Palworld

Palworld, a survival title released in January 2024, presents a demanding open-world environment where the balance between CPU and GPU determines playability. The combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER produces measured frame rates that position the pairing at rank 289 out of 1718 tested combos in this game. This places the configuration in the top 17% of all tested systems, indicating a strong performance tier for Palworld. The data shows a setup that is well-matched, though the bottleneck shifts predictably across resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 289 out of 1718 tested combinations places it in the upper echelon of systems for Palworld. This ranking is a holistic measure, reflecting the synergy between this specific CPU and GPU in this particular game. The position suggests that this pairing is capable of delivering a high-refresh-rate experience at most settings, with the primary limitation emerging only at the most demanding configurations. The Intel Core i5-13400F holds a percentile of 82 against all CPUs, while the RTX 4070 SUPER holds a percentile of 84 against all GPUs. These independent percentiles are closely aligned, which explains why the combo’s overall ranking is strong; neither component is dramatically underpowered relative to the other, avoiding a severe bottleneck that would drag the system down in the rankings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. The chip features 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In synthetic benchmarks, its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21279 and single-core score of 3004 indicate a robust processor for handling the game’s simulation and AI workloads. The PassMark multithread score of 25032 and the 3DMark max threads score of 7307 further confirm its capability in multi-threaded scenarios, which are common in survival games where numerous entities and world interactions are tracked.

In Palworld, the CPU’s role is critical for managing the game world, including the behavior of Pals and the physics of the environment. The benchmark results show that at 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS reaches 276.7, which confirms the CPU’s ability to feed frames quickly when the GPU is not the limiting factor. The CPU’s nearest rival is the Intel Core i7-13620H, with a deltaPct of 0.1%, meaning they perform virtually identically in aggregate benchmarks. Compared to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, the i5-13400F is 0.5% behind in average score, indicating that these mid-range processors are all in the same performance class for this type of workload.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process. It features 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. The card has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 2475 MHz, and it achieves a PassMark G3D score of 29995. The GPU’s percentile of 84 against all GPUs places it in the upper tier of graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, has a deltaPct of -0.2%, meaning the RTX 4070 SUPER is within a rounding error of that professional card’s average score, while it is 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M40.

The GPU’s role becomes dominant as resolution increases. At 4K, the rendering load is immense, and the RTX 4070 SUPER’s 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are crucial for maintaining texture quality and frame pacing. The benchmark data shows a clear division of labor: at 1080p, the CPU can push frame rates high enough to stress the GPU at Ultra settings, yielding 133 FPS. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 47.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is now the primary constraint, as the resolution scaling outpaces the CPU’s ability to compensate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels.

At 1920x1080:

• Low: 276.7 FPS
• Medium: 222.6 FPS
• High: 172.2 FPS
• Ultra: 133 FPS

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 185.1 FPS
• Medium: 149.1 FPS
• High: 111 FPS
• Ultra: 89.1 FPS

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 103 FPS
• Medium: 81 FPS
• High: 64.3 FPS
• Ultra: 47.8 FPS

The data shows that at 1080p, even Ultra settings are highly playable, exceeding 130 FPS. The step from Low to Ultra at 1080p results in a 143.7 FPS drop, which is a significant but expected cost for enhanced visual fidelity. At 1440p, the frame rates remain high, with Ultra still above 89 FPS, making it the sweet spot for high refresh rate monitors. At 4K, the configuration is playable at High, with an average of 64.3 FPS, but Ultra settings dip below 48 FPS, which may not be suitable for all players.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the system produces 276.7 FPS. Scaling to 1440p Low reduces this to 185.1 FPS, a 33% decrease. Scaling to 4K Low further reduces it to 103 FPS, a 63% decrease from 1080p. This pattern indicates that the GPU is being increasingly taxed as pixel count grows. The CPU’s performance is relatively static, but the GPU’s workload expands geometrically.

The most telling comparison is at Ultra settings. The 1080p Ultra score of 133 FPS drops to 89.1 FPS at 1440p, and then to 47.8 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 33%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 46%. This non-linear scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, is capable of sustaining high frame rates, but the RTX 4070 SUPER’s rendering throughput is the ceiling at higher resolutions. The fact that 4K High (64.3 FPS) is still playable suggests the system is well-balanced, but for consistent 60+ FPS at 4K, settings must be tuned down from Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU and GPU combination for Palworld?

A: The combination ranks 289 out of 1718 tested combos, placing it in the top 17% of systems tested for this game.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-13400F compare to its nearest rival in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The i5-13400F is virtually tied with the Intel Core i7-13620H, with a deltaPct of 0.1%. It is also 0.5% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D in average score.

Q: What is the best resolution and setting to achieve a 60+ FPS experience?

A: According to the measured data, 2560x1440 with Ultra settings achieves 89.1 FPS, and 3840x2160 with High settings achieves 64.3 FPS. Both configurations allow for a 60+ FPS experience.

Q: At which setting does the GPU become the primary bottleneck at 4K?

A: The GPU becomes the clear bottleneck at 4K with Ultra settings, where the average FPS drops to 47.8. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a 63% reduction in frame rate at Low settings, indicating the GPU’s workload is the limiting factor.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU at 1080p?

A: The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU enough data, as seen with 276.7 FPS on Low settings. The GPU is still the limiting factor at 1080p Ultra, where the frame rate drops to 133 FPS, but this is a high number, so the CPU does not present a significant bottleneck.

Q: What is the memory configuration of the GPU and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. This configuration is sufficient for 4K texture loads, but the frame rate drops at 4K Ultra indicate that memory bandwidth and capacity, while adequate, do not prevent the GPU from being the limiting factor at the highest settings.