Palworld in review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

An exciting mix of genres. Palworld has quickly become a surprising success on Steam within just a few days. This early access title combines elements from various games like Pokemon, Ark, and Zelda. We delved deeper into this visually demanding game.

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser (translated by Carmen Pol), Published 01/26/2024 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 ...

Test systems

Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16 (RX 7600S & 780M)

Philips Evnia 8000 Series 41,5" UHD OLED gaming monitor

We ran our gaming benchmarks on these devices. Clicking on the various images will take you to the respective producer's website. Further details on the devices' specifications are listed at the end of the article.

Tech

Palworld has quickly ascended to the top of the Steam charts almost out of nowhere. Developed by Japanese studio Pocket Pair, this open-world game is built on the robust Unreal Engine 5, ensuring impressive visuals. Despite its vibrant colors and overall cartoonish graphic style, the underlying technology is undeniably noteworthy. Beyond the solid textures, particularly at higher levels, the positive features encompass dense vegetation, excellent visibility, and beautiful lighting atmospheres.

The game also offers diverse climate zones and an attractive day-night cycle. The numerous creatures are lovingly designed, although occasional strong similarities to Pokemon can be observed. For an early access game, Palworld seems impressively polished. However, issues are more prevalent in the finer details. Objects may awkwardly pop up at times, and there are occasional problems with clipping and collision detection.

The graphics interface requires some consideration. For instance, we had to rerun certain benchmarks because the Max FPS switch didn't consistently function correctly, occasionally limiting the frame rate to 120 FPS despite the No Limit setting. It's also suboptimal that the message "Restart due" is displayed for simple changes, and the full-screen mode applies only to the native resolution. Nonetheless, the options menu is commendable. Alongside five quality and detail controls, there are also five useful presets (we would rate the game as decent).

VSync, Motion Blur, and DLSS are also optional, but currently, players have to do without FSR. For edge smoothing, FXAA, TAA, and TSR are available—the latter is activated by default in most presets. Additional explanations of the individual settings from the developers would be appreciated. Meanwhile, the duration of the game start and loading times is satisfactory. In essence, Palworld runs quite smoothly, which is not a given for an Early Access title. The scope is similarly remarkable, and Palworld undeniably has its charm in terms of gameplay, motivating players to explore and experiment.

Benchmark

For our measurements, we used the initial phase of the game, specifically when the main character is set free into the open world. The CapFrameX tool is employed to record a predetermined route for just under 20 seconds.

Results

FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

Palworld's hardware requirements fall into a middle range, not particularly low nor high. The iGPU Radeon 780M can handle the low preset smoothly enough in Full HD. Meanwhile, current mid-range graphics cards face no issues with higher presets, as illustrated in our table.

Palworld
1920x1080 Low Preset AA:TSR 1920x1080 Medium Preset AA:TSR 1920x1080 High Preset AA:TSR 1920x1080 Epic Preset AA:TSR
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	237 (51^min, 91.8^P0.1, 159.1^P1) fps ∼100% 219 (55.4^min, 110.5^P0.1, 165.4^P1) fps ∼100% 218 (75.5^min, 95.5^P0.1, 145.3^P1) fps ∼100%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	173.9 (72.6^min, 98.7^P0.1, 135.2^P1) fps ∼73% 153.9 (50.3^min, 57.5^P0.1, 108.6^P1) fps ∼70% 149.9 (47^min, 55.3^P0.1, 98^P1) fps ∼69%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900H Asus ROG Zephyrus M16	171.6 (48^min, 69.4^P0.1, 98.7^P1) fps ∼72% 139.3 (26.8^min, 48^P0.1, 85.2^P1) fps ∼64% 138.8 (26.3^min, 42.5^P0.1, 86.9^P1) fps ∼64%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	162.3 (33.9^min, 57.9^P0.1, 95.5^P1) fps ∼68% 133.5 (32.2^min, 39.3^P0.1, 77.7^P1) fps ∼61% 130.8 (23.6^min, 34.4^P0.1, 73.8^P1) fps ∼60%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	118.4 (7.9^min, 42.5^P0.1, 73.7^P1) fps ∼50% 111 (29.1^min, 46.7^P0.1, 73^P1) fps ∼51% 108.5 (34.6^min, 46.6^P0.1, 70.2^P1) fps ∼50%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	110.7 (31.6^min, 34.9^P0.1, 54.4^P1) fps ∼47% 91.9 (13.2^min, 23.2^P0.1, 53.7^P1) fps ∼42% 87.8 (13.4^min, 18.4^P0.1, 44.8^P1) fps ∼40%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	99.1 (25.7^min, 37.4^P0.1, 68.1^P1) fps ∼42% 76.3 (31.8^min, 36.1^P0.1, 58.9^P1) fps ∼35% 74.9 (28.8^min, 39.1^P0.1, 61^P1) fps ∼34%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16	117 (59.9^min, 75.4^P0.1, 90.1^P1) fps ∼100% 97.7 (25.5^min, 41^P0.1, 67.6^P1) fps ∼41% 71.9 (32.2^min, 39.2^P0.1, 51.8^P1) fps ∼33% 69.5 (29.4^min, 35.7^P0.1, 50.6^P1) fps ∼32%
AMD Radeon 780M, R9 7940HS Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16	37.9 (6.67^min, 8.65^P0.1, 25^P1) fps ∼32% 30.3 (13.1^min, 14^P0.1, 19.8^P1) fps ∼13% 20.5 (4.68^min, 5.5^P0.1, 11.8^P1) fps ∼9% 20.2 (10.6^min, 10.9^P0.1, 12.5^P1) fps ∼9%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

Even at QHD resolution, a high-end graphics card is not necessary. A GeForce RTX 4050 or Radeon RX 7600S is adequate for a combination of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels and the Epic preset.

