Arc Raiders UE5: Scale & Performance Impact

Arc Raiders runs on Unreal Engine 5, and that choice directly determines how large its world can be and how demanding it is on your hardware. In practical terms, UE5 lets the developers build vast, detailed environments with dynamic lighting and destruction, but it also means you will need a relatively modern PC or console to run it smoothly at high settings. This article explains what UE5 actually brings to Arc Raiders, what it means for the game’s scale and performance, and what you can expect from your own system.

Formula

The calculator above works out your average pace and speed from a given distance and finish time. The formulas are:

• Average pace (min/km) = Finish time (minutes) ÷ Distance (km)
• Average speed (km/h) = Distance (km) ÷ (Finish time (minutes) ÷ 60)

Where:

• Finish time is the total time taken, in minutes.
• Distance is the total distance covered, in kilometers.
• Average pace is the time taken per kilometer, in minutes per kilometer.
• Average speed is the overall speed, in kilometers per hour.

Worked Example

Using the default values from the calculator (finish time = 50 minutes, distance = 10 km):

1. Average pace = 50 ÷ 10 = 5.00 min/km
2. Average speed = 10 ÷ (50 ÷ 60) = 10 ÷ 0.8333 = 12.00 km/h

So a 10 km run completed in 50 minutes gives an average pace of 5 minutes per kilometer and an average speed of 12 km/h.

Background: Arc Raiders and Its Engine Choice

Arc Raiders is a cooperative third-person shooter developed by Embark Studios, a studio founded by former DICE developers. The game was initially announced as a player-versus-environment (PvE) title, later shifting to a player-versus-player-versus-environment (PvPvE) extraction shooter format. From the start, the team chose Unreal Engine 5 as the foundation, which is significant because UE5 was designed to handle the scale and detail that modern open-world games demand. The engine’s core features—Nanite, Lumen, and World Partition—are all directly relevant to how Arc Raiders can render large maps without sacrificing visual fidelity.

How UE5 Enables Larger, More Detailed Worlds

Unreal Engine 5 introduces several technologies that directly impact game scale:

• Nanite – A virtualized geometry system that allows developers to use film-quality assets with millions of triangles, without the usual performance hit. This means Arc Raiders can have highly detailed environments, from rocky terrain to intricate machinery, without manually creating lower-detail versions for distant objects.
• Lumen – A global illumination system that computes lighting in real time. Instead of pre-baked lighting (which limits dynamic changes), Lumen allows light to bounce off surfaces naturally. For Arc Raiders, this means day/night cycles and dynamic light sources affect the scene realistically, but it also adds a significant GPU load.
• World Partition – A system that splits the world into smaller streaming cells, loading only what is near the player. This is crucial for large maps, as it allows the game to stream in high-detail areas on demand while keeping memory usage manageable.
• Chaos Physics – The default physics system in UE5, which supports more realistic destruction and interactions. For an extraction shooter, this means objects can be shattered, vehicles can be damaged in complex ways, and the environment can react to explosions more convincingly.

These features together mean Arc Raiders can have a larger, denser world than a typical UE4 title, but they also explain why the game requires a robust GPU and CPU.

What This Means for Performance on PC and Consoles

Performance is the trade-off for that scale and detail. UE5’s advanced rendering features are computationally expensive. Here is what you can generally expect:

• GPU load – Lumen and Nanite put heavy pressure on the graphics card. A mid-range GPU from several years ago (e.g., GTX 1060 or RX 580) will likely struggle at 1080p with high settings. A modern mid-range card (e.g., RTX 3060 or RX 6600) should handle 1080p at medium-high settings, while 4K at high settings will require a high-end card (e.g., RTX 3080 or better).
• CPU load – World Partition and physics simulations also use the CPU. A quad-core processor from 2015 or earlier may bottleneck, while a modern six-core or eight-core CPU is recommended for stable frame rates.
• RAM and storage – Large, detailed worlds require more memory. 16 GB of RAM is the practical minimum, and an SSD (especially NVMe) is strongly recommended to avoid stuttering when the game streams in new areas.
• Frame rate targets – At 1080p, a mid-range system might achieve 60 FPS with DLSS or FSR upscaling enabled. At 1440p, you will likely need a higher-end GPU or rely on upscaling to maintain 60 FPS. At 4K, even top-tier GPUs may need to use performance modes.

It is worth noting that the developers can optimize the engine significantly, and the final performance will depend on the game’s release version. However, the general pattern is that UE5 games are more demanding than their UE4 counterparts.

Common Problems and Misconceptions

A frequent misconception is that UE5 automatically means “next-gen only.� In reality, the engine is scalable; developers can adjust settings to run on older hardware. However, the features that make Arc Raiders visually impressive (Lumen, Nanite) are hard to disable entirely without losing the intended look. This is why many UE5 games offer performance modes that lower resolution and disable some effects rather than turning them off completely.

Another common issue is stuttering during gameplay. This often happens because the game is streaming in new parts of the world from storage. An SSD mitigates this, but even with an SSD, some stutter can occur if the CPU is busy loading assets. This is a known challenge with open-world UE5 games, and it is something developers typically address with patches after launch.

Finally, some players expect that because the game uses UE5, it will automatically support DLSS or FSR. That is not guaranteed; it depends on whether the developers implement these upscaling technologies. Many UE5 games do, but it is not a given.

How to Choose Your Settings

If you are planning to play Arc Raiders, here is a sensible approach to settings:

1. Start with the game’s recommended settings based on your GPU.
2. If your frame rate is below 60 FPS, enable DLSS (NVIDIA) or FSR (AMD) in Quality or Balanced mode first, as this has the least visual impact.
3. If still low, lower the “Global Illumination� or “Reflections� settings (these are Lumen-heavy) to medium or low.
4. As a last resort, lower resolution scale or render resolution to 80%.

Remember that settings like shadows and post-processing have a smaller impact on performance than Lumen and Nanite, so prioritize those last.

Comparisons with Other UE5 Games

Arc Raiders is not the only game using UE5. Titles like Fortnite (in its UE5 chapter), Hellblade II, and STALKER 2 also use the engine, and their performance profiles give a hint of what to expect. Fortnite, for example, is heavily optimized and runs on many devices, but it uses a scaled-down version of Lumen and Nanite. STALKER 2, on the other hand, is more demanding and has similar open-world streaming challenges. Arc Raiders likely sits somewhere in between, depending on the map size and the amount of destruction.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Arc Raiders run on my GTX 1060?
Possibly, but only at 1080p with low settings and upscaling. The GTX 1060 lacks hardware ray tracing, so Lumen will fall back to software mode, which is slower. Expect around 30-40 FPS in demanding scenes.

Does UE5 mean the game will be a massive download?
Not necessarily. The engine itself does not determine file size; the number of assets, audio, and textures do. Arc Raiders could be anywhere from 50 to 150 GB, but that is not directly tied to UE5.

Will the game support DLSS or FSR?
It is likely, as most modern UE5 games do, but it has not been officially confirmed for Arc Raiders. Check the official system requirements or announcements closer to release.

Is an SSD required?
Strongly recommended. The World Partition system streams assets constantly, and an HDD will cause noticeable stuttering and longer loading times. An NVMe SSD is ideal.

Can I play at 4K 60 FPS?
Only with a high-end GPU (e.g., RTX 3080 or better) and likely with DLSS/FSR in performance mode. Native 4K at high settings is very demanding for any UE5 game.

Why does the game stutter even on a good PC?
This is often due to shader compilation and asset streaming. UE5 games compile shaders on the fly, which can cause hitches. Developers often release patches to reduce this, and some games offer pre-compilation on first launch.

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in t | Finish time | min | 50 | 0
in d | Distance | km | 10 | 0 | 100000
out pace | Average pace | min/km | t / d | 2
out speed | Average speed | km/h | d / (t / 60) | 2