Question What CPU should I upgrade to for unreal engine 4 and then 5?

[The Reaper Wolf]

Hello, I am an indie dev and I do small to medium sized 3d games, I have an i7 7700k and I can really notice how much it slows me down when compiling and building lighting and such, what CPU would be a worthwhile upgrade for me to use now in UE4 and then UE5 once that is in a more stable state? Thank you for your help in advanced My max spending limit is $500, doesnt have to be $500 if there is a really good one for the dollar thats a lot less thats cool too

 

[drea.drechsler]

For CPU only the rest of your system spec's would be helpful for someone to make suggestions. In addition to motherboard, memory, be sure to include PSU, GPU and case.

 

[The Reaper Wolf]

For CPU only the rest of your system spec's would be helpful for someone to make suggestions. In addition to motherboard, memory, be sure to include PSU, GPU and case.

I have 32gbs of ram, an rtx 2080 ti and thats all that matters I think, oh also UE4 is installed in an ssd

 

[drea.drechsler]

I have 32gbs of ram, an rtx 2080 ti and thats all that matters I think, oh also UE4 is installed in an ssd

Then you're in the market for CPU, motherboard, PSU?

 

[The Reaper Wolf]

Then you're in the market for CPU, motherboard, PSU?

Cpu and Mobo yes, my current psu is good though so i think I'll be fine with this one, it's a 750w Corsair psu

 

[SamirD]

I would find out what platforms other larger devs are using and migrate to that. I'm sure they're using dual processor workstations by Dell and HP, and these can be had pretty cheaply used and the large amounts of ecc memory helps too.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Cpu and Mobo yes, my current psu is good though so i think I'll be fine with this one, it's a 750w Corsair psu

I'm not knowledgeable of what Unreal engine development would require but most development benefits from operating virtual machines, and VM's like CPU cores to operate effectively while debugging. That pretty much puts you in the AMD fold, and for your budget almost definitely so since high core-count Intel processors are preciously costly along with their motherboards.

So probably a 12 core R9- 3900X and B450 Tomahawk MAX motherboard or B550 Tomahawk if you can get one cheaply enough. And of course an R9-5900X, also 12 core, would be even better. But if costs are prohibitive, an 8 core R7-3800X would be near on minimum but a good idea since getting it on a good AM4 board (like a B550 Tomahawk) would let you upgrade the CPU as funds allow.

 

[The Reaper Wolf]

I'm not knowledgeable of what Unreal engine development would require but most development benefits from operating virtual machines, and VM's like CPU cores to operate effectively while debugging. That pretty much puts you in the AMD fold, and for your budget almost definitely so since high core-count Intel processors are preciously costly along with their motherboards.

So probably a 12 core R9- 3900X and B450 Tomahawk MAX motherboard or B550 Tomahawk if you can get one cheaply enough. And of course an R9-5900X, also 12 core, would be even better. But if costs are prohibitive, an 8 core R7-3800X would be near on minimum but a good idea since getting it on a good AM4 board (like a B550 Tomahawk) would let you upgrade the CPU as funds allow.

Hmm I will do some more research into the 3900x and 5900x and see the difference for Unreal! thank you for your help

 

[theonerm2]

I'm also an indie game developer but I use Unity. I've tried Unreal Engine and can say even on my Ryzen 9 3900x that Unreal is pretty slow to compile. I have the RX 6700 XT as well which isn't a far cry away from your GPU. Unreal is just slow. Not that it wouldn't be faster on a better CPU. It might be very much faster. I can only say what I've observed and for me Unreal is too slow even with my hardware. UE5 runs terribly slow as well in my experience. I was excited about Nanite and then I saw 45 fps with just the starter content on the screen. I may play around with UE5 a bit more but personally I think I'll stick with Unity.

 

[The Reaper Wolf]

I'm also an indie game developer but I use Unity. I've tried Unreal Engine and can say even on my Ryzen 9 3900x that Unreal is pretty slow to compile. I have the RX 6700 XT as well which isn't a far cry away from your GPU. Unreal is just slow. Not that it wouldn't be faster on a better CPU. It might be very much faster. I can only say what I've observed and for me Unreal is too slow even with my hardware. UE5 runs terribly slow as well in my experience. I was excited about Nanite and then I saw 45 fps with just the starter content on the screen. I may play around with UE5 a bit more but personally I think I'll stick with Unity.

For me i get good performance in UE4 just when my levels start getting very detailed the light building takes 30+ mins and it really slows down my workflow, i found a plugin that helps and cuts compile time by near 50% almost but it's still not a permanent solution i want, plus i love blueprints, the UI, the animation systems, like all of that I'm just more comfortable with in UE4, I'll probably get a 5900x and see how that goes to help me out

 

[SamirD]

I wonder if these engines are not optimized for xeon or intel platforms versus amd.