How Much Power Do You Really Need? (My PC Specs and Tips)

Is the Alienware R16 good for game development?😅

How do you fix the flashy screen on Unity? I’m having that issue and I think my PC should be absolutely fine handling it.

I used to have a genuinely potato laptop, and I'm determined to delve into making games in Unreal Engine. I can't get into higher graphics in 30 FPS at full screen and compiling was slooooooooow. And yet I still determined to continue doing it, and made a super risky investment on buying a beefier PC with small income. I pressed on with it.

As a result, now I got myself a job programming with Unreal Engine using the new PC, and made even more income than the average local companies in the process. So I guess take the risk if you're very determined on it.

Thanks big brother

The only reason I am not motivated to make games is quite complicated really. For a start is just a hobby and I am legit 14 years old. Also, I have been using previously my dad’s computer which so I was limited with when I could use it. And now lack a desk and am using a tv while resting my keyboard and mouse on my bed.

Bruh I can't do game dev on my pc.
My apu is like 10 years old(amd E1-1500 with radeon hd 7310).
Right now the only thing I can do is learn how to code in c.

I started learning game dev stuff about 3 years ago and I've been learning game dev with Unity and started with my shitty Mac Pro 5,1. Very painful experience 😂 Then I started using my old 2600k PC (still using it) but finally upgraded my GPU from a 970 to a 1080 Ti and that really helped. But the whole experience has been kind of rubbish with horrible frame rates. It wouldn't let this stop me though. So I've been saving up and buying parts for a new build gradually (I also have moved to UE5) and today I just ordered an i9 13900k (and last month I bought a 3090). So excited to finally be on the way to having a good computer.

Your comments about being more productive with shitty equipment is so true. I wanted to use UE5 but my 15 year old computer just wouldn't allow it. And people do make so many excuses about equipment. Its nonsense. If you wanna do game dev, you find a way to do it!

I also used to cry then I saw a player in online competition. He won 1st prize and made a good 2d game in javascript in browser. I felt shameful and now started learning and working on my goal.

Literally your video is a meme because you played yourself at the ending

Dude, how cold is in your house? You're dressed like a polar explorer!

Lol i have found the need for an ACTUALLY good PC 😅 me and my buddy have already published one game, and i did all of my end (art, 3d models, levels, etc) on a 2015 alienware laptop, and boy was that even pushing it 😂 took 10 minutes for unity to even open, and yeah. Our next games are going to be a lot bigger than the one we already made, and our goals are much higher than even that

😂 bro I have i3 11 gen with no graphic card i should bye one

This may apply to Gamedevelopment the idea of the make use of what we have but I am not a game developer, I work as a CTO for a hosting company. I personally do better with my system than let say a "on the go laptop for emergencies" this is not because "bigger is better" it is because I love my productivity with a larger real estate (look at your massive realestate a G9? LG?). Currently I have 2 x 32 inch monitors AGON and have been considering upgrading to a Odyssey G9 or an LG because of no bezels and easy to split the screen with Microsoft Toys etc..

But before I do that, I am upgrading my specs but not because of game design, it is because I have run on these specs for 7 years and its time for an upgrade, I actually am just running right now on a very old Dell Precision Work station 8 cores quite old actually (no fantastic Nvidia card to speak of, took me 20 minutes to render a Maya 3D model once but besides graphic use its been good to me), but since I've settled down where I am I am upgrading to my first desktop in a decade, I made my dell precision become my "desktop for 7 years" with dual monitor etc.. but yes it's true you DONT have to upgrade but if you have the means and want to splurge, it is alright too and you shouldn't feel bad about it.

I see a lot of flack coming towards people on reddit (nothing new about people being toxic there) about the RTX 4090 (the card I am actually having shipped with my new specs, overkill blabla heard it), I know they feel that Nvidia sort of dropped the ball a bit on the 4 series (price to performance ratio) expecting 5 to be better because history indicates 2 was bad, 3 was good, 4 is bad soooo 5 is good?...but 5 series aint coming until 2025, and 4090 is the only one in that series that blows people minds (and wallets) away.

With that said, you don't think that If you upgraded your specs to an i7 or an i9 or a top Ryzen AMD and an RTX 4090, SSD's with DRAM cache, Liquid cooling etc if budget allowed that your compiling time, rendering graphics, animations etc.. wouldnt blow your mind away, allowing you to do your work more efficiently as an indie developer that is working on dare i say, quite the large project of a game :)?

Anyway keep up the good content, love every single video you release.

EDIT!!!!: I should have finished the entire video before writing this haha "with that said.. I DO want to...." DOH! haha amazing is always.. ADHD at its best..

Wow, it's exactly what I wanted to hear!!

Yall go get a job and get your bread up less that 500$ can get you a decent laptop

Good day is the asus a15 with a Nvidia rtx3070, amd ryzen 7 6800h, with a display of 15.6" with 165Hz enough for unreal engine 5 and also for rendering, please answer🙏

I made theistake of buying a laptop for game dev... Mistake because when the laptop become outdated, you have no choice but to buy a new system... So now I am building a desktop this month which will be future proof.

I dont know, my laptop has 2 gigs of ram and a c-50 processor. Chrome almost explodes when i open it, when i opened unity it would lag out everything, the delay would have a 5 second on mouse, a 10 sec per words.

