Palworld

Palworld with the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER presents a clear picture of performance scaling across resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 276 FPS, which drops to 224 FPS at Medium and 172 FPS at High. Moving to Ultra at 1080p reduces the average to 131 FPS, indicating that the graphical load is already significant even at the lowest resolution tested. The progression from 1080p to 1440p shows a similar pattern, with Low settings delivering 182 FPS, Medium 147 FPS, High 113 FPS, and Ultra 86 FPS. At 4K, the numbers compress further: Low yields 101 FPS, Medium 82 FPS, High 63 FPS, and Ultra 48 FPS.

The scaling behavior reveals that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary limiting component as resolution increases. From 1080p Low to 4K Low, the frame rate drops by approximately 63%, which is a substantial reduction that points directly to GPU throughput constraints. In contrast, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and settings, where the frame rates are high enough to expose any potential bottleneck. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system is likely CPU-bound, as the 276 FPS figure is exceptionally high and would require a strong processor to maintain. However, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, with its 24 cores and 24 threads, is well-equipped for this task, as evidenced by its performance in synthetic benchmarks.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS across resolutions demonstrates a typical gaming workload where the GPU handles the majority of the rendering burden. At 1080p, the average frame rates range from 131 FPS at Ultra to 276 FPS at Low, showing a spread of 145 FPS between the lowest and highest settings. This wide gap suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER has ample headroom at this resolution, but the CPU must keep up with the high frame generation rates. The 1440p results show a narrower spread of 96 FPS, from 86 FPS at Ultra to 182 FPS at Low, indicating that the GPU is starting to become more of a limiting factor. At 4K, the spread narrows to just 53 FPS, from 48 FPS at Ultra to 101 FPS at Low, which is a classic sign of GPU saturation.

The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent across settings. For Low, the drop is from 276 FPS to 101 FPS, a 63% reduction. For Medium, it goes from 224 FPS to 82 FPS, a 63% reduction as well. High settings drop from 172 FPS to 63 FPS, a 63% reduction, and Ultra drops from 131 FPS to 48 FPS, also a 63% reduction. This uniform percentage decline across all presets strongly suggests that the scaling is purely resolution-driven and not affected by the specific settings. The limiting component at 4K is unequivocally the GPU, as the frame rates are too low to be constrained by the CPU’s capabilities. The RTX 4070 SUPER’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game’s demands at 4K, but the raw compute power of 35.48 TFLOPS is the bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of all tested hardware combinations for Palworld, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER holds a rank of 467 out of 2944 combos. This places it in the top 16% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing for a desktop setup. The rank indicates that while this combo is not at the absolute top tier, it outperforms the vast majority of alternatives. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 96 among all CPUs suggests that the processor is a high-end part, and the GPU’s percentile of 83 among all GPUs shows it is above average but not flagship-level. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a high-midrange GPU results in a balanced system that ranks well in this game.

The rank of 467 out of 2944 is particularly notable because Palworld is a game that can be demanding on both CPU and GPU. The combo’s position suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the weaker link, as the CPU has the potential to drive higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU. In comparison to other combos, this system is likely limited by the GPU at higher resolutions, but at 1080p and 1440p, it delivers frame rates that are competitive with much more expensive setups. The data shows that the combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p, where it achieves 113 FPS at High settings, and it can handle 4K at playable frame rates on Medium settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and features 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operation units. Its boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1980 MHz are standard for the 40-series lineup. The GPU’s memory configuration includes 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s, which are adequate for the graphical demands of Palworld. The GPU’s performance in synthetic benchmarks, such as a Passmark G3D score of 29995 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4627, confirms its mid-to-high-range positioning.

In Palworld specifically, the GPU’s role is critical at 4K resolution. The measured frame rates at 4K High (63 FPS) and 4K Ultra (48 FPS) show that the GPU is working near its limits. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game, as Palworld does not appear to require more than that at the tested settings. The GPU’s 56 ray tracing cores and 224 tensor cores are present, but the game’s performance is likely dominated by rasterization rather than ray tracing. The data indicates that the GPU’s 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, as the frame rates scale linearly with resolution. At 1080p, the GPU is less stressed, allowing the CPU to become the limiting factor, but at 4K, the GPU is fully utilized.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 172 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at 224 FPS is even higher, but the visual quality difference may not be worth the extra frames for most users. For a balanced experience, High at 1080p is recommended, as it provides a smooth frame rate without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. At 1440p, the High preset achieves 113 FPS, which is ideal for most gamers with 144Hz monitors. The Medium preset at 147 FPS offers even more headroom, but High is a better visual choice. At 4K, the Medium preset is the best option, delivering 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS, which is playable. The High preset at 4K drops to 63 FPS, which is still acceptable, but the Ultra preset at 48 FPS is too demanding for a consistent experience.

The data shows that the Medium preset at 4K provides the best balance of frame rate and quality, with an average of 82 FPS and a minimum of 70 FPS. This is a significant improvement over the High preset’s 63 FPS and much better than the Ultra preset’s 48 FPS. At lower resolutions, the High preset is recommended for its combination of visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it still achieves 131 FPS, but the visual gains over High are marginal relative to the performance cost. The Low preset is not recommended for any resolution, as the frame rate gains are not worth the significant loss in visual quality. Overall, the High preset at 1080p and 1440p, and the Medium preset at 4K, are the best choices for this hardware combination.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K with High settings?

A: The average frame rate at 4K with High settings is 63 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems in Palworld?

A: The combo ranks 467 out of 2944 tested combinations, placing it in the top 16% of all systems.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 276 FPS, indicating the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the GPU has more than enough headroom.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The High preset at 1440p delivers 113 FPS, which is the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users.

Q: Does the GPU have enough VRAM for Palworld at 4K?

A: The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, which is sufficient for the game at 4K, as evidenced by the measured frame rates.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 4K with Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 4K with Medium settings is 70 FPS, providing a consistent experience without significant drops.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration is designed for high multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 and Passmark multithread score of 60860. The CPU’s single-thread performance is also strong, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4823.

In Palworld, the CPU’s role is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings where frame rates are high. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 276 FPS, which is a demanding workload for any processor. The 24 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for this game, and the high boost clock of 5.80 GHz ensures strong single-thread performance for game logic and physics. The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s and dual-channel DDR5 support contribute to overall system responsiveness. The combo’s rank of 467 out of 2944 is partly due to the CPU’s high percentile ranking of 96, which indicates that it outperforms most other processors in the database. However, the CPU’s performance is not fully utilized in this game at 4K, where the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The data suggests that the CPU is capable of driving even higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU, but in this configuration, it provides a solid foundation for the RTX 4070 SUPER.