5 ways you can record your gameplay without losing FPS

Some of these methods may require you to upgrade parts of your PC or buy new hardware, but others can be as simple as changing your recording software or tweaking your existing settings.

5

Upgrading your system memory

Storage drives and RAM

The type of memory you use and how much of it you have can make a big difference when you want to record your favorite games. Storage devices are where you are going to be saving your recordings, and their speed and size will affect your gameplay experience dramatically. The same can be said for RAM. Your PC will use RAM as a buffer while recording, temporarily storing data there before it is moved to your storage drives, so having faster RAM will produce better results on your system.

If you are still using a mechanical hard drive, then that is going to be a massive bottleneck for your system. So, if you want to ensure your PC runs smoothly while streaming, then you will want to upgrade to an SSD as soon as you can. An NVMe would be even better if your motherboard supports it. You will also need to make sure that you have enough free space available, otherwise you will have performance dips while you record. Your PC will need enough free space to run its normal system tasks, your recording software, as well as the game you are playing.

RAM is something else to keep an eye on. In general, most gaming PCs will run smoothly with at least 16GB of RAM. But depending on what type of games you are playing, you may need more, or you may need faster RAM. If you only have 8GBs of RAM, you should upgrade immediately and, although you can still use DDR3 RAM on modern systems, DDR4 or higher will give you much better performance while recording.

4

Using a dual PC setup

A tried and tested method with some caveats

Using a dual PC setup is a tried and tested method to reduce any lag while you are recording gameplay or streaming. This method was the best possible way of recording before screen recording software became commercial and is still a viable method to this day. By using a second PC to record the gameplay on your primary PC, you essentially offload the whole recording, processing, and encoding process to the second PC, freeing up all the resources on your gaming PC for gaming.

Unfortunately, this method is only viable on a case-by-case basis. Buying or building a new computer is expensive and, unless you already have an old PC sitting on a shelf somewhere, this method is not the cheapest way to get better performance in your recordings. And even if you do have an extra PC, running two PCs simultaneously will double the amount of electricity you use, and you will still need peripherals and a monitor for it.

If you already have the hardware for a dual PC setup, then it is definitely the best way to record without losing performance. But if you have to invest money in the setup, then it might be a better idea to invest in other hardware or upgrade your existing PC so that it will give you better performance.

3

Buy a dedicated capture card

Not necessary for everyone

While capture cards have mostly fallen out of favor, since consoles and PCs can record and stream videos directly on their hardware. They can still be useful if you want to record your gameplay at very high settings without incurring lag or wasting additional system resources. Unfortunately, your PC will still have to process and encode the videos, so you may still have some performance drops.

Most general users don’t need a capture card, but if you want to stream your gameplay professionally, then it is an investment you will have to make at some point. If you have a lower end PC and struggle to keep stable performance on your recording PC, then it is also a good way to reduce the load on your PC and reduce performance drops. While this will cost you money, it is significantly cheaper than upgrading your PC or buying a second PC to stream.

2

Use built-in screen recorders

They’re designed to work with your hardware

While there are a ton of fantastic third party screen recorders on the market, many of them create a lot more lag and performance dips when recording compared to built-in software. If you are experiencing stutters, lag or freezing in your game recordings, then you should definitely try the built-in screen recording software already installed on your PC. This software has been optimized for your graphics cards and operating systems to have as low impact as possible.

If you have an Nvidia graphics card, then you can use Shadow Play, which lets you record full-length videos, capture the last 20 minutes of gameplay or even just save the best shots of your gaming session in just a few clicks. AMD GPUs also have the Record and Stream function, which does the same as Shadow Play and is getting increasingly better year after year. If you are using Windows as your operating system, then you also have access to the Xbox game bar, which, despite what many say, has a pretty decent game capture feature, which works especially well on games played on the Xbox App.

1

Use hardware encoding

NVENC, QuickSync, or VCE

One of the biggest causes of lag or lost FPS when recording is that your computer is struggling to process both the game and your recording software at the same time. This is because your CPU is trying to process and encode your video whilst you are playing the game. In this scenario, the best way to reduce the stress on your CPU is to use hardware encoding instead of software encoding.

Hardware encoding essentially uses your graphics card to encode the videos, which gives your CPU more power to run the game and record software simultaneously. The reason this is so beneficial is that hardware encoding doesn’t reduce the performance of your graphics card because both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards have separate chips in them that are built specifically to do this.

If you have an Nvidia graphics card, then you will need to use the NVENC encoder. AMD users will be able to use the VCE encoder. Both of which will minimize the impact your recording has on your system. For users with an Intel CPU that has integrated graphics, you can take advantage of the Quick Sync encoder.

It depends on your PC and what you play

While newer gaming PCs shouldn’t have issues simultaneously playing games and recording your screen, low-end or mid-tier gaming PCs can struggle depending on what game you are recording. If you are playing first-person shooters competitively while recording, then performance dips could be the difference between life and death. However, in other games, you may not notice a performance dip at all because your system and the recording software have enough resources to run it.

However, if you are noticing lag or stuttering in your game or recording, then first start with software and settings changes, but if that doesn’t work, then it might just be time for an upgrade to your gaming PC.