I'm getting a new computer to run CS. I need some recommendations

[bitter void]

My current computer isn't powerful enough and always runs at less than 1 FPS. Is there a guide somewhere I could use to find a good PC to buy/build?

[crystal tangle]

I generally recommend Intel i7, 16GB memory, 1TB SSD main drive, & Nvidia RTX3000 series graphics. (Or you can go AMD equivalent of these). Plus add a second SSD drive for storage of Steam, other games, photos, etc. This is a slightly better than a middle ground setup, you can go below and above this depending on how much you want to spend. You can get this as a desktop for $1000ish, laptop $1200ish depending where and what is on sale. If you go 32-64GB memory, all the better but unless you are building your own system, 16GB is the standard for middle, with 8GB for lowend.

[neon sundial]

Yeah, I'd say that any generally good gaming PC would be suitable for Cities Skylines. The only difference would be that Cities Skylines benefits from having way more RAM than most games, so certainly go for 32GB or more if you can. And if you have a choice between two processors at a similar price point, pick the one with the faster clock speeds rather than the one with more cores.

[bitter void]

thanks for the advice!

[fathom trench]

If you plan on running the typical mods that you find in some of CPP's build you will need more than 16GB of Ram. 32 would be much better for modded CS, while 64 would future proof you for heavy mods or perhaps CS2 when it drops.

[last finch]

I would strongly recommend using an M.2 for your main/system drive; given the prices, it's worth considering a larger M.2 for your games/Steam drive. (M.2s are significantly faster than conventional SSDs.)

[crystal tangle]

Hmm..M.2 are SSD drives. M.2 is a form factor, you can get both SATA & NVMe in that form. Pretty sure you meant NVMe over SATA (which is slower). Regarding NVMe, you have two choices, Gen3 vs Gen4, with the latter being twice as fast.

[neon sundial]

I've noticed a big leap from spinning disks to solid state, but I feel like the difference from SATA to NVMe SSDs are pretty minimal

obviously for long sequential reads (like transferring a single large file) it's faster, but loading is more like random reads which aren't much different

[last finch]

I was mainly thinking NVMe, yes, but also how SATAs still use Ye Olde Drive Bus while M.2s use PCI-Express lanes which have roughly ten times the throughput.

Generally speaking, I also recommend going a bit overboard on the motherboard. Not only is it the most laborious component to install/replace, but it is also the primary limiting factor in overall performance. You won't need the latest and greatest for gaming but you'll certainly want to avoid the budget mobos if you want any kind of respectable performance. ±$215 still seems to be the sweet spot in "bang for the buck" for motherboards - those over $250 won't offer much improvement, while those under $180 will show their weaknesses much sooner.

It's still a bit soon to jump to PCIe 5.0 but that still makes respectable PCIe 4.0 x4 motherboards all the more affordable.

[robust salmon]

if you're only shopping for the purpose of running C:SL then ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram ram is all I can say. I have never once regretted my decision to go from 32 to 64GB

and don't go too overboard on your graphics card or cpu (unless you play other games or need for other purposes) - the game engine is old and not optimized for current hardware. I'll get 24 fps with my 3080ti, but it's only running at like 30%. Can't force the game to utilize my whole system - except the ram. It uses almost all of it

all that said (by others and myself), with CSL2 coming out sometime in 2023 and us not really knowing how well it will utilize modern gpus and cpus, it might be worth having a little patience and saving up for another few months to get a system better optimized for the new game 🤷‍♂️

[grave yoke]

on low graphics and 14gb ram 3000G graphics card midrange computer can run it

[earnest kiln]

14gb sounds weird but ok

[grave yoke]

DDR4

[crystal tangle]

Probably has 16 but system is reading it as 14, which will happen if it sharing with onboard graphic.

[neon sundial]

3000G does sound like a CPU with integrated graphics rather than a graphics card