Optimal desktop CPU for Cities: Skylines

[trisstock]

I'm looking to upgrade my system with a Ryzen build. I pretty much only play C:S, and was wondering what people think is the optimal desktop CPU for the game.

I have seen the game utilises no more than 8 threads, so presumably, I don't require anything above a 4C/8T CPU. Or does having 8 logical cores make any meaningful difference? I'm guessing whichever of those is optimal, we should then consider the clock speed of each core/thread. So does the 3300X look like better value than the 3600, or does the latter's larger L3 cache come into play here?

Then there's the 3600XT that has just been announced, with a good L3 cache and a whopping 4.7GHz clock. Probably going to be about $250, so does the performance delta scale with the price delta?

I could just wait for Zen 3.

Thoughts?

I have 32GB 3200MHz RAM and a GTX 1060 6G, but will look to upgrade the latter next.

 

[Nickayz]

I'm playing on a Ryzen 2200g without a dedicated graphics card, but with 32gb RAM though. I have 2500 assets, among them 40 mods and I'm getting 20 fps on full hd and medium to low settigs.. Yeah, that is not amazing, but okay for me.
If you want to do stuff in the background though, like utilizing a second monitor for Blender, watching YouTube etc. more cores are actually pretty useful.
If you can, wait for Zen3. Benchmarks seem pretty promising. And maybe consider 64gb RAM instead of an expensive graphics card. My 32gb are already a limit. Cities Skylines LOVES RAM much more than a good GPU.

 

[Straw Man]

I doubt 3600xt, if it actually gets released, will be much of a performance lift over 3600. If your $250 price point turns out to be right, you'll pay $90 more for 5-10% more performance.

Cities Skylines does not benefit from more than 8 threads, but it's also a five year old game. PS5 and Xbox X will launch with actual 8-core 16-thread Zen 2 processors in autumn, which for my money means quad core and even 6-core processors will reach irrelevancy very quickly. Unless you really do want to build a C:S machine and plan not play any new games for years, only an 8-core CPU is future proof right now.

I assume Zen 3 is the one to hold out for. The rumors seem to suggest both considerable IPC and clock speed gains, which combined with a move to 8-core CCX should have a large, noticeable performance boost in Cities Skylines.

If you don't feel like waiting until Zen 3, you could choose to get a cheap CPU now and upgrade to higher core zen 3 chip in a year or two, when you actually start needing it and prices have dropped a bit after release.

TLDR:
Cheapest: 3300x ($30 discount for 2 cores less is a very bad deal, quad cores are dead)
If in a rush: 3600, possible upgrade later
Best pick overall: 8-core Zen 3 CPU
Absolute performance: 10900K

 

[SeekTruthFromFx]

I only started playing C:S this week, but my observation so far is that this game eats RAM like nothing I have ever seen before, so first buy as much RAM as you can afford and worry about the processor later......

 

[Straw Man]

Obviously subscribing to thousands upon thousands of assets will fill up his 32GB of RAM, but the simulation speed and FPS in this game are 100% CPU bottlenecked. It only makes sense considering GPUs have steadily improved while single core CPU performance has totally stagnated.

 

[trisstock]

As I said, I have 32GB of RAM, and use about 22GB of it. That isn't the issue here.

I'm only interested in CPU, or perhaps GPU, performance where it relates to a workable FPS.

I've seen 8GB of GPU vRAM fully utilised, so maybe that is the major bottleneck here, but considering few GPUshave more than 8GB, I'm not sure it's a conversation that has any legs.

With those two things in mind, that leaves us with my original question, what is the optimal CPU? As things stand, it looks like 8C/16T is the best option should I wish to future-proof myself at all, and all the guff about B550 /X570 chipsets suggest the best bang for buck in this category would be the R7 2700 on a B450 (maybe X470 too) motherboard. Zen 3 is looking decidedly pricey on first blush, and as good as it may well turn out to be, it may be beyond my budget.

 

[Straw Man]

Check out 3600 vs 2700x benchmarks on google, can't link for some reason.

With 8 cores, the 2700x barely outperforms a 6-core 3600, because the single core performance is much much worse on Ryzen 2000. And single core performance drives FPS in cities skylines. With 2700x actually costing $50 more around here, it's an absolutely horrendous buy, and not on par with next gen consoles.

What is your current CPU? 2700x has single core performance about on par with a 2014 Intel part.

I recommend pairing a 3600 with a decent B450 board. That way you can play any current game well, with the best fps in Cities Skylines for the money, and always have the option to upgrade to a higher core 4000 chip in year or two once you actually need it.

