Palworld

Palworld pairs the Intel Core i5-9400 with the Intel Arc B390, a combination that lands near the bottom of the database’s tested configurations for this survival title. The measured frame rates tell a consistent story: this is a setup for 1080p at low-to-medium presets, with playability collapsing quickly as resolution climbs. The Arc B390, an integrated GPU based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, posts a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in that benchmark are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower), and GT 710 (1443, 2.7% slower). Those are all ancient, low-end parts, which frames the B390’s performance tier clearly. The CPU, a 6-core/6-thread Coffee Lake part with a 2.90 GHz base and 4.10 GHz boost, sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, 0.2% faster), i7-10710U (2248, 0.3% slower), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, 0.4% slower), and i3-10305 (2264, 0.4% faster) — all within a negligible margin. The combo ranks 2607 out of 2944 tested combinations in Palworld, putting it in the bottom 11% of systems. That ranking, combined with the measured FPS data, gives a clear picture: expect a functional but compromised experience, best suited to older monitors or players willing to dial settings down aggressively.

FAQ

Q: What average frame rate does this combo achieve at 1920x1080 with Low settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the measured average FPS is 84. This is the highest average FPS recorded across all tested resolutions and settings for this combination.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its closest GPU rivals in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower), and GT 710 (1443, 2.7% slower). The B390 leads all of them by a small margin.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a strong performer relative to other CPUs in the database?

A: The i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.4% of that score: the i7-1068NG7 (2259, 0.2% faster), i7-10710U (2248, 0.3% slower), Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, 0.4% slower), and i3-10305 (2264, 0.4% faster). It is a mid-pack CPU, neither a standout nor a liability.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 2560x1440 if the target is a playable frame rate?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield an average of 56 FPS. Medium drops to 45 FPS, High to 35 FPS, and Ultra to 26 FPS. Low is the only preset at this resolution that stays comfortably above 50 FPS average.

Q: Does the Arc B390 have dedicated VRAM?

A: No. The Arc B390 uses System Shared memory, with a shared memory type, bus width, and system-dependent bandwidth. Its memory clock is also listed as System Shared, meaning it draws from the system’s main memory rather than having its own dedicated pool.

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

A: The combo ranks 2607 out of 2944 tested combinations, placing it in the lower percentile of systems. This aligns with the measured FPS data, which shows struggles at higher resolutions and settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to a single viable strategy for this combo: prioritize Low settings at 1920x1080 for a smooth experience, and accept significant compromises elsewhere. At 1920x1080 Low, the average FPS is 84, which is the only preset across all resolutions that clears 80 FPS. Medium at the same resolution averages 68 FPS, with a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS — still playable, but with a noticeable dip in headroom. High at 1080p drops to 53 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 40 FPS. For a 60 FPS target, Low is the only safe choice at 1080p; Medium comes close but risks drops below 60 in demanding scenes, as the 58 FPS minimum suggests.

Moving to 2560x1440, the situation worsens. Low settings average 56 FPS, which is borderline playable but not smooth. Medium averages 45 FPS (min 38, max 52), High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. At 4K, no preset is playable by any reasonable standard: Low averages 31 FPS, Medium 25 FPS (min 21, max 29), High 19 FPS, and Ultra 15 FPS. The data indicates that 4K should be avoided entirely on this hardware.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1920x1080 with Low settings. This yields the highest average FPS (84) and the most consistent frame pacing, since no minimum or maximum values are listed for that row. If visual quality is more important than frame rate, Medium at 1080p (68 FPS average) is the highest preset that remains above 60 FPS on average, though the 58 FPS minimum means occasional stutters. For users with 1440p monitors, Low settings (56 FPS) are the only reasonable option, but a 60 FPS experience is not guaranteed. The gap between Low and Medium at 1440p is 11 FPS (56 vs 45), which is substantial, and the jump from Medium to High is another 10 FPS (45 vs 35). At 1080p, the scaling is similar: Low to Medium is 16 FPS (84 vs 68), Medium to High is 15 FPS (68 vs 53), and High to Ultra is 13 FPS (53 vs 40). The B390’s performance ceiling is low, and the data suggests that dropping to Low is the only way to get consistently high frame rates.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary bottleneck in this combination. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are all NVIDIA parts from over a decade ago — the GT 520MX, 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710. The B390’s specifications do not compensate for this low raw score. It has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation units, with 12 ray tracing cores. Its peak FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The boost clock is 2500 MHz, with a base clock of 300 MHz.

