How many FPS does Cities: Skylines get on the MacBook Pro M5 Max? 1080p, 1440p and 4K performance
178FPS
1080p High
Estimate
167
1440p
115
4K
About 178 FPS at 1080p on High: Cities: Skylines runs through Rosetta 2 on the MacBook Pro M5 Max (Apple M5 Max, 32-core GPU, 36 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 MacBook Pro M5 Max by resolution and quality
Estimate| Resolution | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 179FPS | 179FPS | 178FPS | 175FPS |
| 1440p | 176FPS | 173FPS | 167FPS | 157FPS |
| 4K | 146FPS | 133FPS | 115FPS | 97FPS |
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
≈ 157 FPS
For 30 FPS
1440p · Ultra
≈ 157 FPS
Moving to 1440p High puts the MacBook Pro M5 Max at about 167 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 MacBook Pro M5 Max enough for Cities: Skylines?
Yes, comfortably: 178 FPS at 1080p High. You can move to 1440p (167 FPS) or your display’s native resolution.
Excellent · 1440p 167 FPS · 4K 115 FPS
MacBook Pro M5 Max or Mac Studio M5 Ultra for Cities: Skylines?
In Cities: Skylines at 1080p High, the MacBook Pro M5 Max gets 178 FPS and the Mac Studio M5 Ultra 180 FPS: 1% more.
MacBook Pro M5 Max specs
- Chip
- Apple M5 Max
- GPU cores
- 32 / 40
- Unified memory
- 36 / 48 / 64 / 128 GB
- Cooling
- Fan
- Geekbench Metal
- 195,368
- Tier
- High end · 53/100
Other Macs with the M5 Max chip
The Apple M5 Max also powers the Mac Studio M5 Max. In Cities: Skylines they perform practically the same as the MacBook Pro M5 Max.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 36 GB | 178FPS | 167FPS |
| 48 GB | 178FPS | 167FPS |
| 64 GB | 178FPS | 167FPS |
| 128 GB | 178FPS | 167FPS |
Other Macs for Cities: Skylines
1080p · High
Mac 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 analysisMac Studio M5 Ultra
M5 Ultra · 64/80 GPU
180FPSView 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 MacBook Pro M5 Max
- Assassin's Creed Shadows52FPS
- Crimson Desert78FPS
- Cyberpunk 207786FPS
- Baldur's Gate 3117FPS
- Control Ultimate Edition115FPS
- Death Stranding Director's Cut140FPS
- Hitman World of Assassination142FPS
- Lies of P143FPS
- Metro Exodus138FPS
- Resident Evil 4134FPS
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 36 GB MacBook Pro M5 Max run Cities: Skylines?
Yes. With 36 GB we estimate 178 FPS at 1080p High.
Can Cities: Skylines hit 60 FPS on the MacBook Pro M5 Max?
Yes: at 1440p Ultra it runs around 157 FPS.
What about 1440p and 4K?
On High, the MacBook Pro M5 Max gets about 167 FPS at 1440p and about 115 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.