Palworld

Palworld with an Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 presents a fascinating study in system balance, where the data reveals a component that scales cleanly with resolution and another that sets a hard ceiling. The measured frames per second across the three resolutions and four settings presets indicate a pairing where the GPU is the primary driver of visual fidelity, while the aging six-core CPU defines the absolute performance limits.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K shows a predictable, yet steep, drop in frame rates that clearly isolates the GPU as the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 100 at 1920x1080 to 66 at 2560x1440, a 34% reduction, and then further down to 36 at 3840x2160, representing a 45% drop from the 1440p figure and a 64% drop from 1080p. This pattern is consistent with a GPU that is running out of pixel throughput, and the RTX 5050's 320.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 128-bit bus width are likely the constraining factors here.

At the lowest settings, the scaling is even more dramatic, which is telling. The jump from 160 FPS at 1080p Low to 105 FPS at 1440p Low is a 34% decline, but the subsequent drop to 58 FPS at 4K Low is a 45% decline from the 1440p result. This suggests that as the GPU workload decreases (via lower settings), the CPU's frame pacing becomes the bottleneck at 1080p, allowing the GPU to flex its muscles. However, at 4K, the sheer pixel count overtakes the CPU's limitations, and the GPU's raw compute power—13.17 TFLOPS FP32—is no longer enough to maintain high frame rates.

The Medium preset provides the most data-rich scaling profile, as it is the only setting tier with min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 130 FPS with a minimum of 110 and a maximum of 149. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 85 FPS, with a minimum of 73 and a maximum of 98. The 4K Medium average is 47 FPS, with a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 54. The consistency of the minimum and maximum deltas (roughly 15% variance) across 1440p and 4K suggests that the frame time variance is uniform, pointing to a stable GPU performance profile rather than erratic CPU hiccups.

What the scaling implies is that the i5-9400 is not the primary limiter at 4K. If it were, the FPS would remain relatively flat regardless of resolution. Instead, the FPS drops significantly at every resolution step, indicating that the RTX 5050 is being pushed to its limits. The data suggests that for a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K, the system is insufficient, but it also shows that the i5-9400 is capable of delivering over 100 FPS at 1080p, meaning the CPU is not an albatross for those targeting high refresh rates at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 160, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This indicates the CPU is capable of driving high frame rates, but the GPU's workload at higher settings reduces this headroom.

Q: Can this system maintain a steady 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, at Medium and High settings, the average FPS is 85 and 66 respectively. At Ultra, the average drops to 50 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that Ultra settings are too demanding for a smooth experience at this resolution.

Q: How does the 4K performance compare to 1080p performance?

A: At High settings, the 4K average FPS (36) is less than half of the 1080p average FPS (100). This significant drop highlights that the RTX 5050 is the primary bottleneck at 4K, as the pixel fill rate requirements exceed the GPU's capabilities.

Q: Is the CPU a limiting factor for this game?

A: The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is a limiting factor. The FPS at Low settings (160) is significantly higher than at Ultra (76), but the CPU's performance ceiling appears to be around 160 FPS, as the GPU is capable of more in synthetic benchmarks. At 4K, the CPU is not the bottleneck; the GPU is.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded in the data?

A: The lowest average FPS is 28, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only configuration that dips below 30 FPS, making it unplayable for most users.

Q: Does the RTX 5050 support modern graphics APIs that could affect performance?

A: The RTX 5050 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. Palworld's engine can leverage these APIs, but the measured data does not isolate the impact of API choice on the final FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium yields an average of 130 FPS with a minimum of 110, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays. The upgrade from Low to Medium costs 30 FPS (from 160 to 130), but the visual improvement is substantial in a game with dynamic lighting and shadows.

At 1440p, Medium is the sweet spot. The 85 FPS average is well above the 60 FPS target, and the minimum of 73 ensures that frame dips do not become disruptive. High settings at 1440p drop to 66 FPS, which is still playable, but the 19 FPS loss for the higher preset is a significant trade-off. Ultra at 1440p is not recommended, as the 50 FPS average falls below the smoothness threshold.

For 4K, the situation is grim. Even Medium settings only manage an average of 47 FPS, with a minimum of 40. High settings drop to 36 FPS, and Ultra is a slideshow at 28 FPS. The only viable option for 4K is Low, which provides 58 FPS, but this requires sacrificing nearly all visual fidelity. The data suggests that 4K is not a realistic target for this combo unless the player is willing to accept Low settings and sub-60 FPS performance.

The recommendation is to use Medium settings for the best experience. At 1080p, it provides a high frame rate buffer; at 1440p, it hits the 60 FPS target with headroom; and at 4K, it is the only preset that approaches playability. The High preset is acceptable for those with 1080p monitors or those who prefer visual fidelity over frame rate, but the performance cost is steep.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset reveals a clear hierarchy based on resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 160 at Low to 130 at Medium, 100 at High, and 76 at Ultra. The Medium preset is the only one with a recorded minimum (110) and maximum (149), indicating a stable frame delivery. The delta between Low and Ultra is 84 FPS, showing that the GPU's workload scales significantly with the preset.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 105 at Low, 85 at Medium, 66 at High, and 50 at Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 73 and a maximum of 98. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all settings, with an average reduction of approximately 35%. This indicates that the RTX 5050's memory bandwidth is a limiting factor, as the increased pixel count demands more data throughput.

