Capture cards are one of the most confusing products to get into. There are cheap knock-offs out there that you’ll regret buying and ones that don’t deliver the video quality you’re looking for. Capture cards really affect your gaming experience if you buy the wrong one. We’re here to help you choose the right capture card for your budget and needs.
The capture card market has stuck with HDMI 2.0 for the longest time, but AVerMedia has stepped up and made a true HDMI 2.1 capture card more capable than any before it. It boasts up to a capture resolution of 4K144 with HDR, truly utilizing HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. Not only that, but you’ll also have ultrawide capture of up to 3440x1440p at 144fps.
Along with its impressive specs, it is a treat for headset console users as it comes with 3.5mm audio in and out ports, eliminating the need for party-chat cables and secondary microphones just to capture your own voice when communicating with teammates.
AVerMedia wanted to deliver an “Ultra” class capture card, and spec-wise, they did. The AVerMedia Gaming Utility that you can use it with isn’t even bad,, unlike most utility/proprietary software. It’s simple, but it can tell you what resolution you’re capturing at, what software is using the device, and even your audio bitrates, which saves a lot of time when troubleshooting.
This capture card has come a long way since its release, lacking those “ultra” features which needed to be added in months later through updates. Since those updates, it has delivered on those features and is now the ultimate external capture card for hardcore users.
AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1
$250 $300 Save $50
One of the first HDMI 2.1 capture cards to fully take advantage of HDMI 2.1’s bandwidth. With an impressive capture resolution of 4K144Hz, passthrough of 4K144Hz with HDR, ultrawide support, and even 1080p360Hz, this capture card does not hold back. While its specs may be overkill, its price isn’t. This is a glimpse of what a future-proof capture card is like.
- Ultrawide HDR/VRR 120Hz support
- Ultrawide 144Hz capture
- Updates adding more premium features to the capture card
- Headset and gamepad audio-in and out
- Requires good hardware to stream/record high resolution footage
The EVGA XR1 lite is a cut-down version of the EVGA XR1, but is one of the most capable capture cards for a low budget. It does away with the bells and whistles of the regular XR1 like the knob, RGB lighting, 1440p120hz advanced passthrough, but keeps the important essentials.
For most users, 1080p60 footage is right where you want to be. It looks good without the burdens of dealing with 4K footage like enormous file sizes and slow exports. If you don’t plan on doing 4K footage in the future, this capture card will be enough for you for a long time.
EVGA XR1 Lite
The EVGA XR1 LIite is the quintessential capture card for most users. 1080p60 is enough fidelity to deliver a quality experience for your viewers. You also won’t be sacrificing your experience with its 4K60 passthrough capabilities
- Sleek design
- Plug-and-play
- NV12 and YUY2 format support
- Cheap-feeling plastic construction
- No audio-in and out ports
If you care about performance, it’s hard to beat the speed and efficiency of using a capture card connected straight to your motherboard. The Elgato 4K60 Pro MK.2 can record and stream up to 4K60 HDR 10 with VRR, 1080p60, and passthrough up to 1080p240 and 1440p144. With these passthrough resolutions and refresh rates, you won’t need to unplug your monitor to route it directly to your gaming PC everytime you just want to play on your own. All this, while reducing the latency by using PCIe.
It also has multi-app support, allowing you to use the device on two programs at once, unlike most capture cards, which become unavailable once one program uses it. This allows it to be much more flexible, contrary to its being a PCIe card, which limits its flexibility.
You won’t be able to move it around easily due to it being an internal capture card, but this would be perfect for a travel-friendly mini-ITX streaming PC build.
Elgato 4K60 Pro MK.2
This small PCIe add-in capture card is perfect for space-savings while providing high performance 4K capture. Its small one-slot design makes it fit in ultra-compact PC builds, allowing you to bring around a 4K streaming PC with ease.
