If you are into gaming, you must be aware of the Unreal Game Engine as it is one of the technologies that has completely revolutionized the gaming industry in the past 5 years. The games developed with the newer versions of Unreal Engine, such as Unreal Engine 4 or higher are mesmerizing, to say the least. It is possible because of the wide asset library available with Unreal Engine, its extremely generous and helpful community, and, most importantly, its capabilities to render high-quality graphics. Therefore, Unreal Engine is the prime choice nowadays for almost every other gaming company for high-end AAA game titles.
But with such high capabilities, Unreal Engine also ranks very high in the list of top resource-heavy programs. So, it is not possible to operate an Unreal Engine in every other system. To be able to get hands-on experience with this engine, you will need a very powerful system. If you are not sure about that, then you have come to the right place. In this guide, we will go through all the details and recommended system specifications needed to efficiently run Unreal Engine.
But before that, let us take a deeper understanding of what the Unreal Game engine is and how you can get started with this game engine.
Unreal Game Engine
Unreal Engine is a popular game engine developed by a company called Epic Games. While the engine itself is quite old, it has come a long way since it was first introduced back in 1998. It is a comprehensive suite of game development tools used to create high-quality, interactive, and immersive video games. But more importantly, you can use the same engine to develop games for multiple platforms simultaneously and even cross-platform game titles.
One of the largest benefits of Unreal Engine is its wide range of features and tools available for game development. Since the engine is completely built with C++, it requires C++ coding to develop games. However, it also has a newer, more beginner-friendly approach available with Blueprints that lets you create a complete game from scratch without writing a single line of code.
With such a powerful visual scripting system, a robust physics engine, advanced rendering capabilities, a material editor, a level editor, and much more, there is pretty much nothing that is not possible with this engine. It also offers a large library of pre-built assets, animations, and code snippets, which can help accelerate game development and reduce the amount of time and effort required to create a game from scratch.
The latest version of Unreal Engine, Unreal Engine 5.2, manages to completely cover the difference between rendered graphics and reality with its keen attention to detail and realistic lighting effects. You may already have heard about some popular projects developed with Unreal Engine 5, such as Black Myth: Wukong, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and Stalker 2 which are built with the Unreal Engine 5. As for the new updates, you can always check out projects like The Matrix Awakens and Unrecord to get an insight of what Unreal Engine is capable of.
What Are the Basic System Requirements for Unreal Engine?
Apart from gaming, Unreal Engine also finds its application in many other fields such as architecture and interior designing, filmmaking and television, training and educational purposes, advertising agencies, and even creating artistic visualizations in a 3D environment. Thus, a lot of industries can find the Unreal Engine very helpful. But in order to get full advantage of the Unreal Engine, your system needs to be powerful enough to sustain the program, especially if you are dealing with demanding resources and assets.
The system requirements for Unreal Engine are quite high, and you will find the need for more powerful components in your system as you browse through the latest versions of the engine. Also, the system requirements can differ based on what operating system you are using. Since the engine’s approach is different with different operating systems, it also varies the recommended system specifications for the said operating system.
So, here’s a quick glance at what you need in your system in order to keep up with the demands of Unreal Engine. We have differentiated the specifications list based on OS to help you understand the recommended specifications for your system.
Windows Operating System
| Components | Unreal Engine Requirements |
| OS | Windows 7 or higher, 64-bit |
| CPU | Quad-Core Intel/AMD CPU, 2.5 GHz clock speed, or faster |
| Memory | 8 GB or higher |
| GPU | DirectX 11/DirectX 12 compatible GPUs |
| Code Editor | Visual Studio 2017 v15.6 or higher |
MacOS
| Components | Unreal Engine Requirements |
| OS | Latest MacOS version |
| CPU | Quad-core Intel (for Intel-based-mac), 2.5 GHz clock speed or faster |
| Memory | 8 GB or higher |
| GPU | Metal 1.2 compatible GPUs |
| Code Editor | Xcode Version 11.3.1 or higher |
Linux
| Components | Unreal Engine Requirements |
| OS | Ubuntu v18.04 or higher |
| CPU | Quad-Core Intel/AMD CPU, 2.5 GHz clock speed, or faster |
| Memory | 32 GB or higher |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce 960 GTX or newer models with at least 8 GB VRAM |
| Code Editor | Latest Visual Studio Code, CLion or QtCreator |
While the specifications mentioned above are the basic requirements to be able to run Unreal Engine, the official page also represents a complete build that can ensure the best performance and support for the latest technologies and improvements available with the newer Unreal Engine versions.
Basic Performance Build Recommended by Unreal Engine
| Components | Unreal Engine Requirements |
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit |
| CPU | Six-Core Xeon E5-2643 @ 3.4 GHz |
| Memory | 64 GB |
| OS Storage Drive | 256 GB SSD |
| Build Storage Drive | 2 TB SSD |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER |
| External Tools | Xoreax Incredibuild (Dev Tools Package) |
How To Upgrade Your System For Unreal Engine?
