So I’m curious to know if anyone has any experience with testing UE4 on comparable GPUs from AMD and Nvidia and has noticed any considerable performance variations that you weren’t expecting. I personally don’t have access to any Nvidia GPUs for the near future, but I remember hearing that ARK had issues with AMD cards a while back, and being that the game was built using UE4, albeit a much earlier version than what’s available now, and that Epic is pretty close with Nvidia, it’s making me curious as to whether the engine handles NVidia’s GPUs and drivers better than AMDs.
Well, i am playing ARK and develop with a R9 290. Haven’t noticed any “drastic” differences between my card and the 780ti of my girlfriend.
But the question you ask (and what you have in mind) is reasonable. I for myself am happy that utterly bullcrap like GameWorks was not implemented officially into UE. If they ever do it, it will permanently cripple AMD cards and Intel solutions, as well cripple all Nvidia archs before Maxwell.
Epic is very close with Nvidia, but they also were present at the last AMD event if i recall correctly. Since Nvidia games are known to run terrible (or dont run at all, see Batman Arkham Knight), i also feel shaky about what happens if they ever get alot of $$$ from Nvidia err … i mean implement Nvidia effects because they think its important for a reason.
For now i believe they will not even implement “true” DX12 or Vulkan into the engine, because their quad Titans or 1080s dont show any performance gain at all; ignoring all benefits from AMDs GCN cards. Or maybe we do get surprised in a positive way, what do i know
Um, NVIDIA user here, there have definitely been some major improvements with DX-12 integration. If you buy a GTX 960, you can run the engine on high settings at 120 FPS constant, or epic settings 80+ FPS, obviously depending on the content. I’m working on a big open world project with the Kite Demo grass technique, lit dynamically by a single light function which calculates rolling cloud cover AND caustics underwater, and some of my shaders are pretty complex. The water is translucent, of course, the draw distance is incredible, and the game runs in the editor at 1080p at no less than 65 FPS. I took this project to my friend who has a GTX 1060 and this project runs at 110 FPS for a graphics card that only costs $200.
The best setup for Unreal Engine is Intel/NVIDIA, for a few reasons: you get better computing per dollar with Intel cards (especially higher-end), Intel’s motherboards frequently support SLI, and the best performance for whatever reason comes from using Intel and NVIDIA simultaneously together. But for $200, especially if you optimize your game, you can run ANYTHING.
I have a few issues with gameworks in the developer’s spectrum: for one, it’s basically impossible to authorize Apex cloth on a skinned character without Maya, and Maya is incredibly expensive. UE4 also offered no alternative solution for cloth simulations. Also, it’s a very, VERY closed code. GPU Open will be very interesting: that might have UE4 integration (crossing my fingers). But to the gamer, Physx destructibles and Apex cloth are both awesome to have, and at the very least wouldn’t cause a problem other than being somewhat expensive to run. But nowadays, I can’t imagine that being a problem.
