FPS-per-Rand database: RX 9070 build for strategy and sim games

Quick Answer

For strategy and sim games, the RX 9070 delivers 90–120 FPS at 1440p Ultra in Total War: Warhammer III and 60–80 FPS in Cities Skylines II on a large city — but the CPU matters as much as the GPU in this genre. A Ryzen 7 7700X + RX 9070 build at approximately R24,000 provides the best strategy and sim experience for SA buyers at that budget.

Why CPU Choice Matters More for Strategy Games

Total War, Cities Skylines II, and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 are CPU-bound in ways most other genres are not. Unit AI, terrain streaming, and simulation ticks run primarily on CPU threads. A Ryzen 7 7700X at R5,000 with 8 cores at 5.4 GHz boost is the minimum CPU for serious Total War and Cities Skylines II play — weaker CPUs bottleneck the RX 9070's GPU capability.

For the best sim results, consider pairing with a Ryzen 9 9950X3D or Core Ultra 9 285K, though this pushes the total build above R40,000.

RX 9070 Strategy and Sim Build

• GPU: RX 9070 16 GB — R11,500
• CPU: Ryzen 7 7700X — R5,000
• RAM: 64 GB DDR5-5600 — R4,000 (Cities Skylines II benefits significantly)
• SSD: 2 TB NVMe Gen4 — R2,000
• Motherboard: B650 ATX — R3,000
• Total: approximately R25,500

FPS Benchmarks for Strategy and Sim Titles

At 1440p with the Ryzen 7 7700X pairing:

• Total War: Warhammer III (Ultra battles): 88–110 FPS
• Cities Skylines II (large city, High): 50–70 FPS
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (High): 60–80 FPS
• Civilization VII (main view): 140–180 FPS
• Age of Empires IV (High): 150–200 FPS

Cities Skylines II late-game performance is GPU and CPU co-limited — 60–70 FPS on a large city is the realistic expectation even on high-end hardware.

FAQ

How does the RX 9070 perform in Cities Skylines II at 1440p?

In Cities Skylines II on a medium-sized city, the RX 9070 delivers 65–85 FPS at High settings with the Ryzen 7 7700X. Large cities (500,000+ population) drop to 45–65 FPS due to CPU simulation limits — this is a game engine limitation affecting all GPUs. The RX 9070's 16 GB VRAM handles texture streaming better than 8 GB alternatives, reducing city load stutter.

Is 64 GB RAM worth it for strategy games with the RX 9070 build?

Yes for Cities Skylines II specifically — the game benefits measurably from 64 GB versus 32 GB on large cities. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 also uses extensive RAM for terrain data caching. Other strategy titles like Total War and Civilization VII show minimal difference between 32 GB and 64 GB. The R2,000 cost to upgrade from 32 GB to 64 GB DDR5 is worthwhile if these are your primary games.

Does the RX 9070 support DirectStorage for faster strategy game loading?

Yes — AMD's RX 9070 supports DirectStorage via PCIe 4.0 bandwidth, allowing compatible NVMe SSDs to stream assets directly to VRAM. Forza Horizon 5 and a growing list of strategy titles use DirectStorage for faster world streaming. Pair with a Gen4 NVMe SSD to benefit from this — Gen3 SSDs will bottleneck DirectStorage throughput.