Palworld

Palworld with the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER presents a fascinating study in system bottlenecking. The measured data shows a combo that is overwhelmingly capable, yet the scaling patterns between resolutions reveal where the performance ceiling truly lies. This analysis breaks down the FPS figures to understand the interplay between this specific CPU-GPU pairing in the Survival title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about component limits. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 316 FPS. Stepping up to 1440p Low drops that to 208 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls further to 115 FPS. This represents a significant 63.6% reduction in average FPS when moving from 1080p to 4K on the lowest preset. The pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the GPU is not the limiting factor, allowing the CPU to push frame rates to extreme highs.

The scaling becomes more telling at higher settings. At Ultra settings, the frame rates are 149 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 63.1%, which is remarkably consistent with the Low preset scaling. This consistency across settings indicates that the resolution is the primary driver of performance changes, not the graphical complexity at each preset tier.

Looking at the Medium preset, which includes min and max FPS data, the scaling pattern holds. At 1080p Medium, the average is 256 FPS with a minimum of 218 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 169 FPS with a minimum of 143 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 94 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS. The minimum FPS values show a similar proportional drop, suggesting that the frame pacing remains stable across resolutions even as the overall throughput decreases.

The data implies that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary bottleneck at 4K, as the frame rates at this resolution are more in line with what a high-end GPU would deliver for this title. At 1080p, the extremely high frame rates (316 FPS on Low) suggest that the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is allowing the GPU to stretch its legs fully, but the CPU itself is not holding back the system at these lower resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS indicates that the GPU is working at its limit, as the CPU has ample headroom at these lower frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance on which preset delivers the best experience for different priorities. For competitive or high-refresh-rate play at 1080p, the Low preset at 316 FPS offers the highest possible frame rate, but the Medium preset at 256 FPS provides a better balance of visual quality and performance, with a minimum FPS of 218 still well above typical display refresh rates.

At 1440p, the High preset at 130 FPS emerges as a strong recommendation. It offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium (169 FPS) while still maintaining frame rates that exceed 120 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh monitors. The Ultra preset at 98 FPS is playable but may not fully utilize a 120Hz or 144Hz display, making High the sweet spot for this resolution.

For 4K gaming, the choice becomes more constrained. The High preset at 72 FPS is the most balanced option, providing good visual fidelity while staying above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 94 FPS is also viable and offers higher minimum FPS (79 FPS) compared to the unknown minimums on High, making it a safer choice for maintaining smooth gameplay during demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 55 FPS dips below the 60 FPS standard, which may result in noticeable stuttering on displays that expect a consistent 60Hz refresh.

The data suggests that the optimal experience is resolution-dependent. For 1080p and 1440p, High settings provide the best combination of visual quality and performance headroom. For 4K, Medium offers the most stable experience, as it maintains the highest minimum FPS (79 FPS) among the 4K presets while still delivering an average of 94 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 216 out of 2944 tested combos in Palworld. This places it in the top 7.3% of all tested system configurations for this game, indicating that this pairing is exceptionally well-suited for the title.

The rank is particularly notable given the CPU's position in the broader hardware landscape. The Core Ultra 5 225 sits in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with its closest rival being the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which shows a 0% deltaPct in average benchmark scores. This means the CPU is performing exactly as expected for its class, not overachieving or underperforming in synthetic benchmarks.

The GPU tells a similar story. The RTX 4080 SUPER is in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the standard RTX 4080 at a -0.1% deltaPct. This near-identical performance to the non-SUPER variant suggests that the SUPER branding does not provide a meaningful advantage in this game, as the measured FPS data would likely be similar with either card.

The high combo rank despite the mid-tier CPU and upper-mid-tier GPU placement highlights that Palworld is well-optimized for this hardware combination. The rank of 216 out of 2944 combos suggests that only 215 other system configurations perform better in this game, which is a strong endorsement for this pairing's balance of CPU and GPU capabilities.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Palworld?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 316, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: No, the 4K Ultra preset produces an average of 55 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has an average benchmark score of 36938, which is essentially identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36945, showing a 0% deltaPct.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 143 FPS, with a maximum of 194 FPS.

Q: Which preset at 4K provides the highest minimum FPS?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 records a minimum FPS of 79, which is the only 4K preset with reported minimum FPS data.

Q: What percentile does this GPU rank in among all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is in the 86th percentile among all GPUs based on its average benchmark score.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER brings substantial resources to Palworld, with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is critical for the 4K results, as the game at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings still achieves 55 FPS, suggesting the 16 GB frame buffer is sufficient for the title's textures and geometry at this resolution.

