How many FPS does Cities: Skylines get on the Mac Studio M1 Ultra? 1080p, 1440p and 4K performance
171FPS
1080p High
Estimate
144
1440p
84
4K
About 171 FPS at 1080p on High: Cities: Skylines runs through Rosetta 2 on the Mac Studio M1 Ultra (Apple M1 Ultra, 48-core GPU, 64 GB). It has headroom to spare, so you can raise resolution or quality.
Data reviewed October 1, 2026 · how we calculate it
Affiliate linkDon't have Cities: Skylines yet?
Official Steam key that also activates on Mac. Cheaper on Eneba.
Play in your browser — no downloads, no sign-up.
Coin Crest
Play free →
Kaboom Blocks
Play free →
Balcony Splash
Play free →
Nara and the Forest Roots
Play free →
Hexalia
Play free →
Héroes de Éter
Play free →
King's Towers
Play free →
Snake Odyssey
Play free →
Chess
Play free →
Trivia Party
Play free →
Cities: Skylines FPS on Mac Studio M1 Ultra by resolution and quality
Estimate| Resolution | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 178FPS | 176FPS | 171FPS | 164FPS |
| 1440p | 167FPS | 158FPS | 144FPS | 127FPS |
| 4K | 114FPS | 100FPS | 84FPS | 70FPS |
Estimated average in normal gameplay with the game and macOS up to date. Green: 60+ · lime: 45+ · amber: 30+ · orange: 20+ · red: under 20.
Recommended settings
For 60 FPS
1440p · Ultra
≈ 127 FPS
For 30 FPS
1440p · Ultra
≈ 127 FPS
Moving to 1440p High puts the Mac Studio M1 Ultra at about 144 FPS. This game has no MetalFX, so resolution is the setting that matters most.
The MacGameFPS verdict
Calibrated on real Mac benchmarks, not spec sheets
Is the Mac Studio M1 Ultra enough for Cities: Skylines?
Yes, comfortably: 171 FPS at 1080p High. You can move to 1440p (144 FPS) or your display’s native resolution.
Excellent · 1440p 144 FPS · 4K 84 FPS
Mac Studio M1 Ultra or MacBook Pro M4 Max for Cities: Skylines?
In Cities: Skylines at 1080p High, the Mac Studio M1 Ultra gets 171 FPS and the MacBook Pro M4 Max 175 FPS: 2% more.
Mac Studio M1 Ultra specs
- Chip
- Apple M1 Ultra
- GPU cores
- 48 / 64
- Unified memory
- 64 / 128 GB
- Cooling
- Fan
- Geekbench Metal
- 141,252
- Tier
- High end · 39/100
How much memory do you need?
On Apple Silicon the GPU shares memory with the system, so the RAM you picked when buying the Mac is also your video memory. Cities: Skylines asks for 6 GB minimum.
| Memory | 1080p High | 1440p High |
|---|---|---|
| 64 GB | 171FPS | 144FPS |
| 128 GB | 171FPS | 144FPS |
Other Macs for Cities: Skylines
1080p · High
Mac Studio M1 Max
M1 Max · 24/32 GPU
149FPSView analysis
MacBook Pro M1 Max
M1 Max · 24/32 GPU
148FPSView analysisMacBook Pro M1 Pro
M1 Pro · 14/16 GPU
96FPSView analysisMac Studio M2 Ultra
M2 Ultra · 60/76 GPU
177FPSView analysis
Mac Pro M2 Ultra
M2 Ultra · 60/76 GPU
177FPSView analysis
MacBook Pro M1
M1 · 8 GPU
52FPSView analysis
MacBook Air M1
M1 · 7/8 GPU
44FPSView analysisMacBook Pro M2 Max
M2 Max · 30/38 GPU
163FPSView analysis
Cities: Skylines on every Mac →
Shopping for an all-round gaming Mac? Mac ranking by real FPS →
Other games on the Mac Studio M1 Ultra
- Assassin's Creed Shadows39FPS
- Cyberpunk 207766FPS
- Baldur's Gate 393FPS
- Control Ultimate Edition91FPS
- Death Stranding Director's Cut133FPS
- Hitman World of Assassination137FPS
- Lies of P141FPS
- Metro Exodus127FPS
- Resident Evil 4117FPS
- Resident Evil Village118FPS
Official Mac requirements
- Minimum
- OS X 10.11 · Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz · 6 GB memory · 512 MB dedicated GPU · 4 GB storage · Intel build, runs on Apple silicon through Rosetta 2
- Recommended
- OS X 10.11 · Intel Core i5-3470 · 8 GB memory · 2 GB dedicated GPU
Source: store.steampowered.com
FAQ
Can the 64 GB Mac Studio M1 Ultra run Cities: Skylines?
Yes. With 64 GB we estimate 171 FPS at 1080p High.
Can Cities: Skylines hit 60 FPS on the Mac Studio M1 Ultra?
Yes: at 1440p Ultra it runs around 127 FPS.
What about 1440p and 4K?
On High, the Mac Studio M1 Ultra gets about 144 FPS at 1440p and about 84 FPS at 4K in Cities: Skylines. These are native figures.
Do these figures include MetalFX or ray tracing?
No. The headline figure is native resolution, no MetalFX and no ray tracing. Cities: Skylines has no MetalFX on Mac. Ray tracing, where a game offers it, costs a lot of FPS on any Mac.
Is Cities: Skylines native on Apple Silicon?
Not quite: it has an official macOS version, but built for Intel. On Apple Silicon it runs through Rosetta 2, built into macOS, with nothing else to install. Our figures already include that overhead.