Question Which Cpu for cities skylines 2

Barrdock

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Jan 29, 2017
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Which Cpu for cities skylines 2?9800 x3d,7950 x3d,9900 x,9950 x or 285k?What is more important?Cache memory,speed,big number of cores or like bit of everything?I like to make big cities,i prefer 4k resolution in at least high settings.I don't expect a crazy amount of fps in this game but i want it to run smoothly.
 
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ok so i need 16 cores for sure . 7950x,7950 x3d,9950x or 285k is better for a city with 300.000+ population ?I mean 285k has 24 cores but only 8 of them physical and also has less threads than the others.Also is an7900 xt enough as GPU?My budget is 2000 euros.
No one tests these so I can't say if AMD or Intel is better. 9950x probably is best one, 16 newest big cores and SMT. Zen5 compute is also relatively stronger than normal gaming(graphics rendering) compared to Zen4. 285k could be ok too, the E-cores got pretty good perf bump compared to previous gen. You get 8+16 real cores. But P-cores don't have SMT anymore. So it's pretty risky blind pick and platform has some issues atm.

For fun I tested this 500k city with my...

triplex1

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Which Cpu for cities skylines 2?9800 x3d,7950 x3d,9900 x,9950 x or 285k?What is more important?Cache memory,speed,big number of cores or like bit of everything?I like to make big cities,i prefer 4k resolution in at least high settings.I don't expect a crazy amount of fps in this game but i want it to run smoothly.
Whichever you want from what you mention.This one runs from 5800x and above, 12600k and above
 

kognak

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Which Cpu for cities skylines 2?9800 x3d,7950 x3d,9900 x,9950 x or 285k?What is more important?Cache memory,speed,big number of cores or like bit of everything?I like to make big cities,i prefer 4k resolution in at least high settings.I don't expect a crazy amount of fps in this game but i want it to run smoothly.
Number of cores pretty much sets a soft limit how large you can grow the city without performance(not fps) turning into unplayable level. There's not really too good CPU out there, 64-cores is technical ceiling, that's what this game is capable to use. So it's down to you to decide where you want to set the limit and how much you are willing to pay for it. What ever you buy, the game will use all of it in some point. With ballpark figures you get around 150k population per 8 cores before simulation stagnates.
 

Barrdock

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Jan 29, 2017
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Number of cores pretty much sets a soft limit how large you can grow the city without performance(not fps) turning into unplayable level. There's not really too good CPU out there, 64-cores is technical ceiling, that's what this game is capable to use. So it's down to you to decide where you want to set the limit and how much you are willing to pay for it. What ever you buy, the game will use all of it in some point. With ballpark figures you get around 150k population per 8 cores before simulation stagnates.
ok so i need 16 cores for sure . 7950x,7950 x3d,9950x or 285k is better for a city with 300.000+ population ?I mean 285k has 24 cores but only 8 of them physical and also has less threads than the others.Also is an7900 xt enough as GPU?My budget is 2000 euros.
 

kognak

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Apr 19, 2021
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ok so i need 16 cores for sure . 7950x,7950 x3d,9950x or 285k is better for a city with 300.000+ population ?I mean 285k has 24 cores but only 8 of them physical and also has less threads than the others.Also is an7900 xt enough as GPU?My budget is 2000 euros.
No one tests these so I can't say if AMD or Intel is better. 9950x probably is best one, 16 newest big cores and SMT. Zen5 compute is also relatively stronger than normal gaming(graphics rendering) compared to Zen4. 285k could be ok too, the E-cores got pretty good perf bump compared to previous gen. You get 8+16 real cores. But P-cores don't have SMT anymore. So it's pretty risky blind pick and platform has some issues atm.

For fun I tested this 500k city with my 5800X3D. It could run simulation only in 1/8x speed. That meant everything moving like vehicles or pedistrians progressed 1/8 of the normal speed. A slowmo city. Framerates were completely fine.
Here's how to check simulation information. "Smooth speed" in the simulation tab should match selected sim speed if CPU can handle the load.
https://cs2.paradoxwikis.com/Developer_mode
Also faster simulation speed modes require more CPU power. As city grows big you lose 4x speed first and then 2x and so on. I made my estimation assuming 1x speed which is imo floor of playability.

7900XT is just fine at 4k if you are willing to tune the graphics settings. Depth of Field off and upscaling with FSR probably are necessary. I'm using driver level frame gen too(fluid motion) with RX6800 at 1440p. Negative sides of frame gen are irrelevant in city builder, there's really no reason not to use it.
 
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