Best capture cards 2025

The Elgato HD60 X is the go-to choice for gamers looking to play games on up to 240Hz gaming monitors with resolution up to 1440p but who aren’t too concerned about capturing very fast footage. That’s because this card supports 240Hz pass-through at 1080p or 1440p but it can only capture at up to 120Hz for 1080p and 60Hz for 1440p. That’s enough for most gamers to play at a comfortably fast pace and share decent quality clips.

The HD60 X can also capture 4K footage at 30Hz but it can only pass through 4K at 60Hz, so if you have one of the increasingly common 4K monitors that can run at 120Hz, you’ll need a more powerful card. Likewise, if you want to capture your gaming footage at above 30Hz.

As well as this great capture and pass-through support, the HD60 X supports variable refresh rate (VRR) so your monitor can still use its Freesync or G-Sync modes to eliminate tearing and stutter.

All this and the card’s external form factor and easy USB connection makes it easy to setup and versatile, though as with all USB capture cards, you’ll need to make sure you have a fast enough USB port.

The Elgato 4K X is a more serious capture card for any PC gamer looking to capture 4K quality high refresh rate gaming. With its ability to capture and pass-through video at up to 144Hz at a 4K resolution, you can game with stunning visuals while capturing all that detail and smooth motion for use in later video edits. You can even capture 240Hz at 1080p and 144Hz at 1440p.

Crucially, all this power comes at a price, so if you don’t game at high refresh rates, or don’t need to capture at those rates, you should look at saving money and getting a lower-tier card like the Elgato HD60 X. Meanwhile, if even higher resolutions are what you need, the Elgato 4K Pro is a better bet as it can capture at 8K and pass through 4K at 240Hz.

For the vast majority of gamers, though, the Elgato 4K X should be all the capture card they ever need.

The AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K is a great-value option that offers specs  that sit somewhere between those of the Elgato HD60 X and Elgato 4K X, but a price that’s much closer to the HD60 X. Specifically, this card lets you capture 1080p at 240Hz, 1440p at 144Hz, and 4K at 60Hz, all of which are rates nearly double that of the HD60 X. Meanwhile, the 4K X adds that crucial 144Hz 4K capture option.

The downside to this card is that its internal card form factor isn’t as convenient as the USB form factor used by the HD60 X, so it’s far less easy to swap between using it for capturing PC and console footage, for instance. Or for capturing footage of any other device. Plug the HD60 X into a laptop, though, and it can be used for capturing all sorts.

Nonetheless, the big advantage here is price. The AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K is currently only a dollar or two more expensive than the HD60 X while offering all that extra capturing fire power. Meanwhile, the 4K X is a lot more expensive. So, if you’re sure you’re happy with an internal card that can remain sat in your main gaming PC, this is the best value option to get.

AVerMedia’s Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 capture card makes use of an HDMI 2.1 connection – which means it can support higher resolutions. With a max 4K144 pass-through, it captures smooth, lifelike gameplay and makes your streaming ultra high-end. But this comes at a high price. It’s also designed specifically for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it on a PC or macOS.

Our expert reviewer found the capture card easy to use, and the output was superb, with zero glitching or tearing. While footage from the Ultra 2.1 is stunning, be wary of file size. You’ll likely need an external SSD for gaming to store 4K capture files.

The Ultra 2.1’s design is pleasing, with RGB lighting that you can customize. It’s compact too, so sits unobtrusively on a gaming desk or media unit. We’d like to see a USB-C input to add an external streaming microphone in addition to the 3.5mm headset option. For live streaming, it’d keep all the audio inputs going through one device.

The AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 is a premium capture card for PC (and next-gen consoles). I recommend it if you need the best footage money can buy.

Read our AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 review

The Elgato 4K Pro does just what it suggests by being the best choice for those seeking a professional-level setup. