Palworld

Palworld, the survival title released in January 2024, presents a unique challenge for the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination. The measured data reveals a system that scales dramatically with resolution and settings, moving from a high-refresh-rate champion at 1080p to a borderline playable experience at 4K Ultra. The analysis below breaks down the specific FPS figures, the roles of the CPU and GPU, and how this pairing ranks against the broader test pool.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Palworld?

A: The highest average frame rate is 247 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. At the same resolution, Medium settings deliver 200 FPS, while High and Ultra produce 154 FPS and 117 FPS, respectively.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution with the most demanding settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system produces an average of 43 FPS. The High preset at the same resolution yields 56 FPS, and Medium settings improve the average to 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 84 FPS.

Q: What is the frame time consistency at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 132, but the measured variance shows a minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 152 FPS. This 40 FPS spread indicates noticeable frame pacing fluctuations.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU act as the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions?

A: The data indicates the CPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution drops. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 247, which is significantly higher than the 4K Low score of 90 FPS, showing that the GPU is not fully saturated at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti's performance rank relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 41187, placing it near the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, which scores 40870 (a 0.8% delta). It also sits close to the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB, which scores 41707 (a -1.2% delta).

Q: What is the overall ranking of this specific CPU-GPU combination in Palworld?

A: This combo ranks 983rd out of 3711 tested combinations for Palworld, placing it in the top 26.5% of all tested systems for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the primary driver of Palworld's visual output, and its specifications directly explain the performance scaling observed. The GPU is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, manufactured on an 8 nm process by Samsung. It contains 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster operation pipelines.

Memory configuration is a critical factor for Palworld's open-world environments. The card features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 1188 MHz, translating to 19 Gbps effective. This substantial bandwidth allows the GPU to handle large texture loads and draw distances common in survival games, which is reflected in the measured FPS figures.

Clock speeds are set at a base of 1365 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz. The GPU's raw compute capabilities are substantial, with an FP32 performance of 34.10 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s. The pixel rate is 186.5 GPixel/s. These specifications are consistent with the performance seen in the benchmark results.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 41187, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in average score include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40870, delta 0.8%) and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB (41707, delta -1.2%). The RTX 3080 Ti sits between these two, indicating its performance class. The data shows that in Palworld, the GPU's capabilities are fully exercised at higher resolutions, while the CPU becomes more relevant as resolution decreases.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 247 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 163 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls to 90 FPS. This represents a 63.6% reduction in FPS from 1080p to 4K.

The scaling at Medium settings follows a similar trend. The average FPS at 1080p is 200, which drops to 132 at 1440p (a 34% decrease) and then to 73 at 4K (a 63.5% decrease from 1440p). This consistent pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at these settings.

For High settings, the scores are 154 FPS at 1080p, 101 FPS at 1440p, and 56 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 34.4%, and from 1440p to 4K is 44.6%. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 117 FPS at 1080p, 77 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K.

The scaling behavior at Low settings is particularly telling. The jump from 247 FPS at 1080p to 163 FPS at 1440p indicates that the CPU may be limiting performance at 1080p. If the GPU were the sole bottleneck, the FPS would scale more linearly with pixel count. The fact that 1080p Low produces a score above 240 FPS suggests the CPU is reaching its limit, which is consistent with the i5-11400F's 6-core, 12-thread configuration.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 200 FPS with a minimum of 170 FPS, which is well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset produces 154 FPS, which is also excellent for competitive play.

For players prioritizing visual quality at 1440p, the High preset is the optimal choice. It yields an average of 101 FPS, which is smooth for most gameplay scenarios. The Medium preset at 1440p provides 132 FPS, but the frame time variance (112-152 FPS) may cause stuttering. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 77 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced exploration.

At 3840x2160, the options are more limited. The Medium preset produces 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The High preset at 4K averages 56 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended, as the 43 FPS average falls below playable thresholds for most users.

The Low preset, while producing the highest frame rates, sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a game that relies on environmental readability. The best overall balance is the High preset at 1080p or 1440p, depending on the user's display resolution. The High preset at 1440p offers the best combination of visual quality and performance, with the 101 FPS average providing headroom for demanding scenes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset for this combo in Palworld is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 247 FPS average
• Medium: 200 FPS average, 170 FPS minimum, 230 FPS maximum
• High: 154 FPS average
• Ultra: 117 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 163 FPS average
• Medium: 132 FPS average, 112 FPS minimum, 152 FPS maximum
• High: 101 FPS average
• Ultra: 77 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 90 FPS average
• Medium: 73 FPS average, 62 FPS minimum, 84 FPS maximum
• High: 56 FPS average
• Ultra: 43 FPS average

The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the spread is 60 FPS (170-230), at 1440p it is 40 FPS (112-152), and at 4K it is 22 FPS (62-84). This narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes more consistently utilized as the pixel count increases.

The delta between Medium and High settings is consistent across resolutions. At 1080p, the difference is 46 FPS (200 vs 154), at 1440p it is 31 FPS (132 vs 101), and at 4K it is 17 FPS (73 vs 56). The percentage cost of moving from Medium to High is approximately 23% at 1080p, 23.5% at 1440p, and 23.3% at 4K, showing a uniform performance penalty.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The processor features 12 MB of shared L3 cache, with 512 KB of L2 and 80 KB of L1 per core. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide context for its gaming performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 14340 in multi-core and 2024 in single-core. The Geekbench scores are 7737 for multi-core and 1777 for single-core. Its average benchmark score is 17177, placing it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs.

The nearest rivals to this CPU include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (avg score 17120, delta 0.3%) and the Intel Core i5-12450H (avg score 17239, delta -0.4%). The i5-11400F sits between these two processors, indicating its mid-range performance class.

In Palworld, the CPU's role becomes evident at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low score of 247 FPS suggests that the CPU is capable of driving high frame rates, but the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (247 to 163 FPS) indicates that the GPU is taking over as the primary bottleneck. The CPU's 12 threads are sufficient for Palworld's survival mechanics, which often involve many active entities and physics calculations.

The processor's 65W TDP and Socket 1200 compatibility make it a straightforward upgrade for existing systems. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz is adequate for maintaining high minimum frame rates, as seen in the 1080p Medium minimum of 170 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti ranks 983rd out of 3711 tested combinations in Palworld. This places the combo in the 73.5th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms roughly 73% of the other combinations tested.

This ranking is notable given the individual component percentiles. The CPU is in the 71st percentile, and the GPU is in the 83rd percentile. The combo's overall ranking of 983 out of 3711 suggests that the pairing works well together, with the GPU's higher percentile helping to boost the combined performance.

The ranking indicates that while this system is not at the top tier for Palworld, it is well above average. The 983rd position out of 3711 means there are 2728 combinations that rank below it. This places the system in the top quarter of all tested configurations.

The data suggests that the CPU may be holding back the GPU in some scenarios, particularly at 1080p. The GPU's 83rd percentile ranking is higher than the combo's 73.5th percentile ranking, implying that a stronger CPU could potentially push this combo higher in the rankings. However, at 4K resolutions, the GPU becomes the dominant factor, and the combo's performance aligns more closely with the GPU's capabilities.