If you're having problems it shouldn't be your computer.
I've got a 2.2ghz, HP but it's only an AMD Athlon II Dual-Core. The laptop is a hand-me-down so it's at least a few years old. It's only got 4GB ddr3 ram on it. You've got a quad-core and at least double the ram I'm working with, so it should at least be even.
You probably won't be able to play with high graphics on, but you should be able to play with the low settings.
I'm not surprised it takes so much processing power to run this emulator. I'm editing games that are less than 100k, and they end up with a 3DN file that's over 10MB.... over 100 times the size of the original cart.
Most people probably aren't working with anything under 1ghz processors these days. I haven't had a computer with under 1ghz for over 10 years now, and I never buy high end stuff.
I would be curious to know what the base recommended specs are for this emulator one day, but it would probably take some trial and error working with people having problems with it to find out what the bare limits are.