Palworld

Palworld presents a demanding workload for the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 combination, a pairing that lands near the bottom of the database’s tested configurations. The measured frame rates across the three resolution tiers and four quality presets reveal a system consistently constrained by its graphics processor, with the CPU showing clear headroom even at the lowest settings. The data indicates that this combo is positioned for 1080p gameplay, and even then, only with significant compromises to visual fidelity.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and unambiguous, confirming that the GTX 1650 is the primary bottleneck in this pairing. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 46.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 31.5 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 33%. Pushing further to 3840x2160 yields just 16.2 FPS, a 65% decline from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that exhausts its pixel throughput and memory bandwidth as the resolution increases, with the 128.1 GB/s bandwidth and 4 GB of GDDR5 becoming increasingly inadequate.

The Low preset tells a similar story, albeit from a higher starting point. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 75.1 FPS, but this drops to 50.6 FPS at 1440p and collapses to 24.5 FPS at 4K. The fact that even the lowest quality settings cannot maintain playable frame rates at 4K underscores the severity of the GPU limitation. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low shows a 52% performance loss, which is nearly identical to the 49% loss observed at High settings across the same resolution jump. This consistency suggests that the GPU’s fillrate and memory subsystem are saturated regardless of the shading complexity, pointing to a hard architectural ceiling rather than a settings-dependent bottleneck.

The Medium preset follows the expected trajectory: 60.5 FPS at 1080p, 41.3 FPS at 1440p, and 18.4 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings are the most punishing, with the system managing 36.2 FPS at 1080p, 23 FPS at 1440p, and a mere 14.7 FPS at 4K. The data shows that 4K is effectively out of reach for this combo under any preset, and even 1440p requires dropping to Low settings to approach a playable 50.6 FPS average, though this still falls short of a smooth 60 FPS target.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides a solid foundation that is rarely the limiting factor in Palworld. With 6 cores and 12 threads operating at a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, the processor delivers the kind of multi-threaded headroom that this Survival title can utilize. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 and Geekbench multicore score of 7579 indicate strong sustained throughput for game logic, world simulation, and entity management, which are typical CPU workloads in this genre.

The CPU’s performance percentile of 75 relative to all tested processors places it comfortably above the median, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with an average score of 17189 (a 0% delta) and the Intel Core i7-1260P at 17212 (-0.2% delta). These comparisons show that the i5-11400F is competitive with mid-range mobile and low-power desktop parts, providing ample compute for the game’s simulation layers. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to feed the GPU without causing starvation, as evidenced by the fact that frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution and settings reductions.

In Palworld, the data suggests the CPU is never the binding constraint. The fact that the GTX 1650’s frame rate drops by roughly half when moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings, while the CPU’s workload remains relatively constant, confirms that the graphics card is the sole performance limiter. The i5-11400F’s 3DMark 16-thread score of 5619 and single-thread score of 868 indicate that even the most demanding single-threaded tasks in the game are well within its capabilities, leaving the GPU to dictate the final frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance of visual quality and frame rate for this combo is found at 1920x1080 with the Medium preset, which delivers an average of 60.5 FPS. This setting achieves the elusive 60 FPS target that is often considered the baseline for smooth gameplay, while still providing a meaningful upgrade over the Low preset’s 75.1 FPS, which sacrifices too much visual detail for a marginal gain in smoothness. The Medium preset at 1080p represents the sweet spot where the GTX 1650’s 896 shading units and 56 texture mapping units are utilized effectively without being overwhelmed.

For users who prioritize frame rate over fidelity, the Low preset at 1080p is a viable alternative, offering 75.1 FPS and providing a substantial safety margin for demanding scenes with many Pals or complex base constructions. However, the jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 15 FPS (from 75.1 to 60.5) while delivering noticeably improved shadows, textures, and draw distances, making Medium the more balanced choice for most scenarios. The High preset at 46.7 FPS and Ultra at 36.2 FPS are best avoided, as they introduce visual enhancements that are not worth the significant frame rate penalties, particularly in a game where responsiveness during combat and exploration is critical.

At 2560x1440, the only playable option is the Low preset at 50.6 FPS, though this still falls short of a locked 60 FPS and may exhibit dips in busy areas. The 1440p Medium result of 41.3 FPS and High result of 31.5 FPS are both below the threshold for a smooth experience, while Ultra at 23 FPS is unplayable. For 4K, none of the presets are viable, with the best case being Low at 24.5 FPS, which is well below the minimum for comfortable gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 1631 out of 1718 tested combos in Palworld, placing it in the bottom 5% of all configurations. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, as the CPU’s performance percentile of 75 is respectable, while the GTX 1650’s percentile of 43 is below the median. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 8713 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746, -0.4% delta) and AMD Radeon 550X (8749, -0.4% delta), which are all similarly positioned in the low-end segment.

The ranking of 1631 out of 1718 indicates that the vast majority of other CPU-GPU pairings in the database outperform this setup in Palworld. This is expected given the GTX 1650’s 4 GB of VRAM and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth, which are minimal for a 2024 release title with dense environments and detailed creature models. The combo’s position suggests that it is suited for older or less demanding games, but for Palworld, it represents a significant compromise. The data shows that the CPU is not the issue; when paired with a more capable GPU, the i5-11400F would likely move this combo much higher in the rankings, but as configured, the GPU drags the overall score down.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the definitive limiting component in this configuration. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is quickly saturated by Palworld’s high-resolution textures and large open-world geometry. The GPU’s base clock of 1485 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz, along with its 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, are simply insufficient for the game’s demands at higher resolutions and settings. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305 and Passmark G3D score of 7880 place it in the low-performance tier, and its 43rd percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its entry-level status.

The GTX 1650’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8671, 0.5% delta) and AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8761, -0.5% delta), both of which are similarly aged professional cards with comparable performance. The GPU’s 4 GB VRAM is a particular concern in Palworld, as the game’s world streaming and creature variety can exceed this capacity at 1440p and above, leading to texture thrashing and frame rate instability. The measured results support this: the 4K High preset’s 16.2 FPS and 4K Medium’s 18.4 FPS suggest that memory bandwidth and capacity are both exhausted, causing the GPU to spend cycles on data movement rather than rendering.

The GPU’s 75 W TDP and lack of external power connectors indicate a card designed for low-power systems, but this efficiency comes at the cost of raw performance. The pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p, but they scale poorly as the resolution increases. The data confirms that the GTX 1650 is best suited for 1080p gaming with medium settings, and any attempt to push it beyond that results in a rapid and severe degradation of frame rates, as seen in the benchmark results across all presets.