Palworld

Palworld pairs the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, a combination that lands at rank 1665 out of 2944 tested combos for this title. That places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, meaning a substantial majority of tested configurations deliver higher average frame rates. The data shows a system that is functional for 1080p play but struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K, particularly at higher settings presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1665 out of 2944 places this pairing at roughly the 56th percentile of all tested combinations in Palworld. This is a mediocre standing, reflecting the fact that the RTX 2070 SUPER, while a capable 1440p card in its generation, is now several generations old. The CPU, however, is far more modern. The Core Ultra 5 235 sits at the 89th percentile among all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 46062. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (score 46030, delta 0.1%), the Intel Core i9-13900HX (score 46098, delta -0.1%), and the AMD EPYC 4364P (score 45970, delta 0.2%). These deltas are negligible, indicating the Ultra 5 235 is essentially tied with those processors in synthetic multi-threaded workloads.

Yet in Palworld, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282 and sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (score 20480, delta -1%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (score 20534, delta -1.2%), the Intel Arc B570 (score 20556, delta -1.3%), and the Intel Arc A750 (score 20582, delta -1.5%). All of these rivals score slightly higher, meaning the 2070 SUPER is at the lower edge of this performance cluster. The combination of a top-11% CPU with a mid-tier GPU produces the observed rank: the processor has plenty of headroom, but the graphics card holds the system back from higher placements.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU104 chip, manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It packs 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output pipelines. The card also includes 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, which support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Memory consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The base clock is 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, while the memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). Pixel rate is 113.3 GPixel/s, texture rate is 283.2 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 9.062 TFLOPS.

In Palworld, the 8 GB VRAM capacity is a key constraint. At 4K resolution, even the Low preset only achieves 61 FPS average, while High drops to 38 FPS and Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but at 3840x2160 the card’s fill rate and compute throughput become bottlenecks. The boost clock of 1770 MHz is modest by modern standards, and the 12 nm process means the card runs at a TDP of 215 W, requiring a suggested PSU of 550 W. The data indicates that the GPU’s performance ceiling is reached around 1440p Medium, where it delivers 89 FPS average with a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 103 FPS. Beyond that, the frame rate drops sharply, suggesting that Palworld’s rendering demands exceed what this Turing-based card can sustain at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling across the three resolutions tested: 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 167 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 110 FPS, a reduction of 34%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 61 FPS, another 44% drop from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter; the CPU’s 14 cores and 14 threads are not the constraint at these settings.

For the High preset, the scaling is similar but with lower absolute values. At 1080p High, the average is 104 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 69 FPS (a 34% reduction), and at 4K High, it reaches 38 FPS (a 45% drop from 1440p). The Medium preset shows 136 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction), and 50 FPS at 4K (a 44% drop). The Ultra preset delivers 79 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p (a 34% reduction), and 29 FPS at 4K (a 44% drop).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all presets is striking. Every setting sees roughly a one-third reduction going from 1080p to 1440p, and another two-fifths reduction going from 1440p to 4K. This uniformity strongly suggests that the limiting component is the GPU, as CPU-bound scenarios would show smaller differences at higher resolutions. The fact that the 1080p to 1440p drop is nearly identical to the 1440p to 4K drop (in relative terms) points to a graphics card that is being saturated at each step. The CPU, with its high single-thread score of 2085 in Cinebench R23, is likely not the bottleneck even at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 167 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. Medium settings reduce this to 136 FPS, with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS. High settings yield 104 FPS average, still comfortable for most displays. Ultra settings drop to 79 FPS average, which remains playable but shows the card’s limits begin to appear.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates fall but remain mostly usable. Low settings give 110 FPS average, which is still smooth. Medium settings deliver 89 FPS average, with a minimum of 76 FPS and maximum of 103 FPS. High settings produce 69 FPS average, which is acceptable for many users but not ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. Ultra settings drop to 52 FPS average, which is borderline for a title like Palworld where fast reaction times may be needed.

At 3840x2160, the performance degrades significantly. Low settings manage 61 FPS average, which is just at the edge of playability. Medium settings fall to 50 FPS average, with a minimum of 42 FPS and maximum of 57 FPS. High settings drop to 38 FPS average, which will feel sluggish. Ultra settings are nearly unplayable at 29 FPS average. The 4K data shows that this combination is not suited for native 4K gaming in Palworld, even at Low settings the margin is thin.

