Palworld

Palworld’s measured performance with the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT shows a combination that shifts from a CPU-bound experience at lower resolutions to a GPU-bound one at 4K. The data indicates a wide performance envelope, with average frame rates ranging from 39.7 FPS at 4K Ultra to 228.5 FPS at 1080p Low, demonstrating that this pairing is capable of high refresh rates at lower settings but requires careful tuning for 4K play.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior is stark, revealing a classic bottleneck transition. At 1080p, the combination is heavily CPU-limited, as evidenced by the modest frame rate gains from lowering settings. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1920x1080 is 118.8 FPS (228.5 vs 109.7), but this gap narrows dramatically as resolution increases. At 2560x1440, the spread between Low and Ultra is 79.3 FPS (152.2 vs 72.9), and at 3840x2160, it shrinks to 42.1 FPS (81.8 vs 39.7). This trend indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the pixel fill rate demands overwhelm the CPU’s advantage.

The 4K data points are particularly revealing. Dropping from 1080p High (147 FPS) to 4K High (52.6 FPS) represents a 64.2% reduction, which is a substantial hit that points to the RX 6800 XT’s raw compute being taxed by the 3840x2160 pixel count. The 4K Low setting (81.8 FPS) is the only 4K configuration that approaches playable fluidity, while 4K Ultra (39.7 FPS) falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings shows a 44.9% drop (95.5 to 52.6 FPS), which is consistent with the 2.25x pixel count increase, confirming that the GPU is the limiting component at this resolution.

FAQ

Q: Is the Core i5-10400F a bottleneck for the RX 6800 XT in Palworld?

A: Yes, at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU appears to be the limiting factor. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 228.5 FPS, while at 1440p Low, it reaches 152.2 FPS—a 33.4% drop that is less than the 78% increase in pixel count, indicating the CPU is preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the best settings configuration for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 4K Low (81.8 FPS) is the only 4K setting that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. 4K Medium (68.5 FPS) is also above 60, but 4K High (52.6 FPS) and 4K Ultra (39.7 FPS) fall below that threshold, making them less suitable for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT compare to its closest rivals in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The RX 6800 XT has an average benchmark score of 49982, placing it 0.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A550M (49737) and 2.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (48704). It trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 (50826) by 1.7%.

Q: What is the performance difference between the i5-10400F and its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The i5-10400F has an average score of 14168. It is 0.4% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115) and 1.1% ahead of the Intel Core i5-8500 (14332, where the i5-10400F is actually behind by 1.1%). It sits 0.8% behind the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277) and 1.2% behind the AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 (14336).

Q: Does lowering settings from High to Low provide a bigger FPS boost at 1080p or 4K?

A: The absolute FPS gain is larger at 1080p, where the difference is 81.5 FPS (228.5 vs 147). At 4K, the gain is 29.2 FPS (81.8 vs 52.6). However, the relative improvement is much larger at 4K (55.5% increase) compared to 1080p (55.4% increase), showing that settings have a similar proportional impact, but the CPU limits the absolute ceiling at 1080p.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations in Palworld?

A: The combo ranks 596th out of 1718 tested combinations, placing it in the 65th percentile of all tested systems. This indicates a solid, above-average performance position for this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its L3 cache is 12 MB shared, and it supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In the context of Palworld, the benchmark data suggests that the CPU’s 6 cores are sufficient to drive high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the architecture’s limits become apparent when comparing scaling patterns.

The CPU’s 3DMark scores show a clear thread scaling trend: 1350 for 2 threads, 2560 for 4 threads, 3929 for 8 threads, and 4748 for 16 threads. This indicates that Palworld benefits from additional threads, as the jump from 8 to 16 threads provides a 20.8% improvement (3929 to 4748). However, the single-thread score of 688 suggests that the Comet Lake architecture’s per-core performance is modest, which explains why the frame rates at 1080p Low (228.5 FPS) are not higher despite the GPU’s capability.

The Cinebench R23 scores reinforce this picture: a multicore score of 10297 and a single-core score of 1453. The ratio between these scores (7.1x) shows that the processor scales well with threaded workloads, but the absolute single-core performance limits the CPU’s ability to feed the GPU at very high frame rates. This is consistent with the observed behavior where the FPS gains from lowering settings at 1080p are substantial (from 109.7 at Ultra to 228.5 at Low), but the absolute ceiling appears to be capped by the CPU rather than the GPU.

The CPU’s percentile ranking against all CPUs is 73rd, and its average benchmark score of 14168 places it in a competitive position. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% slower), indicating that the i5-10400F is a mid-range performer that can hold its own in threaded workloads but lacks the single-core strength of newer architectures.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 228.5 FPS on Low settings, which represents the highest measured frame rate. Medium settings yield 186.8 FPS, High settings produce 147 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 109.7 FPS. The relative performance at 1080p shows that Ultra is 52.0% slower than Low (109.7 vs 228.5), indicating that the GPU is not fully utilized even at Ultra, as the CPU is likely the constraint.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down proportionally with the pixel count increase. Low settings produce 152.2 FPS, Medium yields 122.3 FPS, High delivers 95.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 72.9 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 76.3 FPS (228.5 to 152.2), which is a 33.4% reduction. This is less than the 78% pixel count increase, confirming that the CPU is still limiting performance at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings achieve 81.8 FPS, Medium drops to 68.5 FPS, High produces 52.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 39.7 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows a 46.2% reduction (152.2 to 81.8 FPS), which is closer to the 78% pixel count increase, indicating that the GPU is now the limiting factor. The 4K Ultra frame rate of 39.7 FPS is the lowest measured value, demonstrating that this combo cannot handle maximum settings at 4K without significant compromises.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the gap is 118.8 FPS; at 1440p, it is 79.3 FPS; and at 4K, it is 42.1 FPS. This confirms that the CPU’s influence diminishes at higher resolutions, and the GPU’s raw performance becomes the dominant factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 596th out of 1718 tested configurations in Palworld, placing it in the 65th percentile of all tested systems. This is a strong showing, indicating that this pairing is well above average for this game.

The ranking is a composite of the CPU and GPU’s individual performance characteristics. The CPU’s 73rd percentile ranking against all CPUs and the GPU’s 87th percentile ranking against all GPUs suggest that the GPU is the stronger component in this pairing. This is reflected in the measured FPS data, where the GPU’s limitations become apparent only at 4K Ultra settings.

Relative to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RX 6800 XT’s average score of 49982 places it ahead of several competitors, including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (48704, 2.6% behind) and the Intel Arc A550M (49737, 0.5% behind). However, it is 1.7% behind the NVIDIA RTX A1000 (50826). This indicates that the GPU is a high-end performer, but not the absolute top tier.

The CPU’s ranking, with a 73rd percentile and an average score of 14168, is more modest. It sits between the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115, 0.4% behind) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277, 0.8% ahead), showing that it is a competitive mid-range processor but not a flagship. The combination of a mid-range CPU with a high-end GPU results in a system that excels in GPU-bound scenarios (4K) but is limited in CPU-bound scenarios (1080p), which is consistent with the overall rank of 596th out of 1718.