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Nintendo 3DS · Load: light · discontinued

Citra: what PC you need to emulate Nintendo 3DS

Citra is a Nintendo 3DS emulator (2014); FPSHQ load rating: light (35/100). 1,811 of 1,965 catalogue GPUs (92%) pass the GPU minimum (score 800), and 304 of 456 CPUs pass the CPU minimum (score 3,000). The most affordable suitable GPU is Zotac Trinity GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.

Key figures

Unique FPSHQ metrics from this page's data

800
min GPU score
RTX 3060 = 2,900
3,000
min CPU score
92%
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
1,811 / 1,965
67%
of CPUs pass the minimum
304 / 456
2 / 4GB
RAM: minimum / recommended
2014
first release year

Can my PC run this emulator?

Which GPUs run Citra: headroom over the minimum

GPU score ÷ the emulator's minimum score. ×1 — minimum, ×1.4 — comfortable at native resolution, ×2.2 — you can render at 2–3× resolution. Popular catalogue GPUs.

GeForce RTX 5070GeForce RTX 5070×7.8 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060 TiGeForce RTX 5060 Ti×6.1 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3070GeForce RTX 3070×5.4 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060GeForce RTX 5060×5.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060 TiGeForce RTX 3060 Ti×4.8 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 4060GeForce RTX 4060×4.6 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060GeForce RTX 3060×3.6 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3050GeForce RTX 3050×3.0 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GTX 1660 Super×2.3 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1060 6GBGeForce GTX 1060 6GB×1.9 · 1×–2×Radeon RX 580Radeon RX 580×1.6 · 1×–2×GeForce GTX 1650GeForce GTX 1650×1.4 · 1×GeForce GTX 1050 TiGeForce GTX 1050 Ti×1.0 · 1×GeForce GTX 1050GeForce GTX 1050×0.9 · <1××1 minimum×2.2GeForce RTX 5070GeForce RTX 5070×7.8 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060 TiGeForce RTX 5060 Ti×6.1 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3070GeForce RTX 3070×5.4 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060GeForce RTX 5060×5.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060 TiGeForce RTX 3060 Ti×4.8 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 4060GeForce RTX 4060×4.6 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060GeForce RTX 3060×3.6 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3050GeForce RTX 3050×3.0 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GTX 1660 Super×2.3 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1060 6GBGeForce GTX 1060 6GB×1.9 · 1×–2×Radeon RX 580Radeon RX 580×1.6 · 1×–2×GeForce GTX 1650GeForce GTX 1650×1.4 · 1×GeForce GTX 1050 TiGeForce GTX 1050 Ti×1.0 · 1×GeForce GTX 1050GeForce GTX 1050×0.9 · <1×

Official Citra requirements

CPUx86-64 / ARM64 · 2+ cores / 4 recommended
GPUOpenGL 4.3 · 1 GB VRAM or more
RAMminimum 2 GB, recommended 4 GB
Graphics APIOpenGL 4.3, Vulkan
OSWindows, Linux, macOS, Android
LicenseGPL-2.0
PlatformNintendo 3DS (2011)
Statusdiscontinued

Requirements come from the project's official documentation (check date below). FPSHQ scores are our synthetic performance scale used to match against the catalogue.

Suitable GPUs by tier

At the minimum (×1–1.4)

Comfortable (×1.4–2.2)

Headroom for 4K rendering (×2.2+)

