Palworld

Palworld, a survival title released in January 2024, presents a demanding workload for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER pairing. The measured data reveals a combination that scales predictably with resolution, but exhibits a significant performance cliff at the highest settings, indicating a system that is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with maximum visual fidelity. The benchmark results show a clear dependency on both the CPU's six cores and the GPU's memory capacity, with the latter becoming a critical bottleneck under specific conditions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data illustrates a classic resolution scaling curve for this hardware combination. At 1080p with High settings, the system delivers an average of 95.6 FPS, which jumps to 120.9 FPS on Medium and 155.2 FPS on Low. This progression suggests that at 1080p, the system is not entirely GPU-bound at lower settings, as frame rates scale almost linearly with the reduction in graphical load.

Moving to 1440p, the performance drops are substantial but expected. High settings yield 59.5 FPS, a 37.8% reduction from the 1080p High result. Medium settings produce 81.6 FPS, while Low settings achieve 101.3 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is beginning to feel the pressure of the increased pixel count, but the CPU remains capable of feeding the GPU adequately.

The transition to 4K (3840x2160) reveals the most critical data point. At 4K High, the average FPS falls to 35.2, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The performance at 4K Ultra is even more restrictive, dropping to 25.7 FPS. The scaling from 1440p High (59.5 FPS) to 4K High (35.2 FPS) represents a 40.8% performance loss for a 2.25x increase in pixel count. This disproportionate drop indicates that the system is heavily GPU-limited at this resolution, and the 8 GB VRAM buffer of the RTX 2060 SUPER is likely a contributing factor, as the higher resolution and settings demand more memory than the card can efficiently provide.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its benchmark profile shows a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, placing it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs. The data suggests this processor is a competent, mid-range part that provides sufficient computational power for Palworld's game logic and world simulation.

In the context of Palworld, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 155.2 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate to suggest the CPU is not the primary limiting factor in most scenarios. However, the lack of hyper-threading (6 cores, 6 threads) could become a bottleneck in complex scenes with many AI-driven creatures or when the game's physics engine is heavily taxed. The processor's 9 MB of shared L3 cache is modest by modern standards, but the measured results indicate it is sufficient for maintaining stable frame delivery in this title. The closest rival in CPU benchmarks is the Intel Core i3-10305, which scores within 0.2% of the i5-9400, confirming that the i5-9400 performs at the level of a modern entry-level quad-core in synthetic tests.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the clear performance driver in this configuration. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, it provides a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its core, based on the Turing architecture, features 2176 shading units and a boost clock of 1650 MHz, delivering a peak FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS. The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, with its average score of 19774 being just 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, its closest rival.

The GPU's role is most evident in the resolution scaling data. The drop from 1440p High (59.5 FPS) to 4K High (35.2 FPS) is a 24.3 FPS reduction, which is a clear indicator that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the limiting component at this resolution. The 8 GB VRAM is a critical factor here; Palworld at 4K with High or Ultra settings likely exceeds this capacity, causing the GPU to use slower memory access methods, which manifests as the significant frame rate collapse observed at 4K Ultra (25.7 FPS). The card's performance relative to its rivals, such as the GeForce GTX TITAN which it beats by 0.3%, reinforces its position as a high-end mid-range GPU from its generation, but the data shows its limits are reached quickly when resolution and settings are pushed to the extreme.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combination can achieve?

A: The highest average FPS is 155.2, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to the RTX 2070 in this system's analysis?

A: Based on the provided benchmark data, the RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, which is 0.5% higher than the RTX 2070's score of 19680.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: No, the data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. The performance drop from 1440p to 4K is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS on Low settings is 101.3, while on Ultra settings it is 45.1, representing a 56.2 FPS difference.

Q: Does the i5-9400 have a high benchmark score relative to all CPUs?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has a percentile rank of 50, meaning it performs better than 50% of all CPUs in the benchmark database.

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

A: The average frame rate at 1920x1080 with High settings is 95.6 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested hardware combinations for Palworld, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER holds a rank of 1230 out of 1718 total combos. This places it in the lower third of all configurations tested for this game. The ranking indicates that while this system is fully capable of running Palworld, there are many other hardware combinations that achieve higher frame rates.

The rank position is a direct consequence of the performance data. While the system delivers 95.6 FPS at 1080p High, which is very playable, the inability to maintain 60 FPS at 4K High (35.2 FPS) and the significant drop to 25.7 FPS at 4K Ultra drags its overall standing down. The combination's performance is consistent with its individual component rankings: the CPU is in the 50th percentile, and the GPU is in the 63rd percentile, but the game's demands at higher settings expose the GPU's VRAM limitations. This rank of 1230 suggests that for users targeting 1080p or 1440p gaming, this combo is adequate, but it is not a top-tier performer for high-resolution, high-settings play.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents the exact average FPS measurements for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER in Palworld, categorized by resolution and settings.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

| :--------- | :------- | ------: |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 25.7 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 35.2 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 47.8 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 52.3 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 45.1 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 59.5 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 81.6 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 101.3 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 73.7 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 95.6 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 120.9 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 155.2 |

The data shows a consistent pattern: for each resolution, the frame rate decreases as settings increase. The most significant relative drop occurs at 4K, where moving from Low (52.3 FPS) to Ultra (25.7 FPS) results in a 50.9% reduction in average FPS. At 1080p, the same settings change from Low to Ultra results in a 52.5% reduction (from 155.2 to 73.7 FPS), which is a similar proportional drop, but the absolute numbers are much higher. The difference between 1440p and 4K at High settings shows a 24.3 FPS loss, which is the largest absolute gap between consecutive resolutions for a given setting. This data confirms that the system operates best at lower resolutions and settings, providing a smooth experience at 1080p across all settings, while 4K is only viable at Low settings for a playable frame rate.