Video Capture Card or HDMI DVR?

[b4ux1t3]

I should start by saying that, for me, recording video of any graphics-intensive application (mostly video games) has been a pain in my @#$. I have FRAPS, but while recording, it drops my framerate to almost unplayable levels.

I have decided to look into alternative means of recording video. I am currently debating between two systems (explained to me by a barely-computer-literate friend who does AV for a living, so pardon if any of my facts are off).

Firstly, the video capture card, which, as I understand it, plugs directly into my mobo and captures whatever is on my screen and feeds it back to my hard drive. I guess the advantages of this option are that it requires no external hardware and minimal set-up.

Secondly, I am currently sporting a GTX 460. This graphics card has two DVI ports (only one of which is currently in use) and one HDMI slot (not in use). That HDMI slot, I figure, could support a standard HDMI DVR, which would (in theory) record whatever display is fed to it from my card and save it for later tinkering, editing, or display.

Since my graphics card is rather old (three years!), even though it is a medium-high end card, it currently suffers performance issues running games like Tomb Raider and Assassin's Creed III, running them only at High settings instead of the preferred preferred Ultra or Ultimate. While I do not mind playing on this (and lower) setting, these games drop significantly in framerate while FRAPS is recording, no matter how low I drop the quality of the recording or the quality of my graphics.

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So, my question is this (tl;dr): Given my antiquated graphics card, which method of video recording will use less of my graphics card's limited resources; alternatively, which method will net me the most framerate in-game?

Other (possibly) relevant information:
RAM: 16GB DDR3 @1333
Processor: AMD FX-4100 Quad-Core @3.60GHz
HDD (I think the problem could possibly be rooted in my hard drive's slow rate of 5400): 1TB @ 5400 RPM 32MB-cache

EDIT: please disregard the specs in my signature. I have been removed from this forum for far too long.

 

[kdfresh09]

the reason your frames are dropping while recording and gaming at the same time, is because your hard drive set up isn't fast enough to handle both reading the game, and recording the game at the same time. if you have a 2nd hard drive in your system, then switch fraps to record on the 2nd hard drive, and since your game is installed on the c drive it will only be reading. you may want to consider ssd solutions. your cpu may be a limiting factor as well. as far as graphics go, its fine, but getting rather outdated.

 

[b4ux1t3]

the reason your frames are dropping while recording and gaming at the same time, is because your hard drive set up isn't fast enough to handle both reading the game, and recording the game at the same time. if you have a 2nd hard drive in your system, then switch fraps to record on the 2nd hard drive, and since your game is installed on the c drive it will only be reading. you may want to consider ssd solutions. your cpu may be a limiting factor as well. as far as graphics go, its fine, but getting rather outdated.

I'm going to try to put in a second hard drive this weekend sometime. And you're right: I really want to replace the graphics card. Sadly, limiting factors (i.e. money) are keeping me from doing so.

Thanks for the tip, I'll update here as to how it goes.

P.S. Sorr I took so long to check back. Been really busy, and haven't even been near a computer :<

 

[Aastii]

FRAPS will not affect graphics performance as it uses none of the graphics card's time, so even if you did upgrade, FRAPS would still lag.

For a free potential solution, drop fraps and use MSI afterburner instead, it is far less resource hungry so should cause less of an FPS hit.