Fraps

Gimpymoo · 11 Feb 2011 at 02:19

I have an itch to start recording some game footage both when playing single player and when playing online with mates as we use Mumble and there are frequent moments which I wish were being recorded, either people saying or doing stupid things and I have a few questions if someone could be soo kind as to answer.

If using Fraps to capture gameplay/audio, is this more CPU or GPU intensive assuming the encoding will be done afterwards?

Also, I understand my 5770 VGA card has the ability to encode video on the fly, can Fraps be set to use the VGA Card to encode on the fly and if so, how does it affect gaming performance? If it cant do it on the fly, can the VGA card do it afterwards?

Any does/don't s to bear in mind when capturing?

My Specs are:

AMD 720BE X3 @ stock 2.8Ghz
Radeon 5770 1GB
4GB RAM

Thanks for any replys.

Gimpymoo · 11 Feb 2011 at 02:41

Thanks Bhav.

I am aware the AVI's will take up a lot of space. Even with a better CPU, is there any way to encode on the fly?

Just had a look and found the Video converter in the Catalyst control center, my word it is quick. Converted a 228MB AVI to an MP4 in less than 10 seconds.

Gimpymoo · 11 Feb 2011 at 03:15

Ok.. the The VGA card just converted a 1GB .avi to an MP4 in just under 50 seconds, would it be any faster with a beefier CPU?

It is knocking more than a few FPS off, closer to 15, although that was capturing at full screen resolution which I suppose is not needed.

Maybe a CPU upgrade with more cores?

Gimpymoo · 11 Feb 2011 at 04:10

Tefal said:
are you recording at full ress or half etc?

Cause full will fill a hd really quick.

Just been having a play with the settings and yes, full res was 1GB for a 30 second video - lol.

Half size is fine for what I need.