Best budget hardware / PC component setup for Unreal Engine 5 development. Any help?

General Feedback & Requests
, , ,
1

Hi all,

I am a 2nd year games student and now confident enough with UE to start my own personal projects. The issue is, my Macbook Pro sounds like it’s about to take flight whenever I do the simplest stuff in UE5. Does anybody have any recommendations for a budget PC setup which can run UE5 smoothly and efficiently? I do not need the PC to be able to do much else other than development.

Forgive me if this topic has been covered recently, if somebody could link me to the information, that would be great?

I asked ChatGPT and this was the response -

For Unreal Engine 5 development, you’ll want a balance between strong CPU performance, plenty of RAM, and a powerful GPU. Given that you’re looking for a budget option, I’ll aim for the best price-to-performance ratio without unnecessary overspending.

### Key Components for a Budget UE5 Development PC (2025)

#### 1. CPU (Processor) – Prioritizing Multithreading & Compilation Speed

** Best Budget Option: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (~£350)*

    • 8 cores, 16 threads, and 3D V-Cache for better UE5 performance.*
    • Great for compiling shaders and handling physics simulations.*
      ** Alternative (Cheaper): Intel Core i5-13600K (~£260)*
    • 14 cores (6 P-cores, 8 E-cores), good multithreading for UE5.*
    • Slightly worse for large UE5 projects but still a great value.*

#### 2. GPU (Graphics Card) – Prioritizing Nanite & Lumen Performance

** Best Budget Option: NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super (~£550)*

    • 12GB VRAM, great for handling UE5’s real-time rendering.*
    • DLSS 3 can help with viewport smoothness.*
      ** Alternative (Cheaper): RTX 3060 Ti / RTX 4060 Ti (~£300–£400)*
    • 8GB VRAM may limit large environments but works for small/mid-scale projects.*

#### 3. RAM – Essential for Large UE5 Projects

** Best Budget Option: 32GB DDR5 6000MHz (2x16GB) (~£130)*

    • UE5 eats RAM, so 32GB is the minimum for smooth work.*
      ** Alternative (Cheaper): 32GB DDR4 3600MHz (~£100)*
    • If going with an older platform, DDR4 is still viable.*

#### 4. Storage – Fast Load Times & Asset Streaming

** Best Budget Option: 1TB NVMe SSD (Gen4) (~£90)*

    • Crucial P5 Plus or WD Black SN850X for fast UE5 asset loading.*
      ** Alternative (Cheaper): 1TB NVMe SSD (Gen3) (~£60)*
    • Still decent, but slower asset streaming in large worlds.*

#### 5. Power Supply (PSU) – Stable Power for High Loads

** Best Budget Option: 750W 80+ Gold PSU (~£90)*

    • Corsair RM750e or MSI A750GL for future GPU upgrades.*
      ** Alternative (Cheaper): 650W 80+ Bronze PSU (~£60)*
    • Sufficient for RTX 3060 Ti or lower.*

#### 6. Motherboard – Compatibility & Upgradeability

** Best Budget Option: B650 Motherboard (for Ryzen) / B760 (for Intel) (~£130)*

    • ASUS TUF B650-Plus or MSI B760M Mortar for good features.*
      ** Alternative (Cheaper): B550 (for older Ryzen) or B660 (for Intel) (~£90)*
    • Limited PCIe Gen4 support but still viable.*

#### 7. Case – Airflow & Build Simplicity

** Best Budget Option: Lian Li Lancool 216 (~£90)*

    • Good airflow and space for large GPUs.*
      ** Alternative (Cheaper): Cooler Master Q300L (~£50)*
    • Compact and budget-friendly.*

—

### Total Estimated Budget

** Best Budget Build (~£1,300–£1,400)*
** Cheaper Alternative (~£900–£1,000, with an RTX 3060 Ti & i5-13600K)*

Would you like recommendations for prebuilt options or where to buy parts in the UK?

2

Hey! Overall that configuration from ChatGPT is not bad except for a few things.

The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is an excellent performer for gaming, but is both much more expensive and worse at production workloads (e.g. Unreal).
I would still recommend sticking to a Ryzen 7000 in order to have a nice upgrade path down the line compared to the Intel one, but go for a cheaper cpu like the Ryzen 7 7700X. In the UK it seems like that cpu is at ~280£ new.
That cpu will have better performances in Unreal while loosing a bit in gaming, though that doesn’t seem to be your priority so you can spare the expense of going X3D

Be careful for the RAM, you MUST take DDR5 memory with a Ryzen 7 7700X, even if going Intel, you need to be careful about what the motherboard support (it’s either DDR4 OR DDR5). If you want to futur proof your build, going DDR5 is the way.

As for the gpu, the 4070 Super is great per-se, but the 12GB vram buffer can be a bit limiting when working with Unreal. I would recommend going to a 7800XT instead, it is a bit slower overall but has 16GB of vram and is cheaper. You could also go even cheaper with a 7700XT, works still great and is ~200£ cheaper than the 4070S

Overall you would be at around 1300$, 1200 if you go with the cheaper gpu. If you need lower than that there are a few components that you can slightly downgrade still.
I would recommend checking PCPartPicker to easily check component compatibility and best pricing for your country, I have made that configuration on there: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/sFJPv4
I have included both GPUs so that you can choose which is best for you.