What are the minimum system requirements? I haven't tried this emulator yet.
https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/
What operating systems are supported?
Dolphin is a cross-platform emulator that runs on Windows (10 and newer), Linux, macOS (10.15 Catalina and up), and Android (5.0 and above). Other Unix-like systems (such as FreeBSD) may work but are not officially supported. Operating systems are required to be 64-bit to run Dolphin.
Which CPU should I use?
Dolphin is a dual core application that relies upon IPC (Instructions Per Clock) and clockspeed for performance. Additional cores will not make Dolphin go any faster, though an "extra" core that Dolphin isn’t using may help slightly by keeping background tasks from using the same cores as Dolphin.
Accordingly, the perfect CPU for Dolphin has high IPC, a high clock rate, and
four cores or more. With four cores, Dolphin has two cores for the main emulation threads, a third core for other tasks, and another core for the operating system and background tasks to run without taking resources from the emulator.
Newer processors are generally better than older ones, thanks to the increased IPC that comes with newer architectures.
- Intel: Within a single generation of processors, the difference between i5 and i7 (hyperthreading/extra core counts) don't affect Dolphin very much. Newer generations will give higher performance per clock, and K series processors will allow for overclocking to gain extra performance. Be wary of U and Y series processors, as their reduced clockspeeds often struggle with Dolphin's workload.
- AMD: Dolphin's workload didn't match the strengths of AMD processors until the Ryzen line. As such, we can only recommend Ryzen or newer for Dolphin among AMD's line of processors.
For more details, such as specific CPU recommendations, CPU comparisons, or what hardware you should purchase to get playable speeds on a specific game, please ask on our
Hardware Forum before purchasing.
Note: For more information regarding CPU performance, please check out
this handy benchmark that contains results from tons of users. It's important to remember that Dolphin is a console emulator with tons of optimizations and features. But, in the end, it does what the game instructs it to do.
Some games only use features that are easy to emulate, and thus will run full-speed on just about any computer that supports Dolphin. Meanwhile,
others struggle to run full speed at all times on even the most powerful of processors.
Which GPU do I need?
Choosing a GPU for Dolphin is a fairly simple task. The more powerful the graphics card, the more pixels and enhancements you can throw at it before you’ll see slowdown. However, the biggest thing to watch for is making sure the GPU supports DirectX11.1 and OpenGL 4.4. Dolphin emulates a console that functions very differently from a traditional PC, and uses the latest D3D and OGL features to reduce overhead. If you do not have those extensions, performance will suffer.
- NVIDIA: Any modern mid-range or better NVIDIA GPU will be able to play Dolphin in HD resolutions with Ubershaders quite well. Old (6+ years) and/or low end GPUs may struggle, and are not recommended.
- AMD: Any modern mid-range or better AMD GPU will perform well in Dolphin with Ubershaders. AMD generally favors D3D over OpenGL, so we recommend D3D for these GPUs. Old (6+ years) and/or low end GPUs may struggle, and are not recommended.
- Intel: Iris Pro iGPUs will handle Dolphin well in D3D in Windows, though there are driver issues with the other graphics backends on that OS. A full fledged discrete graphics card is still highly recommended. IGPs older than the HD4000 are not supported.
How much RAM do I need to run Dolphin?
2GB or more is recommended. RAM speed or the amount of RAM generally has no effect on emulation speed.
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