Palworld

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor from the Raptor Lake Refresh generation, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy comprises 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. This CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-14700F posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35,122 and a single-core score of 4,958. Its Geekbench multi-core score reaches 19,620, with a single-core result of 2,429. PassMark single-thread performance sits at 4,257, while the multithread score is 41,317. The CPU's average benchmark score is 53,620, placing it in the 91st percentile among all CPUs tested.

The nearest rivals in aggregate CPU performance show how tightly grouped this segment is. The Intel Xeon 6505P scores 53,701, a delta of -0.2% relative to the i7-14700F, meaning the i7 trails by a negligible margin. The Intel Xeon Phi 7290 scores 53,469, a 0.3% advantage for the i7. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X scores 53,288, which is 0.6% behind the i7, and the AMD EPYC 7313P scores 53,206, sitting 0.8% lower. These deltas are all under one percent, so the i7-14700F's computational headroom is effectively indistinguishable from these rivals in general-purpose workloads.

For Palworld, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics calculations, and world simulation data. The high single-thread score of 4,958 in Cinebench R23 suggests strong per-core performance, which matters in a survival game where player actions and entity updates often fall on a few threads. The multi-thread capability, evidenced by the 35,122 Cinebench R23 score, ensures that background simulation, pathfinding, and base-building logic do not bottleneck the frame pipeline. The 28 threads provide ample parallelism for the game's numerous background tasks, even when the GPU is heavily loaded.

The measured FPS data indicates that at 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 152 FPS average, which is the highest recorded in this dataset. This suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings, as the GPU is capable of pushing high frame rates without being starved. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 26 FPS, a scenario where the GPU is clearly the dominant constraint. The CPU's ability to maintain high frame rates at 1080p Low, where GPU load is minimal, underscores that it has sufficient headroom for this game's demands.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. It contains 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz. Memory is 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The shader configuration includes 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 ray accelerators.

In GPU benchmarks, the RX 6600 XT scores 16,461 in PassMark G3D, with a PassMark GPU compute result of 7,520. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1,804. Geekbench results include 72,417 in Vulkan, 80,503 in OpenCL, and 88,720 in Metal. The GPU's average benchmark score is 24,442, placing it in the 70th percentile among all GPUs.

The nearest GPU rivals reveal the competitive positioning. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 scores 24,277, which is 0.7% behind the RX 6600 XT. The Intel Arc A350M scores 24,647, a 0.8% lead over the AMD card. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti scores 24,236, sitting 0.8% lower, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER scores 24,170, trailing by 1.1%. These deltas are all within a couple of percentage points, suggesting the RX 6600 XT is in a tight performance cluster around the 24,000-24,600 aggregate score range.

For Palworld, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM is a critical factor at higher resolutions. The game's world rendering, textures, and effects must fit within this memory pool. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 26 FPS, which is likely influenced by both VRAM capacity and raw compute throughput. The 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth provides enough throughput for the 128-bit bus, but at 4K, the pixel and texture fill rates become limiting. The GPU's pixel rate is 165.7 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 331.4 GTexel/s, which are moderate figures for a card in this class.

The boost clock of 2589 MHz is relatively high, which helps at lower resolutions where the GPU is not bandwidth-bound. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 152 FPS, indicating that the GPU can sustain high frame rates when the workload is light. As settings increase to Ultra at 1080p, the frame rate drops to 72 FPS, showing a 47% reduction from Low to Ultra. This scaling is primarily due to increased shader complexity and memory pressure, not CPU limitations.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how this combo scales across resolutions. Starting at 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 152 at Low to 72 at Ultra. Moving to 1440p, the range shifts to 100 at Low and 47 at Ultra. At 4K, the range drops to 55 at Low and 26 at Ultra. The pattern is consistent: each resolution step reduces frame rates by roughly 35-45%, with the largest absolute drops occurring at the higher settings.

Examining the Medium settings specifically, which have both average and min/max FPS recorded, reveals the scaling behavior. At 1080p Medium, the average is 123 FPS with a minimum of 104 and maximum of 141. At 1440p Medium, the average falls to 81 FPS with a range of 69 to 93. At 4K Medium, the average is 45 FPS with a range of 38 to 52. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 42 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 36 FPS. This near-linear scaling suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU's performance is constant across resolutions.

The ratio of frame rates between 1080p and 4K at the same settings provides insight into the limiting component. At Low settings, the 1080p average of 152 FPS drops to 55 FPS at 4K, a 64% reduction. At High settings, the 1080p average of 95 FPS drops to 35 FPS at 4K, a 63% reduction. At Medium, the drop is from 123 to 45 FPS, a 63% reduction. At Ultra, the drop is from 72 to 26 FPS, a 64% reduction. The consistency of this ~63-64% reduction across all settings indicates that the GPU is the dominant constraint, as the CPU would not scale its performance based on resolution.