At 3840x2160, the averages plummet to 58 at Low, 47 at Medium, 36 at High, and 28 at Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 54. The performance at 4K is less than 40% of the 1080p performance for the same settings, which is a harsh penalty. The data shows that this combo cannot deliver a consistent 60 FPS at 4K under any preset, and even the Low preset's 58 FPS is borderline.

The FPS deltas between settings are also informative. At 1080p, the gap between Medium and High is 30 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 24 FPS. At 1440p, the Medium to High gap is 19 FPS, and the High to Ultra gap is 16 FPS. At 4K, the Medium to High gap is 11 FPS, and the High to Ultra gap is 8 FPS. The shrinking deltas at higher resolutions indicate that the GPU is becoming the dominant bottleneck, as the cost of each setting tier diminishes relative to the cost of rendering more pixels.

GPU Role

The RTX 5050 is the star of this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the 320.0 GB/s bandwidth is moderate for a modern GPU. In Palworld, a game with large open-world environments and numerous entities, this bandwidth is likely the primary constraint at higher resolutions, as the GPU must stream textures and geometry data to the frame buffer.

The GPU's compute capabilities are strong for its class. The 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs provide a peak FP32 performance of 13.17 TFLOPS. This is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, as demonstrated by the 100 FPS at 1080p High and 66 FPS at 1440p High. However, the 4K results show that the pixel fill rate (82.30 GPixel/s) is not enough to maintain high frame rates at that resolution, especially with the high texture detail that Palworld requires.

The GPU's clock speeds are also relevant. The base clock is 2317 MHz, and the boost clock is 2572 MHz. The boost clock is relatively high, which helps with single-threaded game workloads, but the GPU's thermal and power limits (130 W TDP) may prevent sustained boosts under load. The benchmark scores support the gaming performance: the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502 and Passmark G3D score of 17326 place it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, has a slightly lower average score (20713) but is only 1.6% slower, indicating that this RTX 5050 is a competent mid-range performer.

The GPU's architecture, Blackwell 2.0 on a 5 nm process, is modern and efficient. The 16,900 million transistors on a 149 mm² die yield a high density of 113.4M/mm². This efficiency explains why the GPU can hit high clock speeds, but the 8 GB memory capacity is a concern for future titles. In Palworld, the measured data shows that the GPU is the limiter at 4K, as the FPS scales directly with the resolution, regardless of the CPU's capability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor from the Coffee Lake era. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz are modest by today's standards, but the data shows it is sufficient for Palworld at lower resolutions. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, place it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. This is a middle-of-the-road result, indicating that it trails modern processors but is not obsolete.

The CPU's role in this game is evident at 1080p. The FPS at Low settings is 160, which is the highest in the dataset. This suggests that the CPU can generate frames at this rate, but the GPU is not fully utilized at these low settings. However, at Ultra settings, the FPS drops to 76, which is a 52% reduction from Low. This is likely due to the increased GPU workload, but the CPU's six threads may struggle with the game's physics and AI calculations, which are often single-threaded.

The nearest rivals for the CPU, such as the Intel Core i7-10710U and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, have very similar average benchmark scores (2248 and 2246, respectively, against the i5-9400's 2254). The delta is less than 0.5%, meaning that in terms of raw compute, there is no meaningful difference. However, the i5-9400's 6 MB L3 cache and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth are adequate for the game, but they do not provide the headroom that a newer chip with more cache and faster memory would offer.

The data implies that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at 4K, as the FPS is significantly lower than at 1080p. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would be similar across resolutions. Instead, the CPU's performance ceiling is around 160 FPS, and the GPU's ceiling is higher, so at 1080p Low, the CPU holds the system back. At 4K, the GPU is the limiting factor, and the CPU has enough headroom to feed it frames, but the GPU cannot render them fast enough.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations for Palworld, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 holds a rank of 1778 out of 2944 total combos. This places it in the 60th percentile, meaning it outperforms 60% of the other tested systems, but lags behind 40% of them. This ranking is consistent with the hardware's specifications: a mid-range CPU and a mid-range GPU that can handle 1080p and 1440p well but struggles at 4K.

The rank is influenced by the CPU's lower percentile (47th) and the GPU's higher percentile (66th). The GPU is a stronger component relative to its peers, but the CPU drags down the overall performance. In a game like Palworld, which is known for its CPU-intensive simulation elements, the i5-9400's six threads may cause frame dips in crowded areas, even if the average FPS is acceptable.

The data shows that this combo is not a top-tier performer, but it is not a bottom-tier one either. The 1778th rank out of 2944 indicates that there are many faster systems, but also many slower ones. For a player with a 1080p monitor, this combo provides a smooth experience at Medium to High settings, as evidenced by the 130 FPS at Medium. For 1440p, it is still viable at Medium settings, but the 66 FPS at High is borderline.

The ranking also reveals that the combo is better suited for competitive or fast-paced play at lower resolutions, where the CPU's frame generation is the limiting factor, rather than immersive 4K gaming. The measured data aligns with the rank: the system excels at 1080p, performs adequately at 1440p, and fails to deliver a playable experience at 4K. The 60th percentile rank suggests that while this is not a high-end build, it is a competent one for the mainstream gamer who prioritizes frame rate over resolution.