Palworld

Palworld, a survival title that released in early 2024, presents a unique challenge for hardware combinations. The pairing of an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU with an Intel Arc B390 GPU produces a dataset that is heavily skewed by the graphics solution. The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated-class part based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel’s 3 nm process, and it posts benchmark scores that place it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is a fundamental constraint. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings are low, with the combination ranking 2607th out of 2944 tested combos in this specific game, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all systems tested. The data reveals a system where the CPU’s substantial compute resources are largely left idle, waiting on a GPU that cannot keep pace with the demands of Palworld’s world.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly identifies the Intel Arc B390 as the primary limiting factor in this combination. Looking at the average FPS with High settings, the progression from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 shows a stark decline: 53 FPS, then 35 FPS, and finally 19 FPS. This is a drop of approximately 34% when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 45.7% drop when moving from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is about 64.2%. This pattern is classic evidence of a GPU-bound scenario; as the pixel count increases, the render workload expands exponentially, and the GPU’s limited throughput becomes the bottleneck.

This trend is consistent across all quality presets. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 84 at 1080p to 56 at 1440p and 31 at 4K. At Medium settings, the numbers are 68, 45, and 25, respectively. Even at Ultra, which is the most demanding preset, the frame rates are 40, 26, and 15. The relative scaling remains steep. A CPU-bound system would show much smaller differences between 1080p and 1440p, as the resolution increase would not strain the processor. Here, the consistent and dramatic falloff with every resolution increase points squarely at the Intel Arc B390’s inability to handle higher pixel counts. The GPU’s pixel rate is listed at 60.00 GPixel/s and its texture rate at 120.0 GTexel/s, but these theoretical figures are insufficient for Palworld’s open-world environments at high resolutions.

The data indicates that even at 1080p, the system is not delivering high frame rates. With a maximum average of 84 FPS at Low settings, the combination struggles to exceed the 60 FPS threshold in most configurations. At 1080p High, the average is 53 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. At 1440p, the situation worsens, with only the Low preset managing an average above 50 FPS (56 FPS). The 4K results are uniformly poor, with all presets falling below 32 FPS. The scaling behavior suggests that the Arc B390 is overwhelmed by the fill-rate and shading requirements of Palworld, and the CPU’s performance is essentially irrelevant to the frame rate at these settings. The system’s performance is dictated by the GPU’s 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and its System Shared memory, which is a significant handicap for a game that streams large environments.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2607th out of 2944 tested combos in Palworld. This places it in the bottom 11.5% of all systems, a position that reflects the GPU’s weak standing in the hardware landscape. The Intel Arc B390 itself sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rivals, according to the data, are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GeForce GT 625 OEM, and GeForce GT 710. The Arc B390’s average score is 1.3% higher than the GT 520MX, 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M, 2.5% higher than the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% higher than the GT 710. These are all extremely old, low-end parts, which contextualizes the Arc B390’s performance level as being in the same tier as a decade-old entry-level GPU.

In contrast, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is a much stronger component. It sits in the 81st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29123. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H (0.1% faster), Intel Xeon Phi 7210 (0.4% slower), Intel Core i5-13500HX (0.5% slower), and AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (0.6% faster). The CPU’s performance is thus competitive with modern mid-range and high-end laptop processors, showing that the processor is not the bottleneck. The disparity between the CPU’s 81st percentile ranking and the GPU’s 9th percentile ranking is stark. The combo’s overall rank of 2607 is dragged down almost entirely by the GPU. A system with this CPU would typically rank much higher if paired with a more capable graphics card. The data shows a massive imbalance in component capability, where the CPU is in the top fifth of all processors, but the GPU is in the bottom tenth of all graphics cards.

This rank of 2607 out of 2944 is a direct consequence of the GPU’s limitations. The CPU’s high benchmark scores, such as 15476 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 27732 in Passmark multi-thread, are irrelevant to the final frame rate in Palworld because the GPU cannot process frames fast enough to utilize the CPU’s throughput. The combo is effectively a high-end CPU throttled by an entry-level integrated GPU. This is a critical insight for understanding any benchmark results from this pairing.

FAQ

Q: Why is the frame rate so low at 4K resolution?

A: The Intel Arc B390 GPU has a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 and sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its compute power of 7.680 TFLOPS is insufficient for the rendering demands of Palworld at 3840x2160. The data shows average FPS of 31 at Low, 25 at Medium, 19 at High, and 15 at Ultra, all of which are below playable thresholds. The GPU is the bottleneck, not the CPU.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X a good match for the Intel Arc B390?

A: No. The CPU is in the 81st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29123, while the GPU is in the 9th percentile. The CPU is vastly more powerful than the GPU, creating a significant imbalance. The system’s performance is limited by the GPU, meaning the CPU’s capabilities are largely unused in this game.

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo can achieve in Palworld?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded in the dataset is 84 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. At 1080p High settings, the average drops to 53 FPS. At 1440p, the best average is 56 FPS at Low settings, and at 4K, the best average is 31 FPS at Low settings.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390’s average 3DMark score of 1482 is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M, 2.5% higher than the GeForce GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% higher than the GeForce GT 710. These are all very old, low-end GPUs, indicating the Arc B390’s performance class is extremely low.

Q: Does the CPU make any difference to the frame rate in this test?

