Which Cpu for cities skylines 2

[skrdptsgl]

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 at high settings.I don't expect a crazy amount of fps in this game but i want it to run smoothly.

 

[tweety80]

According to some older videos, CS2 wants a lot of cores, but does not really support more than 50.
The 9950X3D (not released yet) is probably the fastest CPU for this game and may allow a population of over a million.

The Threadripper with 50+ cores does not scale. There is a YouTube video about this.

The new 285k is not a gaming CPU. It is only expensive and maybe great for applications and somewhat energy efficient but most do not play enough to get the money back.

 

[Civ5rako]

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 at high settings.I don't expect a crazy amount of fps in this game but i want it to run smoothly.

Firstly, I think you are asking the wrong question.

As you are asking about both, AMD and Intel cpus, you seem to be thinking of a new system (the 285k would indicate that).
Basing your decision about which architecture to choose on one single game isn't a very wise move though, sorry.
What you should do is to get clear about what kind of applications you are running in total. Only games? If so, which games?
A mixture of games and say, video cutting applications? Mainly Word and Excel with an occasional hour of gaming in between?
That is what should define your decision.

With that out of the way, you should keep several things in mind.
Assuming the 9800x3d to become a formidable gaming cpu, we nevertheless don't have enough information about that one yet.
The 7950x3d might cause problems with the scheduling, meaning the less optimal CCD might be chosen for a specific task. It isn't mainly a gaming cpu.
The 9900x has the best cost efficiency of currently available cpus, I think. Especially when taking energy consumption into account as well. But then again, the 9800x3d will be out very soon.
The 9950x will be more expensive than the 9900x but will deliver higher performance. If and when that will be noticable I don't know though.
And finally, as others have said already, the 285k isn't a gaming cpu. I doubt it would make you very happy.

If I were in your position, I would wait until the 9800x3d has been reviewed and then make my decision between it or the 9900x. But that's just me.

 

[skrdptsgl]

Firstly, I think you are asking the wrong question.

As you are asking about both, AMD and Intel cpus, you seem to be thinking of a new system (the 285k would indicate that).
Basing your decision about which architecture to choose on one single game isn't a very wise move though, sorry.
What you should do is to get clear about what kind of applications you are running in total. Only games? If so, which games?
A mixture of games and say, video cutting applications? Mainly Word and Excel with an occasional hour of gaming in between?
That is what should define your decision.

With that out of the way, you should keep several things in mind.
Assuming the 9800x3d to become a formidable gaming cpu, we nevertheless don't have enough information about that one yet.
The 7950x3d might cause problems with the scheduling, meaning the less optimal CCD might be chosen for a specific task. It isn't mainly a gaming cpu.
The 9900x has the best cost efficiency of currently available cpus, I think. Especially when taking energy consumption into account as well. But then again, the 9800x3d will be out very soon.
The 9950x will be more expensive than the 9900x but will deliver higher performance. If and when that will be noticable I don't know though.
And finally, as others have said already, the 285k isn't a gaming cpu. I doubt it would make you very happy.

If I were in your position, I would wait until the 9800x3d has been reviewed and then make my decision between it or the 9900x. But that's just me.

I'll built a pc only for gaming.I play this kind of games the most and some open world racing games.I don't play fps or third person shooters.My budget is around 2000 euros.I'am also thinking about 7950x that costs 500 euros here.For GPU i'll probably buy a 7900xtx.

 

[Civ5rako]

I'll built a pc only for gaming.I play this kind of games the most and some open world racing games.I don't play fps or third person shooters.My budget is around 2000 euros.I'am also thinking about 7950x that costs 500 euros here.For GPU i'll probably buy a 7900xtx.

That's ok.

As I said in my previous posting, I would advise you to wait for the reviews of the 9800x3d. Which should be published this week, if I am not mistaken.

But I had another thought in the meantime.
Rumors right now say that the 9800x3d has even some overclocking potential. Which is interesting as it indicates that there is some leeway in terms of thermals. And that might open the chance for an assumed 9900x3d or 9950x3d to have additional cache even for the second CCD. In that case they would be real beasts. Both are expected to be released in early 2025.

 

[taxableAbe]

Cities 2 can use more than 50 cores, supposedly it can use infinite cores is what they said, and I believe the devs there. What the limit is, is windows has a 64 logical core limit, and I still don't know enough about this as I haven't personally tested it.

Also I heard the 7950x3d scheduling is not an issue anymore for a quite a while now.

Lastly, you should absolutely buy a CPU or "architecture" on a single game if that game is the one you play the most and especially if it is the most demanding.

I personally have tested this game on 7800x3d, 14900kf, 13600k, 12900k. And guess what? The 7800x3d is the slowest out of all those in Cities 2, but absolutely destroys the others in literally every other game except maybe a few other rare examples like Cities 2.

I currently have a 14900kf/4090 main pc I play Cities 2 with and struggle with my 600k pop city with not getting the full 3x/4x speed. I also built a "simrig pc" with a 7800x3d and 4070 and tested cities with that and my 4090. The 7800x3d wasn't even close so don't even bother with anything less than 16 cores/32 threads. Even my 13600k was better for Cities2. Also the 4070 played almost the same as the 4090 in this game, my 4090 sits 30-40% usually nearly idling almost.

I've even looked into Threadripper or used EPYC build but want more definitive proof that the game can run high pops better with the fastest 64 core / 128 thread system. I've even thought about a dual EPYC system with only 32 cores each to get a higher clock speed but still under the "max" 64 core windows limit. And dual socket CPU's have been proven to work with cities2 on youtube shorts but the guy had really old xeon setup with as many total cores as a 14900k so it was slower because the lower clocks on that probably didn't help. But he did run a 100k+ city showing all this threads being used.

I would bet the 7950x3d and hopefully upcoming 9950x3d would be the best consumer choice for Cities 2 big pops. Don't bother with 7800x3d/9800x3d. It just won't compete with only 8 cores. Build the PC for the job, and if that job is Cities2 big pops, you want the cores and i'm still trying to find out if the cache is worth it, it just may be would be my bet.

Horses for courses.

 

[tweety80]

Cities 2 can use more than 50 cores,

This is the video where a guy with a ton of money used a 96-core Processor or 192 virtual cores.
Many of the threads are at 0%.

But to be fair, this video is a bit older, and maybe CO improved the game. Maybe not because of how many people have the money to buy such a CPU?

 

[taxableAbe]

This is the video where a guy with a ton of money used a 96-core Processor or 192 virtual cores.
Many of the threads are at 0%.

But to be fair, this video is a bit older, and maybe CO improved the game. Maybe not because of how many people have the money to buy such a CPU?

Yea and if you count them, it's 64 cores, 128 threads. Which isn't Cities2 limit, it's a windows limit. Someone needs to test this on Linux which does not have the 64 core limit that windows has and I bet he could have used all 96 cores using Linux.

Cities2 has no limit on core usage. It will take what you give it, but windows limits you to 64 currently. There needs to be something done in Windows, maybe on CO's end or windows, not sure, but it's not actually Cities2 limit.

 

[CosmicSea]

Game simulation is very poorly optimized. The main performance issues present on high end machines is not GPU/FPS related vs simulation ticks per second. Throwing hardware at it won’t see much a performance benefit.

 

[[Delta ²k5]]

There needs to be something done in Windows, maybe on CO's end or windows.

I wonder how many gamers worldwide have computers running Windows 10/11 (so not even Windows Server) with a serverish CPU with more than 64 cores. I guess it's fair to say the number will be way below 0.1% for at least a decade to come, so that "need" seems pretty much non existent to me.

 

[tweety80]

Someone needs to test this on Linux

I am playing CS2 with Proton.
The performance is much worse than under Windows. The game is also highly unstable, which is why it is not officially supported.

But I would assume that a guy who has the money for such a CPU also can afford the Enterprise version of a Windows license. That license comes with 256 core support.
If not... I mean, it would be the same as a guy who is buying a car with insane horsepower but cannot afford maintenance/insurance.

 

[MTO35]

In my case with an i9 13900K everything was fine up to 700K inhabitants, although not perfect. But with 750K-800K inhabitants the simulation speed became massively slower. That was just a few months ago when the Beach DLC came out. I haven't figured out whether things have gotten worse or better today because I hardly play the game anymore.

 

[Matiiu]

Cities 2 can use more than 50 cores, supposedly it can use infinite cores is what they said, and I believe the devs there. What the limit is, is windows has a 64 logical core limit, and I still don't know enough about this as I haven't personally tested it.

Also I heard the 7950x3d scheduling is not an issue anymore for a quite a while now.

Lastly, you should absolutely buy a CPU or "architecture" on a single game if that game is the one you play the most and especially if it is the most demanding.

I personally have tested this game on 7800x3d, 14900kf, 13600k, 12900k. And guess what? The 7800x3d is the slowest out of all those in Cities 2, but absolutely destroys the others in literally every other game except maybe a few other rare examples like Cities 2.

I currently have a 14900kf/4090 main pc I play Cities 2 with and struggle with my 600k pop city with not getting the full 3x/4x speed. I also built a "simrig pc" with a 7800x3d and 4070 and tested cities with that and my 4090. The 7800x3d wasn't even close so don't even bother with anything less than 16 cores/32 threads. Even my 13600k was better for Cities2. Also the 4070 played almost the same as the 4090 in this game, my 4090 sits 30-40% usually nearly idling almost.

