Palworld

Palworld, released on 2024-01-18, presents a demanding workload that scales significantly with both resolution and graphical presets. The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX produces a wide performance envelope, ranging from highly playable at 4K to exceptionally fast at 1080p. The benchmark data indicates that the RX 7900 XTX provides substantial headroom, allowing the system to deliver smooth frame rates even under the most taxing settings, while the i5-10400F serves as a capable foundation for this pairing.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combination achieves an average of 50.7 FPS. This is the most demanding configuration tested, and the result suggests that while playable, it is the borderline scenario for this hardware pairing at maximum quality.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14168, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. It is 0.4% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7552, which has an average score of 14115, and only 1.1% behind the Intel Core i5-8500, which scores 14332.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, dropping from Ultra to High settings yields a significant performance increase. The average FPS rises from 89.2 on Ultra to 118.8 on High, representing a 33% improvement in frame rate for a one-step reduction in graphical fidelity.

Q: What is the GPU's average benchmark score and percentile ranking?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has an average benchmark score of 44019 and sits in the 85th percentile of all GPUs. This places it 2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which has an average score of 44900.

Q: How much VRAM does the RX 7900 XTX have?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is equipped with 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus. This provides a memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s, which is a substantial resource for high-resolution textures and future-proofing.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the difference is substantial. The system delivers 237.7 FPS on Low settings, but this drops to 138.0 FPS on Ultra. This shows a 72% performance decrease when moving from the lowest to the highest preset, indicating the game's heavy reliance on GPU shader work.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific configuration of the Intel Core i5-10400F and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is ranked 278th out of 1718 tested combos for Palworld. This places the pairing in the top 16% of all systems tested, indicating a strong overall performance tier. The high ranking is primarily driven by the exceptional capability of the RX 7900 XTX, which is in the 85th percentile of all GPUs, as opposed to the CPU, which is in the 73rd percentile.

The data suggests that the GPU is the primary driver of this system's high placement. The RX 7900 XTX's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which it leads by 2%, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile, which it surpasses by 0.8%. This GPU-centric performance is evident in the measured FPS, where the system excels at producing very high frame rates at 1440p and 1080p. The i5-10400F, while a competent processor, is not the primary reason for the combo's high rank; rather, it provides sufficient performance to avoid bottlenecking the powerful GPU at most settings, allowing the RX 7900 XTX to operate near its full potential.

The ranking also suggests that while this is a high-performing combination, it is not at the absolute top of the charts. The presence of 1717 other combinations implies that a significant number of systems, likely featuring newer or higher-tier CPUs, achieve even better results in Palworld. This is particularly relevant in scenarios where CPU load is high, such as the Low and Medium settings at 1080p, where the i5-10400F's performance may become a more significant factor.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable trend: performance scales inversely with resolution. The most significant drop occurs when moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160. For instance, at High settings, the average frame rate falls from 118.8 FPS at 1440p to 67.2 FPS at 4K, a 43% reduction. This substantial decrease indicates that the RX 7900 XTX is being heavily taxed by the increased pixel count at 4K, and it becomes the dominant limiting factor.

Conversely, the scaling between 1080p and 1440p is less severe. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 181.1 FPS at 1080p to 118.8 FPS at 1440p, a 34% reduction. This still indicates a significant load increase, but the system has more headroom at these resolutions. The pattern across all settings is consistent: the 4K resolution presents a major hurdle, while 1080p and 1440p are more manageable for this hardware. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU begins to play a more significant role, as the GPU is capable of producing frame rates well above what the i5-10400F can consistently support in all scenarios.

The scaling pattern reveals that the system is well-balanced for 1440p and 1080p gaming, where the GPU's power can be fully utilized. At 4K, however, the performance is strictly limited by the GPU's rendering capabilities. The 24 GB of VRAM is ample for 4K textures, but the raw compute power of the Navi 31 chip is what determines the final frame rate, which is why even at Medium settings, 4K performance drops to 85.3 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. With Low settings, it achieves an average of 237.7 FPS, which is exceptionally high. Medium settings yield 225.0 FPS, and High settings produce 181.1 FPS. The most demanding preset, Ultra, still manages a very playable 138.0 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the combination is capable of high-refresh-rate gaming, even at maximum quality. The gap between Low and Medium is small (12.7 FPS), but the drop from Medium to High is more pronounced (43.9 FPS), suggesting a significant increase in shader complexity at the High preset.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected decrease. Low settings average 192.1 FPS, Medium settings 155.7 FPS, and High settings 118.8 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 89.2 FPS. This resolution appears to be the sweet spot for this combo, offering a balance between visual fidelity and high frame rates. The relative performance scaling is similar to 1080p, with the step from Medium to High (36.9 FPS drop) being larger than the step from Low to Medium (36.4 FPS drop).

At 3840x2160, the load on the GPU becomes severe. Low settings average 107.3 FPS, which is still very respectable. Medium settings drop to 85.3 FPS, and High settings further reduce to 67.2 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most taxing, with an average of only 50.7 FPS. While playable, this is the only configuration tested that dips below the 60 FPS threshold. The data shows a consistent performance degradation across the settings, with a 14.9% drop from Low to Medium, a 21.2% drop from Medium to High, and a 24.5% drop from High to Ultra, highlighting the escalating cost of the higher presets at 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the undisputed performance driver in this configuration. Its specifications, including a base clock of 1929 MHz and a boost clock of 2498 MHz, are designed for high-throughput rendering. The GPU features 6144 shading units, 384 TMUs, and 192 ROPs, which are critical for handling the complex geometry and pixel effects in Palworld. The high texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s allow it to process the game's visuals efficiently.

The 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus is a defining characteristic. This VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Palworld at any tested setting, ensuring that texture loading and memory allocation are not bottlenecks. The 960.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth is also a key asset, allowing the GPU to quickly access the large texture datasets used at 4K resolution. In this context, the GPU's memory subsystem is not a limiting factor, and the measured FPS drops at 4K are more attributable to the core compute load.

The GPU's role is clear when analyzing the performance scaling. At 1080p, the frame rates are high enough that the CPU's limits are approached, but the GPU still delivers. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU is unequivocally the limiting component, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops with each resolution increase. The RX 7900 XTX, with its high FP32 performance of 61.39 TFLOPS, is the reason this combo can achieve over 100 FPS at 1440p High and remains playable at 4K Ultra. Its benchmark score of 44019, which places it in the 85th percentile, confirms its position as a high-end part, and the measured results in Palworld are consistent with that standing. The GPU is the backbone of this system, and its capabilities define the performance envelope seen in the data.