Cities: Skylines System Requirements

12th August 2021 - Specs reviewed

Minimum Requirements

  • OS: Windows XP 64-bit
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 3.06GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6400+
  • Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 5670 1GB DDR3 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
  • VRAM: 512MB
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • HDD: 4 GB
  • DirectX 9 Compatible Graphics Card
 

Recommended Requirements

  • OS: Windows 7 64-bit
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-3470T 2.8GHz / AMD FX-6300
  • Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 7870 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
  • VRAM: 2GB
  • RAM: 6 GB
  • HDD: 4 GB
  • DirectX 11 Compatible Graphics Card

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Low vs Ultra Screenshots
PC System Analysis For Cities: Skylines Requirements
Cities: Skylines requires at least a Radeon HD 7870 or GeForce GTX 660 to meet recommended requirements running on high graphics setting, with 1080p resolution. This hardware should achieve 60FPS. 6 GB will also be needed to achieve the Cities: Skylines rec specs and get 60FPS. Cities: Skylines needs a graphics card thats at least as powerful as a GeForce GTX 260/Radeon HD 5670 1GB DDR3 paired with Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6400+/Core 2 Duo E7600 3.06GHz CPU to match the min specs. This PC setup will deliver 25-35 Frame Per Second at Low graphics setting on 720p resolution. We suggest a 11 year old PC to play smoothly.
FPS System Benchmark
162 FPS
High
Graphics Card
What's your user review score for Cities: Skylines?
8.31
How well optimised is Cities: Skylines for PC? 6.2
6.2
Where does Cities: Skylines rank in the list of the most demanding games?
100+
Genres: Sandbox , Strategy , Management
Can I run Cities: Skylines
Please select a processor
Please select a graphics solution

Cities: Skylines System Requirements

Minimum
Recommended
Processor
Core 2 Duo E7600 3.06GHz 0
Core i5-3470T 2.8GHz 0
Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6400+
FX-6300
Graphics Card
GeForce GTX 260 0
GeForce GTX 660 0
Radeon HD 5670 1GB DDR3
Radeon HD 7870
VRAM
512MB
2GB
RAM
4 GB
6 GB
OS
Windows XP 64-bit
Windows 7 64-bit
DirectX
9
11
HDD Space
4 GB
4 GB

Cities: Skylines PC Release Date:

10 Mar 2015

Alternative Game Tags: cities skyline, citiesskyline, cities, citys skyline, citysskyline, cities in motion 3, city skylines, cities: skylines requirements

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GtxRtx
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21:10 Feb-01-2023

Cities skylines system requirements don't make sense. They should be:


Minimum


OS: Windows 10 64 bit


CPU: Intel core i5-3470


RAM: 8GB


GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 650 1GB or AMD Radeon HD 7850


HDD/SSD Space: 8GB


Additional notes: Minimum spec for 1080p 24fps low, 720p 60fps low


Recommended:


OS: Windows 10/11 64 bit


CPU: Intel core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500


RAM: 16GB


GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650/1060 or AMD Radeon RX 5500


HDD/SSD Space: 12GB


Additional notes: Recommended spec for 1080p or 1440p 60+fps with all DLCs and at least a few mods on high settings


4K Recommended:


OS: Windows 10/11 64 bit


CPU: Intel core i7 9700K or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X


RAM: 32GB


GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT


HDD/SSD Space: 12GB


Additional notes: Recommended spec for 4K 60fps with mods and all DLCs at high settings


That would be a better system requirements as the current ones just don't make sense.

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rafamariofan
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18:55 Jul-03-2022

Before asking for 60fps:


Once your city gets big, it becomes impossible to get 60fps, even on high end CPUs: single thead limitation. ( at least as of july 2022, not even the Core i9-12900K can reach 60fps). And yes, you will want to use mods like traffic manager, and it will make your fps go even lower. So get ready to deal with sub 30fps when playing this game.


On a good news however you don't need to go beyond 100k of population to get all the achivements of the game.


And on another good news, this time for low end users, the game is playable on 15fps (i'd say even 8fps is playable).


I play this game for a looooong time so I'll put the performance here of EVERY machine that I've played so you can compare.


