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Cities: Skylines II: System Requirements

Cities: Skylines II is, unusually, one of the most GPU-demanding city builders ever made — it leans hard on the graphics card and was rough at launch, though patches have improved it. Below are the official minimum and recommended requirements from Steam; then pick your CPU and GPU to estimate, from real data, your FPS in Cities: Skylines II. Expect to use upscaling for high frame rates above 1080p.

Can your PC run it?

Pick your processor and graphics card — get the estimated average FPS and 1% lows for this game, from real benchmark data.

System requirements

Minimum Recommended
OS Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
Processor Intel Core i7-6700K / AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Intel Core i5-12600K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Graphics NVIDIA GTX 970 4GB / AMD RX 480 8GB NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB / AMD RX 6800 XT 16GB
Memory 8 GB 16 GB
Storage 60 GB 60 GB
Source: steam

Recommended hardware

A graphically demanding game — a strong graphics card is what keeps frame rates smooth at high settings, especially at 1440p and 4K.

Official target GPU · Graphics
NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB / AMD RX 6800 XT 16GB
See where any card ranks — GPU hierarchy
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Other game requirements

Frequently asked questions

What GPU do you need for Cities: Skylines 2?

Per Steam, the minimum is a GTX 970 4GB / RX 480 8GB and the recommended card is an RTX 3080 10GB / RX 6800 XT. It is genuinely GPU-heavy — even strong cards struggle at native 1440p and 4K, so many players rely on DLSS/FSR.

How much RAM does Cities: Skylines 2 need?

Steam lists 8 GB minimum and 16 GB recommended. Large cities benefit from 16 GB or more.

Why is Cities: Skylines 2 so demanding?

Unlike most city builders, it puts heavy load on the GPU, not just the CPU. It launched poorly optimized; patches have helped, but it still asks a lot of your graphics card above 1080p. Lowering a few settings or using upscaling helps a lot.

Can my PC run Cities: Skylines 2?

Drop your CPU and GPU into the calculator above — it estimates the average FPS and 1% lows for Cities: Skylines II from real benchmark data, instantly.