 

[trisstock]

Check out 3600 vs 2700x benchmarks on google, can't link for some reason.

With 8 cores, the 2700x barely outperforms a 6-core 3600, because the single core performance is much much worse on Ryzen 2000. And single core performance drives FPS in cities skylines. With 2700x actually costing $50 more around here, it's an absolutely horrendous buy, and not on par with next gen consoles.

What is your current CPU? 2700x has single core performance about on par with a 2014 Intel part.

I recommend pairing a 3600 with a decent B450 board. That way you can play any current game well, with the best fps in Cities Skylines for the money, and always have the option to upgrade to a higher core 4000 chip in year or two once you actually need it.

Current CPU is a non-K I5 6600. 4C/4T boost to 3.8 (used to be 3.9, but bug fixes knocked it down a smidge). It's competent for most things, but is beginning to get a little breathless.

 

[Straw Man]

2700x has roughly 12% single core gains over i5-6600 vs 24% for 3600. Not really all that earth shattering apart from gaining hyperthreading. I would still wait and invest in a 4700x.

 

[Straw Man]

So Ryzen 5000 prices are complete trash. What did you end up getting?

 

[MarkJohnson]

So Ryzen 5000 prices are complete trash. What did you end up getting?

Yeah, they were about $50 higher than last year. not horribly bad, but now that they got Intel on the ropes, they can get away with. I mean Intel is $100 or more higher for same cpu.

 

[Straw Man]

I mean considering nobody bought the 3600x and 3800x comedy chips, it's a 50% price hike for an occasional 20% performance uplift. 10600K has been 250 Euros around here for months. Zen 3 beats 10th gen Intel so narrowly according to their own best case scenario keynote slides, it's completely inevitable Rocket Lake will take the "gaming crown" all over again in a couple months.

Hopefully this is more of a stock thing, trying to temper demand and avoid an Nvidia level embarrassment while enjoying inflated margins, until yields are up and they'll release more reasonable 5600 and 5700 chips, like they did with Zen and Zen+.

 

[MarkJohnson]

I mean considering nobody bought the 3600x and 3800x comedy chips, it's a 50% price hike for an occasional 20% performance uplift. 10600K has been 250 Euros around here for months. Zen 3 beats 10th gen Intel so narrowly according to their own best case scenario keynote slides, it's completely inevitable Rocket Lake will take the "gaming crown" all over again in a couple months.

Hopefully this is more of a stock thing, trying to temper demand and avoid an Nvidia level embarrassment while enjoying inflated margins, until yields are up and they'll release more reasonable 5600 and 5700 chips, like they did with Zen and Zen+.

the 3000 series were the same price as 2000 series. the price didn't change, but had many more features and a faster pci bus.

• AMD Ryzen 7 2700X: $329 (£329, AU$509)
• AMD Ryzen 7 2700: $299 (£279, AU$419)
• AMD Ryzen 5 2600X: $229 (£209, AU$338)
• AMD Ryzen 5 2600: $199 (£179, AU$259)

Ryzen 9 3900X	12C/24T	3.8GHz	4.6GHz	105W	$499
Ryzen 7 3800X	8C/16T	3.9GHz	4.5GHz	105W	$399
Ryzen 7 3700X	8C/16T	3.6GHz	4.4GHz	65W	$329
Ryzen 5 3600X	6C/12T	3.8GHz	4.4GHz	95W	$249
Ryzen 5 3600	6C/12T	3.6GHz	4.2GHz	65W	$199

• AMD Ryzen 9 5950X: $799 (around £620, AU$1,100)
• AMD Ryzen 9 5900X: $549 (around £420, AU$760)
• AMD Ryzen 7 5800X: $449 (around £350, AU$630)
• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X: $299 (around £230, AU$420)

 

[Straw Man]

Yes it's just a little sad they're dynamiting all bridges with DIY this soon, actually outdoing Intel's monopolistic pricing, pouring gasoline on to all the goodwill they've been building up. Hardly surprising with the booming console/OEM/server businesses though.

It's hard to imagine many non-whales would be hoodwinked into paying $450 for an 8-core CPU when they can get a PS5 or even a 10900KF for less.

 

[MarkJohnson]

Yes it's just a little sad they're dynamiting all bridges with DIY this soon, actually outdoing Intel's monopolistic pricing, pouring gasoline on to all the goodwill they've been building up. Hardly surprising with the booming console/OEM/server businesses though.

It's hard to imagine many non-whales would be hoodwinked into paying $450 for an 8-core CPU when they can get a PS5 or even a 10900KF for less.

Then do it! No sense whining about it. sheeesh. You act like it's the end of the world.