Which PC component is the most important in a heavily modded Cities Skylines?

[crusty_neckbeard]

CPU, GPU, or RAM?

I want to play with 25-30 mods and 300-400 assets on a 34" curved ultrawide monitor at 1440p. Most DLC included.

This is what I'm thinking:
9100F
RX 590
32GB RAM
SSD

Or would I have to do something like this?
9400F
RX 5600 XT
32GB RAM
SSD

Obviously the second build is better - but I'm looking to save money if possible and wondering how the first one would hold up around 250k population on a heavily modded CS. Thanks

 

[MarkJohnson]

The 9100f isn't going to cut it. It cos only 4-core/4-thread and likely bog down on larger cities. The game is designed for a 4-core/8-thread CPU.

9400f should be able to do it, but it will still struggle. It has a 6-core/6-thread CPU, which is roughly 4-core/8-thread, but leaves little overhead for windows. workshop, and other apps running.

Maybe try an AMD 3600, 2600, or 1600. It is 6-core/12-thread so it will handle 4-core/8-threads the game needs, plus overhead for windows and other apps on larger cities.

Maybe post your budget and we can figure out a rig.

 

[crusty_neckbeard]

The 9100f isn't going to cut it. It cos only 4-core/4-thread and likely bog down on larger cities. The game is designed for a 4-core/8-thread CPU.

9400f should be able to do it, but it will still struggle. It has a 6-core/6-thread CPU, which is roughly 4-core/8-thread, but leaves little overhead for windows. workshop, and other apps running.

Maybe try an AMD 3600, 2600, or 1600. It is 6-core/12-thread so it will handle 4-core/8-threads the game needs, plus overhead for windows and other apps on larger cities.

Maybe post your budget and we can figure out a rig.

Thanks for the tips but isn't the 9400F a stronger CPU than the three you mentioned? My budget is around $600 and I'm pretty set on getting 32GB 3200hz DDR4. I don't care about other windows being opened or running other apps simultaneously. Heck I don't even really care about loading times even though I'm also set on getting a cheap SSD to throw the OS on. I just want to be able to have a 250k pop city with 25 mods running and around 350 assets.

 

[MarkJohnson]

Thanks for the tips but isn't the 9400F a stronger CPU than the three you mentioned? My budget is around $600 and I'm pretty set on getting 32GB 3200hz DDR4. I don't care about other windows being opened or running other apps simultaneously. Heck I don't even really care about loading times even though I'm also set on getting a cheap SSD to throw the OS on. I just want to be able to have a 250k pop city with 25 mods running and around 350 assets.

Well, with that few of workshop, you can likely be fine on either setup. As long as you have low expectations on performance.

You may have to restart a lot until you can optimize your city as your first few cities are going to be out of balance and a long learning curve of the game.

Maybe you can go rx 570 and 9400F. This game gets very low FPS no matter what, so 590 vs 570 isn't a big difference. But 6-core is much, much better than 4 core in this game.

EDIT:

PC parts are so expensive right now.

But where is a do-it-yourself rig for a little over $600:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ybQMhg

You can save $100 if you have a current rig with a non-OEM windows license, as they carry over to a new rig, but it will deactivate on the old rig. But if it's a Dell, HP, gateway. Acrer and other prebuilt, they won't activate on a different PC other than their own brand.

You can save another $75 if you go with the 9100F. But I think it is worthwhile to go for the 9400F if you can.

Also, what other games will be on this rig?

 

[crusty_neckbeard]

Thank you for the insight and help. It says compatibility issue with the H310 chipset so I'm assuming there's a workaround for this? But I will either roll with this build or something similar. Looks like I'll also have to get a WiFi adapter.

 

[crusty_neckbeard]

I will probably end up spending more than I want on the GPU and surpass $600 since I would love to play games like Wildlands/RDR2/GTA5/Witcher3/AC on medium/high settings. I really like the RX 5600 XT a lot. If I did that I assume I would have to get a better mobo too right?