I'll give below the performance on some setups and mods, I used traffic manager on all of them:



Core i3-3220 Desktop, / Intel HD 2500/ 6Gb of RAM/ 2400rpm hard drive. (original OEM 2012 machine)


30 gameplay mods and 20 assets, Dynamic resolution set to 50%


Low settings: 6-20FPS, with lagspikes of 1/2 to 2 seconds every time you move camera too much


Core i3-3220 Desktop/ Intel HD 2500/ 6Gb of RAM/ entry level SATA SSD


30 gameplay mods and 20 assets, Dynamic resolution set to 50%


Low settings: 6-20FPS, with lagspikes up to 1/3 of a second every time you move camera too much


Core i3-3220 Desktop/ GT 1030 2Gb gddr5/ 6GbRAM/ entry level SATA SSD


30 gameplay mods and 40 assets,


Medium-High settings: 6-60FPS, with lagspikes up to 1/3 of a second every time you move camera too much


Ryzen 5 3600 Desktop/ GT 1030 2Gb gddr5/ 8GbRAM/ entry level SATA SSD


30 gameplay mods and 100 assets,


High settings: 12-60FPS,


Ryzen 5 3600 Desktop/ RTX 2060S 8Gb/ 16GbRAM/ entry level SATA SSD (my current Desktop)


30 gameplay mods and 500 assets,


Ultra settings: 12-60FPS,


Macbook pro 16inch Intel Core i9 9thgen/ Vega Pro 16 4gb/32Gb RAM/ some apple ssd (used at work)


30 gameplay mods and 500 assets,


High Settings 10-60 fps, graphical glitches in the water.


Ryzen 5 5600H Laptop/ RTX 3050 4Gb/ 8GbRAM/ 2280 nvme SSD (current Laptop)


30 gameplay mods and 500 assets,


Ultra settings: <strong>Crashes</strong>


Ryzen 5 5600H Laptop/ RTX 3050 4Gb/ 16GbRAM/ 2280 nvme SSD (current Laptop)


30 gameplay mods and 500 assets,


Ultra settings: 15-60FPS,



I hope that this shows:


The game is playable even on old/low end machines


As of July 2022 no computer can keep 60fps on ultra.


The better the CPU the better the Minimum fps specially with traffic manager in a big city


The better the GPU the better the Maximum FPS


More Ram means more unique assets

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A0Dam
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11:26 Apr-23-2022
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 60FPS on Low at 720p?
Core i5-520M 2.4GHz NVS 5100M 8GB
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0% of 3 people think this can run

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rafamariofan
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17:41 Jul-03-2022

At 60fps definitely no.


But the game is perfectly playable even at around 15fps,


You may face the simulation speed getting slow when you reach around 80k of population. Specially if you use mods like Traffic Manager.


you may also be able to use some few mods but if you intend on using mods 16Gb of ram is heavily recomended.

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Lorenzolu
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15:10 May-04-2021
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 60FPS on low at 720p?
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz Radeon RX 550 2GB 8GB
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100% of 9 people think this can run

Can I run ?

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kifirer
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15:40 Apr-27-2021
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 60FPS on low at 720p?
Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Intel HD Graphics 4600 Desktop 8GB
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33.3333% of 12 people think this can run

Can I run it?

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Azaa332
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14:07 Mar-09-2020
Can I run Cities: Skylines?
Core i5-2400 3.1GHz Intel HD Graphics 2000 Desktop 4GB
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5.8824% of 17 people think this can run

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rafamariofan
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17:54 Jul-03-2022

I used to play this game with a i3 3220 and intel HD 2500 6Gb RAM.


This game IS playable even at 15fps.


Use the Dynamic Resolution mod to get a little better fps.


DON'T install other mods. You have way too little RAM.


Simulation speeds will start to get below 1x beyond 80k population.

