Unreal Engine 5.6 Delivers Up to 35% Performance Improvement Over v5.4

[AleksandarK]

Thanks to a new comparison video from the YouTube channel MxBenchmarkPC, the Paris Tech Demo by Scans Factory is put through its paces on an RTX 5080, running side by side in Unreal Engine 5.6 and version 5.4 with hardware Lumen enabled. That way, we get to see what Epic Games has done with the hardware optimization in the latest release. In GPU‑limited scenarios, the upgrade is immediately clear, with frame rates jumping by as much as 25% thanks to better utilization of graphics resources, even if that means the card draws a bit more power to deliver the boost. When the CPU becomes the bottleneck, Unreal Engine 5.6 really pulls ahead, smoothing out frame-time spikes and delivering up to 35% higher throughput compared to the older build. Beyond the raw numbers, the new version also refines Lumen's visuals. Lighting feels more accurate, and reflections appear crisper while maintaining the same level of shadow and ambient occlusion detail that developers expect.

Unreal Engine 5.6 was officially launched earlier this month, just after Epic Games wrapped its Unreal Fest keynote, where it teased many of these improvements. Hardware-accelerated ray tracing enhancements now shift more of the Lumen global illumination workload onto modern GPUs, and a Fast Geometry Streaming plugin makes loading vast, static worlds feel seamless and stutter-free. Animators will appreciate the revamped motion trails interface, which speeds up keyframe adjustments, and new device profiles automatically tune settings to hit target frame rates on consoles and high‑end PCs. To showcase what's possible, Epic teamed up with CD Projekt Red for a The Witcher IV tech demo that runs at a steady 60 FPS with ray tracing fully enabled on the current-gen PlayStation 5 console. If you're curious to dive in, you can download Unreal Engine 5.6 Paris - Fontaine Saint-Michel Tech Demo today and explore it for yourself on your PC.

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[resadent]

The improvement is quite unreal (pun intended), hope there's still more to come in this regard.

 

[JIWIL]

What does this mean for people that don't play benchmarks? Will it only apply to games compiled on 5.6+ or can this be patched into titles already released?

 

[Macro Device]

can this be patched into titles already released?

Hardly. This would mean recompiling the whole game on the side of the game dev created this game and it's a long, annoying process. Virtually nobody would care.

So we should only expect this to apply to the games that aren't yet released.

 

[InVasMani]

Good software optimization can at times making sweeping changes for the better. Good to see with Unreal Engine considering it's prominence as a development game engine.

 

[Onasi]

So we should only expect this to apply to the games that aren't yet released.

Yup, I think a lot of people don’t understand this. Every poorly running UE5 title will remai as is. We’ll only see the effect of 5.6 mayyybe in two years or so.

 

[Macro Device]

Yup, I think a lot of people don’t understand this. Every poorly running UE5 title will remai as is. We’ll only see the effect of 5.6 mayyybe in two years or so.

Good thing I haven't yet finished the story part of my game and my comp's progress in making an actual game is so tiny it's a non-issue to switch from 5.5.4 to 5.6.

So far I expect my game to be released in early 2030s.

 

[sephiroth117]

What does this mean for people that don't play benchmarks? Will it only apply to games compiled on 5.6+ or can this be patched into titles already released?

I mean developers could re-compile the game with the newer UE5 sdk if they want and release it as a patch

 

[Macro Device]

I mean developers could re-compile the game with the newer UE5 sdk if they want and release it as a patch

It's:
• taking a long time as is
• prone to produce new bugs
So no one will do that except for maybe one or two indie companies who want some experiments or made tiny games so it doesn't end up a royal bug whackamole.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

even if that means the card draws a bit more power to deliver the boost

Hmm, let's UE5 burnt my graphic card in the name of better presentation.

 

[bug]

Normally, these would be some seriously impressive numbers.
But if you've followed the benchmarks of UE5-based titles and noticed how punishing they are on the hardware (while showing very, very little differences between low and max settings), you realize UE5 was just rushed out the door in a very rough shape.

 

[R-T-B]

Hardly. This would mean recompiling the whole game on the side of the game dev created this game and it's a long, annoying process. Virtually nobody would care.

I don't know if its the same in Unity but devs update Unity versions regularly. Of course Unity is high level C#.

My feeling is only a few insane indies or studios with AAA money will bother.

 

[ZoneDymo]

look at that insane smearing/streaking on the reflection in the puddle at 0.18 seconds...

 

[HeadRusch1]

oh 5080's good, that's good. Question: What is the improvement on 40 and 50 series 60, 70 and Ti models where it actually matters?

 

[thevoiceofreason]

I mean developers could re-compile the game with the newer UE5 sdk if they want and release it as a patch

But they won't, since all they had to do was hit performance targets on consoles and release. They are now working on another project while a skeleton crew handles bug reports.

 

[Macro Device]

What is the improvement on 40 and 50 series 60, 70 and Ti models where it actually matters?

Can't say about those but 6700 XT (RDNA2) got +10 to +25 % depending on a workload so my educated guess is it's a global optimisation.

 

[Different Username]

Good luck with creating a new C++ project. I've never seen such configuration overhead, freezing, etc. It just takes hours to get to the point where an empty project starts from VS2022 to the EU editor.
I can only imagine how terrifying it will be to migrate custom plugins.

 

[Daven]

Can't say about those but 6700 XT (RDNA2) got +10 to +25 % depending on a workload so my educated guess is it's a global optimisation.

I hope it works better with my 7900XT. I want to get as many years as I can with it.

 

[Random_User]

Amazing! But a bit too late! As it's useless for all the existing/released games. This has to be about couple years earlier.

Hardly. This would mean recompiling the whole game on the side of the game dev created this game and it's a long, annoying process. Virtually nobody would care.

So we should only expect this to apply to the games that aren't yet released.

You've probably meant "not in development". As it's same, and hardly anyone would be eager to recompile any existing projects, and perhaps breaking the existing code/core integrity, while simultaneously raising the development costs.
It may be only viable for those, who would rather prefer the sustainability of their games/projects in long term. Though, knowing how short-lived the current gen games are, these news are most likely only referable to the future games.

 

[_roman_]

It's hard to ignore those errors in the textures. When using a car for several years vs these screenshots it's very awful. Regardless if it's a cloudy or a sunny day.
Car paint reflexion, traffic light illumination, traffic sign illumination, water on the floor, house shadow, house roof, ....

 

[Macro Device]

You've probably meant "not in development".

The outcome is the same. We can't play these titles right now either way.

 

[chrcoluk]

The big question is the stutters. To me 150fps instead of 120fps whilst still been a stutter fest is still broken.

 

[RejZoR]

I wonder, can for example Marvel Rivals or Oblivion Remastered just drop in new version of Unreal Engine 5 and improve performance or is something like this entirely impossible because game engine can't be just updated like this?

 

[wNotyarD]

The big question is the stutters. To me 150fps instead of 120fps whilst still been a stutter fest is still broken.

Smoothing the stutters should raise the averages, no?

 

[chrcoluk]

Smoothing the stutters should raise the averages, no?

I noticed the side by side comparison, the frame time spikes were considerably lower on the new build, so hopefully they have improved that behaviour.