Palworld

Palworld pairs the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, a 16-core Zen 5 processor with a 128 MB L3 cache, against the Intel Arc B390, an integrated GPU based on the Xe3-LPG architecture with 1536 shading units and a 2500 MHz boost clock. The measured frames per second across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions at four settings presets reveal a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics component, with the CPU’s substantial multi-threaded capabilities providing little benefit in this particular title. The data shows a consistent pattern: at every resolution, the average FPS climbs as settings drop, but even the best case at 1080p Low reaches only 84 FPS, while 4K Ultra falls to a 15 FPS average. This combo ranks 2607 out of 2944 tested combinations, placing it in the lower percentile of all system pairings for this game.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Palworld?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 84, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the data that exceeds 80 FPS, and it represents the peak performance for this pairing.

Q: How does the CPU’s benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D has an average benchmark score of 75779, which is only 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (75738) and 0.4% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 (75488). The margin is extremely narrow, indicating performance parity with these processors in general compute tasks.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The Intel Arc B390 falls into the 9th percentile of all GPUs, based on its average benchmark score of 1482. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, which scores 1463, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710, which scores 1443, showing the Arc B390 is positioned at the very low end of the performance spectrum.

Q: Does lowering settings from Ultra to Low provide a consistent FPS improvement across all resolutions?

A: Yes, the data shows a consistent gain. At 1920x1080, the average FPS rises from 40 on Ultra to 84 on Low, a 44 FPS difference. At 2560x1440, it goes from 26 to 56, and at 3840x2160, it improves from 15 to 31. The relative improvement is similar, roughly doubling the frame rate at each resolution.

Q: What is the combo’s rank in Palworld relative to all other tested combinations?

A: This specific CPU and GPU pairing ranks 2607 out of 2944 total combos tested in Palworld. This places it in the bottom 12% of all system configurations, confirming that the overall performance is below average for this game.

Q: Are there any measured FPS values with a minimum and maximum range?

A: Only the Medium settings preset provides minimum and maximum FPS data. At 1920x1080, the range is 58 to 79 FPS with an average of 68. At 2560x1440, the range is 38 to 52 FPS with an average of 45. At 3840x2160, the range is 21 to 29 FPS with an average of 25. All other presets list only the average FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor, as indicated by its "IGP" slot width and bus interface, and its memory is "System Shared" with bandwidth that is "System Dependent." This means the GPU relies on the system’s DDR5 memory rather than dedicated VRAM, which is a critical factor for a game like Palworld that demands significant memory bandwidth for its open-world environments. The GPU’s base clock is 300 MHz, but it boosts to 2500 MHz, which is a substantial increase, yet the hardware resources remain limited: 48 texture mapping units, 24 render output units, and 12 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, figures that are modest compared to discrete graphics solutions. The FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS, while not negligible, places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and the benchmark results confirm this: the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is just 1482, which is only 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX.

In Palworld, the GPU’s limitations are immediately apparent. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 40, which is playable but far from smooth. The lack of dedicated VRAM, combined with the low ROPS count of 24, likely causes significant bottlenecks when rendering the game’s detailed environments and many on-screen entities. The data shows that even at the lowest resolution and settings, the GPU cannot push past 84 FPS, suggesting that the 2500 MHz boost clock is not enough to overcome the fundamental architectural constraints. The system shared memory bandwidth, which is "System Dependent," means performance can vary based on the CPU’s memory configuration, but in this case, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D supports dual-channel DDR5 with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, which is likely the ceiling for the Arc B390. This creates a scenario where the GPU is the definitive limiting factor, and no CPU-side adjustment can compensate for its raw throughput limitations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 53 at 1080p to 35 at 1440p, a 34% reduction, and then to 19 at 4K, a further 46% reduction from the 1440p figure. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is being overwhelmed by the increasing pixel count, as the render output units and texture units cannot keep up with the demand. The same trend is visible at Low settings: 84 FPS at 1080p falls to 56 at 1440p (a 33% drop) and then to 31 at 4K (a 45% drop from 1440p). The percentage losses are nearly identical across settings, which points to a purely resolution-bound scenario where the CPU’s 16 cores and 32 threads are not the constraint.

The data implies that the limiting component is unequivocally the Intel Arc B390. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a smaller FPS difference between 1440p and 4K, as the resolution increase would place more load on the GPU while the CPU’s work remains constant. Instead, the FPS roughly halves at each resolution step, which is the signature of a GPU that is running out of fill rate and memory bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 15 FPS, which is effectively unplayable, and even at 4K Low, the 31 FPS average is marginal. The scaling suggests that the Arc B390’s 24 ROPS are the primary constraint, as the pixel throughput at 3840x2160 (8.3 million pixels) requires more than double the work of 1920x1080 (2.1 million pixels), and the GPU’s 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate is insufficient for this task. The conclusion is that this combo is only viable at lower resolutions, and even then, only with reduced settings.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and frame rate is found at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, where the average FPS is 68, with a minimum of 58 and a maximum of 79. This configuration provides a playable experience that is above the 60 FPS threshold for most users, while still offering a moderate level of graphical fidelity. The Medium preset at 1440p yields an average of 45 FPS, which is acceptable for slower-paced gameplay but may feel less responsive in combat scenarios. At 4K, no settings preset achieves a playable frame rate, with the best being Low at 31 FPS, which is below the standard for smooth motion.

