to overcome the CPU's limitations in most scenarios. The ranking reflects the balanced, high-performance nature of the pairing, even if the CPU is not the newest on the market.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the clear performance leader in this pairing. It is based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. With 6144 shading units and a boost clock of 2512 MHz, its FP32 compute power is rated at 30.87 TFLOPS.

The GPU's role is most evident at higher resolutions. At 4K with Low settings, the system achieves 97 FPS, which is a significant jump from the 60 FPS at High settings. This 62% performance increase from High to Low settings at the same resolution shows that the GPU is the main bottleneck at 4K. The GPU is being pushed harder, and reducing the graphical load directly translates to higher frame rates.

At 1080p, the GPU is less stressed. The difference between Low (242 FPS) and Ultra (125 FPS) is still substantial, but the absolute frame rates are so high that the CPU's limitations might start to emerge. However, the data shows that even at 1080p, the GPU is still the primary factor in performance scaling, as the frame rates increase significantly as settings are lowered. The 12 GB of VRAM is also a relevant factor, as Palworld's open world with many creatures can be memory-intensive at higher resolutions and settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive overview of the system's performance across different resolutions and settings.

1080p:

• Low: 242 FPS average
• Medium: 215 FPS average, 183 FPS min, 247 FPS max
• High: 165 FPS average
• Ultra: 125 FPS average

1440p:

• Low: 175 FPS average
• Medium: 141 FPS average, 120 FPS min, 163 FPS max
• High: 109 FPS average
• Ultra: 83 FPS average

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 97 FPS average
• Medium: 79 FPS average, 67 FPS min, 90 FPS max
• High: 60 FPS average
• Ultra: 46 FPS average

These numbers show a clear pattern. At 1080p, the system is capable of very high frame rates, with even the Ultra preset averaging 125 FPS. At 1440p, performance remains strong, with the High preset delivering over 100 FPS. At 4K, the system becomes more constrained, with only the Low and Medium presets providing averages above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K, with an average of 46 FPS, is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K provides insight into the system's bottleneck. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 165 at 1080p to 109 at 1440p, a 34% decrease. Further dropping to 4K yields 60 FPS, which is a 64% decrease from 1080p and a 45% decrease from 1440p.

This pattern is typical of a GPU-bound system. As the resolution increases, the rendering load on the GPU grows exponentially, and the frame rate drops accordingly. The CPU's performance is less of a factor at higher resolutions because the GPU takes longer to render each frame.

However, the scaling is not perfectly linear. For example, at Low settings, the drop from 1080p (242 FPS) to 1440p (175 FPS) is a 28% decrease, but the drop from 1440p to 4K (97 FPS) is a 45% decrease. This steeper drop at 4K suggests that the system is becoming more heavily GPU-limited at this resolution. The difference between the Low and Ultra presets also grows with resolution; at 1080p, the difference is 117 FPS, but at 4K, it narrows to 51 FPS. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU's absolute performance limit is being approached, and the settings have a relatively smaller impact on the frame rate compared to lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom.