How can I improve my solution build times?

Development Programming & Scripting C++
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Hi,

I’m currently making and programming a game in Unreal Engine 5.0.3 for a university project, but I’ve lately been having to deal with my PC repeatedly taking overly long amounts of time to build my C++ code, and I’m trying to figure out how to reduce said build times.

I’ve tried uninstalling unnecessary Unreal modules and freeing up space on my disk and data drives, but that hasn’t made any difference. I’ve tried building my code on other computers (such as those on-campus), and they are each much quicker, taking from a few seconds to a minute to build whenever I make significant code changes. I’m currently wondering whether these slow build times on my own computer are a result of lacklustre code optimisation, Rider/Unreal settings that I need to change or just me needing a better PC.

I’ve asked some others for some opinions and suggestions, and the potential solutions I’m currently considering are to upgrade my PC (my RAM in particular (from 16GB to 32GB), most likely, partially since according to the UE5 hardware and software specifications page on the Unreal documentation site (link: Hardware and Software Specifications for Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.0 Documentation), 8GB of RAM is recommended for using UE5, although a typical system used by Epic for UE5 uses 64GB of RAM), reformat my PC, or get a new PC entirely.

Any suggestions for what I should do to resolve this issue? If I could please get a response with an answer, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks and kind regards,
Geo

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I think UE5 has serious build issues. I have 64GB of RAM and a 3900X. It sometimes sits there doing nothing for 20 to 30 minutes just to compile a single file that I’ve modified. Granted it’s on a HDD, not SSD, but I can’t put it on SSD anymore because UE5 is gigantic. You need 500GB of free space just for one build. (300GB if you’re not building debug). So I just can’t spare the space. It takes me about an hour to build UE5 and building my own project takes 30 minutes (most of it before it actually compiles anything) of about 60 files (half are headers). After the first build, a lot of it is cached and then it takes a few minutes to compile any updated files.

I personally think the biggest differences are 1) get to 32GB at least (16GB isn’t enough. I go over that all the time) and 2) trying to get UE5 onto an SSD. My machine is watercooled, so adding another SSD is kind of a pain right now as I’d have to dismantle the whole thing.

If you find out anything, I’d like to know as well.

edit: I should note that Visual Studio is on SSD. This also makes a big difference.