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SNES · Load: light · discontinued

ZSNES: what PC you need to emulate SNES

ZSNES is a SNES emulator (1997); FPSHQ load rating: light (8/100). 1,951 of 1,965 catalogue GPUs (99%) pass the GPU minimum (score 200), and 456 of 456 CPUs pass the CPU minimum (score 500). The most affordable suitable GPU is Radeon Vega 8.

Key figures

Unique FPSHQ metrics from this page's data

200
min GPU score
RTX 3060 = 2,900
500
min CPU score
99%
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
1,951 / 1,965
100%
of CPUs pass the minimum
456 / 456
1 / 1GB
RAM: minimum / recommended
1997
first release year

Can my PC run this emulator?

Which GPUs run ZSNES: 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 5070×31.0 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060 TiGeForce RTX 5060 Ti×24.5 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3070GeForce RTX 3070×21.5 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060GeForce RTX 5060×21.0 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060 TiGeForce RTX 3060 Ti×19.0 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 4060GeForce RTX 4060×18.5 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060GeForce RTX 3060×14.5 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3050GeForce RTX 3050×12.0 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GTX 1660 Super×9.4 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1060 6GBGeForce GTX 1060 6GB×7.5 · 2×–3×Radeon RX 580Radeon RX 580×6.5 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1650GeForce GTX 1650×5.5 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1050 TiGeForce GTX 1050 Ti×4.0 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1050GeForce GTX 1050×3.5 · 2×–3××1 minimum×2.2GeForce RTX 5070GeForce RTX 5070×31.0 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060 TiGeForce RTX 5060 Ti×24.5 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3070GeForce RTX 3070×21.5 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 5060GeForce RTX 5060×21.0 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060 TiGeForce RTX 3060 Ti×19.0 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 4060GeForce RTX 4060×18.5 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3060GeForce RTX 3060×14.5 · 2×–3×GeForce RTX 3050GeForce RTX 3050×12.0 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1660 SuperGeForce GTX 1660 Super×9.4 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1060 6GBGeForce GTX 1060 6GB×7.5 · 2×–3×Radeon RX 580Radeon RX 580×6.5 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1650GeForce GTX 1650×5.5 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1050 TiGeForce GTX 1050 Ti×4.0 · 2×–3×GeForce GTX 1050GeForce GTX 1050×3.5 · 2×–3×

Official ZSNES requirements

CPUx86 (32-bit) · 1+ cores
GPUany
RAMminimum 1 GB, recommended 1 GB
Graphics APIDirect3D, OpenGL (legacy)
OSWindows, Linux, DOS (32-bit)
LicenseGPL-2.0
PlatformSNES (1990)
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 ZSNES minimum

CPUs that pass the ZSNES minimum

Core i5-5200UCore i5-5200U×1.5 · 2CCore i5-3210MCore i5-3210M×1.5 · 2CCore i5-6200UCore i5-6200U×1.7 · 2CCore i5-7200UCore i5-7200U×1.8 · 2CCore i5-6300HQCore i5-6300HQ×2.1 · 4CCore i7-4710HQCore i7-4710HQ×2.2 · 4CCore i7-4700HQCore i7-4700HQ×2.2 · 4CRyzen 5 2500URyzen 5 2500U×2.3 · 4CXeon E5-2650Xeon E5-2650×2.6 · 8CCore i5-7300HQCore i5-7300HQ×2.7 · 4CXeon E5-2620 v2Xeon E5-2620 v2×2.7 · 6CCore i7-4720HQCore i7-4720HQ×2.8 · 4C×1 minimumCore i5-5200UCore i5-5200U×1.5 · 2CCore i5-3210MCore i5-3210M×1.5 · 2CCore i5-6200UCore i5-6200U×1.7 · 2CCore i5-7200UCore i5-7200U×1.8 · 2CCore i5-6300HQCore i5-6300HQ×2.1 · 4CCore i7-4710HQCore i7-4710HQ×2.2 · 4CCore i7-4700HQCore i7-4700HQ×2.2 · 4CRyzen 5 2500URyzen 5 2500U×2.3 · 4CXeon E5-2650Xeon E5-2650×2.6 · 8CCore i5-7300HQCore i5-7300HQ×2.7 · 4CXeon E5-2620 v2Xeon E5-2620 v2×2.7 · 6CCore i7-4720HQCore i7-4720HQ×2.8 · 4C
In short

Which GPU do I need for ZSNES?

The minimum GPU score for ZSNES is 200 (FPSHQ scale). The most affordable suitable card is Radeon Vega 8; rendering at 2–3× resolution needs ×2.2 headroom — the Radeon RX 550 level and up. The project officially requires: any.

min GPU score
200
min CPU score
500
of catalogue GPUs pass the minimum
99%
RAM
1–1 GB
updated · source: FPSHQ model estimate

Frequently asked questions

Which GPU do I need for ZSNES?
The minimum GPU score for ZSNES is 200 (FPSHQ scale). The most affordable suitable card is Radeon Vega 8; rendering at 2–3× resolution needs ×2.2 headroom — the Radeon RX 550 level and up. The project officially requires: any.
Which CPU do I need for ZSNES?
The minimum CPU score is 500: 456 of 456 catalogue CPUs pass it. Official requirements: x86 (32-bit) · 1+ cores. Emulation depends on per-core performance rather than the core count.
How much RAM does ZSNES need?
Per the ZSNES 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 ZSNES support?
ZSNES runs on: Windows, Linux, DOS (32-bit). Graphics APIs: Direct3D, OpenGL (legacy). On Windows, Vulkan is usually faster (if your GPU supports it); on Linux it is Vulkan/OpenGL only.
Can my PC run ZSNES?
Pick your GPU and CPU in the "Can my PC run it" block above: the page compares their scores with the ZSNES minimum (GPU 200, CPU 500) and shows the headroom. ×1.4 or more means comfortable play at the console's native resolution.
Is ZSNES still updated?
No, ZSNES has "discontinued" status: no new versions are released. Consider the active alternatives for SNES in the "Other SNES 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 ZSNES

All graphics cards for this emulator (10)
RTX 3090 TiRX 9070RTX 5070RX 9070 GRERTX 3080RX 6900 XTRTX 5060 TiRX 6800 XTNVIDIA RTX A5000RX 7700 XT