How many FPS does Cities: Skylines get on the Mac Studio M5 Ultra? 1080p, 1440p and 4K performance
180FPS
1080p High
Estimate
179
1440p
163
4K
About 180 FPS at 1080p on High: Cities: Skylines runs through Rosetta 2 on the Mac Studio M5 Ultra (Apple M5 Ultra, 64-core GPU, 96 GB). It has headroom to spare, so you can raise resolution or quality.
Data reviewed October 1, 2026 · how we calculate it
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Cities: Skylines FPS on Mac Studio M5 Ultra by resolution and quality
Estimate| Resolution | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 180FPS | 180FPS | 180FPS | 180FPS |
| 1440p | 180FPS | 179FPS | 179FPS | 177FPS |
| 4K | 175FPS | 171FPS | 163FPS | 152FPS |
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
≈ 177 FPS
For 30 FPS
1440p · Ultra
≈ 177 FPS
Moving to 1440p High puts the Mac Studio M5 Ultra at about 179 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 M5 Ultra enough for Cities: Skylines?
Yes, comfortably: 180 FPS at 1080p High. You can move to 1440p (179 FPS) or your display’s native resolution.
Excellent · 1440p 179 FPS · 4K 163 FPS
Mac Studio M5 Ultra specs
- Chip
- Apple M5 Ultra
- GPU cores
- 64 / 80
- Unified memory
- 96 / 256 / 512 GB
- Cooling
- Fan
- Geekbench Metal
- 329,857
- Tier
- Enthusiast · 90/100
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 96 GB | 180FPS | 179FPS |
| 256 GB | 180FPS | 179FPS |
| 512 GB | 180FPS | 179FPS |
Other Macs for Cities: Skylines
1080p · High
MacBook Pro M5 Max
M5 Max · 32/40 GPU
178FPSView analysisMac Studio M5 Max
M5 Max · 32/40 GPU
178FPSView analysisMacBook Pro M5 Pro
M5 Pro · 16/20 GPU
162FPSView analysis
Mac mini M5 Pro
M5 Pro · 16/20 GPU
163FPSView analysis
MacBook Air M5
M5 · 8/10 GPU
104FPSView analysisMacBook Pro M5
M5 · 10 GPU
128FPSView analysisMacBook Pro M4 Max
M4 Max · 32/40 GPU
175FPSView analysisMac Studio M4 Max
M4 Max · 32/40 GPU
175FPSView analysis
Cities: Skylines on every Mac →
Shopping for an all-round gaming Mac? Mac ranking by real FPS →
Other games on the Mac Studio M5 Ultra
- Assassin's Creed Shadows90FPS
- Crimson Desert111FPS
- Cyberpunk 2077114FPS
- Baldur's Gate 3140FPS
- Control Ultimate Edition140FPS
- Death Stranding Director's Cut144FPS
- Hitman World of Assassination144FPS
- Lies of P144FPS
- Metro Exodus143FPS
- Resident Evil 4143FPS
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 96 GB Mac Studio M5 Ultra run Cities: Skylines?
Yes. With 96 GB we estimate 180 FPS at 1080p High.
Can Cities: Skylines hit 60 FPS on the Mac Studio M5 Ultra?
Yes: at 1440p Ultra it runs around 177 FPS.
What about 1440p and 4K?
On High, the Mac Studio M5 Ultra gets about 179 FPS at 1440p and about 163 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.