 

[crusty_neckbeard]

For Windows I'm just gonna get this

thanks again for the help. I tried to post all of this in one single message but the stupid forums kept saying it was too "spammy"..... ironic since in order to respond I had to spam tf out of this thread lol

 

[MarkJohnson]

I will probably end up spending more than I want on the GPU and surpass $600 since I would love to play games like Wildlands/RDR2/GTA5/Witcher3/AC on medium/high settings. I really like the RX 5600 XT a lot. If I did that I assume I would have to get a better mobo too right?

If it says it"s incompatible, then it would be for the CPU I assume. The 310 are older than the 9100F and 9400F. If you go through a major store like amazon or newegg, they should have newer MB with the BIOS already updated. At worst, you may need to take it to your local computer shop and they should do it for a minimal cost or free.

The 5600 XT will fit any motherboard. All motherboards are designed to use a X16 PCIe video slot.

Depending on the video card, you may need a power supply upgrade. Some video cards need a 6-pin or 8-pin power cord on the power supply, some need two.

I looked up 5600 xt power requirements, so you will likely need to upgrade the power supply to one that has a pair of 8-pin power cords.

Also, that 120 GB SSD will be too small for windows. It will fill up way too fast.

256GB may work, but it will fill up quick too. You can move your user folders (Pictures, Downloads, Document, etc.) to the hard drive. This will help a lot on the SSD. It is good to keep it no more than half full. It helps the longevity of the SSD and it's optimization of the ssd. (wear leveling, provisioning, etc)

I like 512 GB SSD as they can last 5-6 years without moving files and folders around as much. But at least get a 256GB SSD, you won't regret it.

If you can't swing 256GB SSD, you can try the hybrid HDD/SSD drives. They made a bigger difference than I thought when I bought one. They are slower than a SSD, but much faster than a HDD.

 

[Four eyed fish]

Off topic, but you see like the crowd I'm after.
I bought a Dell laptop for gaming 4 years ago and it should have been good, it was expensive enough. But right from the get go it over heats at the drop of a hat. Poor customer service and an independent IT shop later, it seems it's a poorly thought out build and never stood a chance at heat management.
I've figured out how to keep it cool enough to work with external fans to sit on and a cold block from the freezer for the air to be drawn over.
My question is, when looking for a new computer, how do you look beyond the specs of the components to get a worth while review?
Are some brand reliably better than others?
Thanks!

 

[MarkJohnson]

Off topic, but you see like the crowd I'm after.
I bought a Dell laptop for gaming 4 years ago and it should have been good, it was expensive enough. But right from the get go it over heats at the drop of a hat. Poor customer service and an independent IT shop later, it seems it's a poorly thought out build and never stood a chance at heat management.
I've figured out how to keep it cool enough to work with external fans to sit on and a cold block from the freezer for the air to be drawn over.
My question is, when looking for a new computer, how do you look beyond the specs of the components to get a worth while review?
Are some brand reliably better than others?
Thanks!

By computer, do you mean desktop? Most desktops are designed to run 100% load.

If you're talking laptop, there are several things to look for. First, this game, and most games, only use 4-core/8-thread CPUs. So having more than that will help greatly, as the CPU won't be running 100% at all times and keep temps down a lot.

A thick laptop is a must. Thin laptops are designed for office work, so they need less cooling, so gamers will be pushing the limits of their system so they need much, much better cooling. So a thicker laptop is a good indication of better cooling. They are also much heavier as cooling is usually made from copper. They will also be heavier from having larger batteries as well, since they are mobile. Most gaming laptops are designed to run at least 30 minutes on battery.

Before buying a laptop, read lots of reviews. Also, get the full model number of the laptop and search YouTube on disassembly of the specific laptop. If there are none yet, look for maybe drive upgrade, battery replacement, etc. videos.

Last, is cost. They are very expensive. $2,000 USD minimum for decent one. I have seen some over $5,000 for a desktop replacement and they have actual desktop CPUs in them.

