Which CPU should I get for this game?

DudePerson1357

D
Hello! I've been looking into buying a new computer and really want to be able to play this game on it.

From what I've seen, the CPU is very important to Planet Zoo's performance once the zoo becomes larger. I've got a list of CPUs I'm considering, and was wondering if anyone has experience with how well the game will run on them with large zoos. I believe that they do meet the recommended requirements, but I would appreciate some firsthand accounts and opinions.

The CPUs are:

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core/16 Threads
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core/12 Threads
Intel Core i5-9600KF 3.7 GHz 6-Core/6 Threads
Intel Core i7-9700KF 3.6 GHz 8-Core/8 Threads

Should I go with AMD or Intel? Does it matter? Does the game need more cores, or are more threads better? Is there another CPU model I should consider?

The i7 is almost twice as much as the price of the AMDs and Intel i5. So I am really hoping that the i5 or AMDs will be enough for bigger zoos. The FPS doesn't have to be a perfect 60+ all the time, but I also don't want a laggy slideslow either.

I would really appreciate any help!
 

Krally

K
DudePerson1357 said:
Hello! I've been looking into buying a new computer and really want to be able to play this game on it.

From what I've seen, the CPU is very important to Planet Zoo's performance once the zoo becomes larger. I've got a list of CPUs I'm considering, and was wondering if anyone has experience with how well the game will run on them with large zoos. I believe that they do meet the recommended requirements, but I would appreciate some firsthand accounts and opinions.

The CPUs are:

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core/16 Threads
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core/12 Threads
Intel Core i5-9600KF 3.7 GHz 6-Core/6 Threads
Intel Core i7-9700KF 3.6 GHz 8-Core/8 Threads

Should I go with AMD or Intel? Does it matter? Does the game need more cores, or are more threads better? Is there another CPU model I should consider?

The i7 is almost twice as much as the price of the AMDs and Intel i5. So I am really hoping that the i5 or AMDs will be enough for bigger zoos. The FPS doesn't have to be a perfect 60+ all the time, but I also don't want a laggy slideslow either.

I would really appreciate any help!
Click to expand...

Are you building a PC or buying one? If building are you using a GPU? The F series Intel's don't have onboard graphics.

According to this post: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/cobra-engine-performace.509678/ the engine won't take advantage of a lot of cores.

Anantech has a bench that will let you compare CPUs/GPUs etc: https://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU-2019/2224

Games like Civilization are CPU intensive if you look at the benchmarks. CPU/GPU aren't the whole story, RAM amount is important as well as having a fast hard drive.
 

DudePerson1357

D
Krally said:
Are you building a PC or buying one? If building are you using a GPU? The F series Intel's don't have onboard graphics.

According to this post: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/cobra-engine-performace.509678/ the engine won't take advantage of a lot of cores.

Anantech has a bench that will let you compare CPUs/GPUs etc: https://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU-2019/2224

Games like Civilization are CPU intensive if you look at the benchmarks. CPU/GPU aren't the whole story, RAM amount is important as well as having a fast hard drive.
Click to expand...

I'm looking to build, and will be getting a dedicated GPU as well. Just currently focusing on the CPU at the moment because of that being the main source of low performance once parks get large.

Thanks a lot for the links, they're very helpful! I'll certainly give the Anantech benchmarks a look. It's unfortunate that the engine doesn't really use cores, does that mean the threading is irrelevant as well for running the game engine? Sorry if that's a dumb question, still trying to learn about this stuff.
 

paul78

paul78
My advice would be to probably invest in the best one your budget will allow. Keep in mind tho with the planet series games lag is inevitable no matter how good the setup. When your zoo or park gets big and detailed it catches up to even the best pc setups.
 

paul78

paul78
Just a example. When I heard pz was coming to pc and decided to get a pc capable of playing it I knew nothing about specs as I always had consoles. So I looked at several desktops and benchmarks for different setups. I was going to get a Alienware r7 but it sold out right before I could get it. Then I switched to laptops. I was going to get a Alienware but learned they ran super hot. So after awhile I settled on a ASUS rog. The specs are cpu i79750. Gpu 2060 rtx. 16gb ram and had good heat dissipation. It’s been amazing couldn’t be happier. It played ladysigners Melin Zoo with very minimal lag. A few odd workshop items cause a tad bit of lag sometimes when up close to them but I’ve had large zoos with 3-4500 guests and it’s ran perfect.
 

marcnesiumHH

M
DudePerson1357 said:
I'm looking to build, and will be getting a dedicated GPU as well. Just currently focusing on the CPU at the moment because of that being the main source of low performance once parks get large.

Thanks a lot for the links, they're very helpful! I'll certainly give the Anantech benchmarks a look. It's unfortunate that the engine doesn't really use cores, does that mean the threading is irrelevant as well for running the game engine? Sorry if that's a dumb question, still trying to learn about this stuff.
Click to expand...
It depends on what you consider a large zoo. Starting with approx. 25 different species, medium decoration, approx. 25% of the map you will run into worse performance no matter which CPU you get from your list. The game is not optimized for multi-core use like most games out there. You can sustain performance by limiting guest numbers or keep your 'zoo' smaller. I would not invest a dime more than the cheapest CPU on your list when only considering this one game.
 

Krally

K
DudePerson1357 said:
I'm looking to build, and will be getting a dedicated GPU as well. Just currently focusing on the CPU at the moment because of that being the main source of low performance once parks get large.

Thanks a lot for the links, they're very helpful! I'll certainly give the Anantech benchmarks a look. It's unfortunate that the engine doesn't really use cores, does that mean the threading is irrelevant as well for running the game engine? Sorry if that's a dumb question, still trying to learn about this stuff.
Click to expand...

I personally wouldn't put all my eggs into one PC basket. The processor is important as is the GPU of course, but I couldn't live without a Samsung m.2 drive and 32GB of RAM.

I don't know about irrelevant as you are still probably running other programs even when you game, but apparently it's not going to help much for this game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom