Unreal Engine 5.7 Delivers Major GPU and CPU Performance Gains and Improves Frame Stability

Unreal Engine 5 has pushed visual fidelity forward with technologies such as Lumen and Nanite, but its demanding system requirements and persistent performance issues have long frustrated PC players. Stuttering, unstable frametimes, and heavy CPU overhead have become common criticisms, often overshadowing the engine’s graphical achievements. Since launch, Epic Games has worked steadily to address these concerns, and Unreal Engine 5.7 appears to represent another meaningful step toward a more performant and balanced engine.

A new technical comparison published by MxBenchmarkPC showcases the improvements introduced in Unreal Engine 5.7 by running two versions of the Photorealistic Venice Tech Demo from Scans Factory side by side. The comparison evaluates Unreal Engine 5.4 against Unreal Engine 5.7 using identical scenes, offering a clear look at how the engine has evolved under real workload conditions.

On the GPU side, testing with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 reveals notable gains. According to the analysis, GPU performance improves by up to twenty five percent in Unreal Engine 5.7 depending on the scene. The updated engine also demonstrates better GPU utilization, which results in higher and more consistent power draw. This suggests that Unreal Engine 5.7 is more effectively saturating available GPU resources instead of leaving performance untapped, a long standing issue in earlier versions.

CPU performance improvements are even more striking. Using an Intel Core i7 14700F, Unreal Engine 5.7 delivers up to thirty five percent higher CPU performance compared to version 5.4. These gains translate directly into smoother gameplay, with significantly more stable frametimes and fewer hitches across all tested scenes. Frametime consistency has been one of the biggest weaknesses of Unreal Engine 5 powered games, so this improvement addresses one of the engine’s most visible and disruptive flaws.

Beyond raw performance, Unreal Engine 5.7 also introduces image quality refinements. MxBenchmarkPC notes that Lumen lighting is now more stable and accurate, while Lumen reflections have seen a noticeable boost in quality without sacrificing performance. These refinements help reduce lighting artifacts and visual noise, especially in complex scenes with dynamic light sources.

That said, not every area has seen dramatic improvement. Lumen denoising quality has only been marginally enhanced, and external solutions such as NVIDIA DLSS Ray Reconstruction still outperform Unreal Engine’s native denoising in demanding ray traced scenarios. Even so, the incremental progress suggests that Epic continues to refine the balance between visual quality and performance rather than focusing solely on headline features.

The full technical breakdown and side by side performance analysis can be viewed in the MxBenchmarkPC comparison video, which provides detailed metrics and visual comparisons across multiple scenes.

While it will take time for developers to fully integrate and optimize their projects around Unreal Engine 5.7, the direction is encouraging. Epic’s continued focus on CPU efficiency, GPU utilization, and frametime stability signals a growing awareness of player concerns, particularly in the PC space. If these improvements carry forward into future engine updates and real world game releases, Unreal Engine 5 titles may finally deliver smoother experiences even on mid range hardware.

Do you think Unreal Engine 5.7 performance improvements will finally change player perception of the engine on PC, or will more optimization still be needed? Share your thoughts below.