Palworld

Palworld’s measured performance with the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 shows a system that scales predictably across resolutions, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint as pixel count rises. At 1080p, the combination delivers very high frame rates that indicate a strong CPU showing, while 4K results reveal the expected GPU-bound behavior. The data set provides twelve measured points across four quality presets and three resolutions, offering a clear view of how this hardware pairing behaves in this survival title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 clearly demonstrates the shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS reaches 318, which is the highest figure recorded in the entire data set. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same Low preset drops the average to 209 FPS, a reduction of 109 FPS or roughly 34%. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 116 FPS, representing a 44.5% drop from the 1440p result. This steep decline as resolution increases is a classic sign of the GPU becoming the limiting factor, since the CPU workload per frame does not scale with pixel count.

The High preset tells a similar story. At 1080p High, the average is 198 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 130 FPS, a 34.3% reduction. At 4K High, the average is 72 FPS, which is 44.6% lower than the 1440p figure. The consistency of these percentage drops—roughly one-third from 1080p to 1440p and then another 44-45% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the rendering pipeline is scaling almost entirely with pixel throughput. The RTX 4080’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus with 716.8 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient at all tested resolutions, so memory capacity is not the constraint.

The Medium preset offers the only complete set of min and max FPS data. At 1080p Medium, the average is 257 FPS with a minimum of 219 and a maximum of 296. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 169 FPS, with min and max at 144 and 195 respectively. At 4K Medium, the average is 94 FPS, with min and max at 80 and 108. The narrowing gap between average and minimum at higher resolutions suggests that frame time consistency improves when the GPU is more fully utilized, which is typical behavior for a system where the CPU has headroom.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across all resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 150 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 99 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it reaches 55 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured average below 60 FPS, indicating that this preset pushes the RTX 4080 to its limits in this game. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p Ultra shows a 34% drop, while 1440p to 4K Ultra shows a 44.4% drop, matching the pattern seen in other presets. This uniformity across settings reinforces that resolution scaling is the dominant factor in performance variation.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this CPU and GPU combination in Palworld?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 318, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K with all tested presets?

A: No. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 55, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The other 4K presets—Low, Medium, and High—all average above 60 FPS, with 116, 94, and 72 FPS respectively.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The percentage drop is consistent across presets. At Low settings, the average falls from 318 to 209 FPS, a 34.3% reduction. At High settings, it drops from 198 to 130 FPS, also a 34.3% reduction. Medium and Ultra show similar proportional decreases.

Q: Which preset at 1440p provides the highest minimum FPS?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 shows a minimum FPS of 144, which is the only min FPS value reported for that resolution. The other presets at 1440p do not have min FPS data listed.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 318 FPS while the Ultra preset averages 150 FPS. This represents a 168 FPS difference, with Ultra delivering approximately 52.8% of the Low preset’s frame rate.

Q: How does the RTX 4080’s memory configuration relate to the 4K results?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 256-bit bus and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth. The measured 4K frame rates, from 55 FPS at Ultra to 116 FPS at Low, indicate that memory bandwidth is sufficient for these workloads, as no unusual performance cliff is observed between presets.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It operates on AMD Socket AM5 with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The 65 W TDP places it in the mainstream power envelope, but the benchmark results show that its single-threaded performance is a strong asset for Palworld. The 3DMark single-thread score is 1253, and the Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2183.5, both of which are respectable for a desktop processor.

The game’s frame rates at 1080p reveal that the CPU is capable of feeding the RTX 4080 at very high levels. The 318 FPS result at 1080p Low is particularly telling, as it shows the CPU can sustain a high instruction throughput without becoming the primary bottleneck. The 3DMark max-threads score of 7590, which is nearly identical to the 16-thread score of 7585, suggests that the 6-core/12-thread configuration scales well with the game’s multi-threaded workload. The L3 cache is 32 MB shared, and the L2 cache is 1 MB per core, which provides sufficient on-die storage for the game’s data access patterns.

At 4K resolution, the CPU’s role diminishes relative to the GPU, but the data shows that it does not hold back performance. The 4K Low average of 116 FPS is still a high frame rate, and the consistent percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p to 4K indicate that the CPU is not introducing a ceiling effect. If the CPU were the limiter at lower resolutions, the frame rate at 1080p would plateau, and the proportional scaling would break down. Instead, the smooth scaling suggests the CPU has ample headroom across all tested settings.