The GPU's clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz. These frequencies, combined with the 10240 shading units, allow the card to process the game's environments efficiently. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (316 FPS) demonstrates that the GPU is capable of extremely high throughput when not constrained by resolution, indicating that the shading units and texture units (320 TMUs) are not the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

The GPU's compute capabilities, including 80 RT cores and 320 Tensor cores, provide 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This raw compute power shows in the 4K Medium result of 94 FPS, which is a demanding scenario for any GPU. The pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are sufficient to handle the fill-rate requirements at 4K, though the drop to 55 FPS at Ultra suggests that the most demanding settings push the GPU to its limits.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its position. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600 and PassMark G3D score of 34245 indicate strong DirectX 12 performance, which aligns with Palworld's modern rendering requirements. The PassMark GPU Compute score of 19822 shows the card's compute capabilities are robust, though the game's FPS data suggests it is more dependent on traditional rasterization than compute-heavy effects.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's performance in Palworld is consistent with its 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs. The card's nearest rival, the standard RTX 4080, shows a -0.1% deltaPct, meaning the SUPER version offers no meaningful performance advantage in this game. This is reflected in the FPS data, which likely would be nearly identical with either card.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 features 10 cores and 10 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This configuration, based on the Arrow Lake architecture, provides the foundation for the high frame rates seen at 1080p. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 cache per core help maintain data locality for the game's world streaming, which is critical for a Survival title with persistent environments.

The CPU's benchmark performance shows a balanced profile. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25891 and single-core score of 3655 indicate strong multi-threaded and single-threaded capabilities. The PassMark single-thread score of 4412 is particularly relevant for Palworld, which likely benefits from strong single-core performance for game logic and physics calculations. This is reflected in the 1080p Low result of 316 FPS, where the CPU is able to feed the GPU at very high rates.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration provides 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. This is adequate for the game's data streaming needs, as evidenced by the stable minimum FPS values (218 FPS at 1080p Medium) that suggest no memory bandwidth bottlenecks. The 10-core, 10-thread configuration may seem modest, but the PassMark multithread score of 30459 shows it handles concurrent workloads effectively.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 85 among all CPUs places it just ahead of the 86th percentile GPU. This near-matching of percentiles is unusual and suggests the combo is well-balanced for Palworld. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, has a 0% deltaPct, meaning the Core Ultra 5 225 provides no measurable performance advantage over that older chip, yet the combo still achieves a high rank in this game.

The 65W TDP of the CPU is modest, but the data shows it does not hinder performance in Palworld. The boost clock of 4.90 GHz is sufficient to maintain high frame rates, and the Cinebench R20 single-core score of 891 indicates strong per-core performance. At 4K resolutions where the GPU is the primary bottleneck, the CPU's capabilities become less relevant, as the frame rates (55-115 FPS) are well within the CPU's ability to feed the GPU without becoming a limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across resolutions and settings.

At 1920x1080, the results are exceptional across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 316 FPS, which is the highest recorded figure in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 256 FPS average with a minimum of 218 FPS and maximum of 294 FPS. High settings drop to 197 FPS, while Ultra settings still manage an impressive 149 FPS. The spread from 316 FPS to 149 FPS shows that even at the highest settings, 1080p gaming is extremely smooth, with no preset falling below 144 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected resolution penalty. Low settings average 208 FPS, a 34.2% decrease from 1080p. Medium settings average 169 FPS with a minimum of 143 FPS and maximum of 194 FPS. High settings produce 130 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 98 FPS. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium of 143 FPS is still above 120 FPS, ensuring a smooth experience on high-refresh monitors.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. Low settings average 115 FPS, which is still a playable frame rate for 4K. Medium settings average 94 FPS with a minimum of 79 FPS and maximum of 108 FPS, providing the most stable 4K experience. High settings drop to 72 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 55 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard. The 4K data shows a clear hierarchy: Low and Medium are viable for 60 FPS gaming, High is borderline, and Ultra requires a compromise on refresh rate.

The Medium preset is the only setting with complete min/max data across all three resolutions. The minimum FPS values (218 at 1080p, 143 at 1440p, 79 at 4K) show that the frame pacing remains consistent, with no sudden drops that would indicate stuttering. The maximum FPS values (294 at 1080p, 194 at 1440p, 108 at 4K) show that the combo can exceed the average by a comfortable margin, indicating headroom for less demanding scenes.

The average FPS across all settings and resolutions shows a clear pattern: 1080p averages range from 149 to 316 FPS, 1440p ranges from 98 to 208 FPS, and 4K ranges from 55 to 115 FPS. This data confirms that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring settings adjustments to maintain playable frame rates.