Palworld

Palworld, a Survival title from January 2024, presents a demanding workload for the tested configuration featuring the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and Intel Arc B390. This combination yields a measurable performance profile that is heavily constrained by the graphics subsystem, as the data indicates significant frame rate limitations across all tested resolutions and settings. The benchmark results show a system that is functional but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher graphical presets, with the data suggesting that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in this pairing.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combination reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across the four available presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 84 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this system in any configuration. This is a substantial lead over the Medium preset, which averages 68 FPS, and the High preset, which averages 53 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to an average of 40 FPS, indicating that the most demanding settings impose a severe performance penalty. The data suggests that for players seeking a responsive experience, the Low preset at 1080p is the only configuration that consistently achieves frame rates above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the performance scaling becomes more pronounced. The Low preset yields an average of 56 FPS, which is a 33% reduction compared to the same preset at 1080p. The Medium preset averages 45 FPS, while High drops to 35 FPS and Ultra falls to 26 FPS. None of these 1440p configurations reach the 60 FPS mark, meaning that even the lowest settings at this resolution will present noticeable frame pacing issues. The data indicates that the optimal experience for this resolution would require significant compromises, with Low being the only viable option for something approaching smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly overmatched. The Low preset averages 31 FPS, which is the best result at this resolution, but it still represents a sub-optimal experience. Medium averages 25 FPS, High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. These figures are all well below playable thresholds for a fast-paced survival game. The benchmark results strongly suggest that 4K resolution is not a practical option for this hardware combination, regardless of the chosen preset. Based on the measured data, the best experience is achieved with the Low preset at 1920x1080, as it is the only configuration that provides a fluid frame rate, while the Medium preset at 1080p could be considered for those prioritizing visual fidelity over absolute smoothness, given the 68 FPS average.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the dominant limiting factor in this configuration. The GPU's performance profile, indicated by its 9th percentile ranking among all tested GPUs, places it in the lower echelon of graphics hardware. This is corroborated by its average benchmark score of 1482 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, a figure that situates it near the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and GeForce 800M in terms of raw performance. The GPU's architecture is Xe3-LPG, built on a 3 nm process by Intel, and operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with the bus width and bandwidth being system-dependent, which means the GPU relies on the host system's DDR5 memory rather than dedicated VRAM.

This shared memory architecture has profound implications for Palworld's performance. The game's open-world environment requires substantial texture and geometry data, and the lack of dedicated video memory forces the system to allocate from the main system RAM, which is shared with the CPU. The data shows that the GPU's pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, but these theoretical capabilities are not translating into practical performance. The FP32 performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS, yet the measured frame rates suggest that the actual throughput is far below what these specifications might imply. The GPU's 24 ROPs and 48 TMUs are relatively modest figures, and the 1536 shading units are insufficient for the demands of Palworld at higher settings.

The frame rate data indicates that the GPU saturates quickly as resolution and settings increase. The transition from 1080p Low (84 FPS) to 1080p High (53 FPS) shows a 37% performance drop, while the jump to 4K Low (31 FPS) from 1080p Low demonstrates a 63% reduction. This pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is working at its absolute limit. The boost clock of 2500 MHz is the highest recorded figure for this GPU, but it cannot compensate for the fundamental lack of memory bandwidth and compute resources. The data strongly suggests that this GPU is the sole reason why the system cannot achieve higher frame rates, regardless of the powerful CPU paired with it.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and Intel Arc B390 holds a rank of 2607 out of 2944 tested combos for Palworld. This places the system in the 11th percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that it performs worse than approximately 89% of the other CPU-GPU pairings tested in this game. The ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's weak performance, as the CPU is a high-end part that would otherwise rank much higher. The data shows that this combo is positioned near the bottom of the performance spectrum, which is consistent with the GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

The rank of 2607 out of 2944 is particularly telling when considering the CPU's capabilities. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X has a percentile ranking of 91 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53288. This score places it in close competition with the AMD EPYC 7313P and Intel Xeon 634, with delta percentages of 0.2% and 0.6% respectively. The CPU is clearly not the bottleneck in this system. The fact that the combo ranks so low is entirely attributable to the GPU's performance ceiling. In other words, the CPU is being severely held back by the GPU, and the benchmark results suggest that pairing this CPU with a more capable graphics card would yield dramatically better results. The data implies that this combo is poorly balanced, with the GPU creating a performance bottleneck that prevents the CPU from demonstrating its full potential in Palworld.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this system in Palworld?

