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Nintendo 3DS · Load: medium · discontinued

Lime3DS: what PC you need to emulate Nintendo 3DS

Lime3DS is a Nintendo 3DS emulator (2024); FPSHQ load rating: medium (45/100). 1,734 of 1,965 catalogue GPUs (88%) pass the GPU minimum (score 1,000), and 391 of 456 CPUs pass the CPU minimum (score 2,200). The most affordable suitable GPU is Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6400.

Key figures

Unique FPSHQ metrics from this page's data

1,000
min GPU score
RTX 3060 = 2,900
2,200
min CPU score
88%
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
1,734 / 1,965
86%
of CPUs pass the minimum
391 / 456
4 / 8GB
RAM: minimum / recommended
2024
first release year

Can my PC run this emulator?

Which GPUs run Lime3DS: 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 5070×6.2 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060 TiGeForce RTX 5060 Ti×4.9 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3070GeForce RTX 3070×4.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060GeForce RTX 5060×4.2 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060 TiGeForce RTX 3060 Ti×3.8 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 4060GeForce RTX 4060×3.7 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060GeForce RTX 3060×2.9 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3050GeForce RTX 3050×2.4 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GTX 1660 Super×1.9 · 1×–2×GeForce GTX 1060 6GBGeForce GTX 1060 6GB×1.5 · 1×–2×Radeon RX 580Radeon RX 580×1.3 · 1×GeForce GTX 1650GeForce GTX 1650×1.1 · 1×GeForce GTX 1050 TiGeForce GTX 1050 Ti×0.8 · <1×GeForce GTX 1050GeForce GTX 1050×0.7 · <1××1 minimum×2.2GeForce RTX 5070GeForce RTX 5070×6.2 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060 TiGeForce RTX 5060 Ti×4.9 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3070GeForce RTX 3070×4.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060GeForce RTX 5060×4.2 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060 TiGeForce RTX 3060 Ti×3.8 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 4060GeForce RTX 4060×3.7 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060GeForce RTX 3060×2.9 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3050GeForce RTX 3050×2.4 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GTX 1660 Super×1.9 · 1×–2×GeForce GTX 1060 6GBGeForce GTX 1060 6GB×1.5 · 1×–2×Radeon RX 580Radeon RX 580×1.3 · 1×GeForce GTX 1650GeForce GTX 1650×1.1 · 1×GeForce GTX 1050 TiGeForce GTX 1050 Ti×0.8 · <1×GeForce GTX 1050GeForce GTX 1050×0.7 · <1×

Official Lime3DS requirements

CPUx86-64 / ARM64 · 2+ cores / 4 recommended
GPUOpenGL 4.3 / Vulkan 1.1 · 1 GB VRAM or more
RAMminimum 4 GB, recommended 8 GB
Graphics APIVulkan, OpenGL 4.3
OSWindows 10+, 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)

  • Radeon RX 6400
  • Acer Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 6400
  • PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6400
  • Zotac Trinity GeForce GTX 970
  • Zotac Trinity GeForce GTX 780 Ti
  • Zotac Trinity GeForce GTX 1650
  • Radeon RX 570
  • Radeon RX 480
  • GeForce GTX 970
  • GeForce GTX 780 Ti

Comfortable (×1.4–2.2)

  • Zotac Trinity GeForce GTX 1650 Super
  • Radeon RX 590
  • GeForce GTX 1650 Super
  • PNY XLR8 GeForce GTX 1650 Super
  • Palit GamingPro GeForce GTX 1650 Super
  • KFA2 EX GeForce GTX 1650 Super
  • ASUS ProArt GeForce GTX 1650 Super
  • Palit GameRock GeForce GTX 1650 Super
  • Radeon RX 6500 XT
  • Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 1650 Super

Headroom for 4K rendering (×2.2+)

CPUs: headroom over the Lime3DS minimum

CPUs that pass the Lime3DS minimum

Core i5-2500Core i5-2500×1.0 · 4CXeon E5-2695 v2Xeon E5-2695 v2×1.0 · 12CRyzen 5 4500URyzen 5 4500U×1.0 · 6CCore i5-3330Core i5-3330×1.0 · 4CCore i5-2500KCore i5-2500K×1.0 · 4CCore i3-7100Core i3-7100×1.0 · 2CCore i7-9750HCore i7-9750H×1.0 · 6CCore i5-10300HCore i5-10300H×1.0 · 4CXeon E5-2680 v2Xeon E5-2680 v2×1.0 · 10CCore i5-4430Core i5-4430×1.1 · 4CXeon E5-2660 v3Xeon E5-2660 v3×1.1 · 10CXeon E5-2650 v4Xeon E5-2650 v4×1.1 · 12C×1 minimumCore i5-2500Core i5-2500×1.0 · 4CXeon E5-2695 v2Xeon E5-2695 v2×1.0 · 12CRyzen 5 4500URyzen 5 4500U×1.0 · 6CCore i5-3330Core i5-3330×1.0 · 4CCore i5-2500KCore i5-2500K×1.0 · 4CCore i3-7100Core i3-7100×1.0 · 2CCore i7-9750HCore i7-9750H×1.0 · 6CCore i5-10300HCore i5-10300H×1.0 · 4CXeon E5-2680 v2Xeon E5-2680 v2×1.0 · 10CCore i5-4430Core i5-4430×1.1 · 4CXeon E5-2660 v3Xeon E5-2660 v3×1.1 · 10CXeon E5-2650 v4Xeon E5-2650 v4×1.1 · 12C
In short

Which GPU do I need for Lime3DS?

The minimum GPU score for Lime3DS is 1,000 (FPSHQ scale). The most affordable suitable card is Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6400; rendering at 2–3× resolution needs ×2.2 headroom — the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT level and up. The project officially requires: OpenGL 4.3 / Vulkan 1.1 · 1 GB VRAM or more.

min GPU score
1,000
min CPU score
2,200
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
88%
RAM
4–8 GB
updated · source: FPSHQ model estimate

Frequently asked questions

Which GPU do I need for Lime3DS?
The minimum GPU score for Lime3DS is 1,000 (FPSHQ scale). The most affordable suitable card is Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6400; rendering at 2–3× resolution needs ×2.2 headroom — the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT level and up. The project officially requires: OpenGL 4.3 / Vulkan 1.1 · 1 GB VRAM or more.
Which CPU do I need for Lime3DS?
The minimum CPU score is 2,200: 391 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 Lime3DS need?
Per the Lime3DS documentation: minimum 4 GB, recommended 8 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 Lime3DS support?
Lime3DS runs on: Windows 10+, Linux, macOS, Android. Graphics APIs: Vulkan, OpenGL 4.3. On Windows, Vulkan is usually faster (if your GPU supports it); on Linux it is Vulkan/OpenGL only.
Can my PC run Lime3DS?
Pick your GPU and CPU in the "Can my PC run it" block above: the page compares their scores with the Lime3DS minimum (GPU 1,000, CPU 2,200) and shows the headroom. ×1.4 or more means comfortable play at the console's native resolution.
Is Lime3DS still updated?
No, Lime3DS 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 Lime3DS

All graphics cards for this emulator (11)
RTX 4080 SuperRTX 3090 TiRX 9070RTX 3090RX 9070 GRERTX 3080RX 6900 XTRTX 5060 TiRX 6800 XTNVIDIA RTX A5000RX 7700 XT