The Ryzen 5 9600X’s percentile ranking of 81 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29713, places it in the upper tier of processors. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE, which scores 29656 with a 0.2% delta, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H, which scores 29868 with a -0.5% delta. These comparisons show that the 9600X sits in a competitive performance band, though the deltaPct values are all within 1%, indicating that the chip’s multi-threaded performance is closely matched by several alternatives. For Palworld specifically, the single-thread strength is likely more relevant, and the 3DMark 2-thread score of 2456 supports the notion that the processor handles lightly-threaded workloads efficiently.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data set shows four presets with distinct frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 318 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire table. Medium settings reduce the average to 257 FPS, with a reported minimum of 219 and maximum of 296. High settings lower the average further to 198 FPS. Ultra settings produce 150 FPS on average. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 168 FPS, which is the largest absolute difference between any two presets at the same resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 209 for Low, 169 for Medium, 130 for High, and 99 for Ultra. The Medium preset again provides min and max figures, with 144 and 195 FPS respectively. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 110 FPS, which is proportionally similar to the 1080p gap. All 1440p presets exceed 90 FPS, indicating that this resolution is well within the system’s comfort zone for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 116 for Low, 94 for Medium, 72 for High, and 55 for Ultra. The Medium preset reports a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 108 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only sub-60 FPS average in the entire data set, which is noteworthy for a game like Palworld that can have demanding open-world scenes. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 61 FPS, which is the smallest absolute range across the three resolutions, reflecting the GPU’s proximity to its performance ceiling.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min and max FPS data across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum is 219 FPS, which is 85.2% of the average. At 1440p, the minimum is 144 FPS, which is 85.2% of the average as well. At 4K, the minimum is 80 FPS, which is 85.1% of the average of 94 FPS. This consistency in the min-to-average ratio suggests that frame pacing remains stable as resolution increases, even as the absolute frame rates decline.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 247th out of 3711 tested combinations in Palworld, placing it in the top 6.7% of all configurations in the benchmark database. This rank reflects the system’s ability to maintain high frame rates across the tested settings and resolutions. The RTX 4080 itself holds an 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247, and its nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209 with a deltaPct of 0.1%.

The combo rank of 247 suggests that there are 246 other pairings that achieve higher average performance in this game. These are likely to include faster GPUs or CPUs with higher core counts, but the data provided does not specify which combinations rank ahead. The fact that this pairing sits in the top percentile indicates that it is a high-end configuration, but the 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS shows that even this hardware cannot max out the game at 4K with a 60 FPS target.

The RTX 4080’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, which scores 54828 with a deltaPct of -1.1%, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, which scores 55698 with a deltaPct of -2.6%. These negative deltas indicate that the RTX 4080’s raw benchmark score is lower than these competitors, yet the measured FPS in Palworld for this combo is still high. This discrepancy highlights that synthetic benchmarks do not always translate directly to game-specific performance, and the 247th rank out of 3711 combos is the more relevant metric for this title.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS at 4K, the data indicates that Ultra settings are not viable, as the average is 55 FPS. High settings at 4K produce 72 FPS, which provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings at 4K yield 94 FPS, offering even more headroom at the cost of some visual fidelity. The Low preset at 4K achieves 116 FPS, which is suitable for high-refresh-rate displays, though the visual quality reduction is substantial.

At 1440p, all presets exceed 90 FPS, making this resolution the sweet spot for this hardware. Ultra settings at 1440p average 99 FPS, which is above 60 FPS and provides the full visual experience without sacrificing smoothness. High settings at 1440p reach 130 FPS, which is ideal for 120 Hz displays. Medium settings at 169 FPS and Low at 209 FPS cater to esports-style play or very high refresh rate monitors, but the visual trade-offs are significant.

At 1080p, the system is clearly CPU-limited at lower presets, with Low reaching 318 FPS and Medium at 257 FPS. High settings at 198 FPS and Ultra at 150 FPS still provide excellent performance. For most users, the Medium preset at 1440p or High at 4K offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate based on the measured data. The Medium preset’s complete min and max FPS data across all resolutions suggests it is a stable choice, with the 1440p Medium result showing a minimum of 144 FPS that aligns well with common 144 Hz monitor refresh rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It contains 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, with 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines. The GPU also includes 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores, which are relevant for Palworld’s visual features but are not directly measured in the FPS data. The boost clock is 2505 MHz, and the memory operates at 1400 MHz with 22.4 Gbps effective speed.

The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a critical specification for 4K gaming, as higher resolutions demand more memory throughput. The measured 4K performance, ranging from 55 FPS at Ultra to 116 FPS at Low, suggests that the memory subsystem is not a bottleneck. If bandwidth were insufficient, the frame rates at 4K would show more erratic scaling or a sharper drop-off between presets. Instead, the consistent proportional reductions across resolutions indicate that compute throughput is the limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

The RTX 4080’s percentile ranking of 86 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247, positions it as a high-end part. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54209 with a deltaPct of 0.1%, meaning they are essentially tied in average benchmark terms. The measured Palworld FPS data shows that this GPU can deliver 318 FPS at 1080p Low when paired with the Ryzen 5 9600X, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 55 FPS. This range illustrates the GPU’s capability curve: it excels at lower resolutions where the CPU can keep up, but at 4K with maximum settings, it approaches its limits.

The GPU’s 320 W TDP and triple-slot cooler design are indicative of its performance class, and the suggested power supply is 700 W. The PCIe 4.0 x16 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for the game’s data transfer needs. In Palworld, the GPU’s role is dominant at 4K, as evidenced by the sub-60 FPS Ultra result, but at 1080p, the system’s frame rates are high enough to suggest that the CPU is the more active participant in maintaining performance. The combination rank of 247 out of 3711 confirms that this pairing is well above average, even if it cannot max out the game at 4K.