Palworld

Palworld, the survival game that launched in January 2024, presents a demanding open world where the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT combination must balance creature-collection chaos with rendering fidelity. The measured data reveals a pairing that is competent at mainstream resolutions but quickly runs out of headroom when pushing 4K Ultra settings. This analysis examines the specific FPS figures, the role of each component, and how this combo ranks against the broader field of tested hardware.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The combo achieves an average of 93.9 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is a smooth experience for most gameplay scenarios.

Q: How much of a performance drop occurs when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 93.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 32.1 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a significant reduction of about 65.8% in performance.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest average frame rate at 1440p?

A: The Low preset yields the highest average at 98.1 FPS for 2560x1440, while the Medium preset offers a still-playable 80.6 FPS with better visual quality.

Q: Is this combination more limited by the CPU or GPU at 1080p Low settings?

A: At 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 151.3 FPS, which is exceptionally high and suggests the CPU, with its 6 cores and 6 threads boosting to 4.10 GHz, is keeping up well enough that the GPU remains the primary limiter even at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Palworld?

A: The combo ranks 1249 out of 1718 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the overall performance distribution.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 98.1 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 47.5 FPS, a difference of 50.6 FPS that shows the heavy cost of the highest settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is the driving force behind Palworld's rendering, equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1605 MHz and boost clock of 1905 MHz, with a game clock of 1755 MHz, dictate how fast the 2560 shading units can process the game's voxel-based environments and creature models. The data shows this GPU is capable of delivering playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results indicate a hard limit. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS falls to 32.1, which is below the threshold for a smooth experience. The card's 9.754 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is adequate for the game's demands, but the transition to 4K exposes a bandwidth and compute limitation that cannot be overcome by the CPU.

The GPU's performance percentile versus all GPUs is 68, placing it above the median. When compared to its nearest rivals, the data shows it is nearly identical in raw compute benchmarks: it is 0.1% slower than the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile, 0.3% faster than the Intel Arc A350M, 0.6% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile, and 0.9% faster than the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000. This indicates the RX 5700 XT is a solid mid-range performer that trades blows with modern and professional mobile parts, but its 8 GB VRAM and RDNA 1.0 architecture are not optimized for the extreme pixel counts of 4K in a demanding title like Palworld.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K, highlighting where the bottleneck shifts. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 151.3 FPS, but this drops to 98.1 FPS at 2560x1440 and then to 56.9 FPS at 3840x2160. This steep decline suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases, as the workload on the shading units and memory bandwidth multiplies. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, is less stressed at higher resolutions because the frame rate drops, giving it more time to prepare frames.

Looking at the High preset, the drop from 93.9 FPS at 1080p to 63.9 FPS at 1440p and then to 32.1 FPS at 4K shows a similar trend. The performance nearly halves from 1440p to 4K, which is a classic sign of a GPU that is running out of fill rate and memory bandwidth. The game's open-world nature, with many objects and draw calls, also puts pressure on the CPU, but the data implies that the RX 5700 XT is the wall at 4K. At 1080p, the high frame rates suggest the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, but even at this resolution, the GPU is likely the bottleneck for higher settings, as evidenced by the 73.9 FPS at Ultra compared to the 151.3 FPS at Low.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance for this combo appears to be the Medium preset at 1440p or High at 1080p. At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average frame rate is 80.6 FPS, which is smooth and responsive for a survival game. This provides a significant improvement over the Low preset's 98.1 FPS in visual quality without the steep cost seen in the High preset, which drops to 63.9 FPS. For users with 1080p monitors, the High preset at 93.9 FPS is an excellent choice, offering a near-60 FPS experience with headroom for dips, while the Medium preset at 121.2 FPS provides an even smoother experience for fast-paced exploration.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination. At 1080p, it manages 73.9 FPS, but the visual gains over High are often marginal in such games, and the performance cost is steep. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 47.5 FPS, which is borderline playable but may suffer in busy areas. At 4K, all settings are problematic, with even Low only achieving 56.9 FPS and High dropping to an unplayable 32.1 FPS. The data suggests that players should stick to 1080p or 1440p and avoid Ultra to maintain a consistent frame rate, as the GPU is not powerful enough to handle the highest settings at these resolutions without significant compromise.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested configurations for Palworld, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 1249 out of 1718 combos. This places it in the bottom 27% of all tested systems, indicating that while it is functional, it is far from a top-tier performer for this specific game. This ranking is likely driven by the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions and the CPU's aging architecture. The CPU itself sits at the 50th percentile versus all CPUs, meaning it is an average performer, but its nearest rivals show how tight the competition is: it is 0.2% faster than the Intel Core i3-10305 and the Intel Core i3-1125G4, 0.4% faster than the Intel Xeon E-2134, and 0.6% slower than the Intel Core i7-8809G.

The low combo rank suggests that many other pairings, likely with newer GPUs or more powerful CPUs, can achieve higher frame rates in Palworld. The RX 5700 XT, while ranking in the 68th percentile for GPUs, is paired with a CPU that is not able to push it to its limits in lighter scenarios, but the game is demanding enough that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The rank of 1249 implies that users should not expect high-refresh-rate 4K gameplay, but the combo is still viable for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The detailed measurements provide a clear picture of the combo's capabilities across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 151.3 FPS for Low, 121.2 FPS for Medium, 93.9 FPS for High, and 73.9 FPS for Ultra. These numbers show a consistent scaling, with the Low preset providing a very high frame rate suitable for competitive play, while the Ultra preset still maintains a playable 73.9 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop to 98.1 FPS for Low, 80.6 FPS for Medium, 63.9 FPS for High, and 47.5 FPS for Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant, with the Ultra preset falling below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes much more limited. The Low preset averages 56.9 FPS, which is just below ideal smoothness, while the Medium preset averages 47 FPS. The High preset drops to 32.1 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 25.6 FPS. These figures clearly indicate that 4K is not a viable resolution for this hardware combination in Palworld, as even the lowest settings struggle to maintain a consistent 60 FPS. The data shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can handle all presets, and 1440p gaming, where it can manage Low to High settings comfortably.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth are adequate for feeding the GPU, but its lack of hyper-threading may limit performance in heavily threaded scenarios. In Palworld, which has a dynamic open world with many AI-driven creatures, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 151.3 FPS, indicating that the CPU can process frames quickly enough to not bottleneck the GPU at this resolution and setting.

However, the CPU's benchmark scores reveal its mid-range standing. It scores 7969 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1125 in single-core, with an average benchmark score of 2305. This places it at the 50th percentile, meaning it is exactly average when compared to all CPUs. Its nearest rivals show it is virtually identical in performance to several other mid-range parts, with deltas of less than 1%. In Palworld, the data suggests that the CPU is not the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the frame rate drops significantly when the resolution increases, which points to the GPU being the bottleneck. At 1080p, the CPU is likely sufficient for most settings, but the game's complex simulations may cause occasional dips that the data does not fully capture, as the min FPS values are not listed.