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NES / SNES · Load: light · active

Mesen: what PC you need to emulate NES / SNES

Mesen is a NES / SNES emulator (2017); FPSHQ load rating: light (8/100). 1,955 of 1,965 catalogue GPUs (99%) pass the GPU minimum (score 150), and 454 of 456 CPUs pass the CPU minimum (score 800). The most affordable suitable GPU is Intel HD Graphics 630.

Key figures

Unique FPSHQ metrics from this page's data

150
min GPU score
RTX 3060 = 2,900
800
min CPU score
99%
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
1,955 / 1,965
100%
of CPUs pass the minimum
454 / 456
1 / 2GB
RAM: minimum / recommended
2017
first release year

Can my PC run this emulator?

Which GPUs run Mesen: 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 5070×41.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060 TiGeForce RTX 5060 Ti×32.7 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3070GeForce RTX 3070×28.7 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060GeForce RTX 5060×28.0 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060 TiGeForce RTX 3060 Ti×25.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 4060GeForce RTX 4060×24.7 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060GeForce RTX 3060×19.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3050GeForce RTX 3050×16.0 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GTX 1660 Super×12.5 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1060 6GBGeForce GTX 1060 6GB×10.0 · 2×–3×Radeon RX 580Radeon RX 580×8.7 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1650GeForce GTX 1650×7.3 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1050 TiGeForce GTX 1050 Ti×5.3 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1050GeForce GTX 1050×4.7 · 2×–3××1 minimum×2.2GeForce RTX 5070GeForce RTX 5070×41.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060 TiGeForce RTX 5060 Ti×32.7 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3070GeForce RTX 3070×28.7 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060GeForce RTX 5060×28.0 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060 TiGeForce RTX 3060 Ti×25.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 4060GeForce RTX 4060×24.7 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060GeForce RTX 3060×19.3 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3050GeForce RTX 3050×16.0 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GTX 1660 Super×12.5 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1060 6GBGeForce GTX 1060 6GB×10.0 · 2×–3×Radeon RX 580Radeon RX 580×8.7 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1650GeForce GTX 1650×7.3 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1050 TiGeForce GTX 1050 Ti×5.3 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1050GeForce GTX 1050×4.7 · 2×–3×

Official Mesen requirements

CPUx86-64 / ARM64 · 1+ cores / 2 recommended
GPUany
RAMminimum 1 GB, recommended 2 GB
Graphics APIDirect3D 11, OpenGL, Vulkan, Metal
OSWindows, Linux, macOS
LicenseGPL-3.0
PlatformNES / SNES (1983)
Statusactive
Official sitemesen.ca

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)

  • Intel HD Graphics 630
  • Radeon 610M
  • Intel UHD Graphics 630
  • Radeon Vega 6

Comfortable (×1.4–2.2)

  • Radeon Vega 8
  • Intel UHD Graphics 730
  • Intel UHD Graphics 750
  • Intel UHD Graphics 770
  • Radeon Vega 11

Headroom for 4K rendering (×2.2+)

CPUs: headroom over the Mesen minimum

CPUs that pass the Mesen minimum

Core i5-6200UCore i5-6200U×1.0 · 2CCore i5-7200UCore i5-7200U×1.2 · 2CCore i5-6300HQCore i5-6300HQ×1.3 · 4CCore i7-4710HQCore i7-4710HQ×1.4 · 4CCore i7-4700HQCore i7-4700HQ×1.4 · 4CRyzen 5 2500URyzen 5 2500U×1.4 · 4CXeon E5-2650Xeon E5-2650×1.6 · 8CCore i5-7300HQCore i5-7300HQ×1.7 · 4CXeon E5-2620 v2Xeon E5-2620 v2×1.7 · 6CCore i7-4720HQCore i7-4720HQ×1.7 · 4CRyzen 5 3500URyzen 5 3500U×1.8 · 4CCore i7-6700HQCore i7-6700HQ×1.8 · 4C×1 minimumCore i5-6200UCore i5-6200U×1.0 · 2CCore i5-7200UCore i5-7200U×1.2 · 2CCore i5-6300HQCore i5-6300HQ×1.3 · 4CCore i7-4710HQCore i7-4710HQ×1.4 · 4CCore i7-4700HQCore i7-4700HQ×1.4 · 4CRyzen 5 2500URyzen 5 2500U×1.4 · 4CXeon E5-2650Xeon E5-2650×1.6 · 8CCore i5-7300HQCore i5-7300HQ×1.7 · 4CXeon E5-2620 v2Xeon E5-2620 v2×1.7 · 6CCore i7-4720HQCore i7-4720HQ×1.7 · 4CRyzen 5 3500URyzen 5 3500U×1.8 · 4CCore i7-6700HQCore i7-6700HQ×1.8 · 4C
In short

Which GPU do I need for Mesen?

The minimum GPU score for Mesen is 150 (FPSHQ scale). The most affordable suitable card is Intel HD Graphics 630; rendering at 2–3× resolution needs ×2.2 headroom — the GeForce GT 1030 level and up. The project officially requires: any.

min GPU score
150
min CPU score
800
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
99%
RAM
1–2 GB
updated · source: official Mesen documentation, FPSHQ model estimate

Frequently asked questions

Which GPU do I need for Mesen?
The minimum GPU score for Mesen is 150 (FPSHQ scale). The most affordable suitable card is Intel HD Graphics 630; rendering at 2–3× resolution needs ×2.2 headroom — the GeForce GT 1030 level and up. The project officially requires: any.
Which CPU do I need for Mesen?
The minimum CPU score is 800: 454 of 456 catalogue CPUs pass it. Official requirements: x86-64 / ARM64 · 1+ cores / 2 recommended. Emulation depends on per-core performance rather than the core count.
How much RAM does Mesen need?
Per the Mesen documentation: minimum 1 GB, recommended 2 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 Mesen support?
Mesen runs on: Windows, Linux, macOS. Graphics APIs: Direct3D 11, OpenGL, Vulkan, Metal. On Windows, Vulkan is usually faster (if your GPU supports it); on Linux it is Vulkan/OpenGL only.
Can my PC run Mesen?
Pick your GPU and CPU in the "Can my PC run it" block above: the page compares their scores with the Mesen minimum (GPU 150, CPU 800) and shows the headroom. ×1.4 or more means comfortable play at the console's native resolution.
Is Mesen still updated?
Yes, Mesen is an active project; status last checked Oct 4, 2026. Official site: https://www.mesen.ca/.

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 Mesen

All graphics cards for this emulator (10)
RX 7900 XTRTX 3090 TiRX 9070RX 9070 GRERTX 3080RX 6900 XTRTX 5060 TiRX 6800 XTNVIDIA RTX A5000RX 7700 XT