Cities: Skylines — Settings, Requirements & Optimization
2015 · Strategy, Simulation · Colossal Order · ESRB Everyone · Metacritic 85

Optimize Cities: Skylines for your hardware
Pick your GPU, CPU, resolution and target refresh rate, then generate a printable settings card with per-preset expectations and upscaler guidance.
Optimize Cities: Skylines for your PC
This is a planning estimate derived from the game's demand tier, not a benchmark.
My Cities: Skylines Settings Card
Generated at GameFigs on 2026-08-21. Game demand tier: 3/9.
Official system requirements
Publisher-published Minimum / Recommended values via RAWG. Real-world performance varies with drivers, resolution and your full build.
| Spec | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Minimum: | Recommended: |
| Processor | OS: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1 (64-bit) | OS: Microsoft Windows 7/8 (64-bit) |
| Memory | Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.0GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+, 3.2GHz | Processor: Intel Core i5-3470, 3.20GHz or AMD FX-6300, 3.5Ghz |
| Graphics | Memory: 4 GB RAM | Memory: 6 GB RAM |
| Storage | Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, 512 MB or ATI Radeon HD 5670, 512 MB (Does not support Intel Integrated Graphics Cards) | Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, 2 GB or AMD Radeon HD 7870, 2 GB (Does not support Intel Integrated Graphics Cards) |
| DirectX | DirectX: Version 9.0c | DirectX: Version 11 |
| Item 7 | Network: Broadband Internet connection | Network: Broadband Internet connection |
| Item 8 | Storage: 4 GB available space | Storage: 4 GB available space |
About Cities: Skylines
Cities: Skylines is a traditional city-building game, which allows players to experience urban planning in all aspects including zoning, road placement, transportation, taxation, and improvement of welfare. Therefore, within the game players are able to assume roles of city’s principal architect and mayor. The history of the city, in control of the player, begins with the 2-by-2 kilometers plot of land and a sum of money to start with. Players have to zone the city, build roads, explore the surroundings, provide infrastructure and jobs to attract new citizens. Once the newcomers settle down, the immediate reaction is expected to establish public services and to set proper taxes. Progressing within the game and developing the city will unlock new upgrades of the urban environment and lead to the territorial expansion. The gameplay also requires the control of several city’s parameter scales like budget, health, employment, and pollution. The game also features a creative sandbox mode, where the architect’s imagination is not restricted in any way.
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Tune settings →Sources & attribution
- Game data (release year, genres, platforms, system requirements, description, cover art) via RAWG.io, retrieved 2026-08-21.
- FPS bands, presets and upscaler advice on this page are GameFigs planning estimates from the game's demand tier — not benchmark results.
How the Cities: Skylines optimization card is computed
Each game is scored on a 0–9 demand tier from its published PC requirements (and a year/genre fallback when requirements are absent). Your GPU and CPU selections map to comparable-class scores. The generator compares your hardware score against the game's demand to pick a starting preset, estimate an FPS band at 1080p/1440p/4K, and recommend an upscaler (DLSS / FSR 3) and ray-tracing posture. The output is a planning guide — always verify in-game with the built-in benchmark when available.