I needed a touchscreen for my laptop I bought about a year ago, which was rare on a gaming laptop and I spent over $2,500 for a thin one from Dell, just because it was the only touchscreen laptop even being made with a 6-core/12-thread CPU, and only a GTX 1650 GPU. Mine doesn't get too hot, but it throttles like mad. But plays much smoother than I expected. Temps hover around 70C and CPU jumps from 4GHz to under 1GHz. I have it on a cooling pad with fan which happen a little when I bought it.

 

[Fox_NS_CAN]

I needed a touchscreen for my laptop I bought about a year ago, which was rare on a gaming laptop

I couldn't find a decent laptop without a touchscreen when I got this one in August 2013. Disabling the touchscreen was one of the first things I did when setting it up. Wish I could have gotten something else for the money instead. (Everyone's use case is different of course. Just sucks you had a hard time getting one, and I had a hard time not getting one!)

Now it seems everything has glowing lights and other crap I don't need. One laptop that I was looking at bragged about how much engineering went into keeping it cool when it was so thin. *sigh* Just give me a thicker one that easily cools well. (That and would it kill them to make the fans easily accessible to clean the dust out??)

 

[TTJ]

By computer, do you mean desktop? Most desktops are designed to run 100% load.

If you're talking laptop, there are several things to look for. First, this game, and most games, only use 4-core/8-thread CPUs. So having more than that will help greatly, as the CPU won't be running 100% at all times and keep temps down a lot.

A thick laptop is a must. Thin laptops are designed for office work, so they need less cooling, so gamers will be pushing the limits of their system so they need much, much better cooling. So a thicker laptop is a good indication of better cooling. They are also much heavier as cooling is usually made from copper. They will also be heavier from having larger batteries as well, since they are mobile. Most gaming laptops are designed to run at least 30 minutes on battery.

Before buying a laptop, read lots of reviews. Also, get the full model number of the laptop and search YouTube on disassembly of the specific laptop. If there are none yet, look for maybe drive upgrade, battery replacement, etc. videos.

Last, is cost. They are very expensive. $2,000 USD minimum for decent one. I have seen some over $5,000 for a desktop replacement and they have actual desktop CPUs in them.

I needed a touchscreen for my laptop I bought about a year ago, which was rare on a gaming laptop and I spent over $2,500 for a thin one from Dell, just because it was the only touchscreen laptop even being made with a 6-core/12-thread CPU, and only a GTX 1650 GPU. Mine doesn't get too hot, but it throttles like mad. But plays much smoother than I expected. Temps hover around 70C and CPU jumps from 4GHz to under 1GHz. I have it on a cooling pad with fan which happen a little when I bought it.

Clearly everyone has a different taste, but if I had 2000$ for gaming equipment I would buy a 1000$ desktop (which is much more powerful than a 2000$ laptop) and then buy a lightweight laptop or tablet which I can really carry anywhere. Of course I could not do mobile gaming then but carrying 5kg laptops with 30min battery life around is also not fun!

 

[MarkJohnson]

I couldn't find a decent laptop without a touchscreen when I got this one in August 2013. Disabling the touchscreen was one of the first things I did when setting it up. Wish I could have gotten something else for the money instead. (Everyone's use case is different of course. Just sucks you had a hard time getting one, and I had a hard time not getting one!)

Now it seems everything has glowing lights and other crap I don't need. One laptop that I was looking at bragged about how much engineering went into keeping it cool when it was so thin. *sigh* Just give me a thicker one that easily cools well. (That and would it kill them to make the fans easily accessible to clean the dust out??)

Yeah, when I bought this, I needed the 6-core i7 for it to work with this game, so they just weren't available yet, but I could get previous gen 4-core i7 in touchscreen, just not the 6-core.

I am also in the same boat on the fan situation. I will have to disassemble the laptop to do it. Luckily I already have the tools from my smartphone disassembly and other laptops. But I don't think this laptop has a screw on the outside, not even for drive or ram upgrades. It's sealed shut!

