Unreal Engine 5 is generally not known for being CPU-intensive, but Gears of War E-Day presents a notable exception. Testing from Tom's Hardware reveals that the game pins CPUs at high utilization, with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D delivering 42% higher performance than the Ryzen 5 7600X at 1080p on the High graphics preset.
The game's heavy CPU demand was consistent throughout the opening hours, regardless of scene complexity or interactions. This is a marked contrast to most other UE5 titles, which often fail to show meaningful CPU scaling in benchmarks. Games such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and Halo: Campaign Evolved were excluded from testing due to insufficient scaling, even though they use Unreal Engine 5.
Some UE5 titles have shown exceptions, including Marvel Rivals with its dense arenas and destructible environments, and The Blood of Dawnwalker, which features a sparsely populated city that strains processors. However, none demonstrate the same level of CPU scaling as Gears of War E-Day, which rivals titles like Starfield and Baldur's Gate 3 in that regard.
Testing was conducted on standard CPU review systems with an RTX 5090 Founders Edition at 1080p to highlight processor differences. The game includes a built-in benchmark, which Tom's Hardware found does not perfectly match real-time performance but is close. A separate GPU performance analysis is also available.