For users prioritizing frame rate above all else, 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers 84 FPS, which is the only measured configuration that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. However, the visual compromise is significant, as Low settings likely disable many of the game’s ambient effects and reduce draw distances. The High preset at 1080p provides 53 FPS, which is a middle ground, but the 15 FPS drop from Medium to High suggests that the GPU struggles with the additional load. The Ultra preset at any resolution is not recommended based on the data, as the highest average FPS it achieves is 40 at 1080p, and it falls to 15 at 4K. Given the GPU’s 9th percentile ranking, the data supports using Medium settings at 1080p as the best experience, as it is the only configuration that combines a playable frame rate with a reasonable visual profile. The 68 FPS average at Medium settings is 28% higher than the High preset’s 53 FPS, while the minimum FPS of 58 ensures fewer stutters than the Low preset’s uncapped but likely more variable performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2607 out of 2944 tested combinations in Palworld, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all system pairings. This rank is particularly telling because the CPU alone is a high-end part, sitting in the 95th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 75779. The discrepancy between the CPU’s strong performance and the combo’s poor ranking highlights the GPU’s severe limitation. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 and Intel Core Ultra 9 285, score within 0.4% of it, yet those processors would likely pair with more capable GPUs in other combos, pushing their overall rankings higher.

In contrast, the Intel Arc B390 is in the 9th percentile of GPUs, and its nearest rivals are legacy parts like the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM and GT 710. This GPU is simply not designed for demanding games like Palworld, which has a release date of 2024-01-18 and features survival mechanics that require rendering large, persistent worlds. The data shows that even the weakest CPU-GPU pairings in the top 10% of combos would likely outperform this setup, as the GPU bottleneck is so severe that the CPU’s 16 cores, 32 threads, and 5.70 GHz boost clock are idle for most of the frame rendering process. The rank of 2607 out of 2944 suggests that there are only 337 combos that perform worse, and those likely involve even weaker integrated or entry-level discrete GPUs. For a system built around a flagship Ryzen 9 processor, this ranking is a stark reminder that the GPU dictates gaming performance in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo’s performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the average FPS values are: Low 84, Medium 68 (with a range of 58 to 79), High 53, and Ultra 40. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with the Ultra preset delivering less than half the frame rate of Low. At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 56, Medium 45 (range 38 to 52), High 35, and Ultra 26. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings is consistent, with an average reduction of roughly 30-35%. At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 31, Medium 25 (range 21 to 29), High 19, and Ultra 15. The 4K results show that the GPU is severely overtaxed, with even the Low preset failing to reach 32 FPS.

The Medium preset is the only one with full min/max data, revealing that the variance is relatively tight. At 1080p, the range is 58 to 79 FPS, which is a 21 FPS spread, indicating some frame time inconsistency. At 1440p, the range narrows to 38 to 52 FPS, and at 4K, it is 21 to 29 FPS. This tightening of the range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is becoming the sole bottleneck, as there is less headroom for fluctuations. The Ultra preset, which lacks min/max data, likely has even wider variance, but the low averages of 40, 26, and 15 FPS at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively make it an unviable choice for any resolution. The Low preset’s 84 FPS at 1080p is the only result that exceeds 60 FPS, and it is the only configuration that could be considered for competitive play, though the visual quality would be significantly reduced. The data indicates that the playable envelope for this combo is limited to 1080p with Low or Medium settings, and 1440p with Low settings, as the 1440p Medium average of 45 FPS is borderline.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core, 32-thread processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with a 4 nm process node. Its base clock is 4.30 GHz, with a boost clock of 5.70 GHz, and it features a substantial 128 MB L3 cache, which is the largest among its peers. The CPU’s benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 42018, Geekbench multicore is 26736, and Passmark multithread is 70255. These scores place it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 and Intel Core Ultra 9 285, are within 0.4% of its average score. The CPU supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, and it has 24 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, but these features are irrelevant to the integrated GPU’s performance.

In Palworld, the CPU’s role is largely diminished due to the GPU bottleneck. The game’s survival genre typically involves physics calculations and AI for creatures, which can be CPU-intensive, but the measured FPS data shows no sign of CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the 84 FPS is the maximum, and if the CPU were the constraint, we would expect to see similar FPS across different resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops dramatically with resolution, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU’s 16 cores and 32 threads are more than sufficient for Palworld, as the game is unlikely to utilize more than a few cores effectively. The 128 MB L3 cache and high boost clock of 5.70 GHz provide excellent single-thread performance, which is beneficial for game logic, but this cannot compensate for the Arc B390’s lack of raw graphics throughput. The data suggests that the CPU is idle for most of the frame rendering, and the system’s overall performance is defined by the GPU’s 9th percentile ranking. If the Arc B390 were paired with a weaker CPU, the FPS would likely be similar, as the GPU is the ceiling. Conversely, pairing the Ryzen 9 9950X3D with a discrete GPU would yield vastly different results, but this combo’s data clearly shows that the CPU’s capabilities are untapped in this configuration.