Palworld

Palworld presents a demanding workload that scales steeply with resolution, and the Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the Intel Arc B570 produces a playable but resolution-sensitive experience. The measured data shows a clear hierarchy across the four presets tested at three resolutions, with the combination of the 12-core Alder Lake CPU and the 10 GB Battlemage GPU delivering its most consistent results at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K remains a stretch target for high-refresh displays.

Settings Recommendations

At 1920x1080, the data shows that the High preset is the optimal balance for this combo, delivering an average of 81 FPS. This is a significant jump from the 61 FPS average seen at Ultra, and it remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. While the Low preset pushes the average to 130 FPS, that comes at a substantial visual cost, and the High preset's 81 FPS average is more than sufficient for the survival genre's pacing. The Medium preset, at 105 FPS average, is a viable alternative if you prefer higher frame rates over visual fidelity, but High offers the best compromise between image quality and performance headroom.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset becomes the recommended choice, with an average of 69 FPS and a minimum of 59 FPS recorded. This is the only preset at this resolution that maintains a frame rate consistently above the 60 FPS mark. The High preset drops to 53 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced moments, while the Low preset at 85 FPS is technically smoother but sacrifices too much visual detail for the modest gain over Medium. The Ultra preset at 40 FPS average is not recommended for a responsive experience at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the data indicates that this combo is not well-suited for high-refresh gameplay, but the Low preset is the only playable option, yielding an average of 47 FPS. The Medium preset falls to 38 FPS average with a 33 FPS minimum, which is borderline for a game that requires constant awareness. The High preset at 30 FPS average and the Ultra preset at 22 FPS average are effectively unplayable for a smooth experience. If you must run at 4K, Low is the only setting that approaches acceptable performance, but users should consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for a better experience.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the primary bottleneck in this configuration at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the steep frame rate drops when moving from 1080p to 4K. The GPU's 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p workloads but becomes strained at 4K. The memory clock runs at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective), and the GPU's boost clock is a flat 2500 MHz, which is also the base clock, indicating a locked operating point for this card.

The GPU's architecture, Xe2-HPG on TSMC's 5 nm process, includes 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s. These specifications translate to a peak FP32 performance of 11.52 TFLOPS, which is reflected in the benchmark scores: the GPU scores 14195 in Passmark G3D and 83514 in Geekbench OpenCL. The data shows that this GPU has a 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs, placing it just above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile in average benchmark score (20556 vs 20534, a 0.1% delta), but slightly below the Intel Arc A750 (20582, a -0.1% delta).

The GPU's raw compute power is not enough to sustain high frame rates at 4K, as shown by the 47 FPS average at Low settings and the 30 FPS average at High settings. This indicates that the Arc B570 is a solid 1080p performer and a decent 1440p option, but its 10 GB VRAM and 160-bit bus limit its 4K capabilities. The GPU's Passmark DirectX 12 score of 72 and DirectX 11 score of 118 suggest that its driver overhead in certain APIs may also contribute to the performance scaling issues seen in the measured results.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and Intel Arc B570 places at rank 2362 out of 2944 tested combos in Palworld, putting it in the 20th percentile of all possible system configurations. This ranking is lower than what the individual components' benchmark percentiles might suggest, as the CPU has an 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs, and the GPU has a 65th percentile ranking. The disparity indicates that this specific pairing is not optimally balanced for Palworld's engine, with the GPU likely holding back the CPU's potential at higher resolutions.

The low combo ranking is particularly telling when compared to the CPU's nearest rivals. The Core i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35287, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-13600T (35305, -0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i7-12700KF (35365, -0.2% delta). Despite having the same 12-core/20-thread configuration, the 12700K's performance in Palworld is limited by the Arc B570's frame pacing, especially at 4K where the GPU saturates early. The combo's performance in the game's measured FPS is more aligned with the GPU's capabilities than the CPU's, suggesting that the system is GPU-bound in most scenarios.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Palworld with this CPU and GPU combo?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the best resolution, with all presets except Ultra achieving frame rates above 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, only the Medium preset maintains a 60 FPS average (69 FPS), while at 3840x2160, even the Low preset only manages a 47 FPS average.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its closest rivals in terms of raw performance?

