I’m currently running into performance snags while working in UE4 that I feel would be resolved with a bit of a hardware boost. The budget, for the moment, only allows for one component to be upgraded. I’m unsure as to whether UE4 would benefit the most from a CPU, GPU, or RAM upgrade. Current issues are long waits when dragging static meshes from the CB to the editor window, long waits when adding textures from the CB to materials being created, long build times when building lighting for even fairly basic levels, etc. I’ve seen many tutorials where people have no performance lags when doing those types of operations so I would like to grab some insight as to what components are likely affecting those aspects of UE. My current system is an i7 3770K no OC, EVGA GTX 670, 16GB RAM, ASUS Z77 Sabertooth MB, 2TB HDD, 256GB SSD. UE4 and projects are located on the SSD, and OS = Win 7. I’ve also wondered if there’s any real benefit to being on Win 8/10? In the end I understand that having all those components upgraded will result in the greatest benefit but it’s just not an option at the moment. If only the CPU, GPU, or RAM were to be upgraded which would benefit UE4 the most?
Well, I’m no expert on PC parts, but I am going to have to say your GPU. RAM really shouldn’t make a difference unless you are maxing it out, and unless your CPU is a bad one from the factory, it looks like it is more than sufficient for the things you described. My rig:
i7 4790k
24GB RAM
GTX 980 Ti
Windows 10
The engine runs extremely well for me.
I am running an i5-3570k with 36g RAM, GTX 970. I noticed no difference when I went from 16 to 32 gigs, so I doubt that matters much. I think I had a 670 before the 970… that was a huge difference in everything. So I would say GPU as well.
I have considered getting a 980 Ti … I read a thread a while back where it seemed the performance with them had issues, I am guessing you have no issues with yours Jamendxman3?
Thanks for the feedback guys! So interesting to see the GPU be the recommendation. For the areas I’m experiencing lags in UE I would have thought RAM or CPU would’ve been the top consideration. Is UE4 really relying on the GPU that much when doing things like compiling shaders and adding static meshes to the scene?
Windows 10 is actually better then windows 7 because it is more optimized and efficient… Most people get around an extra 5 frames… However what you want todo is open up
task manager and find out what is getting maxed out.
Todo this Control + ALT + DELETE then go to performance and start using Unreal 4… Find out whats going to 100%…
If nothing is going to 100% its your graphics card
CPU its your CPU
Memory at a 100? Ram
Disk at 100%.
Note their are times that your system will go to 100%… Unreal has some very heavy tasks at times… However it shouldn’t be constantly happening. If it is(or your staying around the 90% to 100% range constantly) then theirs your bottleneck
btw don’t forget to make sure you have space on your SSD. If you don’t you need to switch to your hard drive.(even though your hard drive will run slower it will be able to store the data)
One more thing to note about the graphics card… It may not be your GPU power that’s the issue but the storage space(GDDR5 Memory), which stores the materials, VFXs, and stuff like that… Also its important to note that if you have a very large level open it will so down your entire system no matter what.
If it happens when your simulating the game then your hardware isn’t the issue(and instead its your games optimization)
However your graphics card is by far the weakest component in your system and the most likely assuming all your others worked.