Palworld

Palworld, a survival title released in early 2024, presents a demanding workload that stresses both CPU and GPU. The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a specific performance profile, placing this configuration in the 624th position out of 1718 tested combos for this game. This rank indicates that while the pairing is capable, it sits within the upper-middle tier of the tested hardware pool, with a substantial number of configurations achieving higher frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 624 out of 1718 places it in the 63rd percentile of tested configurations, meaning it outperforms roughly 36% of all combos tested in Palworld. This is a solid result, but not a top-tier one. The ranking reflects the balance between the CPU’s compute capabilities and the GPU’s raw rendering power. The data shows that this pairing is not bottlenecked severely in either direction, but it also lacks the headroom to push into the top quartile of performers. The average benchmark score for the CPU is 17181, which places it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU’s average benchmark score of 32619 places it in the 76th percentile of all GPUs. The similar percentile rankings suggest a well-matched pair, but the overall combo rank is lower than either individual component’s percentile, indicating that Palworld’s specific engine and optimization characteristics penalize this pairing more than synthetic benchmarks would suggest.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the primary driver of visual fidelity and high-resolution performance. It comes equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are essential for Palworld’s open-world environments, which can be texture-heavy at higher settings. The GPU’s boost clock of 2430 MHz and game clock of 2124 MHz are key to its performance. The architecture is RDNA 3.0, built on a 5 nm process, with 3840 shading units and 96 ROPs. The pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s directly influence how quickly the scene is rasterized and textured.

In Palworld, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions and settings. The data shows a clear pattern: at 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 224, which suggests the GPU is not the limiting factor. However, as resolution and settings increase, the GPU’s workload scales significantly. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 39.8, a figure that highlights the GPU’s struggle to maintain smooth gameplay at the highest visual demands. The 16 GB VRAM is a significant asset, likely preventing texture-related stutters that could occur on lower-capacity cards, but the raw compute and fill rate are the ultimate constraints at 4K Ultra. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 32619 places it near the AMD FirePro S9300 X2, which scores 32540 with a deltaPct of 0.2, and the NVIDIA P104-100, which scores 32747 with a deltaPct of -0.4. This shows the RX 7800 XT is competitive within its own performance class, but does not exceed it by a wide margin.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture. Its base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are modest by modern standards, but its 12 MB of shared L3 cache helps mitigate some latency. The CPU’s benchmark scores are indicative of its multi-threaded and single-threaded capabilities. For instance, the Cinebench R23 multicore score is 14372, and the single-core score is 2029. The Passmark multithread score is 16908, while the single-thread score is 2981. These figures show a processor that is capable in both scenarios, but not exceptional.

In Palworld, the CPU’s role is most critical at lower resolutions and settings, where the GPU can render frames quickly, and the CPU must keep up with game logic, entity updates, and physics. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 224, which is close to the CPU’s practical limit for this game. At 1080p Medium, the FPS is 178.7, and at 1080p High, it is 140.3. This shows that the CPU can sustain high frame rates, but the scaling from Low to High is not linear, suggesting a growing CPU bottleneck as the frame rate rises. The CPU’s 65 W TDP is low, which helps with sustained boost clocks, but the 14 nm process node is older, limiting its efficiency compared to newer designs. The nearest CPU rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with an average score of 17189 and a deltaPct of 0, and the Intel Core i7-1260P with an average score of 17212 and a deltaPct of -0.2. The i5-11400F’s score of 17181 is essentially on par with these, indicating that its performance is not a differentiator in this combo.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Palworld provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the combo achieves an average of 224 FPS on Low settings, 178.7 FPS on Medium, 140.3 FPS on High, and 107.8 FPS on Ultra. These numbers indicate that 1080p is well within the comfortable range for this combo, with even Ultra settings providing a smooth experience above 100 FPS.

Moving to 1440p, the performance drops but remains playable. The average FPS is 147.7 on Low, 121.3 on Medium, 90.3 on High, and 68.3 on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant, particularly at Ultra settings, where the FPS falls from 107.8 to 68.3, a reduction of 39.5 FPS. This suggests that the GPU is becoming a more significant limiting factor at this resolution.

At 4K, the performance takes a substantial hit. The average FPS is 83.5 on Low, 64.2 on Medium, 47.8 on High, and 39.8 on Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this combo is not suitable for the highest visual quality at this resolution. The 4K Low result of 83.5 FPS is playable, but it shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is heavily loaded. The data shows a consistent pattern: the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases, from a 116.2 FPS difference at 1080p to a 43.7 FPS difference at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the nature of the bottleneck in this system. At 1080p Low, the FPS is 224. At 1440p Low, it drops to 147.7, a reduction of 34.1%. At 4K Low, it drops to 83.5, a further reduction of 43.5% from the 1440p figure. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 62.7%. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at lower settings, as the CPU can still feed frames quickly, but the GPU’s rendering capacity is overwhelmed by the pixel count.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is less steep in percentage terms but still significant. The FPS drops from 107.8 at 1080p to 68.3 at 1440p, a 36.6% reduction, and then to 39.8 at 4K, a 41.7% reduction from 1440p. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 63.1%. This is remarkably similar to the Low setting drop, which suggests that the GPU is the consistent bottleneck across all settings. The CPU’s performance is sufficient to handle the game’s logic at all resolutions, but the GPU’s workload scales linearly with resolution, making it the definitive limiting component. The data demonstrates that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant settings compromises to achieve playable frame rates.