Palworld

Palworld presents an interesting scaling challenge for the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is exceptionally powerful at lower resolutions but begins to show its limits as pixel count climbs, offering a clear look at how the CPU and GPU share the workload in this survival title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and highly informative about which component is the primary limiter at each setting. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 314.9 FPS, which is an enormous number that strongly suggests the CPU is the bottleneck, as the GPU is not being fully taxed at such a high frame rate. Moving to 1440p at the same Low preset, the average drops to 211 FPS, a reduction of about 33% from the 1080p figure. This indicates the GPU is starting to take on more work, but the CPU is still likely holding things back, given the triple-digit figures.

At 4K resolution with Low settings, the average falls to 115.7 FPS. This is a steep decline from the 1440p result, showing that the GPU is now the dominant constraint. The scaling pattern here is clear: the RTX 4080 SUPER has enough headroom at 1080p and 1440p to render frames faster than the i7-12700K can feed it, but at 4K, the sheer number of pixels overwhelms the GPU's capabilities, making it the limiting factor.

The story is similar when looking at the High settings. At 1080p, the average is 195.4 FPS, which drops to 131.4 FPS at 1440p (a 33% reduction) and then to 73.7 FPS at 4K (a 44% reduction from 1440p). This pattern of declining percentages as resolution increases is the classic signature of a shift from a CPU-bound scenario at 1080p to a GPU-bound one at 4K. The data implies that at 1080p, the game's engine is hitting a wall with the processor's single-thread performance, while at 4K, the GPU's pixel throughput is the limiting factor. The fact that the 4K High result (73.7 FPS) is less than half of the 1080p High result (195.4 FPS) underscores how demanding 4K is on this specific GPU, despite its high benchmark scores.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo in Palworld?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 314.9 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 52.9 FPS. This is the lowest performance point in the measured data, indicating that Ultra settings at 4K are a heavy load for this GPU.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average is 168.9 FPS. Given the high frame rate, it is likely that the Intel Core i7-12700K is the primary limiting component, as the GPU is not being pushed to its absolute limit at this resolution and quality level.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The difference is substantial. Low settings yield 314.9 FPS, while Ultra settings yield 148.8 FPS. This represents a drop of over 50% in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset at 1080p.

Q: Can this system maintain a 60 FPS average at 4K?

A: Yes, it can. With High settings at 3840x2160, the average is 73.7 FPS, and with Medium settings, it is 93.7 FPS. Even Ultra settings at 4K achieve 52.9 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target but does not quite reach it.

Q: How does the frame rate at 4K Low compare to 1080p Low?

A: The 4K Low average is 115.7 FPS, which is significantly lower than the 1080p Low average of 314.9 FPS. The 4K result is less than 40% of the 1080p performance, highlighting the immense pixel throughput required at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the best experience, the data suggests that the "High" preset offers a strong balance between visual fidelity and performance. At 1440p with High settings, the combo delivers 131.4 FPS, which is smooth and well above standard refresh rates. At 4K, the High preset still produces a very playable 73.7 FPS, proving that this setting is the sweet spot for the RTX 4080 SUPER in this game. The Ultra preset is punishing, dropping performance to 98 FPS at 1440p and 52.9 FPS at 4K, which may not be worth the visual gain for the significant frame rate cost.

The Medium preset is a safer choice for 4K gaming, as it provides 93.7 FPS, giving a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Conversely, the Low preset is only necessary for extreme frame rates at 1080p, where it hits 314.9 FPS, but the visual sacrifice is likely too great for a game of this type. The data indicates that High is the recommended starting point, with Medium as a fallback for 4K if higher frame rates are preferred over the best quality. The 1440p results show that High is the best option for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it easily exceeds 120 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, performance is exceptional across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 314.9 FPS, while Medium sees 257.9 FPS. High settings provide 195.4 FPS, and Ultra settings still deliver a robust 148.8 FPS. This resolution is clearly CPU-bound, as the frame rates are extremely high even on the most demanding preset.

At 2560x1440, the results show a clear step down. Low settings average 211 FPS, which is still very high. Medium settings drop to 168.9 FPS, and High settings to 131.4 FPS. The Ultra preset produces an average of 98 FPS, which is the only result below 100 FPS at this resolution. The scaling here is consistent, with each quality tier taking a similar toll on performance.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is fully taxed. Low settings yield 115.7 FPS, which is a playable figure. Medium settings drop to 93.7 FPS, and High to 73.7 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, resulting in a 52.9 FPS average. These numbers show that 4K is where the RTX 4080 SUPER's limits are reached, but it still manages to provide playable performance on all but the highest quality settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a formidable GPU, with a 16 GB GDDR6X memory pool and a 256-bit memory bus providing 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This large frame buffer is likely crucial for Palworld's open-world environments at 4K, where high-resolution textures can consume significant memory. The GPU's boost clock of 2550 MHz, paired with its 10240 shading units, allows it to reach a pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s. The data suggests this is sufficient for high frame rates at 1440p, but the 4K results show a clear drop, indicating that the GPU's raw pixel-filling capability is the limiting factor at that resolution.

The GPU's benchmark performance is strong, ranking in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53610. It sits close to rivals like the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, which has a deltaPct of 0.2%, meaning the RTX 4080 SUPER is essentially on par in synthetic tests. However, in Palworld, the measured results show the GPU is capable of handling 1080p and 1440p with ease. The transition from 115.7 FPS at 4K Low to 52.9 FPS at 4K Ultra highlights how much the GPU's performance is influenced by the quality preset, suggesting that the game's shader complexity and texture detail have a direct impact on the GPU's workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, is a powerful processor for gaming. Its boost clock of 5.00 GHz and single-thread benchmark scores, such as the 4128 in Cinebench R23, are indicative of strong per-core performance. The CPU's avgBenchmarkScore is 35684, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. The data from Palworld strongly implies that the CPU is the bottleneck at 1080p, as the frame rates exceed 300 FPS on Low settings, a rate that is often beyond what a GPU can render in more demanding scenarios.

The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 with a deltaPct of -0.3%, show it is in a tightly contested performance bracket. However, the measured FPS at 1080p indicates that the i7-12700K's architecture is more than adequate for this game at lower resolutions. The fact that 1080p High (195.4 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (148.8 FPS) results are so high suggests that the CPU is keeping pace with the GPU's output, even on the highest presets. It is only when the resolution increases to 1440p and 4K that the CPU's role diminishes, with the GPU taking over as the primary performance driver. The CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory likely help with the game's data streaming needs, but the benchmark results focus on the core and thread performance as the key factor.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, this pairing of the i7-12700K and RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 119th out of 1718 combos in Palworld. This places it in the top 7% of all tested systems, which is a very strong showing. The high ranking is consistent with the measured performance data, which shows the combo delivering high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, and respectable performance at 4K on High settings.

The rank reflects the synergy between a top-tier CPU from the 12th generation and a high-end GPU from the 40-series. While it is not the absolute top combo, the data indicates it is positioned well above the median. The combination of the CPU's strong single-thread performance for lower-resolution scenarios and the GPU's massive memory bandwidth for higher-resolution scenarios creates a balanced system. The fact that it ranks so highly suggests that for Palworld, this hardware pairing is a well-matched one, with no single component severely dragging down the other's potential. The 4K Ultra result of 52.9 FPS is the only weak point, but this is a common challenge for even the most powerful hardware. Overall, the ranking confirms that this is a high-performance combination for this game, capable of delivering a premium experience at most settings and resolutions.