Palworld
2560x1440 Epic Preset AA:TSR
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	178.1 (64.7^min, 112.8^P0.1, 147.1^P1) fps ∼100%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	135.2 (14.2^min, 49.8^P0.1, 85.1^P1) fps ∼76%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900H Asus ROG Zephyrus M16	110.5 (31^min, 40.3^P0.1, 61.9^P1) fps ∼62%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	106.7 (25.6^min, 31.6^P0.1, 53.9^P1) fps ∼60%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	81.3 (33.5^min, 35.1^P0.1, 56.1^P1) fps ∼46%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	65.6 (7.31^min, 12.6^P0.1, 39.2^P1) fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	50.6 (21.2^min, 27.7^P0.1, 40.2^P1) fps ∼28%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16	48.9 (14.9^min, 17^P0.1, 35.8^P1) fps ∼27%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

The actual test comes at 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, especially if upscaling is not utilized. The Epic preset runs smoothly only with a GeForce RTX 4070 or higher. With DLSS included, a GeForce RTX 4060 is sufficient.

Palworld
3840x2160 Epic Preset AA:TSR 3840x2160 Epic Preset + Quality DLSS AA:TSR
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	101.6 (46.1^min, 58.5^P0.1, 82.9^P1) fps ∼100% 139.8 (9.18^min, 61.1^P0.1, 105.5^P1) fps ∼100%
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, i9-13900K Desktop-PC Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	71.3 (10.3^min, 12.3^P0.1, 46.3^P1) fps ∼70%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13900H Asus ROG Zephyrus M16	66.5 (23.9^min, 26.1^P0.1, 38.8^P1) fps ∼65% 86.2 (11.9^min, 21.2^P0.1, 40.8^P1) fps ∼62%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	61 (20.7^min, 22.8^P0.1, 35.8^P1) fps ∼60% 83 (16.5^min, 20.7^P0.1, 39.4^P1) fps ∼59%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX XMG Pro 15 E23	42.7 (16.8^min, 19.5^P0.1, 33.4^P1) fps ∼42% 58.1 (24.4^min, 29^P0.1, 43.4^P1) fps ∼42%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, R9 7940HS Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	34.8 (14.7^min, 14.9^P0.1, 24.3^P1) fps ∼34% 49.9 (17.6^min, 20.9^P0.1, 30.6^P1) fps ∼36%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, i7-13700H Medion Erazer Scout E20	26 (11.6^min, 12.4^P0.1, 15.1^P1) fps ∼26% 36.3 (15.5^min, 20.4^P0.1, 31.7^P1) fps ∼26%
AMD Radeon RX 7600S, R9 7940HS Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16	25.2 (9.17^min, 9.74^P0.1, 12.2^P1) fps ∼25%

Overview

Test system details

Notebook	Graphics card	Processor	RAM
Asus ROG Zephyrus M16	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 @150 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6X)	Intel Core i9-13900H	2 x 16 GB DDR5
Razer Blade 16 Mid 23	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 @175 W TGP (12 GB GDDR6X)	Intel Core i9-13950HX	2 x 16 GB DDR5
XMG Pro 15 E23	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-13900HX	2 x 16 GB DDR5
Razer Blade 14 Mid 23	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS	2 x 8 GB DDR5
Medion Erazer Scout E20	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 @100 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-13700H	2 x 8 GB DDR5
Asus TUF Gaming Advantage A16	AMD Radeon RX 7600S (8 GB GDDR6) & AMD Radeon 780M	AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS	2 x 8 GB DDR5

Tower PC	Graphics card	Processor	RAM
Asus ROG Strix Z790-F	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (16 GB GDDR6X) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (20 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-13900K	2 x 24 GB DDR5 G.Skill

4K monitor	Operating system	Nvidia driver	AMD driver
Philips Evnia 42M2N8900	Windows 11	ForceWare 546.65	Adrenalin 23.12.1

Read all 1 comments / answer

Loading Comments

Comment on this article

Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 615 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

Translator: Carmen Pol - Translator - 115 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2023

Having spent the greater part of my early years in Germany facilitated my upbringing as a bilingual kid. In 2007, I found myself having to reinstall my Windows weekly ... So, one day I bought a MacBook Black. It was during this period that I developed a profound appreciation for technology, which significantly improved my life.

Please share our article, every link counts!

> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Palworld in review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2024-01-26 (Update: 2024-01-26)

Pos	Model	< Prev Next > Palworld (2024)
Pos	Model	low 1920x1080 Low Preset TSRAA	med. 1920x1080 Medium Preset TSRAA	high 1920x1080 High Preset TSRAA	ultra 1920x1080 Epic Preset TSRAA	QHD 2560x1440 Epic Preset TSRAA	4K 3840x2160 Epic Preset TSRAA	3840x2160 Epic Preset + Quality DLSS TSRAA
2	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090	240	239	234	232	211	138.7	198.3
3	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX	236	223	187.3	184.1	154.5	92.2
4	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super	240ⁿ²	238ⁿ²	225.5ⁿ²	224ⁿ²	181.05ⁿ²	103.95ⁿ²	140.4ⁿ²
5	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080		237	219	218	178.1	101.6	139.8
8	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT		173.9	153.9	149.9	135.2	71.3
11	AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT	236	219	172.8	165.3	121.1	67.3
12	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU	211	176.25ⁿ²	145.3ⁿ²	144.85ⁿ²	115.15ⁿ²	66.5	86.2
14	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090	239	233	208	157.3	120.4	71.5	96.4
22	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU		162.3	133.5	130.8	106.7	61	83
24	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		209	165.5	152.7	113.4	66.5
30	AMD Radeon RX 6800	209	167.8	124	117.4	86.4	46.5
32	NVIDIA Titan RTX	146.6	123.8	98.7	91.4	65.8	36.3	70.9
36	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU				115.6	86.6	47.1
37	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU		118.4	106.6ⁿ²	102.55ⁿ²	75.2ⁿ²	42.7	58.1
40	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070		173.9	138.8	124.6	91.4	51.8
41	AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT	184.2	148.3	110.7	100.9	71.8	38.4
43	AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT	172.2	140.6	99.9	93.1	67.1	36.3
44	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU	119.9	116.4	102.5	96.8ⁿ²	70.95ⁿ²	40.15ⁿ²	54.6ⁿ²
45	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti	185.7	156.9	121.6	109.3	81.5	43.7	61.1
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >Palworld
Pos	Model	low	med.	high	ultra	QHD	4K
46	Intel Arc A770	127.4	105.8	82	78.8	60.2	33.5
48	AMD Radeon RX 7600	158.3	131.5	96.9	85.7	59.6	28.3
53	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU		110.7	91.9	87.8	65.6	34.8	49.9
58	AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT	145.7	115.7	80.9	74.8	52.2	27.4
62	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU	116.7	106.1	103	102.1	72.9	38.7	54.9
66	Intel Arc A750	125.2	112.2	89.5	81.7	59.3	32.3
76	NVIDIA Titan X Pascal	133.5	112.2	90.3	83.7	57.8	32.2
80	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop)	143.7	120.1	94.4	86.3	58.4	31.2	45
84	AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop)	125.7	100.7	73	68.2	47.1	25.9
91	AMD Radeon RX 7600S	117	97.7	71.9	69.5	48.9	25.2
97	Intel Arc A580	111.9	94.8	73.5	67.9	48.5	26.7
98	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)	124.7	105	82	75.1	51.5	25.9	40.2
100	AMD Radeon RX 6600	119.4	104	78.4	70.7	47.2	22.1
104	AMD Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop)	112.5	89	67.1	62.9	42.7	23.3
134	AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (Desktop)	109.8	89.2	66.5	62.4	42.8	21.7
142	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (Desktop)	86ⁿ²	70.75ⁿ²	54.15ⁿ²	49.65ⁿ²	34ⁿ²	17.35ⁿ²
143	AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT	68.7	43.7	30.1	21.7
144	AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (Desktop)	71.8	60.7	43.4	40.8	28	14.9
145	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU		96.2ⁿ²	74.4ⁿ²	73.4ⁿ²	50.6	26	36.3
148*	Intel Arc A730M	80.1	67.4	53.8	50.7	36.5	18.9
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >Palworld
Pos	Model	low	med.	high	ultra	QHD	4K
152	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile	80.5	69.9	55.3	50.7
161	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Desktop)	70.9	53.4	51.3	47.4	26	11.8
173	AMD Radeon RX 6500M	59.5	47.9	26.8	21.1
198	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile	57.2	48	37.5	35
202	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile	50.6	43.8	33.6	31
203	Intel Arc A380	46.3	37.4	27.4	24.4
222*	Intel Arc A310	38.3	33.2	23.2	20.9
223*	Intel Arc 8-Cores iGPU	40.6	37.1	29.5	27.3
225*	Intel Arc 7-Cores iGPU	34.8	32.6	25.2	23.4
241*	AMD Radeon 780M	42.4ⁿ²	35.1ⁿ²	24.95ⁿ²	23.1ⁿ²	17.7	8.9
420*	Intel UHD Graphics Xe 32EUs (Tiger Lake-H)	11.1
585	Intel UHD Graphics 630	5.96
669*	AMD Radeon RX Vega 3	6.28

Legend
5	Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
	May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
	May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?	Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.