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Colossus93
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16:42 Nov-27-2019
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 60FPS on medium at 1080p?
Core i5-7200U 2.5GHz GeForce 940MX 2GB 8GB
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100% of 9 people think this can run

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robyct2
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08:43 Nov-09-2019
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 30FPS on medium at 1080p?
Athlon X2 340 Radeon R7 240 Asus Low Profile 2GB Edition 6GB
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50% of 4 people think this can run

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Cristy576
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19:05 Jul-03-2019
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 60FPS on ultra at 1080p?
Ryzen 5 2400G GeForce RTX 2060 Zotac Gaming Amp 6GB 16GB
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71.4286% of 14 people think this can run

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Mueed2Mueed
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08:49 Jun-01-2019

The game needs more than 4GB RAM to run properly. 6GB in Recommended Requirements don't make any sense.
Recommended Requirements should be :
1) Core I5 4590/FX 8350
2) 8GB RAM
3) GTX 760 2GB/R9 270
Minimum Requirements :
1) Core I3 3220/FX 4100
2) 6GB RAM
3) GTX 650 1GB/R7 250 GDDR5

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ronweasley
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03:02 Apr-09-2019
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 30FPS on high at 1080p?
Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Radeon RX 460 ASUS DUAL 2GB 8GB
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100% of 8 people think this can run

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GuilhermeG
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17:19 Feb-05-2019

I think the recomended CPU should be higher, my i5 3470 was causing FPS drops.

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GDAnon_1314151
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04:24 Mar-06-2019

yeah even people with kaby lake i7s get lag

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coldtimes777
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06:51 Jan-25-2019

I can play with a Intel HD Graphics 4200 Mobile so It shouldn't be hard for others.

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renemar05
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04:32 Jul-06-2019

hi, what's your FPS?

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Lorenztype
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17:15 Nov-08-2018
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 30FPS on low at 720p?
Celeron E3400 Dual-Core 2.6GHz GeForce GTS 450 MSI Cyclone 1GB Edition 4GB
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50% of 4 people think this can run

Can I run on low or ultra low?Processor can be overclocked to 2800mhz or 3000mhz so can it run?With few mods of course and dlc's.

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rafamariofan
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00:33 Mar-24-2019

you just said mods. so no. Even with few. Cities Skylines becomes REALLY heavy even if you only have a few, but essential mods, like Traffic manager.


4 Gb of RAM is REALLY LOW to play this game modded, even with 3 mod

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Samoil17x
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18:38 Nov-04-2018
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 30FPS on low at 720p?
Core i7-5500U 2-Core 2.4GHz Radeon R5 330 (OEM) 8GB
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100% of 5 people think this can run

Can I run ?

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Lorenztype
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17:12 Nov-08-2018

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-r5-330-oem.c2727
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-hd-5670.c248
Yes cause your card is more powerful.

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Crunchy121
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12:29 Oct-14-2018
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 30FPS on medium at 1080p?
Core i5-750 2.66GHz GeForce GTX 275 8GB
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50% of 4 people think this can run

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Helenth
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11:50 Sep-30-2018
Can I run Cities: Skylines?
Core i5-3210M 2.5GHz Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile 8GB
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50% of 2 people think this can run

Can I run on MacBook Pro 9.2 13-inch mid 2012?

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umair791
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16:22 Oct-28-2018

your GPU doesnt cut it, you'll be able run the game but it wouldn't load up the gameplay so no..

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rafamariofan
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00:42 Mar-24-2019

I highly disagree, as I have +3000 hours in the game...


with just a i3 3220 3.3 Ghz (almost the same power)
6 GB of RAM
and intel HD 2500 (a bit worse than a HD 4000M)


don't use mods tho.

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yangxiangdebate
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20:53 Aug-28-2018
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 60FPS on high at 1080p?
Ryzen R5 1400 GeForce GTX 950 LP Asus 2GB Edition 8GB
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100% of 2 people think this can run

Can I run ?

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MrTilttusBoi
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12:12 Jun-03-2018
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 60FPS on ultra at 1080p?
Ryzen 5 2600 GeForce GTX 1060 Asus Dual OC 3GB 8GB
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75% of 8 people think this can run

Can I run ?

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GDAnon_1314151
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04:31 Mar-06-2019

I voted no because... it won't stay at 60fps it will get worse the more you build

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azcanadian
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19:36 Apr-10-2018
Can I run Cities: Skylines at 60FPS on ultra at 1440p?
Core i7-4770 4-Core 3.4GHz GeForce GTX 1050 16GB
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67% of 9 people think this can run

WIth about 20 mods and 600 assets

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