All setups › NVIDIA RTX 4090 › Cities: Skylines II

Best Cities: Skylines II settings for the NVIDIA RTX 4090 (2026)

On a NVIDIA RTX 4090 (paired with a balanced Intel Core i9-14900K-class CPU), Cities: Skylines II runs at roughly 83 FPS at 4K with our optimized settings — up from about 83FPS with everything maxed. Here's the configuration and what each setting costs.

The NVIDIA RTX 4090 is a flagship 4K-class graphics card with 24GB of VRAM, and Cities: Skylines II is a demanding, graphically heavy game. Paired with the Intel Core i9-14900K, it runs well at 4K — about 83 FPS with FrameCoach's optimized settings. That already clears a smooth frame rate on High, so our tuning keeps the visuals as high as possible instead of chasing extra frames.

Across resolutions you can expect around 205 FPS at 1080p and 147 FPS at 1440p, dropping to roughly 83 FPS at 4K. Its 24GB of VRAM is plenty for Cities: Skylines II, so textures can stay maxed. The biggest free win is DLSS upscaling — set it to Quality for a large FPS boost at little visual cost.

Resolution	All-High FPS	Optimized FPS
1080p	205	205
1440p	147	147
4K	83	83

💡 Cities: Skylines II: Big cities are limited by your CPU, not your GPU - upscaling won’t fix that.

Recommended settings

Upscaling — DLSSOff

Cities: Skylines II supports DLSS and FSR. A free FPS boost - enable it first, though big cities are limited by your CPU, not the upscaler.

Global IlluminationMediumbaseline

Bounce lighting across the city - one of the heaviest GPU settings. Medium is a clean trade.

VolumetricsMediumbaseline

Volumetric fog and clouds. Expensive for the payoff - drop a notch for an easy win.

ReflectionsLowbaseline

Screen-space reflections on water and glass. Low is plenty in a zoomed-out city view.

Shadow QualityMediumbaseline

Shadow resolution and range over the city. Medium is the value pick.

Ambient OcclusionLowbaseline

Screen-space contact shadows between buildings. Low is a cheap trade.

Fog QualityMediumbaseline

Distance and weather fog. Low is fine for a clear city view.

Depth of FieldOnbaseline

Background blur when zoomed in. Cheap to turn off if you don't want it.

Level of DetailMediumbaseline

How detailed distant buildings stay - also leans on the CPU. Medium for big cities.

Anti-AliasingHighbaseline

Edge smoothing across the cityscape. Cheap; leave it on to reduce shimmer.

Texture QualityHighbaseline

Surface sharpness on buildings and terrain - cheap on FPS if it fits your VRAM.

⚡ Fine-tune this for your exact CPU & target FPS →

🎯 Can the NVIDIA RTX 4090 run Cities: Skylines II? See the verdict →

Cities: Skylines II on other GPUs

Other games on the NVIDIA RTX 4090

Frequently asked

What FPS does the NVIDIA RTX 4090 get in Cities: Skylines II?

With FrameCoach's optimized balanced settings, the NVIDIA RTX 4090 averages around 83 FPS at 4K in Cities: Skylines II — up from about 83 FPS with everything on High.

Can the NVIDIA RTX 4090 run Cities: Skylines II at 1440p?

At 1440p with optimized settings, the NVIDIA RTX 4090 averages roughly 147 FPS in Cities: Skylines II — a smooth experience.

What are the best Cities: Skylines II settings for the NVIDIA RTX 4090?

Use a balanced preset, keep ray tracing off for maximum FPS, and ease the heaviest options like Global Illumination and Volumetrics down a notch. The full per-setting breakdown is above.

FPS figures are estimates from a generalized model (hardware tier × game load × per-setting weights), not live benchmarks — real performance varies by scene, drivers and game version.