Palworld

# Palworld Performance Analysis: Intel Core i3-12100F + Intel Arc B370

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F processor and the Intel Arc B370 integrated GPU produces a playable but constrained experience in Palworld, with performance heavily dependent on resolution and quality settings. The measured data reveals a system that can achieve smooth frame rates at 1080p with optimized settings, but struggles significantly at higher resolutions. The Arc B370, operating as an integrated graphics solution with system-shared memory, demonstrates clear limitations that become more pronounced as resolution increases. This analysis examines the measured FPS data, component roles, and practical settings recommendations based solely on the benchmark results.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Palworld?

A: The data clearly shows 1920x1080 as the only viable resolution for acceptable performance. At 1080p, average FPS ranges from 36 (Ultra) to 76 (Low), while 1440p drops to a range of 24 (Ultra) to 50 (Low), and 4K falls to 13 (Ultra) to 28 (Low). Only 1080p consistently provides frame rates above 30 FPS across all settings.

Q: How does the Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, placing it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, scores 1186 (0.2% higher), while the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190 (0.5% higher). The AMD FirePro M2000 trails at 1168, which is 1.4% lower.

Q: What is the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Ultra is substantial. Low settings deliver 76 FPS average, Medium drops to 62 FPS, High reduces to 47 FPS, and Ultra falls to 36 FPS. This represents a 52.6% performance loss when going from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: How does the Core i3-12100F rank among all CPUs?

A: The i3-12100F sits in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13494. Its closest rival, the Intel Core 3 N355, scores 13492 (0% difference), while the Intel Core i5-9500 scores 13452 (0.3% lower) and the Intel Core 5 120UL scores 13594 (0.7% higher).

Q: Is the Medium preset at 1080p a good balance for this system?

A: Yes, the Medium preset at 1080p provides 62 FPS average with a minimum of 52 FPS and maximum of 71 FPS. This is the only preset at any resolution that maintains a minimum frame rate above 50 FPS, making it the most consistent option for smooth gameplay.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Palworld?

A: No, 4K performance is not viable. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only achieve 28 FPS average, Medium drops to 23 FPS, High to 17 FPS, and Ultra to 13 FPS. All 4K results fall below the 30 FPS threshold generally considered the minimum for playable performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal configuration for this combo is the Medium preset at 1920x1080 resolution. This setting delivers a 62 FPS average with a recorded minimum of 52 FPS and maximum of 71 FPS, providing the best balance between visual quality and performance consistency. The minimum frame rate of 52 FPS ensures that even during demanding scenes, the game remains fluid and responsive.

The Low preset at 1080p offers the highest performance at 76 FPS average, making it the choice for players prioritizing maximum smoothness over visual fidelity. However, the jump from Low to Medium costs only 14 FPS (from 76 to 62) while likely providing significantly improved visual quality, making Medium the more balanced recommendation. The High preset at 1080p drops to 47 FPS average, which remains playable but approaches the threshold where frame pacing issues may become noticeable. The Ultra preset at 1080p, at 36 FPS average, is only suitable for players who prioritize visual detail above all else and can tolerate occasional dips below smooth gameplay standards.

For 1440p, the Low preset at 50 FPS is the only configuration that maintains acceptable performance, while Medium drops to 41 FPS and High to 31 FPS. Ultra at 1440p falls to 24 FPS, which is generally considered too low for comfortable play. At 4K, no settings preset achieves playable performance, with even Low only reaching 28 FPS. Players with 1440p or 4K displays should strongly consider running the game at 1080p with Medium or Low settings rather than accepting the poor frame rates at native resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2706 out of 2944 tested combos in Palworld, placing it in the bottom 8% of all tested systems. This low ranking reflects the significant GPU bottleneck created by the Arc B370's integrated graphics architecture, which severely limits the otherwise capable i3-12100F processor.

The ranking position is particularly noteworthy given the CPU's respectable 68th percentile standing among all processors. The i3-12100F's average benchmark score of 13494 places it alongside CPUs like the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, 0.3% lower) and above the Intel Core i7-1250U (13351, 1.1% lower). However, the GPU's 5th percentile ranking (with an average score of just 1184) drags the overall gaming performance down dramatically. The Arc B370's nearest GPU rivals are all legacy ATI and AMD parts from over a decade ago, such as the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% higher) and ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% higher).

