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NES · Load: light · legacy

Nestopia: what PC you need to emulate NES

Nestopia is a NES emulator (2003); FPSHQ load rating: light (6/100). 1,955 of 1,965 catalogue GPUs (99%) pass the GPU minimum (score 150), and 456 of 456 CPUs pass the CPU minimum (score 400). 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
400
min CPU score
99%
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
1,955 / 1,965
100%
of CPUs pass the minimum
456 / 456
1 / 1GB
RAM: minimum / recommended
2003
first release year

Can my PC run this emulator?

Which GPUs run Nestopia: 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 Nestopia requirements

CPUx86 / x86-64 · 1+ cores
GPUany
RAMminimum 1 GB, recommended 1 GB
Graphics APIDirect3D 9, OpenGL
OSWindows, Linux, macOS
LicenseGPL-2.0
PlatformNES (1983)
Statuslegacy
Official site0ldsk00l.ca/nestopia

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 Nestopia minimum

CPUs that pass the Nestopia minimum

Core i5-5200UCore i5-5200U×1.9 · 2CCore i5-3210MCore i5-3210M×1.9 · 2CCore i5-6200UCore i5-6200U×2.1 · 2CCore i5-7200UCore i5-7200U×2.3 · 2CCore i5-6300HQCore i5-6300HQ×2.7 · 4CCore i7-4710HQCore i7-4710HQ×2.8 · 4CCore i7-4700HQCore i7-4700HQ×2.8 · 4CRyzen 5 2500URyzen 5 2500U×2.9 · 4CXeon E5-2650Xeon E5-2650×3.3 · 8CCore i5-7300HQCore i5-7300HQ×3.4 · 4CXeon E5-2620 v2Xeon E5-2620 v2×3.4 · 6CCore i7-4720HQCore i7-4720HQ×3.5 · 4C×1 minimumCore i5-5200UCore i5-5200U×1.9 · 2CCore i5-3210MCore i5-3210M×1.9 · 2CCore i5-6200UCore i5-6200U×2.1 · 2CCore i5-7200UCore i5-7200U×2.3 · 2CCore i5-6300HQCore i5-6300HQ×2.7 · 4CCore i7-4710HQCore i7-4710HQ×2.8 · 4CCore i7-4700HQCore i7-4700HQ×2.8 · 4CRyzen 5 2500URyzen 5 2500U×2.9 · 4CXeon E5-2650Xeon E5-2650×3.3 · 8CCore i5-7300HQCore i5-7300HQ×3.4 · 4CXeon E5-2620 v2Xeon E5-2620 v2×3.4 · 6CCore i7-4720HQCore i7-4720HQ×3.5 · 4C
In short

Which GPU do I need for Nestopia?

The minimum GPU score for Nestopia 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
400
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
99%
RAM
1–1 GB
updated · source: official Nestopia documentation, FPSHQ model estimate

Frequently asked questions

Which GPU do I need for Nestopia?
The minimum GPU score for Nestopia 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 Nestopia?
The minimum CPU score is 400: 456 of 456 catalogue CPUs pass it. Official requirements: x86 / x86-64 · 1+ cores. Emulation depends on per-core performance rather than the core count.
How much RAM does Nestopia need?
Per the Nestopia documentation: minimum 1 GB, recommended 1 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 Nestopia support?
Nestopia runs on: Windows, Linux, macOS. Graphics APIs: Direct3D 9, OpenGL. On Windows, Vulkan is usually faster (if your GPU supports it); on Linux it is Vulkan/OpenGL only.
Can my PC run Nestopia?
Pick your GPU and CPU in the "Can my PC run it" block above: the page compares their scores with the Nestopia minimum (GPU 150, CPU 400) and shows the headroom. ×1.4 or more means comfortable play at the console's native resolution.
Is Nestopia still updated?
No, Nestopia has "legacy" status: no new versions are released. Consider the active alternatives for NES in the "Other NES 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 Nestopia

All graphics cards for this emulator (9)
RTX 3090 TiRX 9070RX 9070 GRERTX 3080RX 6900 XTRTX 5060 TiRX 6800 XTNVIDIA RTX A5000RX 7700 XT