A: The data suggests the CPU has minimal impact on the frame rate. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X has 8 cores and 16 threads with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, and it scores 15476 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. However, since the GPU is the bottleneck, the frame rates are consistently low across all tested resolutions and settings. The GPU cannot render frames quickly enough to take advantage of the CPU’s processing power.

Q: What are the frame time consistency results like?

A: The dataset only includes min and max FPS values for Medium settings. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average FPS is 68 with a min of 58 and max of 79. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average is 45 with a min of 38 and max of 52. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average is 25 with a min of 21 and max of 29. The spread between min and max is relatively tight, indicating no severe stuttering in these particular runs, but the overall averages are low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and Intel Arc B390 combination in Palworld are as follows. At 1920x1080 resolution, the average FPS varies significantly by quality preset. The Low preset yields the highest average at 84 FPS. The Medium preset produces an average of 68 FPS, with a minimum of 58 and a maximum of 79. The High preset drops to an average of 53 FPS. Finally, the Ultra preset results in an average of 40 FPS. These numbers show that at 1080p, the system is only capable of smooth performance at the lowest settings, while higher presets fall below the 60 FPS mark.

Moving to 2560x1440 resolution, the performance degrades further. The Low preset averages 56 FPS, which is still above 50 but not ideal. The Medium preset averages 45 FPS, with a minimum of 38 and a maximum of 52. The High preset averages 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 26 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is substantial across all settings, with the Low preset losing 28 FPS, Medium losing 23 FPS, High losing 18 FPS, and Ultra losing 14 FPS. This consistent decline reinforces the GPU-bound nature of the system.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the frame rates become largely unplayable. The Low preset averages 31 FPS. The Medium preset averages 25 FPS, with a minimum of 21 and a maximum of 29. The High preset averages 19 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 15 FPS. No preset at 4K achieves an average above 32 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows another significant drop: Low loses 25 FPS, Medium loses 20 FPS, High loses 16 FPS, and Ultra loses 11 FPS. The absolute numbers at 4K are below 30 FPS for all settings, which is not a playable experience for most users. The data clearly shows that this combo is only suitable for 1080p gaming with reduced settings, and even then, it struggles with the higher quality presets.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is unquestionably the dominant factor in this system’s Palworld performance. This GPU, built on the Xe3-LPG architecture with a 3 nm process, is positioned as an integrated part (IGP) with a 80 W TDP. Its base clock is 300 MHz and its boost clock is 2500 MHz. The memory configuration is “System Shared,” meaning it uses a portion of the system’s main memory rather than dedicated VRAM. This is a significant handicap for modern games, as memory bandwidth is “System Dependent” and likely far lower than what a dedicated graphics card would offer.

The GPU’s benchmark results are poor. Its only listed benchmark, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, yields a score of 1482. This places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and GeForce 800M, which are both ancient mobile parts. The data indicates that the Arc B390’s compute capabilities are very limited. It has 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, with 12 ray tracing cores. Its FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s. These numbers, while not comparable to modern discrete GPUs, still represent the entirety of its rendering power.

In Palworld, the GPU’s limitations are exposed at every turn. The frame rates at 1080p High (53 FPS) and 1440p High (35 FPS) are low because the GPU is struggling to handle the game’s geometry, textures, and post-processing effects. The fact that the frame rate scales so poorly with resolution suggests that the GPU is fill-rate limited. The increase in pixel count from 1080p to 4K quadruples the number of pixels to be rendered, and the Arc B390 simply does not have the ROP throughput or memory bandwidth to cope. The “System Shared” memory is a major issue, as it relies on the system’s DDR4 memory bus, which is shared with the CPU and has a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s for the CPU itself. This shared memory arrangement limits the GPU’s access to data, causing stalls and reduced performance. The GPU’s low 3DMark score and its position in the 9th percentile are consistent with the measured FPS data, showing it is the definitive bottleneck in this pairing.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X plays a supporting role in this combination, and its performance is almost entirely untapped. This CPU is a desktop part based on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer), built on TSMC’s 7 nm process. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and a 32 MB L3 cache. It supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The CPU’s 105 W TDP is typical for a high-performance desktop part.

The Ryzen 7 5800X’s benchmark scores are strong. It achieves 15476 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1574.5 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 11036 multi-core and 2032 single-core. Passmark results show 27732 in multi-thread and 3445 in single-thread. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 29123, placing it in the 81st percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and Core i5-13500HX, are within 0.5% of its average score, indicating that the 5800X remains competitive with much newer processors. Given this level of performance, the CPU is more than capable of running Palworld’s game logic, physics, and AI calculations.

However, in this specific test, the CPU’s role is diminished. The measured frame rates in Palworld are consistently low, but this is not due to CPU limitations. The CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for a game like Palworld, which is not known for extreme multi-threaded demands. The data shows that frame rates scale inversely with resolution, a hallmark of GPU-bound performance. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would be similar across resolutions, or even higher at lower resolutions, but that is not the case. The CPU is effectively idle, waiting for the Intel Arc B390 to deliver frames. The system’s ranking of 2607 out of 2944 combos is not a reflection of the CPU’s capability, but rather a consequence of pairing a top-tier CPU from 2020 with a GPU that performs at the level of a decade-old entry-level part. The CPU’s high scores in synthetic benchmarks do not translate to higher FPS in this game because the GPU cannot keep up. This combination showcases a severe bottleneck, where the CPU’s potential is wasted.