Ensure optimal performance in Cities: Skylines by updating your game, adjusting settings, and clearing assets if needed.
Ensure optimal performance in Cities: Skylines by updating your game, adjusting settings, and clearing assets if needed.
My setup includes an i9-9900K processor, AIO cooling, a GTX 1080 Ti, 64GB DDR4 RAM, a 250GB NVMe SSD, and a 1440p monitor at 144Hz. I’ve boosted my CPU to 4.9 GHz, though it’s unstable beyond that. RAM performance remains solid at 3000 MHz. The game demands heavy CPU power, but my frame rates stay capped around 40 FPS, dropping to 20-25 when the city size exceeds about 100k people. I rely on third-party Workshop mods and assets, all confirmed compatible with the latest game version. I don’t stream and keep background apps minimal—just Steam, Discord, and Precision X1. Running Windows 10 Pro 1909 with the newest Nvidia Studio drivers (v442.19) is essential for video work. I’m hoping this configuration lasts through a few years without needing a major upgrade, especially since I’m targeting a game like C: S that’s designed for older hardware.
I maintain the same frame rate consistently, around 25-40 on my 25k city with the PC in my sig. I have numerous mods installed and utilize roughly 80% of my 16GB RAM during gameplay. Cities skylines functions well at about 24FPS, but performance drops noticeably below that, making 30FPS a reasonable target for the game.
I'm curious about what you're thinking too. Right now I'm running 8086k with turbo disabled—even in winter it handled everything smoothly, and I wanted better performance. I'm using a 1080Ti and at 1440p I'm getting roughly 40-50fps when zoomed in, higher if I zoom out. It's a stock setup with some DLC and no mods. My GPU usage stays under 50%, and the CPU is around 35% as reported by Task Manager. I was considering turning turbo back since it seems more clock-heavy than thread usage.
Mods can definitely cause performance issues. They're especially noticeable when you run graphical ones. Ideally you shouldn't need them, but DynamicResolution (with some bugs) helps boost FPS on lower-end systems. Other mods exist, but this is the only one that's currently functional.