Palworld

# Palworld with Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 produces a wide spread of frame rates across Palworld's resolution and settings matrix, ranging from 318 FPS at 1080p Low to 55 FPS at 4K Ultra. The measured data indicates a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while at 1080p the CPU's six cores become the primary limiter. This pairing ranks 247th out of 3,711 tested combinations in Palworld, placing it in the top tier of configurations despite the CPU's mid-range positioning.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, but with notable exceptions at lower settings. At High settings, average FPS declines from 198 at 1920x1080 to 130 at 2560x1440, then to 72 at 3840x2160 — a 63.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This steep decline indicates the RTX 4080's rendering workload is the dominant factor as pixel count quadruples.

The Low settings row tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the system produces 318 FPS, which drops to 209 at 1440p and 116 at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p reduction of 34.3% is smaller than the High settings' 34.3% drop, but the Low settings curve flattens more dramatically at 4K, where the 116 FPS result is still 61.1% of the 1080p figure. This suggests that at low graphical loads, the CPU begins to constrain performance at 1080p, preventing the GPU from fully stretching its legs.

Medium settings show the most consistent scaling behavior. The 257 FPS at 1080p falls to 169 at 1440p and 94 at 4K, with each resolution step reducing performance by roughly 34-44%. The Ultra preset, by contrast, produces the steepest relative decline: 150 FPS at 1080p, 99 at 1440p, and 55 at 4K — a 63.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This indicates that Ultra settings place an overwhelming load on the GPU's shading and memory subsystems, leaving the CPU with ample headroom throughout.

The data shows that at 4K, even the Low preset (116 FPS) cannot reach the 1440p High result (130 FPS), confirming that resolution has a larger impact on frame rate than settings at this tier. The RTX 4080's 716.8 GB/s memory bandwidth and 16 GB of GDDR6X VRAM are sufficient to keep 4K playable across all presets, with the minimum measured average being 55 FPS at Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 247th out of 3,711 tested combinations in Palworld, placing it in the 93.3rd percentile of all configurations. This rank reflects the balance between the i5-12400's modest CPU performance and the RTX 4080's high-end GPU capabilities. In a game like Palworld, where open-world survival mechanics can stress both processor and graphics card, this pairing achieves a position well above the median but below the top-tier combos that likely pair the RTX 4080 with higher-core-count CPUs.

The i5-12400's nearest rivals in CPU benchmark scores help contextualize its contribution to this rank. The AMD EPYC 7643 scores 18,697 in average benchmark, just 0.1% above the i5-12400's 18,683. The Intel Core i7-1355U sits 0.3% higher at 18,730, while the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 is 0.7% ahead at 18,811. The Intel Core i3-14100F trails by 0.9% at 18,519. This tight clustering around the 18,700 mark shows that the i5-12400 delivers CPU compute squarely in the mainstream range, which explains why the combo doesn't crack the top 200 in Palworld despite the powerful GPU.

The RTX 4080's own rival comparisons reinforce this picture. The RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54,209, a mere 0.1% higher than the 4080's 54,247 average. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% lower at 54,828, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB trails by 2.6% at 55,698. The AMD Radeon 8060S is 2.7% behind at 55,757. These deltaPct values are all within a narrow band, indicating the RTX 4080 is well-positioned among its peers, but the CPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs (versus the GPU's 86th percentile) means the processor holds back the full potential of the graphics card in frame-rate-limited scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock runs at 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, and its 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power provides substantial headroom for Palworld's rendering demands. The 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores suggest the card is well-equipped for any future ray-tracing updates, though the measured data does not include ray-traced presets.

The VRAM capacity of 16 GB proves ample for Palworld at all tested resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the card maintains 55 FPS average, which requires significant texture and geometry data to be resident in memory. The 716.8 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient to feed the 112 ROPs and 304 TMUs at high resolutions — the 4K Medium result of 94 FPS with a minimum of 80 FPS indicates memory throughput does not become a bottleneck even when pixel fill rates are at their highest.

The boost clock of 2505 MHz is the maximum rated speed, and the measured performance suggests the card sustains high clocks under load. The 4K Low result of 116 FPS is particularly telling: at low settings, the GPU's shading units are less utilized, yet the card still delivers 116 FPS, which means the memory subsystem and ROPs are processing frames quickly enough to avoid being the limiting factor. The gap between 4K Low (116 FPS) and 4K High (72 FPS) — a 37.9% reduction — is directly attributable to the increased shading and texture work at High settings.