I've even looked into Threadripper or used EPYC build but want more definitive proof that the game can run high pops better with the fastest 64 core / 128 thread system. I've even thought about a dual EPYC system with only 32 cores each to get a higher clock speed but still under the "max" 64 core windows limit. And dual socket CPU's have been proven to work with cities2 on youtube shorts but the guy had really old xeon setup with as many total cores as a 14900k so it was slower because the lower clocks on that probably didn't help. But he did run a 100k+ city showing all this threads being used.

I would bet the 7950x3d and hopefully upcoming 9950x3d would be the best consumer choice for Cities 2 big pops. Don't bother with 7800x3d/9800x3d. It just won't compete with only 8 cores. Build the PC for the job, and if that job is Cities2 big pops, you want the cores and i'm still trying to find out if the cache is worth it, it just may be would be my bet.

Horses for courses.

Can anyone who uses AMD processors confirm this? I want to build a pc on a AM5 platform, mainly for Cities Skylines. But after a post like this I would consider Intel, despite its problems and non-future platform, which is cheaper though.

 

[taxableAbe]

Can anyone who uses AMD processors confirm this? I want to build a pc on a AM5 platform, mainly for Cities Skylines. But after a post like this I would consider Intel, despite its problems and non-future platform, which is cheaper though.

Buy the 7950x or 7950x3d then. They are better than the intel when I compared with the guys in the discord under "dels 1 mill pop" thread. Just don't get the 7800x3d if you really care about big pops in this game because the 8 cores just isn't enough.

7800x3d is better in every other game, except Cities2.

 

[skrdptsgl]

In my case with an i9 13900K everything was fine up to 700K inhabitants, although not perfect. But with 750K-800K inhabitants the simulation speed became massively slower. That was just a few months ago when the Beach DLC came out. I haven't figured out whether things have gotten worse or better today because I hardly play the game anymore.

Does your 13900k have any issues?I mean i'am thinking to buy a 13900k or KS but the issues they have are stopping me

 

[MarkJohnson]

Here ya go!

AMD 100-000000788 EPYC 9474F 3.60GHz 48-Core Processor - Genoa

Processor 3.60GHz 4th Generation AMD EPYC 9474F 48-Core (96 Threads) SP5 (LGA 6096) L3 Cache: 256MB 5nm 360W For UP/DP systems only - 9004 Series OEM, Tray

www.wiredzone.com

It's only $4,500 for only the CPU. But it should may out the game, according to LTT video.

You may need a few more thousand for 12-channel RAM and motherboard.

I seen a used one for $500 on ebay that was an older and slower chip.

 

[[Delta ²k5]]

I mean i'am thinking to buy a 13900k or KS but the issues they have are stopping me

From what I read (I'm not a 13th gen owner) it should be fine to buy one now, just ensure:
* It has not been used (so only buy NEW ones)
* Install the latest mainboard firmware update as soon as possible if you are going with this CPU

On CPUs of the 13th and 14th generation which were already used there is an increased chance they are already damaged irreversibly.

 

[CosmicSea]

If you're buying new, 13th and 14th gen intel chips are totally fine and well worth it, just make sure your firmware and drivers are up to date.

But again, do NOT upgrade just for this game. The hardware gains are marginal because the optimization is so poor.

 

[MTO35]

Does your 13900k have any issues?I mean i'am thinking to buy a 13900k or KS but the issues they have are stopping me

I've had my 13900 K since the release of the 13th Intel generation and haven't had any problems yet. It is important that you make the correct settings in the BIOS, because loading optimized BIOS settings from the respective mobo manufacturer for the CPU can sometimes lead to problems because these BIOS profiles are too extreme in terms of power consumption and temperatures and this can lead to the aging process of a CPU can increase enormously or the system itself no longer runs stable.
Back then I already set the BIOS settings so that they correspond to the INTEL specifications. I've already done this with Intel CPUs that came out before, because even back then the optimized BIOS profiles were too harsh. Today, with the new BIOS updates for the 13th and 14th Intel generations, there are also extra profiles, e.g. Intel default profile, settings where the CPU runs on Intel specifications.

 

[Grulga]

Yea and if you count them, it's 64 cores, 128 threads. Which isn't Cities2 limit, it's a windows limit. Someone needs to test this on Linux which does not have the 64 core limit that windows has and I bet he could have used all 96 cores using Linux.

Cities2 has no limit on core usage. It will take what you give it, but windows limits you to 64 currently. There needs to be something done in Windows, maybe on CO's end or windows, not sure, but it's not actually Cities2 limit.

Windows 11 home has a 64 core limit. Pro 128 core, Enterprise 256 cores