- Doesn’t take up desk space
- High refresh rate passthrough
- Multi-app support
- Small and slim PCIe profile can fit in small streaming PCs
- 140Mbps maximum bitrate capture
- Not portable like external capture cards
- Expensive
Not much separates a PC-to-PC capture card from a console-to-PC capture card. However, the biggest issue for many console users regarding capture cards is their audio and communications. Using capture cards with headsets and controller microphones has always been tricky, often needing a dual microphone setup and a specific party-chat cable.
The ASUS TUF Gaming Capture Box CU4K30 fixes this with its standard 3.5mm audio-in and out ports, allowing you to plug in your controller and headset so you don’t need a special party-chat cable and a separate microphone just so you can speak to your teammates.
You won’t have to sacrifice your gaming experience as well with its low latency 4K60 HDR and 1080p240 passthrough. However, it does come with a polarizing “gamery” design with RGB elements and a rugged metal look which might clash with your setup. It’s not an easy object to blend in with unless you’re all in with ASUS TUF Gaming gear.
ASUS TUF CU4K30
Coming from Asus’ line of TUF gaming products, this capture card was made for gamers, boasting a capture resolution of up to 4K30Hz. This console-friendly capture card makes it easy for you to use your headset and gamepad microphone with its audio passthrough, ensuring you capture the experiences you have with your teammates.
- Informational status RGB lights are customizable
- Full audio control from ASUS capture software
- Audio ports for headset and gamepad
- Loud design makes it hard to blend in
- Expensive
Best Capture Card for Mac: Elgato HD60 X
If you use a Mac and want to use it as a streaming or recording device to run your console or PC gameplay, the Elgato HD60 X would be one of the safest bets you can take.
Apple’s new M-series CPUs have been a niche frustration among the capture card market. This incompatibility is caused by M-series CPUs running in UVC mode when receiving video through USB. All capture cards do not support UVC mode, but the Elgato HD60 X does support it, allowing you to feed video to OBS without any complications.
If you’ve had a hard time looking for good capture cards for Mac and Apple Silicon, that’s because Mac capture cards are a small niche within the already small capture card niche. With Elgato, you’ll at least have a dedicated forum of users and Elgato support on r/elgato should you encounter any problems. Other brands don’t have the benefit of a large community that can help you fix potential problems.
Elgato HD60 X Capture Card
The Elgato HD60 X strikes a nice balance between performance and affordability. It can capture 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps. And, since there’s no software or drivers required, you can simply plug the device in, and you’re ready to go.The lag-free response is ideal for capturing game footage. However, the bundled software can be touch and go; instead, you can use OBS studio as the Elgato HD60 X is compatible with it. Although there is a decision to be made between smooth capture or the finer details, the Elgato HD60 X definitely delivers what it says it’s going to.
- Plug-and-play on Mac and M-series Apple computers
- Good price-to-performance
- Small and easy to carry
- Elgato 4K Utility not compatible with Mac
FAQ
Q: What does a capture card do?
A capture card is a middle-man between your gaming device, monitor/TV, and recording device. It intercepts the gameplay footage before sending it out to a display via USB to another computer. The footage fed to the computer can then be used to record or livestream on software like OBS. This takes the computational load of recording or livestreaming off of your gaming device so you can play without any performance issues.
Q: Do I need a capture card to stream?
Your need for a capture card will depend on the type of device you’re using. A Nintendo Switch will need a capture card and a separate device to stream the footage, while a PS5, Xbox Series S/X can stream directly to Twitch or YouTube. A PC can also stream using software like OBS without the need for a capture card and a streaming PC.
Q: Do I need a capture card to record console gaming footage?
Most modern consoles have a gameplay recording feature built in, albeit not the most visually pleasing. Having a capture card will give you higher recording quality and allow you to play without performance issues.
Q: Can I use my GPU as a capture card?
GPUs cannot capture footage, they can only output graphics it processes and cannot take input. Capture cards are made to receive input from your gaming device, send that footage to a separate device via USB, and also output the video to a display through its display output.
Q: Do capture cards cause latency issues?
Reputable capture cards should not cause any latency issues. However, cheap capture cards that have poor processors can induce a delay in passing through your gaming input to the output to your display. We highly recommend you choose capture cards from reputable sources to avoid performance issues.