Crucially, the B390 uses System Shared memory. There is no dedicated VRAM size, type, bus width, or bandwidth — all are listed as System Shared or System Dependent. This means the GPU relies on the system’s DDR4 memory via the i5-9400’s dual-channel memory bus, which has a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. This is a severe limitation for a game like Palworld, which benefits from dedicated graphics memory. The measured FPS data reflects this: at 4K, the average FPS ranges from 15 (Ultra) to 31 (Low), with Medium showing a minimum of 21 and maximum of 29. At 1440p, the range is 26 (Ultra) to 56 (Low), and at 1080p, it is 40 (Ultra) to 84 (Low).

The B390’s TDP is 80 W, and it is classified as an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no power connectors and a bus interface of IGP. Its slot width is also IGP, which means it is not a discrete card but part of the processor package. This explains the shared memory architecture. The GPU’s release date is 2026-01-26, and its production status is Active. The FP16 performance is 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), which is double the FP32 rate, but this is unlikely to benefit Palworld significantly.

The data shows a clear relationship between the B390’s memory constraints and frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 84 FPS, which drops to 56 FPS at 1440p Low and 31 FPS at 4K Low. This scaling is roughly linear with pixel count, indicating that the GPU is fill-rate and memory-bandwidth limited rather than compute limited. The Medium preset at 1080p (68 FPS) versus Low (84 FPS) shows a 16 FPS penalty, and the Ultra preset at 1080p (40 FPS) is less than half of Low. The GPU’s 24 ROPs are a likely constraint at higher resolutions, as pixel throughput becomes critical.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 84, Medium 68, High 53, and Ultra 40. The Medium preset includes a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS, indicating some variance but generally stable performance. Low and High have no listed minimum or maximum, so only the averages are available. Ultra averages 40 FPS. This resolution is the only one where the combo approaches a fully smooth experience, and only at Low.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 56, Medium 45, High 35, and Ultra 26. Medium again provides the only min/max data: 38 FPS minimum and 52 FPS maximum. The drop from 1080p Low (84) to 1440p Low (56) is 28 FPS, a 33% reduction. The drop from 1080p Medium (68) to 1440p Medium (45) is 23 FPS. High falls from 53 to 35 FPS, and Ultra from 40 to 26 FPS. None of these 1440p presets are ideal for fast-paced action, but Low is the only one above 50 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 31, Medium 25, High 19, and Ultra 15. Medium has a minimum of 21 FPS and a maximum of 29 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is severe: Low drops from 56 to 31 FPS, Medium from 45 to 25 FPS, High from 35 to 19 FPS, and Ultra from 26 to 15 FPS. The 4K numbers are all below playable thresholds, with even the best preset (Low at 31 FPS) failing to reach 30 FPS consistently, as the Medium min/max suggests frame times are erratic.

The data reveals that the B390’s performance degrades roughly in proportion to resolution increase. At 1080p, the average FPS across all presets is 61.25 (84+68+53+40)/4. At 1440p, it is 40.5. At 4K, it is 22.5. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is consistent: 44 FPS at 1080p (84 vs 40), 30 FPS at 1440p (56 vs 26), and 16 FPS at 4K (31 vs 15). This suggests that the GPU’s fixed-function units (ROPs, TMUs) are saturated even at Low settings, and higher presets add shading load that further reduces throughput.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2607 out of 2944 tested combinations in Palworld. That places it in the bottom 11.5% of all systems in the database. This is a very low ranking, consistent with the GPU’s 9th percentile position and the CPU’s 47th percentile. The rank is not surprising given the measured FPS: the highest average FPS achieved is 84 at 1080p Low, which is a playable but not high-performance result. Many other combos in the database would likely double or triple that number at the same settings.

