Unreal Engine 5 Demo was only as GPU intensive as Fortnite

[Mavrick]

https://www.psu.com/news/epic-says-t...e-as-fortnite/

Epic Games has revealed that its impressive PS5 Unreal Engine 5 tech demo wasn’t quite as draining on the console’s GPU as you might have expected. In fact, it was about as intensive as powering Fortnite, the studio has revealed.
Epic On PS5 Unreal Engine 5 Tech Demo

Speaking with PCGamesN, Nick Penwarden, vice president of engineering for Epic, commented:

I can say that the GPU time spent rendering geometry in our UE5 demo is similar to the geometry rendering budget for Fortnite running at 60fps on consoles.

The results are certainly impressive though, with the demo producing photo-realistic visuals and a level of draw distance that hasn’t been possible up until now. Penwarden has previously described the PS5 as a ‘masterpiece of systems design.’

Speaking of Fortnite, Epic Games has confirmed that it will be bringing the game to the PS5 and Xbox Series X in time for launch, and next year will see the game migrate to the Unreal Engine 5.

[NARMAK]

If that's true, why wasn't it running native 4K/60fps?

I'm calling BS, there's no reason to say that and yet have shown off a demo at circa 1440p AND 30fps if it's only as intensive as Fortnite.

[heyadol]

So this demo @ 1440p/30fps uses as much GPU as Fortnite running 1080p/60fps on PS4 Pro and 1440p/60fps on XOX? Since (according to Mark Cerny) a PS5 FLOP does not equal a PS4 FLOP, it probably requires some special math to figure it out; however it's safe to say that the demo on a PS5 GPU is using less than half of the PS5 capacity so this is certainly good news. The full release of UE5 is sure be even more impressive and is likely to receive improvements over the years, good to know that PS5 will have enough headspace to grow with it over the years.

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by heyadol

So this demo @ 1440p/30fps uses as much GPU as Fortnite running 1080p/60fps on PS4 Pro and 1440p/60fps on XOX? Since (according to Mark Cerny) a PS5 FLOP does not equal a PS4 FLOP, it probably requires some special math to figure it out; however it's safe to say that the demo on a PS5 GPU is using less than half of the PS5 capacity so this is certainly good news. The full release of UE5 is sure be even more impressive and is likely to receive improvements over the years, good to know that PS5 will have enough headspace to grow with it over the years.

Ask yourself if a demo is using half the PS5 GPU power, why are developers struggling to hit native 4k/60fps then?

I'm really curious as to how Epic is making such claims when everytime they have shown off a UE demo, even back on PS4 it wasn't until the end of the gen that we saw anything close yet they claim its not "as intensive" and Fortnite is exampled. Something genuinely isn't adding up in the numbers but the only reason i think the performance didn't tank as much is Ray Tracing wasn't used.

[GeneticMutation]

I think you're looking at this all wrong. I took it as them saying "look at what we achieved with half the power!"

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by GeneticMutation

I think you're looking at this all wrong. I took it as them saying "look at what we achieved with half the power!"

That's one way to look at it but then it makes other devs look a little bad who can't nail 4K/60fps imo with a game that's not as visually intensive looking. Hopefully these things are addressed but it just baffles me a little.

As you can tell, Epic struck me into a vocally passionate rant

That Fortnite better end up at 120fps

[GeneticMutation]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

That's one way to look at it but then it makes other devs look a little bad who can't nail 4K/60fps imo with a game that's not as visually intensive looking. Hopefully these things are addressed but it just baffles me a little.

As you can tell, Epic struck me into a vocally passionate rant

That Fortnite better end up at 120fps

It would seem the UE5 demo wasn't pushing the PS5 to it's max and it still achieved that level of detail.

With a game like R&C look at everything that was happening on screen. It was a lot more than the UE5 demo.

120

[heyadol]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

Ask yourself if a demo is using half the PS5 GPU power, why are developers struggling to hit native 4k/60fps then?

I'm really curious as to how Epic is making such claims when everytime they have shown off a UE demo, even back on PS4 it wasn't until the end of the gen that we saw anything close yet they claim its not "as intensive" and Fortnite is exampled. Something genuinely isn't adding up in the numbers but the only reason i think the performance didn't tank as much is Ray Tracing wasn't used.

Hopefully it's just unfamiliarity with new tools and capabilities, combined w/ the current-gen mentality that seems to prioritize visuals over motion. Plus I don't think any of Sony's studios use Unreal Engine, they all use something proprietary or at least heavily customized.

It could also be a focus on getting the game right, making sure it's fun first then they work on optimizing effects vs. fps.

[I KEEL YOU]

Yes, game demos are know to run worse than what the console is actually capable of. The opposite is never the case when developers showcase their games in presentations.