Best capture cards 2025

The Elgato HD60 X is the go-to selection for avid gamers seeking to play video games on as much as 240Hz gaming screens with decision as much as 1440p however who aren’t too involved about capturing very quick footage. That’s as a result of this card helps 240Hz pass-through at 1080p or 1440p however it could solely seize at as much as 120Hz for 1080p and 60Hz for 1440p. That’s sufficient for many avid gamers to play at a comfortably quick tempo and share respectable high quality clips.

The HD60 X may seize 4K footage at 30Hz however it could solely cross by means of 4K at 60Hz, so if in case you have one of many more and more frequent 4K screens that may run at 120Hz, you’ll want a extra highly effective card. Likewise, if you wish to seize your gaming footage at above 30Hz.

In addition to this nice seize and pass-through assist, the HD60 X helps variable refresh price (VRR) so your monitor can nonetheless use its Freesync or G-Sync modes to get rid of tearing and stutter.

All this and the cardboard’s exterior type issue and simple USB connection makes it straightforward to setup and versatile, although as with all USB seize playing cards, you’ll must ensure you have a quick sufficient USB port.

The Elgato 4K X is a extra severe seize card for any PC gamer seeking to seize 4K high quality excessive refresh price gaming. With its potential to seize and pass-through video at as much as 144Hz at a 4K decision, you may sport with beautiful visuals whereas capturing all that element and clean movement to be used in later video edits. You’ll be able to even seize 240Hz at 1080p and 144Hz at 1440p.

Crucially, all this energy comes at a worth, so when you don’t sport at excessive refresh charges, or don’t must seize at these charges, you need to have a look at saving cash and getting a lower-tier card just like the Elgato HD60 X. In the meantime, if even larger resolutions are what you want, the Elgato 4K Professional is a greater wager as it could seize at 8K and cross by means of 4K at 240Hz.

For the overwhelming majority of avid gamers, although, the Elgato 4K X ought to be all of the seize card they ever want.

The AVerMedia Dwell Gamer 4K is a great-value choice that provides specs  that sit someplace between these of the Elgato HD60 X and Elgato 4K X, however a worth that’s a lot nearer to the HD60 X. Particularly, this card helps you to seize 1080p at 240Hz, 1440p at 144Hz, and 4K at 60Hz, all of that are charges practically double that of the HD60 X. In the meantime, the 4K X provides that essential 144Hz 4K seize choice.

The draw back to this card is that its inner card type issue isn’t as handy because the USB type issue utilized by the HD60 X, so it’s far much less straightforward to swap between utilizing it for capturing PC and console footage, as an example. Or for capturing footage of some other gadget. Plug the HD60 X right into a laptop computer, although, and it may be used for capturing all types.

Nonetheless, the large benefit right here is worth. The AVerMedia Dwell Gamer 4K is presently solely a greenback or two costlier than the HD60 X whereas providing all that additional capturing fireplace energy. In the meantime, the 4K X is much more costly. So, when you’re certain you’re pleased with an inner card that may stay sat in your most important gaming PC, that is the perfect worth choice to get.

AVerMedia’s Dwell Gamer Extremely 2.1 seize card makes use of an HDMI 2.1 connection – which implies it could assist larger resolutions. With a max 4K144 pass-through, it captures clean, lifelike gameplay and makes your streaming extremely high-end. However this comes at a excessive worth. It’s additionally designed particularly for PS5 and Xbox Collection X/S consoles, however that doesn’t imply you may’t apply it to a PC or macOS.

Our professional reviewer discovered the seize card straightforward to make use of, and the output was very good, with zero glitching or tearing. Whereas footage from the Extremely 2.1 is beautiful, be cautious of file measurement. You’ll doubtless want an exterior SSD for gaming to retailer 4K seize recordsdata.

The Extremely 2.1’s design is pleasant, with RGB lighting that you could customise. It’s compact too, so sits unobtrusively on a gaming desk or media unit. We’d prefer to see a USB-C enter so as to add an exterior streaming microphone along with the three.5mm headset choice. For reside streaming, it’d maintain all of the audio inputs going by means of one gadget.

The AVerMedia Dwell Gamer Extremely 2.1 is a premium seize card for PC (and next-gen consoles). I like to recommend it when you want the perfect footage cash should buy.

Learn our AVerMedia Dwell Gamer Extremely 2.1 overview

The Elgato 4K Professional does simply what it suggests by being your best option for these looking for a professional-level setup. Whether or not you’re mounting it in a second devoted seize PC or your most important gaming PC, this card can present extremely prime quality pass-through, prime quality seize, and crucially can work with a number of apps directly.

So, if you wish to seize video, stream to Twitch and to Zoom on the similar time, you may with this card. What’s extra, it could present pass-through video of as much as 8K at 60Hz and 4K at 240Hz. Oddly, although, it truly has barely decrease seize high quality settings than the Elgato 4K X. That card tops out at 1440p240 and 4K144 whereas the 4K Professional stops at 1440p144 and 4K60.

The opposite limitation right here is that it’s an inner card so isn’t as straightforward to make use of with quite a lot of gadgets or take with you to seize output from different gadgets elsewhere. For a devoted streaming setup at house, particularly if in case you have a 240Hz 4K monitor, it’s a best choice.

That is most likely the most cost effective seize card you will get that’s truly good. Go any cheaper and also you danger utilizing unreliable merchandise from dodgy, unknown manufacturers. NZXT, in fact, is well-known for creating unbelievable elements for gaming PCs and this seize card shouldn’t be under the usual you’d count on from them.

Admittedly, you’ll get a decrease fps price and the image high quality received’t be fairly as spectacular because the extra premium choices on the record. Nonetheless, it nonetheless boasts zero-lag passthrough assist for 4K at 60Hz along with HDR and 1080p at 240Hz. It’s not such as you’ll get potato-quality footage.

In the meantime, that is additionally a sensible choice for anyone buying their first seize card. It’s straightforward to make use of and set up and doesn’t require that you simply obtain any additional items of software program to stream or file your gameplay. Contemplating all of that and its low worth, it’s laborious to criticize the NZXT Sign HD60.

Want a tiny seize card that you could simply transport and swap between gadgets? You’ll battle to search out one thing as nifty and handy because the Genki Shadowcast. You simply plug it into the gadget you need to seize footage from through an HDMI out port, then stick a USB into the opposite finish to attach it to the gadget you need to stream by means of.

As soon as that’s all arrange, you utilize the Genki Arcade app in your PC or laptop computer and you’ll then do no matter you need with the footage you’re capturing.  This will likely be significantly interesting to anybody who desires, not solely to stream PC video games, but in addition PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Swap content material.

This a really low cost seize card, and consequently, the seize high quality received’t be fairly pretty much as good as you’ll see with different gadgets. On prime of that, the standard will fluctuate from gadget to gadget, however due to its measurement and comfort, we stay very impressed with it.