I just did this for friend's laptop and it had a special corner to pry it open, after you removed 10 screws. lol I was like, choose one. Screws or snaps, not both! lol

 

[MarkJohnson]

Clearly everyone has a different taste, but if I had 2000$ for gaming equipment I would buy a 1000$ desktop (which is much more powerful than a 2000$ laptop) and then buy a lightweight laptop or tablet which I can really carry anywhere. Of course I could not do mobile gaming then but carrying 5kg laptops with 30min battery life around is also not fun!

That is true, but some people need a laptop and have no need for a desktop. Then you are chained to your room and not on the go. Most places I go have accessible wall plugins somewhere. It sure is nice to be on the go and still play. I mean I rarely have 30-min wait times anyway even if there is no power plugins available.

I chose the thin model as I figured it would stay relatively cool as it doesn't get very hot as it rarely even uses half of the CPU's power. Si far so good, but now that the new consoles are going 8-core/16-thread CPUs, games should start to take advantage of all of that power soon enough. It will make it much better for desktop gaming. We've been stuck on 4-core/8-thread CPUs for over a decade.

 

[Fox_NS_CAN]

Clearly everyone has a different taste, but if I had 2000$ for gaming equipment I would buy a 1000$ desktop (which is much more powerful than a 2000$ laptop) and then buy a lightweight laptop or tablet which I can really carry anywhere. Of course I could not do mobile gaming then but carrying 5kg laptops with 30min battery life around is also not fun!

That definitely gets you better bang for your buck, but in my case, I work away from home in remote locations for 3-4 weeks at a time, so I have been getting fairly powerful laptops. Stopped getting desktops in the early 2000s. Would rather a nice desktop, but can't take it with me.

 

[Four eyed fish]

The 9100f isn't going to cut it. It cos only 4-core/4-thread and likely bog down on larger cities. The game is designed for a 4-core/8-thread CPU

Cities is a relatively old game isn't it?
Were these systems common back then, is this a upgrade to the game over the years or is this specifically advice for heavily modded games?

Thanks for the advice posted above.

 

[MarkJohnson]

Cities is a relatively old game isn't it?
Were these systems common back then, is this a upgrade to the game over the years or is this specifically advice for heavily modded games?

Thanks for the advice posted above.

Yes, 4-cores have been the standard for many years. Most were i5 cpus, but the i7 CPUs were 4-cores, but with hyperthreading that has an additional 4 more virtual cores to help process data. But they are mostly AI helper cores, so most games only need 4-core i5s as they don't have much AI to them, but fast paced shooter/adventures. etc. With little to no AI. I mean like a dozen or two other NPCs attacking you. This game can have up to 80,000 other NPCs it needs to handle.

So, you need 8-threads to fully optimize this game, especially if you plan to use workshop. If you plan to not use workshop, then 4-cores should handle the base game well on a 4-core CPU.

 

[WhiteKnight77]

That definitely gets you better bang for your buck, but in my case, I work away from home in remote locations for 3-4 weeks at a time, so I have been getting fairly powerful laptops. Stopped getting desktops in the early 2000s. Would rather a nice desktop, but can't take it with me.

I have both a desktop and a laptop, both made in mind for gaming. Like you, I can be away from home for long periods of time, most recently 21 months, and there are times when I am waiting on work to be completed so I can do my work, I want to be able to keep myself occupied whether watching movies or playing games.

 

[Meesmoth]

OP: "What is the most important PC component in a heavily modded Cities: Skylines?"

Me: Depends on what you call "heavily modded".

If it's actual mods like TMPE, then it's the CPU.

If it's tons of assets like buildings, props, trees, cars, networks, then the RAM.

If it's graphic mods like Dynamic Resolution or LOD Toggler, then the GPU.

 

[tornadosboy]

The CPU and RAM are the most important components in your situation.