This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-limited scenario. The CPU's frame production rate is high enough that it does not become a bottleneck even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is struggling to maintain 26 FPS. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the frame rate to remain flat or even increase at lower resolutions, but the data shows a monotonic decrease with resolution. The RX 6600 XT's 8 GB VRAM and compute throughput are the determining factors in this combo's performance envelope.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of this combo's performance in Palworld. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings achieve an average of 152 FPS, Medium achieves 123 FPS with a minimum of 104 and maximum of 141, High achieves 95 FPS, and Ultra achieves 72 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 80 FPS, indicating that settings have a substantial impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop noticeably. Low settings average 100 FPS, Medium averages 81 FPS with a range of 69 to 93, High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 47 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 53 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p but still significant. The Medium setting's minimum of 69 FPS suggests that even at this mid-range setting, there are occasional dips that could be perceptible.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes marginal for smooth gameplay. Low settings average 55 FPS, Medium averages 45 FPS with a range of 38 to 52, High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 29 FPS, which is the narrowest across resolutions. The Medium setting's minimum of 38 FPS indicates that the combo can struggle to maintain playable frame rates at 4K even at moderate settings.

The data shows that the combo is viable for 1080p gaming across all settings, with even Ultra averaging 72 FPS. At 1440p, the combo is playable at Low through High settings, but Ultra dips to 47 FPS, which may be borderline for some players. At 4K, only Low settings achieve an average above 50 FPS, and Ultra drops to 26 FPS, which is generally considered not smooth. The Medium settings at each resolution provide the most balanced performance, with 123 FPS at 1080p, 81 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 2,619 out of 3,711 tested combos in Palworld. This places the combo in the 70.5th percentile of all combinations tested, meaning roughly 29.5% of combos perform better. The ranking is based on measured FPS data, which includes all the resolution and settings combinations documented above.

This rank reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning. The RX 6600 XT's 70th percentile among all GPUs is mirrored by the combo's relative standing. The CPU's 91st percentile performance is not enough to offset the GPU's limitations, particularly at higher resolutions. The combo is clearly GPU-bound, as evidenced by the resolution scaling analysis, so the CPU's strong benchmark scores do not translate into a higher overall rank.

Comparing to the nearest GPU rivals, the RX 6600 XT is within 1.1% of the RTX 2080 SUPER, which is a higher-tier card from an older generation. This suggests that the combo's rank is consistent with what the GPU can deliver. The CPU's high percentile means that if paired with a stronger GPU, this combo would likely rank much higher, but with the RX 6600 XT, the performance ceiling is set by the graphics card.

The rank of 2,619 out of 3,711 indicates that this is not a top-tier combo for Palworld, but it is not near the bottom either. The fact that it achieves 152 FPS at 1080p Low and 95 FPS at 1080p High shows that it is well-suited for competitive or high-refresh-rate play at lower resolutions. The 4K performance, however, is below the threshold for smooth gameplay at most settings, which drags down the overall ranking.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this CPU-GPU pair in Palworld?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 Medium offers the best balance, averaging 123 FPS with a minimum of 104 and maximum of 141. This provides smooth gameplay with good visual quality. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 81 FPS, which is also playable, while 4K Medium drops to 45 FPS with a minimum of 38.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much from 1080p to 4K?

A: The frame rate drops by approximately 63-64% from 1080p to 4K at every settings level. For example, at High settings, the average goes from 95 FPS at 1080p to 35 FPS at 4K. This consistent reduction across all settings indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's performance does not scale with resolution.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Palworld?

A: At 4K, the combo averages 55 FPS at Low settings, 45 FPS at Medium, 35 FPS at High, and 26 FPS at Ultra. Only Low settings approach a smooth experience, while Ultra is not playable at 26 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM and compute throughput of the RX 6600 XT are the primary constraints at this resolution.

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

A: The Intel Core i7-14700F has an average benchmark score of 53,620. The nearest rival, Intel Xeon 6505P, scores 53,701, which is 0.2% higher. The Intel Xeon Phi 7290 scores 53,469, 0.3% lower, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X scores 53,288, 0.6% lower, and the AMD EPYC 7313P scores 53,206, 0.8% lower. All deltas are under 1%, making these CPUs statistically equivalent.

Q: What is the GPU's standing among its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 24,442. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 scores 24,277, which is 0.7% lower. The Intel Arc A350M scores 24,647, 0.8% higher, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti scores 24,236, 0.8% lower, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER scores 24,170, 1.1% lower. The GPU sits in the 70th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What does the combo's rank of 2,619 out of 3,711 mean for its overall performance?

A: This rank places the combo in the 70.5th percentile of all tested combinations. It indicates that the combo is better than about 29.5% of tested systems but worse than the top 70.5%. The GPU's mid-range performance is the main factor limiting the combo's position, as the CPU is in the 91st percentile among all CPUs.