Palworld

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall performance rank in Palworld?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combo ranks 1031 out of 1718 tested combinations in Palworld, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 54450. It sits 0.4% below the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54681), 0.7% above the Intel Core i7-14700F (54097), 1.5% below the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (55304), and 1.8% below the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55421).

Q: What is the GPU's position relative to its closest competitors?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER averages 22206 in GPU benchmarks. It is 0.5% below the NVIDIA RTX A400 (22307), 0.9% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (22006), 2.3% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile (22729), and 2.5% above the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (21670).

Q: What are the best and worst frame rates measured at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the lowest average FPS is 78.3 on Ultra settings, while the highest is 165.9 FPS on Low settings. Medium and High presets deliver 136.5 and 102.2 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: The CPU scores 1286 in 3DMark single-thread and 13929 in 3DMark max-threads, indicating strong scaling. In Cinebench R23, it achieves 6555 single-core and 46438 multi-core, showing a roughly 7x improvement in multi-threaded workloads.

Q: What memory and platform features does this CPU support?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X supports DDR5 memory via a dual-channel bus with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth. It uses AMD Socket AM5 and provides PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes from the CPU. ECC memory is supported.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a TDP of 120 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 64 MB shared L3. This is a desktop part with an unlocked multiplier, released on 2024-08-14.

In Palworld, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the combo reaches 165.9 FPS, which is the highest measured value. This indicates that the CPU is capable of driving high frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck. The single-thread score of 1286 in 3DMark and 6555 in Cinebench R23 suggests that per-core performance is solid for a survival game where world simulation and entity updates often run on a limited number of threads.

The multi-thread capability is significant: 3DMark 16-thread score is 12552, and max-threads reaches 13929. Cinebench R23 multi-core is 46438. These numbers show that the CPU can handle heavy background tasks, such as Pal AI updates and physics, without starving the main game thread. However, the combo's rank of 1031 out of 1718 suggests that the CPU's raw power is not the limiting factor in Palworld; instead, the GPU is more likely to cap performance at higher resolutions and settings.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 9 9900X is within 2% of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K and 245KF, and within 1% of the 9900X3D and i7-14700F. This tight grouping means that swapping to any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical Palworld frame rates when paired with the same GPU. The 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample parallelism for the game's simulation, but the boost clock of 5.60 GHz is more relevant for the lightly-threaded main loop.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how settings affect performance. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset yields 78.3 FPS, which is playable but leaves headroom for higher refresh rates. Medium settings jump to 136.5 FPS, a 74% increase over Ultra. High settings deliver 102.2 FPS, and Low reaches 165.9 FPS.

For the best experience at 1080p, the Medium preset offers the most balanced trade-off. It provides 136.5 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and close to the refresh rate of many 144 Hz monitors. The step from Medium to High costs 34.3 FPS (from 136.5 to 102.2), while the step from High to Ultra costs 23.9 FPS (from 102.2 to 78.3). Given that the visual difference between Medium and High in Palworld is often subtle due to the art style, Medium is the recommended starting point.

At 2560x1440, Medium delivers 88.9 FPS, which is still smooth. High drops to 70.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 52.3 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p hits 112 FPS, but the visual quality loss is substantial. For 1440p, Medium is again the sweet spot, providing a 68% improvement over Ultra (from 52.3 to 88.9) while retaining acceptable visuals.

At 3840x2160, even Low settings only reach 60.3 FPS, and Medium dips to 50.7 FPS. High is 40.3 FPS, and Ultra is 31.5 FPS. None of these are ideal for competitive play, but Low at 4K is the only preset that maintains 60 FPS. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo requires significant settings compromises.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings. At Low settings, 1080p yields 165.9 FPS, 1440p yields 112 FPS (a 32.5% drop), and 4K yields 60.3 FPS (a 63.7% drop from 1080p). At Medium, the progression is 136.5 → 88.9 → 50.7, representing a 62.9% drop from 1080p to 4K. High settings go from 102.2 → 70.5 → 40.3, a 60.5% drop. Ultra goes from 78.3 → 52.3 → 31.5, a 59.8% drop.

This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. The GPU's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient to maintain frame rates as pixel count increases. The GPU's average benchmark score of 22206 and its 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirm that it is a mid-range part from the Turing generation, now end-of-life.

The CPU, by contrast, shows no signs of bottlenecking. The 1080p Low score of 165.9 FPS is close to what the CPU can feed, and even at 4K Low, the 60.3 FPS is more than double the 4K Ultra result. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between resolutions at the same settings. Instead, the data shows that reducing resolution from 4K to 1080p roughly triples frame rates across all presets, which is a classic GPU-bound signature.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the RTX A400 (22307 avg score) and the GTX TITAN Z (22006). These are all within 2.5% of the RTX 2070 SUPER's score, meaning the GPU is performing as expected for its class. The 4K Ultra result of 31.5 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, so users should avoid Ultra at 4K. Even 1440p Ultra at 52.3 FPS is marginal for smooth gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

In Palworld, this combo ranks 1031 out of 1718 tested combinations. This places it in the 60th percentile of all combos (rank 1031 / 1718 means 60% of combos perform better). The rank reflects the GPU's mid-range position more than the CPU's strength. The Ryzen 9 9900X is at the 94th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 2070 SUPER is at the 65th percentile among all GPUs.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 54450 puts it in a tight cluster with its nearest rivals. The deltaPct values range from -1.8% (Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF) to +0.7% (Intel Core i7-14700F). This means that the CPU choice has a negligible impact on Palworld performance when paired with this GPU. The 9900X3D is only 0.4% faster, and the i7-14700F is 0.7% slower—all within noise for gaming workloads.

The GPU's average score of 22206 is similarly close to its rivals, with deltas from -2.3% (RTX 4060 Mobile) to +2.5% (RX 5700). This suggests that the GPU is the binding constraint in this combo. A stronger GPU, such as one from a higher tier, would move the combo rank significantly higher, whereas a different CPU would not.

The combo's measured FPS data shows that it can achieve playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with Medium settings, but struggles at 4K. The rank of 1031 reflects this reality: it is a capable 1080p/1440p setup, but not a high-end 4K machine. For Palworld specifically, the game's open-world survival mechanics with many concurrent entities benefit from the CPU's 12 cores, but the GPU's 9.062 TFLOPS FP32 and 40 RT cores are insufficient for ray-traced effects or high-resolution ultra presets.

The overall assessment is that this combo is balanced toward CPU-heavy workloads, but Palworld is not CPU-limited at typical settings. Users seeking higher frame rates should prioritize a GPU upgrade, as the data shows the CPU has significant headroom—evidenced by the 165.9 FPS at 1080p Low, which is unlikely to be the CPU's ceiling. The combo's 1031st place rank is a direct consequence of the GPU's age and memory bandwidth limitations, not the processor's compute capabilities.