A: The Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20556, which is 0.1% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and 0.4% above the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480). It is 0.1% below the Intel Arc A750 (20582) and 0.5% below the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20662).

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700K a strong CPU for this game?

A: The CPU has an 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 35287, with a multi-core Geekbench score of 15790 and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784. However, in Palworld, the combo ranking (2362 out of 2944) suggests the GPU limits the CPU's contribution.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo in Palworld?

A: The data includes minimum FPS readings only for the Medium preset: 33 FPS at 3840x2160, 59 FPS at 2560x1440, and 89 FPS at 1920x1080. No minimum FPS values were recorded for the Low, High, or Ultra presets.

Q: Does the combo perform better at 1080p High or 1440p Medium?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 81, while at 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 69 with a 59 FPS minimum. The 1080p High setting provides a higher average frame rate and better visual fidelity than 1440p Medium, making it the superior choice for this hardware.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra preset compare to the 1080p Low preset?

A: The 4K Ultra preset averages 22 FPS, which is barely playable, while the 1080p Low preset averages 130 FPS, a 108 FPS difference. The 4K Ultra setting is not recommended, as the 1080p Low setting offers a far smoother experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, which is a clear indicator of GPU-bound behavior. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 81 at 1080p to 53 at 1440p (a 34.6% decrease), and then to 30 at 4K (a 63.0% decrease from 1080p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that lacks the raw bandwidth and compute to feed a 4K display, as the Arc B570's 380.0 GB/s bandwidth and 11.52 TFLOPS are insufficient for the pixel workload.

The Low preset shows a similar trend, with 130 FPS at 1080p, 85 FPS at 1440p (a 34.6% drop), and 47 FPS at 4K (a 63.8% drop). The fact that the relative percentage drops are nearly identical between High and Low presets suggests that the limiting factor is not the GPU's shading units, but rather its memory subsystem and ROP throughput. The 160-bit memory bus and 80 ROPs are the primary constraints, as the texture rate of 360 GTexel/s is less of a bottleneck at lower settings.

The Medium preset provides the most complete data, with minimum FPS readings: 89 at 1080p, 59 at 1440p, and 33 at 4K. The minimum FPS drops by 33.7% from 1080p to 1440p, and then by 62.9% from 1080p to 4K, which mirrors the average FPS scaling. This consistency across presets confirms that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are not being saturated, even at 4K where the frame rates are lowest.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark results are strong: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784, a Geekbench multi-core score of 15790, and a Passmark multithread score of 34404. The CPU also shows solid single-thread performance with a Geekbench single-core score of 2308 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1850.5, which is important for Palworld's game logic and physics.

In Palworld, the CPU's role is largely secondary to the GPU, as the frame rate scaling with resolution is consistent with GPU limitation. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 130 FPS, which is a high frame rate that still does not appear to be CPU-bound, as the CPU's single-thread score of 1043 in 3DMark single-thread and 4013 in Passmark single-thread are robust. The CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help with the game's asset streaming, but the bottleneck remains the GPU.

The CPU's 84th percentile ranking vs all CPUs indicates it is a high-end part, but its nearest rivals all have nearly identical average scores: the Intel Core i5-13600T (35305, -0.1%), Intel Core i7-12700KF (35365, -0.2%), and Intel Core i7-13700T (35403, -0.3%). Since the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo, the choice between these CPUs would have minimal impact on Palworld's frame rates. The data shows that the CPU's 125W TDP and 10nm process node are sufficient for the game's demands, and its dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support allows for flexible system builds, though the memory bandwidth is not a determining factor in the measured results.