This combination illustrates a classic performance imbalance: a mid-range CPU paired with an entry-level integrated GPU creates a system where the processor is rarely the limiting factor. The data suggests that in Palworld, the Arc B370 is the primary constraint at every resolution and settings combination tested. The 2706th rank out of 2944 combos indicates that most other tested systems, even those with older or slower CPUs, achieve better performance due to having more capable graphics solutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS data shows a clear progression across settings. Low settings deliver 76 FPS average, providing the highest frame rate of any configuration tested. Medium settings reduce performance to 62 FPS average, with a minimum of 52 FPS and maximum of 71 FPS, offering the most consistent experience. High settings further reduce the average to 47 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 36 FPS. The 1080p results demonstrate that this combo can handle Palworld at playable frame rates, with even the most demanding Ultra preset staying above 30 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance degrades significantly across all settings. Low settings achieve 50 FPS average, Medium drops to 41 FPS (with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 47), High falls to 31 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 24 FPS. The 1440p results show that only Low and Medium settings maintain frame rates above 40 FPS, while High barely reaches 30 FPS and Ultra falls below playable thresholds.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes marginal regardless of settings. Low settings deliver only 28 FPS average, Medium drops to 23 FPS (with a minimum of 19 and maximum of 26), High falls to 17 FPS, and Ultra reaches just 13 FPS. All 4K results fall below the 30 FPS minimum generally required for acceptable gameplay, making 4K resolution impractical for this combo.

The data reveals that the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 40 FPS (76 to 36), at 1440p it narrows to 26 FPS (50 to 24), and at 4K it reduces to 15 FPS (28 to 13). This pattern indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes so saturated that settings changes have diminishing returns on performance.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the decisive factor in this combo's Palworld performance. Operating as an integrated graphics solution with system-shared memory, this GPU features 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units, along with 10 ray tracing cores. Its base clock runs at 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2400 MHz, producing a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 6.144 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 12.29 TFLOPS (2:1).

The GPU's memory configuration is entirely system-dependent, with system-shared memory providing bandwidth that varies based on the host system's RAM. This architecture fundamentally limits the Arc B370's performance in memory-intensive applications like Palworld. The GPU's 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of just 1184, confirms its position at the entry level of graphics performance. Its nearest rivals are all legacy parts, with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scoring 1186 (0.2% higher) and the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scoring 1190 (0.5% higher).

The measured Palworld FPS data reflects this GPU limitation. The steep performance drops from 1080p to 1440p to 4K indicate that the GPU's fill-rate and memory bandwidth are quickly overwhelmed as pixel count increases. The FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS, while adequate for basic 1080p gaming, proves insufficient for Palworld's demands at higher resolutions. The 25W TDP and IGP slot width further confirm that this is not designed for demanding gaming workloads, despite its modern Xe3-LPG architecture and DirectX 12 Ultimate support.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F provides substantially more compute capability than the GPU can utilize in Palworld. This 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Core 12th Gen series features a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, built on Intel's 10nm Alder Lake-S architecture. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache, providing adequate data locality for gaming workloads.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate solid mid-range performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 11860 multi-core and 1674 single-core, while Geekbench shows 7252 multi-core and 1932 single-core. The 3DMark results reveal scaling from 1659 with 2 threads to 4026 with 8 threads, indicating good multi-threading efficiency. The PassMark multithread score of 14015 and single-thread score of 3444 position this CPU well above the minimum requirements for most games.

In Palworld, the CPU's role is largely to feed the GPU with enough data to keep it busy. Given the Arc B370's severe performance limitations, the i3-12100F is almost never the bottleneck. The CPU's 68th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 13494, placing it alongside the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, 0.3% lower) and above the Intel Core 7-1250U (13351, 1.1% lower), indicate it has ample headroom for more demanding graphics hardware. The 58W TDP and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support further confirm this is a capable gaming CPU that is held back by its integrated GPU partner.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of this combo. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 with Low settings reduces average FPS from 76 to 50, a 34.2% drop. Continuing to 3840x2160 further reduces it to 28 FPS, an additional 44% drop from 1440p. This pattern holds across all settings, with Medium dropping from 62 to 41 to 23 FPS, High from 47 to 31 to 17, and Ultra from 36 to 24 to 13.

The resolution scaling data indicates that the Arc B370's rendering capabilities are the primary constraint. The pixel count increases by 78% from 1080p to 1440p, and by another 125% from 1440p to 4K, but the FPS drops are proportionally larger than what pure pixel-count scaling would suggest. This implies that the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill-rate limitations cause super-linear performance degradation as resolution increases.

The narrowing performance gap between settings at higher resolutions confirms the GPU bottleneck. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 40 FPS (76 to 36), representing a 52.6% reduction. At 1440p, this gap narrows to 26 FPS (50 to 24, a 52% reduction), and at 4K it shrinks to 15 FPS (28 to 13, a 46.4% reduction). This pattern suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily saturated that even reducing quality settings cannot provide meaningful performance relief, as the fundamental rendering load exceeds the GPU's capabilities.

The CPU's influence on resolution scaling is minimal, as evidenced by the consistent performance patterns across all settings. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar FPS numbers across different resolutions, but the dramatic scaling from 1080p to 4K confirms that the GPU is the sole bottleneck. The i3-12100F's strong single-thread performance (1674 in Cinebench R23 single-core) and adequate multi-core capabilities (11860 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) ensure it can keep up with the GPU's demands even at the lowest settings where frame rates are highest.