Upgrading your PC can help improve the performance of Unreal Engine and allow you to work on larger projects with little to no hurdles. However, we can all agree on the fact that upgrading your PC is not a day’s job. It takes a lot of time and patience to find the perfect parts for your system in order to get the best performance. So, we will recommend the following guideline that you can follow to quickly improve the performance of your system and make it compatible with the latest version of Unreal Engine.
Step 1. Upgrade Your CPU
Unreal Engine is a CPU-intensive application. So upgrading your CPU to a faster and more powerful model should be your first step in order to improve the performance of the Unreal Engine on your system. Look for a CPU with a high clock speed and multiple cores for optimal performance. As it goes without saying, upgrading your CPU may also require you to upgrade the motherboard if you stumble upon a powerful unit not supported by your current motherboard.
Step 2. Upgrade Your RAM
Your next step should be upgrading your RAM. Unreal Engine also requires a lot of memory to render the projects and run the simulation. And if you are working on a multiplayer game title, you may need to render multiple game instances at once. So adding more RAM to your system can help improve performance. Aim for at least 16 GB of RAM initially, but consider adding more if you plan to work on large projects. Apart from the capacity, make sure you are going with 3200 MHz RAM or faster to maintain stable output from the software.
Step 3. Upgrade Your GPU
Naturally, the next and most important step of your system upgrade would be to get a better GPU. In order to create high-end games which need a high-end GPU model, you first need a high-end GPU model to render the game on your system as you’re building it. Unreal Engine relies heavily on your graphics card, so upgrading to a more powerful GPU can help improve performance, especially when working with complex 3D scenes. Look for a GPU with plenty of VRAM and a high clock speed for optimal performance. We will suggest going with the latest options from the Nvidia RTX 30 or 40 series of GPUs.
Step 4. Upgrade Your Storage Drives
A fast storage drive is also important for Unreal Engine if you don’t wish to wait hours while your game or scene is compiled. It is possible only with a fast SSD, such as an NVMe drive. Having a high-capacity NVMe storage drive can exponentially reduce loading times and also improve the load times of the engine.
Step 5. Install a Cooling System
Suppose you are going to be using a high-end system for an Unreal engine. In that case, you will surely need an efficient cooling system to maintain the temperature levels of the components, especially when each component is under high load. When you are rendering a complex scene in Unreal Engine, your CPU, GPU, and even memory drives will start to rise up in temperature due to the high load. So to avoid any kind of thermal throttling, you will need a decent cooling system in your cabinet. While a simple air-cooled cabinet is fine in the beginning, you should definitely consider going with an AIO or custom loop liquid-cooled solution for future applications.
Unreal Engine 5 – FAQs
Ans: As we all know, Unreal Engine is a very demanding program that heavily relies on the CPU for compilation and complex calculations. Therefore, you will need a multi-core CPU in your system with high clock speeds to be able to keep up with the demands of the engine.
Right now, the AMD Ryzen™ 9 7950X seems to be the best choice from AMD as it has 16 cores and 32 threads. It also has a max boost clock speed of 5.7 GHz which is more than enough for Unreal Engine.
As for the CPU options available from Intel, we will suggest going with the Intel Core i5-13600K CPU as it is the latest and most powerful option designed by Intel. This 13th Gen CPU model from Intel offers 14 cores and 20 threads, unmatched by any other option for multitasking. Also, the max turbo frequency of 5.1 GHz of this CPU can easily handle Unreal Engine.
Ans: Unreal Engine 5 is a versatile engine that can be used for various applications beyond just game development. While the primary use for the engine still seems to revolve around game development, it is also used to create assets for the game, the 3D environment, and even materials used for the environment. Apart from gaming, it plays an important role in the VFX and design department of movies and filmmaking. And its powerful toolset available for 3D environment designing surely comes in handy for architectural designs and concept visualization.
Ans: Yes, Unreal Engine can use multiple GPUs to increase performance during game development and content creation. This feature is called “Multi-GPU” or “SLI/Crossfire support,” It allows Unreal Engine to distribute the workload across multiple GPUs, reducing render times and increasing overall performance.
However, it’s important to note that not all systems support multi-GPU configurations, and the specific requirements may vary depending on the GPU models being used. In fact, the SLI or Crossfire support has always been somewhat unreliable from the GPU manufacturers, especially regarding driver support. So, it would be much better to go with a single powerful GPU rather than 2 mid-range options.
Conclusion
Choosing the perfect specifications for your new PC build is not an easy task. You need to first decide what type of PC build you are going for and which components are the best-suited options for your PC build. If you are planning to use demanding software such as Unreal Engine, then you will have to invest a bit more and go with a top-of-the-line system that can handle the Unreal Engine. However, the system specifications of Unreal Engine are not static, except for the minimum requirements.
To put it in simpler words, your use of the engine is what you should consider before you start picking up new components for your system. For example, if you are going to use the engine for a simple hack-and-slash 2D game, then even a mid-range gaming computer can get the job done for you. However, to use the latest offering from the engine, you will need a premium-range CPU and a powerful GPU that can render high-res graphics with an excessively high number of polygons.