The only rows with min/max data are the Medium presets: 115-156 FPS at 1080p, 76-103 FPS at 1440p, and 42-57 FPS at 4K. These ranges indicate that frame pacing is relatively stable, with the spread between minimum and maximum being about 35% of the average at each resolution. This suggests no major hitches or stutters, just a steady decline in overall performance as resolution increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR5 with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The CPU also includes integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 24 execution units, though this is irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU. It supports PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes and uses the Intel Socket 1851.

In Palworld, the CPU’s role appears secondary to the GPU. The benchmark results show a strong processor: Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14769 and single-core score of 2085. PassMark multithread score is 37816, with a single-thread score of 4516. The CPU’s percentile vs all CPUs is 89, meaning it outperforms 89% of all processors in the database. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.2% of its average score, showing that it is competitively positioned.

Given these numbers, the CPU should not be the limiting factor in Palworld. The game’s measured FPS drops consistently as resolution increases, which is a classic GPU-bound signature. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most likely to become a bottleneck, the combo achieves 167 FPS. This is a high frame rate that suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately. The 14 threads are more than sufficient for a survival game like Palworld, which typically uses fewer than 8 threads. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz provides strong single-thread performance for game logic and physics, while the 24 MB L3 cache helps with data locality.

The fact that the combo rank is 1665 out of 2944, despite the CPU being in the 89th percentile, reinforces that the GPU is the weak link. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the rank to be higher relative to the CPU’s percentile. Instead, the rank aligns more closely with the GPU’s 65th percentile, suggesting that the graphics card determines the overall position.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 is the most suitable resolution. At 1080p, even Ultra settings deliver 79 FPS average, while 1440p Ultra drops to 52 FPS and 4K Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The 1080p results across all presets are consistently above 79 FPS, making it the only resolution where every preset is playable.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, delta 0.1%), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, delta -0.1%), AMD EPYC 4364P (45970, delta 0.2%), and AMD EPYC 7303 (45960, delta 0.2%). These differences are minimal, meaning the CPU is effectively tied with these processors in overall benchmark performance.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER capable of 4K gaming in Palworld?

A: The data shows that 4K performance is marginal. At Low settings, the average FPS is 61, which is playable but not smooth. Medium settings drop to 50 FPS, High to 38 FPS, and Ultra to 29 FPS. For a consistent experience, 4K is not recommended, as even the Low preset leaves little headroom.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The memory clock is 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). This configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K the 8 GB capacity and bandwidth become limiting factors, contributing to the steep FPS drops observed.

Q: How does the GPU rank against its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480, delta -1%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, delta -1.2%), Intel Arc B570 (20556, delta -1.3%), and Intel Arc A750 (20582, delta -1.5%). The GPU is slightly slower than all of these, with deltas ranging from -1% to -1.5%.

Q: What are the CPU’s key specifications for gaming?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It includes 24 MB of shared L3 cache and uses dual-channel DDR5 memory with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth. The Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2085, indicating strong single-thread performance for games.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience with this combo, the data points to 1920x1080 with Medium settings. This combination produces an average of 136 FPS, with a minimum of 115 FPS and maximum of 156 FPS. The minimum of 115 FPS ensures that frame drops are unlikely to cause noticeable stutter, while the average of 136 FPS is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Compared to High settings at 1080p (104 FPS average), Medium offers a 31% higher frame rate with what is likely a modest visual difference.

If the user prefers higher visual fidelity, 1080p High is a viable alternative at 104 FPS average. This is still playable, but the 32 FPS difference from Medium may be noticeable in fast-paced action. The Ultra preset at 1080p delivers 79 FPS average, which is acceptable but represents a 42% drop from Medium. Given that Palworld is a survival game with exploration and building, the higher frame rate of Medium is preferable to the visual gains of Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the best option is Low settings, which deliver 110 FPS average. Medium at 1440p drops to 89 FPS average, with a minimum of 76 FPS. While 89 FPS is playable, the 76 FPS minimum is close to the edge of what some users might consider smooth. High at 1440p (69 FPS) and Ultra at 1440p (52 FPS) are less desirable. For 4K, all presets are below 61 FPS, so no recommendation can be made for a good experience.

The measured data shows that Medium at 1080p provides the best balance of frame rate and visual quality. The minimum of 115 FPS gives a safety margin against drops, and the average of 136 FPS is high enough for most displays. Users with 144Hz monitors will benefit from this setting, as it keeps the frame rate above the 115 FPS minimum. For those who prioritize visuals over frame rate, 1080p High is the next best choice, but the data suggests that the GPU’s age makes Medium the sweet spot for sustained performance.