I’m be been into game development and been working off of my m1 MacBook, and for a 2d game it’s great especially using an iPad for the artwork. It’s been a fun journey learning and honestly u don’t need anything crazy. For a 3d game however I know that I will need to invest about 1.3k but that shit gonna be worth it

I wanna start developing for UE5 but my pc ran it at 10 fps, and right now I dont have the budget for at least a RTX 3050. Is there a way to develop with low end hardware for UE5?

I agree that you need the mental drive but you need also the proper tools if you have to fight those deadlines because time is money. You need a baseline of a computer to do your work. Do you know in Visualization with unreal what difference it has a Ryzen 9700 vs i7-9750H CPU while working ? Saving 1 to 3 hours per day just from CPU power is a big deal.

Only upgrade I did was a nvme workspace drive sn850x 2tb ssd. 5600x 6900xt 48gb ram and my boot drive is a sata ssd.

Learning modeling on a gt 1030 with an i5 3470. Though i've got a RTX 4050 in the mail.

I kinda need a new gpu. I have a GT 710 😢

Very inspiring video, thank you!

Sick bro

man you're running exactly what i have processor wise haha, but i don't have a graphics card, i'm planning to buy a used rtx 2070 or 2060 too, it'll do for me for a couple years more, until i can buy a new system.. Thanks for the video, it's really informative.

Thank u for this video) I have put off some interesting projects many times because of a weak PC or lack of a graphics tablet. I found hundreds of refusals to not move forward. Such videos help to look at the situation from the other side and move forward. P.S. sorry for my English

When you started your gamedev-journey using Commodore 64, you understand that specs doesn't matter

heck im using a beelink with a huion 22" tablet.

i have my first computer at 22 xD, cause i have no money in those years here in mexico was hard as fuck, so yeah if you guys have money build your damn computer at the end you die and dont enjoy computers. my first one was a 512 mb gpu i dont remember the cpu xD.

I’ll hold my thumbs that your video will convince my friend not to waste 5k on a pc so he can use is for game dev but to save money and buy cheaper specs and start with something lighter that UE5

You helped me to save a large amount of money!! I admit that I am attracted by new beefy laptop for developing on... Godot!! It's a stoopid nonsense!! I will learn to code for a game. It's just the basics. Do I need a beefy machine?? Not at all. Am I "hooked" by the specs of other laptops, how powerful they are?? Yes. Again, do I need a beefy machine?? NOPE. YOu remind me what my multimedia teacher told me decades ago: "Do your job on a small machine. You don't need to spend money on the machine. Your creation will always work on powerful machines. So, stay humble, do not waste money". I have forgotten what he told me just because, I want "THE" machine that will start my new life. It's a mirage., a lot of videos, articles AND THE SOCIETY ("if you are not at the top, you are a no-one") are pushing us to spend, spend, spend, even if we really don't need that power. It's crazy!! So, yup. I give up on my beefy laptop and I will be wonderfuly happy when I compile for production my own game. So, thank you so much to have helped me to "return" on Earth!!

You guys hav GPUs 😢
I have radion 4

Ue5 ain't to bad to run I started my project with a laptop with a 1660 ti ryzen 7 and 16gb ram it ran around 60fps in editor but now I have a pc with a 3060 ryzen 7 32gb ram and I'm running 120fps constant in editor

Sure, if you want to build a Tetris game then yes, your rig is enough. If you want a open-world game with ray tracing it's a different story. I was expecting a guide on CPU vs GPU and what matter but another video about crap motivation out of a tictoc video. Thumb down mate.

Finally a sober minded man

I only have 2gb of integrated graphics card is it possible to do game development as beginner ?

I needed this thank you

Thanks a lot for the motivation though!

I came here for pc recommendation, but instead I get the motivation that I really need. Dayumn

What are your FULL SPECS tho?

I remeber when i was starting, my main workstaton was MacBookPro 15" late 2014. I was pretty happy with it, despite i had to do most renders on CPU.
And only when i wanted to get into Unreal Engine i had to buy a new stationary PC, which is 5 years old and work great till present day.
So video author absolutely right, consider your set of goals and then make a decision.

One thing that helped me to save some bucks is - buying GPU on secondary market. Most gamers and crypto miners tends to update when new GPU releases, finding a previous generation GPUs shoud not be a problem.
My first card Radeon RX Vega 64, and my current card NVidia 1080Ti both was bought on secondary market, just be smart about it, do a proper hardware check at least.

Me with a i3 3110M and HD 4000😂

pls help : i have a low end pc with cpu i3 2.3 ghz and 4 gb ram with intel hd 3000 but I dont have such money to buy an upgrade so what is your advice ? i really love game development

Thank you. Great advice!

Im running my high graphics hdrp project on my old rig. Using 1070 right now. The trick is to make a test scene to test mechanics, then transfer them to the main scene once it's done. Just to save time testing it. 😊

I own a plethora of computers, my main desktop is pretty beefy and as a professional C# developer I can confirm that you don't need a super beefy computer to develop games as an indie developer. Here's what the legendary John Carmack had to say about making games: "You don't need millions of dollars to make great games, you just need a cheap computer & enough pizza in the fridge". Nuff said!

Im using a xeon w3690, from 2011, paired with an 8gig rx 580 and 24 gig ram. All second hand parts, some were bin finds (the xeon) it does the job, although im thinking of an upgrade purely from a power consumption point of view. Currently looking at mini pc market.