The RTX 4080's percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 54,247, places it in the upper echelon of graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, is nearly identical in performance (0.1% delta), which means any differences in Palworld frame rates between these two cards would be negligible. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, despite having less VRAM, scores 2.6% lower in benchmarks, yet the 4080's 16 GB buffer ensures Palworld's larger maps and numerous creatures don't cause texture thrashing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 318 FPS, which is the single highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings reduce this to 257 FPS, with a minimum of 219 and maximum of 296 FPS. High settings yield 198 FPS, while Ultra drops to 150 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 168 FPS, indicating that settings have a substantial impact even at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down proportionally. Low settings average 209 FPS, Medium 169 FPS (minimum 144, maximum 195), High 130 FPS, and Ultra 99 FPS. The 1440p Low result of 209 FPS is still higher than the 1080p Ultra result of 150 FPS, demonstrating that resolution has a larger effect on performance than preset quality in this configuration.

At 3840x2160, the system delivers its lowest results. Low averages 116 FPS, Medium 94 FPS (minimum 80, maximum 108), High 72 FPS, and Ultra 55 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS is the only measured average below 60 FPS, which may impact smoothness on standard 60 Hz displays. The 4K Medium result of 94 FPS with a minimum of 80 FPS provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while 4K High's 72 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

The Medium settings are the only preset with min/max data across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the frame time consistency shows a 77 FPS range (219-296). At 1440p, the range narrows to 51 FPS (144-195), and at 4K it is 28 FPS (80-108). This suggests that higher resolutions compress the frame rate variance, likely due to the GPU becoming the consistent bottleneck rather than CPU-driven spikes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz boosts to 4.40 GHz, and it carries 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores show a single-thread result of 910 in 3DMark and 2,257 in Cinebench R23, while multi-thread scores reach 5,890 in 3DMark and 15,989 in Cinebench R23.

In Palworld, the CPU's role becomes apparent at 1080p Low, where the 318 FPS result is likely near the processor's maximum frame delivery capability. The jump from 1080p Low to 1440p Low (318 to 209 FPS) is 34.3%, which is less than the pixel count increase of 77.8% between those resolutions. This indicates that at 1080p Low, the i5-12400's six cores are delivering frames as fast as they can, and the GPU is not yet fully saturated. The 4K Low result of 116 FPS further confirms this: the GPU workload increases substantially, but the frame rate drops only 44.5% from 1440p Low, showing the CPU is still keeping up.

The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5,873 and max-thread score of 5,890 suggest the processor's multi-threaded capability is adequate for Palworld's simulation and AI workloads. The 4-thread score of 3,012 indicates that even with fewer active threads, the processor maintains solid performance. The PassMark single-thread score of 3,456 (with a duplicate listing of 3,456) confirms the i5-12400's strong single-core performance, which matters for Palworld's main game thread.

The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs places it below the RTX 4080's 86th percentile, and the nearest rival data reinforces this mid-range positioning. The i5-12400's average benchmark score of 18,683 is essentially tied with the AMD EPYC 7643 (18,697, -0.1% delta), which is a server-class chip — this illustrates that raw benchmark averages don't always translate to gaming performance. In Palworld, the 6-core/12-thread configuration provides enough parallelism for the game's creature AI and world simulation, but it lacks the headroom of 8-core or higher processors that might push the 1080p Low result beyond 318 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K displays, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 94 FPS average with a minimum of 80 FPS keeps gameplay smooth on high-refresh-rate monitors, while the 4K High result of 72 FPS is acceptable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes. The 4K Ultra preset's 55 FPS average dips below the 60 FPS threshold, which may cause noticeable stutter on standard displays.

At 1440p, the High preset at 130 FPS is the recommended starting point, as it maintains a large margin above 60 FPS while delivering better visual fidelity than Medium. The 1440p Ultra result of 99 FPS is also viable for users who prioritize image quality, and the 1440p Medium at 169 FPS provides exceptional smoothness for competitive play. The 1440p Low setting at 209 FPS is unnecessary for most users given the High preset's strong performance.

For 1080p, the High preset at 198 FPS is the optimal choice for most scenarios, offering high visual quality with frame rates well above 144 Hz displays. The 1080p Ultra at 150 FPS is the best option for users with 144 Hz monitors who want maximum settings, while the 1080p Medium at 257 FPS is ideal for esports-style play where every frame matters. The 1080p Low result of 318 FPS exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all consumer monitors, making it only relevant for benchmark comparisons or extreme competitive scenarios.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average is 318 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra in Palworld?

A: No — the 4K Ultra preset averages 55 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K High preset averages 72 FPS, and 4K Medium averages 94 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12400 compare to its closest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400's average benchmark score of 18,683 is 0.1% lower than the AMD EPYC 7643 (18,697), 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i7-1355U (18,730), and 0.7% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18,811). It is 0.9% higher than the Intel Core i3-14100F (18,519).

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 80 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. The 1080p Medium minimum is 219 FPS, and the 1440p Medium minimum is 144 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to the RTX 4080 SUPER in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54,247, which is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER's 54,209. The deltaPct of 0.1 indicates they are effectively tied in performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p Ultra and 4K Ultra?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 150 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it averages 55 FPS — a 63.3% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings.