System requirements - Dolphin Emulator

Dolphin is a demanding emulator that requires modern hardware to run GameCube and Wii games at full speed. This page details the minimum and recommended requirements for each platform.

Desktop platforms

Minimum requirements
Recommended requirements

Operating system

Windows: Windows 10 1903 or higher
Linux: Most modern distributions (Ubuntu 20.04+, Fedora 35+, etc.)
macOS: macOS 11.0 Big Sur or higher
Other Unix-like systems: Not officially supported but might work

Processor

CPU with SSE2 support (required)
Dual-core processor at 3 GHz minimum
Not older than 2008 for acceptable performance

While Dolphin can technically run on older CPUs with SSE2, performance will be severely limited. A CPU from 2008 or older will struggle with most games.

Graphics

Direct3D 11.1 (Windows) / OpenGL 3.3 (all platforms) capable GPU
At least 512 MB VRAM
Integrated graphics from 2012 or newer

Memory

2 GB RAM minimum
4 GB RAM recommended for comfortable operation

Storage

50 MB for Dolphin installation
Additional space for games (1-8 GB per game depending on format and compression)

Android platforms

Minimum requirements

Operating system

Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher

Processor

64-bit CPU (ARMv8 or x86-64)

Graphics

OpenGL ES 3.0 or higher support

Memory

2 GB RAM minimum, 4 GB recommended

Dolphin can only be installed on devices that satisfy the above requirements. Attempting to install on an unsupported device will fail and display an error message.

Recommended Android requirements

Android 10 or higher
High-performance 64-bit processor:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 or newer
- MediaTek Dimensity 1000 series or newer
- Samsung Exynos 990 or newer
- Apple A12 or newer (for potential future iOS support)
GPU with desktop OpenGL feature support (not just ES)
6-8 GB RAM for comfortable multitasking
Active cooling for sustained performance

Performance varies heavily with driver quality. Devices with GPUs that support standard desktop OpenGL features are recommended for best performance.

Android performance expectations

Even on high-end Android devices, expect:

Lower performance than desktop equivalents
Not all games will run at full speed
Battery drain during gameplay
Thermal throttling on extended sessions
Better results with 2D games and less demanding 3D titles

Graphics backend requirements

Dolphin supports multiple rendering backends with different requirements:

Backend	Platform	Minimum GPU Requirement	Notes
Vulkan	Windows, Linux, Android	Vulkan 1.1 support	Best performance, recommended
OpenGL	All platforms	OpenGL 3.3	Widest compatibility
Direct3D 11	Windows only	D3D 11.1 support	Reliable, good performance
Direct3D 12	Windows 10+ only	D3D 12 support	Modern API, good performance
Metal	macOS only	Metal support	Required for Apple Silicon
Software Renderer	All platforms	Any CPU	Very slow, debugging only
Null	All platforms	None	No rendering, testing only

Try backends in this order for best results: Vulkan → Direct3D 12 (Windows) / Metal (macOS) → Direct3D 11 (Windows) → OpenGL

Compiler requirements for building from source

Desktop platforms

Windows
Linux
macOS

Required:

Visual Studio 2022 or Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022
Latest MSVC compiler (comes with Visual Studio)
Windows SDK (latest version)
Git for Windows

Other compilers might be able to build Dolphin on Windows but have not been tested and are not recommended.

Build steps:

git clone https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin.git
cd dolphin
git submodule update --init --recursive

Open Source/dolphin-emu.sln in Visual Studio and build the “Release” configuration for optimized performance or “Debug” for easier debugging.

Required:

CMake 3.10 or higher
GCC with C++20 support (GCC 10+) or Clang 10+
Git
Development libraries (see installation guide)

CMake will inform you if your compiler is too old.Many libraries are bundled with Dolphin and used if they’re not installed on your system. CMake will inform you if a bundled library is used or if you need to install any missing packages.Refer to the Building for Linux wiki for detailed dependency lists per distribution.Build steps:

git clone https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin.git
cd dolphin  
git submodule update --init --recursive
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j $(nproc)

Required:

Xcode Command Line Tools
CMake 3.10 or higher
Clang with C++20 support (Xcode 12+)
Git

Install prerequisites:

xcode-select --install
brew install cmake

Build single architecture:

git clone https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin.git
cd dolphin
git submodule update --init --recursive
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j $(sysctl -n hw.logicalcpu)

Build universal binary (x64 + ARM):

mkdir build && cd build
python ../BuildMacOSUniversalBinary.py

Building universal binaries requires library dependencies for both architectures. Run python BuildMacOSUniversalBinary.py --help for more details.

