Palworld

Palworld’s measured performance with the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 reveals a combination that is heavily bound by the graphics card at higher resolutions, yet capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p. The data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 4060 is the primary limiting factor as resolution climbs, while the i5-13400F provides ample headroom to push frame rates at lower settings. This pairing ranks 984th out of 1718 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database, a position driven almost entirely by the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and modest memory bandwidth.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, indicating that the RTX 4060’s rendering pipeline saturates quickly as pixel count increases. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 109.7 at 1920x1080 to 74.5 at 2560x1440, a 32% reduction, and then to 41.2 at 3840x2160, a further 45% drop. This scaling curve is characteristic of a GPU whose 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth become the bottleneck; the pixel throughput required at 4K simply exceeds what the card can sustain while maintaining visual quality.

The gap between Low and Ultra presets widens dramatically at higher resolutions, which confirms the GPU-bound nature of the workload. At 1080p, the spread from Low (180.1 FPS) to Ultra (83.5 FPS) is 96.6 FPS, but at 4K the same spread shrinks to 35.4 FPS (66.2 vs 30.8). This compression at 4K indicates that even the Low preset cannot escape the GPU’s limits, whereas at 1080p the CPU is more capable of feeding the graphics card, allowing settings to have a larger impact. The data suggests that players targeting 4K will see diminishing returns from lowering settings, as the card is already near its ceiling.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F brings 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded performance, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21279 and a 3DMark max threads score of 7307. These figures place the CPU in the 82nd percentile among all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25236. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, scores 25365, a delta of -0.5%, meaning the i5-13400F is essentially on par with that chip in synthetic tests.

In Palworld, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the average FPS reaches 180.1. This high ceiling suggests the processor is not the limiting factor at this resolution; instead, the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. The 10-core configuration is well-suited for the game’s survival mechanics, which often involve physics simulations and AI-driven creature behaviors. The CPU’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain consistent frame delivery in these scenarios, though the benchmark data does not isolate specific CPU-bound moments. The 3DMark single-thread score of 960 indicates decent per-core performance, but Palworld appears to scale well with the available threads, as evidenced by the large jump from 2-thread (1880) to 8-thread (5591) scores.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the decisive component in this pairing, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 2460 MHz and FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS are modest by modern standards, and the card’s 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs reflects this. The nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, scores 23321 versus the RTX 4060’s 23181, a delta of -0.6%, showing they are nearly identical in raw compute. The Intel Arc B580 trails by 0.7% (23021), placing the RTX 4060 in a tight cluster of mid-range graphics solutions.

The GPU’s memory configuration is the key constraint in Palworld. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 30.8, and the 8 GB VRAM is likely saturated by the game’s high-resolution textures and draw distances. The data shows that reducing settings from Ultra to High at 4K yields a 10.4 FPS improvement (30.8 to 41.2), but dropping to Low only reaches 66.2 FPS, still below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This indicates that the card’s memory bandwidth, not just capacity, is a limiting factor. At 1080p, the GPU handles the workload more comfortably, with Ultra averaging 83.5 FPS, but the 180.1 FPS on Low shows that the card’s rasterization throughput is not the ceiling—it is the memory subsystem that holds back higher settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows point to a clear recommendation: for a balanced experience, the Medium preset is the sweet spot. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 148 FPS, which is 38.3 FPS higher than High (109.7) and only 32.1 FPS lower than Low (180.1). This setting preserves visual fidelity while maintaining a high refresh rate, making it ideal for the game’s exploration and combat. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 97.4 FPS, which remains comfortably above 60 FPS and is 22.9 FPS higher than High (74.5). The data suggests that Medium avoids the VRAM pressure that likely affects High and Ultra, as the frame rate does not collapse until the resolution increases to 4K.

For players with 4K displays, the Low preset at 66.2 FPS is the only viable option, but it still falls short of the 72+ FPS target that many monitors aim for. The Ultra preset at 4K (30.8 FPS) should be avoided, as it drops below 35 FPS, which is not playable for most users. At 1440p, High (74.5 FPS) is acceptable, but Medium (97.4 FPS) provides a better margin for frame time spikes. The data indicates that the RTX 4060 is best utilized at 1080p with Medium or High settings, where the combination of CPU and GPU can sustain high frame rates without exceeding the VRAM limit.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combination in Palworld?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Medium settings yields 148 FPS, which is the highest frame rate above 100 FPS with any preset. At 2560x1440, Medium drops to 97.4 FPS, still playable, but 4K only reaches 66.2 FPS on Low.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any point?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 180.1, which is far above the GPU’s typical limits on other settings, indicating the CPU is not the limiting factor. The i5-13400F’s 10 cores and 16 threads provide sufficient headroom for this game.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RTX 4060’s average benchmark score is 23181, which is 0.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23321) and 0.7% higher than the Intel Arc B580 (23021). This places it in a tight performance band.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Ultra settings?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 30.8, and at 1440p Ultra it is 55.3, suggesting that 8 GB is not enough to maintain smooth performance at high resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, 83.5 FPS is playable, but Medium provides a better margin.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and High at 1440p?

A: Low averages 118 FPS, while High averages 74.5 FPS, a difference of 43.5 FPS. This shows that settings have a significant impact at 1440p, unlike at 4K where the spread is smaller.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: The combination ranks 984th out of 1718 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle percentile of the database, consistent with the RTX 4060’s 66th percentile GPU ranking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 180.1 on Low, 148 on Medium, 109.7 on High, and 83.5 on Ultra. The progression shows a steady decline of roughly 30 FPS between each preset, indicating that the GPU’s shading units (3072) and texture units (96) are the primary cost drivers. The 148 FPS on Medium is notable because it is 38.3 FPS higher than High, suggesting that High triggers memory-intensive effects that tax the 272.0 GB/s bandwidth.

At 2560x1440, the results are 118 on Low, 97.4 on Medium, 74.5 on High, and 55.3 on Ultra. The drop from Medium to High is 22.9 FPS, while the drop from High to Ultra is 19.2 FPS, showing that the GPU’s pixel rate (118.1 GPixel/s) becomes a limiting factor as resolution increases. The Low preset at 118 FPS is just 30 FPS below the 1080p Low figure, indicating that the CPU can still feed the GPU at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 66.2 on Low, 50.4 on Medium, 41.2 on High, and 30.8 on Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is 15.8 FPS, and between Medium and High is 9.2 FPS, showing that the GPU’s FP32 throughput (15.11 TFLOPS) is insufficient for high-quality rendering at 4K. The Ultra preset at 30.8 FPS is below the 30 FPS threshold for playability, making it the only setting that is effectively unusable in this configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-13400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination ranks 984th out of 1718 combos, placing it in the 42.7th percentile of the database. This rank is lower than the CPU’s individual 82nd percentile, which confirms that the GPU is dragging the overall performance down. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 25236 is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365), showing that the processor is competitive, but the RTX 4060’s 66th percentile ranking (23181) is the weaker link.

In practical terms, this combo sits between the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and the Intel Arc B580 in GPU performance, with deltas of -0.6% and +0.7%, respectively. The rank of 984 suggests that many other tested combinations, likely featuring higher-tier GPUs, achieve better frame rates in Palworld. However, the data shows that this pairing is not a poor performer; it is simply a mid-range solution that excels at 1080p and struggles at 4K. The measured FPS at 1080p Medium (148) is competitive with more expensive systems, but the 4K results (30.8 on Ultra) place it firmly in the budget tier for high-resolution gaming. The rank reflects a balanced but unexceptional pairing, where the CPU is underutilized at higher resolutions and the GPU is the clear bottleneck.