A: The highest average frame rate is 84 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K resolution with the Medium preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the system averages 25 FPS, with a minimum of 21 FPS and a maximum of 29 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this configuration?

A: The GPU is the clear limiting factor, evidenced by its 9th percentile ranking and the fact that the CPU holds a 91st percentile ranking. The frame rates are consistently low across all settings, regardless of the CPU's high performance.

Q: What is the rank of this combo among all tested combinations in Palworld?

A: This combo ranks 2607 out of 2944 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the Low and Ultra presets at 1920x1080?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 84 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 40 FPS, representing a 52% reduction in frame rate.

Q: What are the clock speeds of the Intel Arc B390?

A: The base clock is 300 MHz, and the boost clock is 2500 MHz.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a stark and consistent decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. For the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 84 at 1080p to 56 at 1440p and finally to 31 at 4K. This represents a 33% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 45% drop from 1440p to 4K. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern, with 68 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K. The High preset averages 53 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most punishing, with 40 FPS at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K.

The scaling pattern across resolutions is a textbook example of a GPU-bound scenario. The number of pixels being rendered increases by a factor of 2.25 from 1080p to 1440p, and by a factor of 4 from 1080p to 4K. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively constant regardless of resolution. However, the data shows that frame rates are nearly halved when moving from 1080p to 4K. This indicates that the GPU's rendering capabilities are being exhausted as the pixel count increases. The system's shared memory architecture likely exacerbates this issue, as the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth, and the system-dependent bandwidth becomes a critical constraint at higher resolutions where larger framebuffers are required. The data clearly suggests that the GPU is the limiting component, and its inability to maintain performance at higher resolutions is the primary reason this combo ranks so poorly.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael, and manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a TDP of 170 W. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a maximum bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s. It features 64 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 1 MB of L2 cache per core and 64 KB of L1 cache per core. The processor is designed for the AMD Socket AM5 and includes integrated Radeon Graphics, though this is not utilized for Palworld rendering.

The CPU's benchmark scores are exceptionally strong. In Cinebench R23, it achieves a multicore score of 29300 and a single-core score of 2016.5. In Geekbench, it scores 19267 in multicore and 2617 in single-core. These figures place the CPU in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53288. The nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7313P, which is 0.2% faster, and the Intel Core i7-14700F, which is 0.6% slower. The PassMark multithread score of 51406 further underscores the CPU's capability for handling multi-threaded workloads, which is relevant for Palworld's simulation and physics systems.

Despite this immense CPU power, the measured FPS in Palworld is consistently low. The data indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck, as frame rates are almost entirely dependent on the GPU's performance. The CPU's high single-thread and multi-thread scores suggest that it can easily feed the GPU with draw calls and game state updates. The real issue is that the GPU cannot process the data quickly enough to produce higher frame rates. The CPU's role is therefore diminished by the GPU's limitations. The data shows that this CPU has the potential to drive a much more powerful GPU, but in this configuration, its capabilities are largely wasted due to the Arc B390's performance ceiling.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a detailed breakdown of the measured FPS for Palworld with the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and Intel Arc B390 across all tested resolutions and settings.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 84 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. The Medium preset yields an average of 68 FPS, with a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS. The High preset averages 53 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. The Ultra preset averages 40 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. These figures show a clear degradation of performance as settings increase, with the Ultra preset being 52% slower than the Low preset.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 56 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. The Medium preset yields an average of 45 FPS, with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS. The High preset averages 35 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. The Ultra preset averages 26 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. Compared to 1080p, the Low preset sees a 33% drop, Medium a 34% drop, High a 34% drop, and Ultra a 35% drop.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 31 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. The Medium preset yields an average of 25 FPS, with a minimum of 21 FPS and a maximum of 29 FPS. The High preset averages 19 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. The Ultra preset averages 15 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. Compared to 1080p, the Low preset sees a 63% drop, Medium a 63% drop, High a 64% drop, and Ultra a 63% drop. The consistency in the percentage drop across all presets from 1080p to 4K confirms that the GPU is the primary constraint, as the frame rate scales almost linearly with the pixel count.