CPUs: headroom over the Citra minimum

CPUs that pass the Citra minimum

Ryzen 5 1600XRyzen 5 1600X×1.0 · 6CCore i7-6850KCore i7-6850K×1.0 · 6CXeon E5-2687W v4Xeon E5-2687W v4×1.0 · 12CXeon E5-2667 v4Xeon E5-2667 v4×1.0 · 8CCore i5-8400TCore i5-8400T×1.0 · 6CXeon E5-2698 v3Xeon E5-2698 v3×1.0 · 16CCore i7-4790KCore i7-4790K×1.0 · 4CCore i3-10100TCore i3-10100T×1.0 · 4CRyzen 7 1700Ryzen 7 1700×1.0 · 8CXeon E5-2697 v4Xeon E5-2697 v4×1.0 · 18CCore i5-7600KCore i5-7600K×1.0 · 4CRyzen 7 1700XRyzen 7 1700X×1.0 · 8C×1 minimumRyzen 5 1600XRyzen 5 1600X×1.0 · 6CCore i7-6850KCore i7-6850K×1.0 · 6CXeon E5-2687W v4Xeon E5-2687W v4×1.0 · 12CXeon E5-2667 v4Xeon E5-2667 v4×1.0 · 8CCore i5-8400TCore i5-8400T×1.0 · 6CXeon E5-2698 v3Xeon E5-2698 v3×1.0 · 16CCore i7-4790KCore i7-4790K×1.0 · 4CCore i3-10100TCore i3-10100T×1.0 · 4CRyzen 7 1700Ryzen 7 1700×1.0 · 8CXeon E5-2697 v4Xeon E5-2697 v4×1.0 · 18CCore i5-7600KCore i5-7600K×1.0 · 4CRyzen 7 1700XRyzen 7 1700X×1.0 · 8C
In short

Which GPU do I need for Citra?

The minimum GPU score for Citra is 800 (FPSHQ scale). The most affordable suitable card is Zotac Trinity GeForce GTX 1050 Ti; rendering at 2–3× resolution needs ×2.2 headroom — the NVIDIA Quadro P5000 level and up. The project officially requires: OpenGL 4.3 · 1 GB VRAM or more.

min GPU score
800
min CPU score
3,000
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
92%
RAM
2–4 GB
updated · source: FPSHQ model estimate

Frequently asked questions

Which GPU do I need for Citra?
The minimum GPU score for Citra is 800 (FPSHQ scale). The most affordable suitable card is Zotac Trinity GeForce GTX 1050 Ti; rendering at 2–3× resolution needs ×2.2 headroom — the NVIDIA Quadro P5000 level and up. The project officially requires: OpenGL 4.3 · 1 GB VRAM or more.
Which CPU do I need for Citra?
The minimum CPU score is 3,000: 304 of 456 catalogue CPUs pass it. Official requirements: x86-64 / ARM64 · 2+ cores / 4 recommended. Emulation depends on per-core performance rather than the core count.
How much RAM does Citra need?
Per the Citra documentation: minimum 2 GB, recommended 4 GB. The emulator keeps the game image and shader cache in memory, so a RAM shortage causes stutter during shader compilation.
Which operating systems does Citra support?
Citra runs on: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android. Graphics APIs: OpenGL 4.3, Vulkan. On Windows, Vulkan is usually faster (if your GPU supports it); on Linux it is Vulkan/OpenGL only.
Can my PC run Citra?
Pick your GPU and CPU in the "Can my PC run it" block above: the page compares their scores with the Citra minimum (GPU 800, CPU 3,000) and shows the headroom. ×1.4 or more means comfortable play at the console's native resolution.
Is Citra still updated?
No, Citra has "discontinued" status: no new versions are released. Consider the active alternatives for Nintendo 3DS in the "Other Nintendo 3DS emulators" list above.

Methodology and sources

This page uses the FPSHQ database: the GPU and CPU catalogue with synthetic benchmark scores, official game system requirements, FPS measurements from users of the FPSHQ app and the FPSHQ performance model. Calculated values are estimates, not a measurement of your exact configuration: the real result depends on drivers, settings and the rest of the hardware. More about the methodology →

Sources:
FPSHQ Team · Data updated

All pages with Citra

All graphics cards for this emulator (11)
RTX 3090 TiRX 9070RTX 5070RX 9070 GRERTX 3080RX 6900 XTRTX 5060 TiRX 6800 XTNVIDIA RTX A5000RX 7700 XTRX 6800