Palworld

Palworld with the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 shows a clear GPU-bound progression as resolution climbs, with the CPU's headroom remaining largely untapped. The measured frames per second (FPS) reveal a system that delivers high refresh-rate 1080p performance, solid 1440p gameplay, and playable but more demanding 4K results, depending heavily on the chosen quality preset.

Resolution Scaling

The performance curve from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 demonstrates a classic resolution-scaling pattern where the graphics card becomes the primary bottleneck at higher pixel counts. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 204 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates that the CPU can feed frames far beyond typical monitor refresh rates. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same Low preset drops the average to 134 FPS, a 34% reduction, while at 3840x2160 it falls further to 75 FPS, representing a 63% drop from the 1080p baseline.

The scaling becomes even more pronounced when examining higher quality settings. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 127 at 1080p to 84 at 1440p (a 34% decrease) and then to 46 at 4K (a 64% decrease from 1080p). This consistent pattern across settings suggests that the RTX 3070's rendering pipeline is the limiting factor, as the frame rate drops proportionally with the increase in pixel count. The Ultra preset shows the steepest decline: 97 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K, with the latter being a 64% reduction from the 1080p figure.

The data indicates that the 4K results, while playable at Medium (60 FPS average), become less fluid at High (46 FPS) and Ultra (35 FPS). The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 40 FPS, which is substantial, whereas at 1080p that same gap is 107 FPS. This narrowing difference at higher resolutions reinforces that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated, rather than the CPU's 16 cores and 24 threads being exhausted.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, built on the Ampere architecture with an 8 nm process from Samsung, is the dominant factor in Palworld's performance across all measured configurations. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a constraint at 4K, particularly with higher texture and detail settings. The card's boost clock of 1725 MHz, up from a 1500 MHz base, allows for consistent frame delivery, but the data shows that the 8 GB frame buffer is likely a limiting factor at 3840x2160.

Benchmark results place the RTX 3070 in the 61st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17208. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, which scores 17083 (a 0.7% difference), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 at 17037 (1% difference). The RTX 3070's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162 and Passmark G3D score of 22214 indicate strong rasterization performance, but the 4K results in Palworld suggest that the memory capacity and bandwidth are not ideal for ultra-high-resolution gaming.

The GPU's 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units are well-suited for the game's open-world environments, but the 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores do not appear to provide a significant advantage in this title, as the measured FPS scales primarily with resolution rather than compute features. The 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is ample for 1080p, where the system achieves over 200 FPS on Low, but the 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS indicates that the card is overwhelmed by the pixel workload.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and frame rate depends on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the High preset at 127 FPS average provides an excellent experience, with headroom for higher refresh rates; the Ultra preset at 97 FPS is also viable for those prioritizing visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 165 FPS with a minimum of 141 FPS is the best choice for competitive play or very high refresh rate displays, as it maintains fluidity without sacrificing too much detail.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 84 FPS average is the recommended starting point, as it offers a smooth experience on standard 60-75 Hz monitors. The Medium preset at 109 FPS with a 93 FPS minimum is superior for 120 Hz displays, providing a 30% improvement over High while still looking respectable. The Ultra preset at 64 FPS is playable but may exhibit stutter in demanding scenes; the Low preset at 134 FPS is best for esports-style gameplay or when maximizing frame pacing.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset at 60 FPS average with a 51 FPS minimum is the only configuration that consistently hits the 60 FPS target, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming. The High preset at 46 FPS is acceptable for slower-paced exploration, while the Low preset at 75 FPS offers a smoother experience but with reduced visual detail. The Ultra preset at 35 FPS is not recommended for 4K, as it falls below the threshold for comfortable play; users should instead opt for Medium to maintain playability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 204 FPS, the Medium preset averages 165 FPS with a minimum of 141 FPS and a maximum of 190 FPS, the High preset averages 127 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 97 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 107 FPS, showing a significant impact from quality settings at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 134 FPS for Low, 109 FPS for Medium (with a minimum of 93 FPS and maximum of 125 FPS), 84 FPS for High, and 64 FPS for Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 70 FPS, indicating that the GPU is beginning to feel the load of higher pixel counts.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 75 FPS, the Medium preset averages 60 FPS (with a minimum of 51 FPS and maximum of 69 FPS), the High preset averages 46 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 35 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 40 FPS, the smallest of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Palworld?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 offers the best balance, with the High preset averaging 84 FPS and the Medium preset averaging 109 FPS. At 1080p, the system exceeds 120 FPS on all settings, while at 4K, only the Low and Medium presets exceed 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, placing it in the 61st percentile. It is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (score 17083) and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (score 17037), while being 1.5% behind the NVIDIA Tesla K40c (score 17468).

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K gaming in Palworld?

A: Based on the measured results, the 8 GB GDDR6 memory is a limiting factor at 3840x2160, as the Ultra preset only achieves 35 FPS and the High preset 46 FPS. The Medium preset at 60 FPS is the highest playable setting, suggesting that higher VRAM usage from ultra textures impairs performance.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile and how does it rank against rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-13700K sits in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881. It is 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (score 46971) and 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (score 47022), while being 0.5% ahead of both the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535 (scores 46654 and 46653, respectively).

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in Palworld?

A: The data suggests the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU at any resolution. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 204 FPS, indicating strong CPU headroom. The frame rate drops are consistent with resolution scaling rather than CPU limitations, as the core count and clock speeds are sufficient for this title.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum FPS values. At 1920x1080, the minimum is 141 FPS; at 2560x1440, it is 93 FPS; and at 3840x2160, it is 51 FPS. The maximum FPS values are 190, 125, and 69, respectively.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K, based on the Raptor Lake architecture and manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process, provides the computational foundation for this combo. With 16 cores and 24 threads, along with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, the CPU offers substantial multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache, which helps with data access in open-world games like Palworld.

The CPU's benchmark results are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30745 and a single-core score of 2116. The Geekbench multi-core score of 19429 and single-core score of 2529 further confirm its capabilities. In the 3DMark tests, the 16-thread score is 10717, while the max-thread score is 12412, showing good scaling across the available threads. The Passmark multithread score of 45887 and single-thread score of 4333 indicate that the CPU can handle both highly parallel workloads and latency-sensitive tasks.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 46881 place it just below the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (46971) and AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (47022), but above the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (46654) and Intel Xeon w3-2535 (46653). These small deltas, ranging from -0.3% to +0.5%, mean the i7-13700K is effectively on par with its closest competitors for Palworld. The processor's 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory, along with PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes, provide a flexible platform, though the game's performance is primarily dictated by the GPU.

The measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in Palworld. At 1080p, the system achieves 204 FPS on Low settings, which is well above what most displays can show, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently. The frame rate drops from 204 FPS at 1080p Low to 75 FPS at 4K Low are consistent with the GPU's rendering load, not CPU constraints. The i7-13700K's 24 threads and high boost clock ensure that even in densely populated areas with many Pals, the CPU maintains a stable frame delivery, as evidenced by the high minimum FPS values on the Medium preset at 1440p (93 FPS) and 1080p (141 FPS).