The CPU’s nearest rivals are all within 0.4% of its average benchmark score, meaning the i5-9400 is not a differentiator. The GPU’s nearest rivals, however, are all much slower in 3DMark Steel Nomad (by 1.3% to 2.7%), yet the B390 still lands in the 9th percentile. This indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in the combo’s rank. If the CPU were swapped for a faster part, the rank would improve only marginally because the B390 cannot push much beyond its current frame rates. Conversely, pairing the i5-9400 with a stronger GPU would likely move the combo significantly up the rankings, as the CPU has enough headroom to feed a more capable graphics card.

The rank of 2607 out of 2944 means that 337 combos are slower. That is a small fraction of the database. The data indicates that this combo is suited only for low-resolution, low-settings gaming. At 1080p Low, it achieves 84 FPS, which is smooth. At 1080p Medium, it averages 68 FPS, which is acceptable. Anything above that, or any higher resolution, falls below the threshold for a pleasant experience. The rank reflects this narrow usability window.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz and its boost clock is 4.10 GHz. It has a 9 MB shared L3 cache, with 64 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 per core. The TDP is 65 W, and it supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 2254, placing it at the 47th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are the i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2% delta), i7-10710U (2248, +0.3%), Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, +0.4%), and i3-10305 (2264, -0.4%). These deltas are tiny, meaning the i5-9400 is effectively a mid-range part from a few generations ago.

In Palworld, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The i5-9400’s 6 cores and 6 threads are adequate for most games, but Palworld is known for CPU-heavy simulation elements. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 84 FPS, which suggests the CPU is not completely bottlenecking the GPU at that setting. However, at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as the frame rates drop dramatically despite the CPU’s unchanged workload. At 4K Low, the average is 31 FPS, which is a 63% drop from 1080p Low. This indicates that the B390 is overwhelmed by pixel count, not that the CPU is stalling.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s is shared with the GPU, which uses System Shared memory. This is a potential bottleneck, as the GPU’s memory traffic competes with CPU memory access. The B390’s memory clock is listed as System Shared, and its bandwidth is System Dependent, meaning it relies entirely on the i5-9400’s DDR4 memory subsystem. In a game like Palworld, which has many entities and world streaming, this shared bandwidth could cause frame time spikes. The Medium preset at 1080p shows a minimum of 58 FPS, which is close to the average of 68, indicating relatively stable performance. But at 1440p Medium, the minimum drops to 38 FPS against a 45 FPS average, showing more variance.

The CPU’s single-core performance is modest: Cinebench R23 single-core score is 935, and Geekbench single-core is 1389. Palworld’s simulation logic may not be heavily multi-threaded, so single-core performance matters. The i5-9400’s 4.10 GHz boost clock helps, but it is not a high-frequency part by modern standards. The CPU’s multi-core scores are 6629 (Cinebench R23) and 5141 (Geekbench), which are adequate for a 6-core part. The data suggests that the CPU is not the primary reason for the combo’s low rank; the GPU is. However, the CPU’s lack of hyperthreading (6 threads, not 12) could limit performance in scenes with many NPCs or base-building elements, which Palworld is known for. The measured FPS data does not isolate CPU performance from GPU performance, but the scaling across resolutions points to GPU dominance.

The i5-9400 supports PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes (CPU only), and its integrated graphics are UHD 630, but the B390 is a separate IGP on a different die. The CPU’s release date is 2018-10-18, and it is end-of-life. Its memory support is DDR4, which is shared with the GPU. The 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is a fixed figure, and the B390’s System Shared memory will consume a portion of that, potentially reducing CPU memory performance. This is a unique bottleneck that discrete GPU systems do not face. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 84 FPS, but the CPU’s theoretical limits are not tested by this metric. A faster CPU with the same GPU might improve minimum frame rates, but the average FPS is likely GPU-bound. The combo’s rank of 2607 out of 2944 is a clear signal that this pairing is near the bottom of the database, and the CPU’s mid-pack performance does not rescue it.