CGM Recommends: Best Game Capture Cards

Whether you’re looking to get into streaming, or you just want to record some footage for your YouTube, this capture card can help you do both and more. With 4K 30 frames per second passthrough, and a 1080p 30 frames per second port, this card has it all covered. It even offers ultra low latency, so you won’t have to worry about lag or missing inputs in your recorded footage which is always good. Plus, it gives streamers and gamers alike the ability to add commentary to their walkthroughs that can be imported to a Mac, PC or even Android, via cable.

Thankfully, the Flint 4KP is also super easy to set up as it’s just plug and play and get capturing, no hassle at all. With the card being USB 3.0, you can use it on a desktop or laptop, making it an ideal choice for new, and up-and-coming streamers looking to jump in on the action.

The ClonerAlliance Flint 4KP is on Amazon for $203, a good price that won’t force you to break the bank, but for the features that come with it, it’s definitely one of the best capture cards of 2022. So get those vocal cords warmed up for all that commentary!

Coming in at a slightly higher price is the AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra. AVerMedia is a brand CGMagazine has recommended in the past, and the AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra capture card really justifies its price with ultra low latency, plug and play, 4K resolution and 60 frames per second passthrough with HDR. The small package packs a lot of power, giving a new and established streamer all the tools they need to get fantastic footage to show to your audience.

For content creators looking for an upgrade on their capture gear, few cards compare, especially with the level of portability and software support all included in the box. It is worth mentioning though that if you want to use HDR you’re going to need an NVIDIA graphics card, but even with that said, the value and quality makes the AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra an easy recommendation for one of the best capture cards of 2022 for anyone looking to step up their capture game.

You can find the AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra for $238.98 on Amazon.

While this capture card might seem like it’s just another 4K video recorder, it’s actually so much more because it has the ability to record iPhone and iPad gameplay! The AVerMedia Live Gamer Bolt delivers some of the best capture you can find, offering PC streaming with 240 frames per second capture and 2160p resolution. Even more astounding is the fact that the AVerMedia Live Gamer Bolt delivers performance that is in-line or even better than some AVerMedia internal 4K capture cards.

While it is a powerhouse for capture, the AVerMedia Live Gamer Bolt does have some steep requirements. It is one of the best external capture cards currently available, it does need Thunderbolt 3, and to take the most advantage out of the card, your PC will need a pretty hefty GPU.

Design wise, AVerMedia delivers one of the most unique looking cards on the best capture cards of 2022 list, with a beautifully designed option that delivers RGB and a sharp looking device that will look at home on any tech enthusiast’s desk. With a feature list that makes it ideal for the current generation of consoles and software to get things ready to go in minutes, it is hard to deny the AVerMedia Live Gamer Bolt is an easy capture card choice for any creator looking to up the ante on streams and video.

Check out all you can do by grabbing AVerMedia Live Gamer Bolt capture card from Amazon for $518.40.

Razer is here to take full advantage of their competitor’s glaring flaws with the Ripsaw HD, showing that players shouldn’t have to settle for lesser gaming experience just to capture their gameplay in 2022.

After testing the Razer Ripsaw HD side-by-side with my Elgato HD60 S and AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K on my PC and PS4, the Razer Ripsaw HD stood out to me as the capture card that needed the least attention out of the box. This capture card boasts gameplay capture at 1080p 60 FPS no matter which platform users decide to play from. The real advantage Razer has up their sleeve is 4K 60FPS passthrough, so you will have no lag, even when recording for streaming or video.

The Razer Ripsaw HD also made things very easy to start the process, and worked flawlessly with both OBS and XSplit, so you should be good to slip the capture card into your production pipeline no matter the software you are using currently.

You can get that convenience for yourself with the Razer Ripsaw HD Game Capture Streaming Capture Card for the low price of $138.62 on Amazon. A low price for one of the best capture cards this year.

Coming in at a bit of a higher price but no less worth it, this capture card has the benefit of being part of a known brand in the gaming community, Elgato. Elgato has long been trusted by YouTubers and streamers alike because of its quality, premium features.

The Elgato Game Capture 4K60 S+ is made for streamers and content creators looking to upgrade their setup, boasting some next-level features to push things forward. Starting things off, the Elgato Game Capture 4K60 S+ allows you to record 4K HDR gameplay directly to your PC or SD card. You heard me right, this is one of the few options that lets you record 4K footage directly to an SD Card.

If that were not enough, the 4K60 S+ also optimizes the settings in real time to deliver the best results possible with the least amount of hands-on work. The overall process is remarkably painless, making things easy to get started, so you can create rather than focusing on whether the hardware is working properly. You simply connect the power, plug in your HDMI in/out, and pop in a 256 GB SD card, and you are ready to record. It could not be simpler.

In our testing, the footage from the 4K60 S+ was some of the best out of the lot, delivering clear, vibrant capture that will be good for all creative uses. If we had any gripes, it would simply be about the current state of the Elgato 4K Capture Utility software, but Elgato has been diligent in updating the software, and it is improving constantly to something that is easy to use and recommend.