Android platform

Required:

Android Studio (latest stable version)
Android SDK (API level 21 or higher)
Android NDK (latest version)
CMake (bundled with Android Studio)
Git

See AndroidSetup.md for detailed setup instructions.

Performance factors

Several factors affect Dolphin’s performance:

CPU performance (most important)

Single-thread performance is critical - Dolphin cannot fully utilize more than 2-3 cores
Clock speed matters more than core count
IPC (Instructions Per Clock) - Newer architectures perform better at the same clock speed

GPU performance

Important for high internal resolutions (2x Native and above)
Required for anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering
Affects post-processing shader performance

Memory

Generally not a bottleneck with 4+ GB RAM
Dual-channel configuration helps with integrated graphics

Storage

SSD reduces game loading times
Not critical for gameplay performance once loaded

Game complexity

2D games and simpler 3D games run better than complex 3D games
Some games have specific bottlenecks (physics, AI, etc.)
Check the compatibility list for game-specific information

Checking your system

To verify your system meets the requirements:

On Windows

Check Windows version: Settings > System > About
Check CPU: Task Manager > Performance > CPU
Check GPU: Task Manager > Performance > GPU or dxdiag
Check RAM: Task Manager > Performance > Memory

On Linux

# Check CPU info
lscpu | grep "Model name"

# Check GPU info  
lspci | grep VGA
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"

# Check RAM
free -h

# Check Vulkan support
vulkaninfo | grep "deviceName"

On macOS

Check macOS version: Apple menu > About This Mac
Check CPU and RAM: About This Mac > Overview
Check GPU: About This Mac > System Report > Graphics/Displays

On Android

Use apps like CPU-Z or AIDA64 to check:

Android version
CPU model and architecture
RAM amount
GPU model and OpenGL ES version

Optimization recommendations

If your system is below recommended specs:

Lower internal resolution

Use 1x Native or 1.5x Native instead of higher resolutions

Disable enhancements

Turn off anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering, and post-processing

Enable speed hacks

Use “Skip EFB Access from CPU” and other hacks in Graphics > Advanced

Use HLE audio

HLE audio emulation is much faster than LLE

Enable dual-core

Always enable dual-core mode in Config > General

Try Vulkan backend

Vulkan often has better performance than other backends

For more optimization tips, see the Quick start guide performance section.

Getting Started

User Guide

Advanced Features

Platform Guides

​Desktop platforms

​Operating system

​Processor

​Graphics

​Memory

​Storage

​Operating system

​Processor

​Graphics

​Memory

​Storage

​Android platforms

​Minimum requirements

Operating system

Processor

Graphics

Memory

​Recommended Android requirements

​Android performance expectations

​Graphics backend requirements

​Compiler requirements for building from source

​Desktop platforms

​Android platform

​Performance factors

​CPU performance (most important)

​GPU performance

​Memory

​Storage

​Game complexity

​Checking your system

​On Windows

​On Linux

​On macOS

​On Android

​Optimization recommendations

Lower internal resolution

Disable enhancements

Enable speed hacks

Use HLE audio

Enable dual-core

Try Vulkan backend

Desktop platforms

Operating system

Processor

Graphics

Memory

Storage

Operating system

Processor

Graphics

Memory

Storage

Android platforms

Minimum requirements

Recommended Android requirements

Android performance expectations

Graphics backend requirements

Compiler requirements for building from source

Desktop platforms

Android platform

Performance factors

CPU performance (most important)

GPU performance

Memory

Storage

Game complexity

Checking your system

On Windows

On Linux

On macOS

On Android

Optimization recommendations