Palworld

# Palworld: Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

This combo ranks 3rd out of 1,718 tested CPU-GPU pairings in Palworld, placing it in the top 0.2% of all configurations. The pairing of Intel's 12th-generation Alder Lake desktop processor with NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell 2.0 GPU produces frame rates that are essentially at the ceiling of what this game can deliver on current hardware. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but reveals interesting CPU limitations at 1080p that merit closer examination.

How This Combo Ranks

A rank of 3 out of 1,718 combos means this configuration sits just below the absolute peak of Palworld performance. The Intel Core i7-12700KF carries a 89th percentile ranking against all CPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 sits in the 94th percentile against all GPUs. Together, they represent a top-tier pairing that leaves only a handful of combinations ahead of it.

The CPU's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark scores are tightly clustered. The Intel Core i5-14400 trails by just 0.1%, while the Intel Core i9-12900HX is ahead by 0.2%. The Intel Core i7-13800H leads by 0.2%, and the Intel Core i5-13600T is 0.3% behind. These deltas are within noise territory, meaning the 12700KF's 12 cores and 20 threads are performing exactly as expected for its class.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5090's nearest rivals show similar clustering. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is 0.1% behind, while the RTX 5050 Mobile is 0.2% behind. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3%, and the NVIDIA CMP 40HX actually leads by 1.6%. These differences are minor, confirming that the RTX 5090 is performing at the expected level for a card of its specifications.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 is built on the GB202 chip using a 5 nm process from TSMC, with 92,200 million transistors packed into a 750 mm² die. It carries 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The memory clocks run at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. The GPU's base clock is 2017 MHz, boosting to 2407 MHz.

These specifications translate into enormous compute capacity: 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, with 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The card also includes 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores. Pixel rate is 423.6 GPixel/s, and texture rate reaches 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

In Palworld, this GPU horsepower manifests differently across settings. The 32 GB VRAM allocation means capacity is never a constraint, even at 4K Ultra. The data shows the GPU is the primary performance driver at higher resolutions, with frame rates scaling almost linearly with the graphics workload. The RTX 5090's 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs is reflected in the measured results, which show it delivering playable frame rates even at the most demanding settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear hierarchy across the four quality presets. At every resolution, Low produces the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra bringing up the rear. The spread between Low and Ultra is substantial at every resolution, indicating that Palworld's graphics settings have a significant impact on performance.

At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 368.2 FPS, which drops to 295.4 FPS at Medium, 227.6 FPS at High, and 175.6 FPS at Ultra. The progression is similar at 1440p: 242.8 FPS at Low, 191.3 FPS at Medium, 149.1 FPS at High, and 115.3 FPS at Ultra. At 4K, the values are 134.4 FPS at Low, 110.6 FPS at Medium, 81.3 FPS at High, and 62.1 FPS at Ultra.

For players seeking the best experience per the measured rows, the High preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot. It delivers 149.1 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay, while maintaining visual fidelity that the Low and Medium presets cannot match. At 4K, High is still viable at 81.3 FPS, though players targeting higher refresh rates may prefer Medium at 110.6 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 62.1 FPS, which is playable but shows the game's most demanding settings can stress even this flagship GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows remarkable performance across all settings. Low produces 368.2 FPS, Medium 295.4 FPS, High 227.6 FPS, and Ultra 175.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 192.6 FPS, representing a 52% reduction in frame rate when moving to the highest quality settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the values scale down predictably. Low delivers 242.8 FPS, Medium 191.3 FPS, High 149.1 FPS, and Ultra 115.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 127.5 FPS, a 53% drop. The consistency of this percentage across resolutions suggests the GPU is handling the additional pixel count uniformly.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain respectable but show the strain of 4K rendering. Low produces 134.4 FPS, Medium 110.6 FPS, High 81.3 FPS, and Ultra 62.1 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 72.3 FPS, a 54% reduction. This consistency in percentage drops across all three resolutions indicates that Palworld's settings scaling is resolution-independent, with each preset tier imposing a similar relative cost.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals how frame rates decline as resolution increases. At Low settings, 1080p delivers 368.2 FPS, dropping to 242.8 FPS at 1440p (a 34% reduction) and 134.4 FPS at 4K (a 63% reduction from 1080p). At Medium, the progression is 295.4 to 191.3 to 110.6 FPS, with the 4K figure representing 63% of the 1080p baseline. High settings show 227.6 at 1080p, 149.1 at 1440p, and 81.3 at 4K, with 4K again at 64% of the 1080p value.

The consistency of these percentages tells a clear story: the RTX 5090 is the limiting component at higher resolutions. The 4K-to-1080p ratio hovers around 36-37% of the original frame rate across all settings, which is exactly what would be expected from a GPU operating at the limits of its rendering pipeline. The 1440p-to-1080p ratio is similarly consistent at roughly 64-66%.

This pattern indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The Intel Core i7-12700KF's 12 cores and 20 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p, and the progressive frame rate drops as resolution increases align with the GPU's pixel-processing workload growing quadratically.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is an Alder Lake-S desktop processor built on Intel's 10 nm process. It features 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory and connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes.

The CPU's benchmark scores paint a picture of strong multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 28,979 multi-core and 4,091 single-core. Geekbench shows 13,596 multi-core and 2,526 single-core. The 3DMark results range from 1,043 single-thread to 9,983 max-threads. PassMark multi-thread is 34,092, with single-thread at 3,984.

In Palworld, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the 1080p Low results. The 368.2 FPS at 1080p Low is the highest measured value in the dataset, and it suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at very high frame rates. However, the fact that 1080p Low produces 368.2 FPS while 1080p Ultra produces 175.6 FPS indicates the GPU is still the dominant factor even at lower resolutions.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking and its closeness to rivals like the i5-14400 (0.1% difference) and i9-12900HX (0.2% difference) suggest it is well-matched to the RTX 5090's capabilities in this game. The data does not show any evidence of CPU bottlenecking at any resolution or setting combination, with frame rates scaling consistently with GPU workload across the entire test matrix.