New PC for Cities Skylines

[[P]eteR_92]

Hi,

I plan to buy a computer to easily run on my computer in the major cities of Cities Skylines, with many subscribed workshop items.

What configuration do you recommend that is especially useful for running the game? I would like to know about CPU, what do you recommend from it?

Current PC:
CPU: i5-6500 (I would replace it)
VGA: MSI GTX 1060 3GB (I wouldn't trade)
RAM: Corsair 2x8GB DDR4 3000MHz (if highly recommended, I would replace it)
Of course, the motherboard would also be replaced with the new PC.

Thank You :)

[Carl von Clausewitz]

Minimal:
i9 9900kf
Corsair iCUE H100i RGB PRO XT 240mm
Nvidia RTX 2070 (or better NVIDIA card with 12GB)
32GB Corsair 3200MHz
Asus Rog Strix Z390-F Gaming
bequiet 850-1000 Watt
4-6 80mm Casefan Noctua Industrial

[gameblogger]

Would recommend 24GB RAM, a mid to high end graphics card, an M.2 SSD and CPU with at least 8 cores and 3.5Ghz processing speed.

[MaxFX]

2x8GB's of RAM isn't enough if you want to play with lots of assets.

I suggest going for at least 32GB's of RAM.

[waynel140]

What is the most important element to upgrade? More memory? Bigger CPU? Or better graphics card?

If you could only afford one of these, which? PS: Please defend your choice, not just pick one. :)

[[P]eteR_92]

I don't want to buy a video card, it's very expensive these days. CPU and motherboard replacement would be complete with the primary M2 SSD.

[Verullus Forgefire]

I don't see a problem with your CPU.. yes it is a a bit old but this game is old as well.. even high-end CPU's struggle with this game.
If you would like to play with many workshop items.. like assets then you should consider upgrading your RAM to at least 24 even 32 GB RAM. If you need more and faster storage space then grab a regular SSD and when you at some later point want to upgrade your entire PC you could always transfer it to the new one.

[SpaceCowboy7]

Dont waste money on anything for an old system, you will not be able to use on a new mb ram or cpu. Get a new mb, then cpu memory then add storage devices ect.
GPU market prices will collapse in near future with legislation to ban crypto mining due to the enormous amount of power required, that the planet or society can not afford.
BTC mining now uses more power than an entire country like Argentina, and its predicted that without legislation it will consume the current entire planetary power production within 10 years. When legislation starts to bite the GPU market will collapse and you will get a 2080 for under $100

[[P]eteR_92]

Thanks for the comments! Would only an M.2 SSD help increase game performance?

[gameblogger]

Originally posted by PeteR_92:

Thanks for the comments! Would only an M.2 SSD help increase game performance?

Would substantially decrease loading time. But for overall performance you need a better CPU and more RAM.

[BAD *Man]

Honestly ! get a cheap B450 board, a 5800x (u can upgrade later )
go with 2 new RAM sticks (total 4 =32 GB )
Ram and a fast SSD /NVME is the most importatn for this Game !
depending on MOds etc.. 16BG can run out

DOnt change the grafic card ... prices are horrible :) it runs fin on my Quadro :)

[~\\Savarast//~]

Originally posted by PeteR_92:

Hi,

I plan to buy a computer to easily run on my computer in the major cities of Cities Skylines, with many subscribed workshop items.

What configuration do you recommend that is especially useful for running the game? I would like to know about CPU, what do you recommend from it?

Current PC:
CPU: i5-6500 (I would replace it)
VGA: MSI GTX 1060 3GB (I wouldn't trade)
RAM: Corsair 2x8GB DDR4 3000MHz (if highly recommended, I would replace it)
Of course, the motherboard would also be replaced with the new PC.

Thank You :)

So, your current system is almost on par with my old system that flatlined in december. i5 6600k, GTX 1060 6GB, 24gb ram 3000mhz. That system was running and stable at 600k+ city with around 2500 assets and probably 50ish mods and 25 fully developed tiles, but simulation speed was slower than default 1x speed and iirc one day passing took forever... I'd like to say 20mins, but I hope I am wrong.

That all said, I just upgraded to a i9 12900k, 32gb of DDR5 ram at 5200mhz, same 1060 6gb. I have not built a new city from the ground up, but loading that same older file the city ran as smoothly as the old system did at around 200k; things a little slower than at the start, but much better. Changing the game speed now actually changes game speed!

Ultimately if your top priority are assets and mods, your best ROI will be ram 100% of the time. 8gb just doesn't cut it for this game anymore. Ideally with the workshop being your goal I'd aim for 32gb with a decent frequency. If your top priority is more aligned to building the biggest and most populated cities, your best ROI will be the CPU.

Do not, i repeat, do not feel DDR5 is anywhere near necessary yet; well configured DDR4 ram can outperform the infantile stage of DDR5. If you can drop a little extra cash, sure the DDR5 mobos set you up for another decade or so, but if you are tight on cash the DDR4 mobos and DDR4 RAM are significantly cheaper.

[Tsubame ⭐]

RAM and SSD card should be prioritized, especially if you are a heavy asset user.

16 GB RAM works fine with a decent page file and a SSD drive. More RAM is highly ideal however.

8 core CPU, especially if you intend on building very large cities.

GPU is not that important in this game. Just do not go for integrated graphics.

[CyberVibes]

I upgraded from this..

Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO
Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5gb (O.C to 4.3 using inbuilt Asus easy O.C in bios)
Corsair H55 Liquid Cooling
Samsung 860 Evo 250gb
Samsung 970 NVMe 250GB
Kingston HyperX 2133 C14 4x8GB ( O.C'd Using EZ XMP profile)
Graphics:AMD RX 590 Fatboy 1625MHz
PSU: Corsair RM750x 750W Modular 80+ Gold PSU

To this, with 120 mods 8000 assets i'm well happy how it performs from gaming right through to video editing, my other one used to lag a bit at times especially with a lot of detailing in my cities. So in your position get the best motherboard you can get, 32GB of the best ram your motherboard and new CPU can support. CPU look for more cores and more threads as well as at least 4 slots for ram on the motherboard.


Asus Rog Strix Z490-E
Intel Core i7-10700k OC 5.1GHz
Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe PCIe M.2 500GB
Kingston: Kingston FURY Beast 2x 32GB 3200MHz XMP
Graphics:AMD RX 590 Fatboy 1625MHz
PSU: Corsair RM750x 750W Modular 80+ Gold PSU
Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100x (240mm) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
Case Cooling: Aerocool Duo 12 Pro: 3 x 12 cm ARGB LED PC Fans, 1 x H66F Hub

If you want to provide a budget that you have to spend then i'm sure we could dig out a few different set ups to get you best value for money.

[CyberVibes]

Here's my ram use on load of the game, the game will try to use as much ram as it can whether it's 8GB or 128GB on load but settles after awhile.
https://ibb.co/HxxRprh

Then after 15 mins of running
https://ibb.co/LhZrx97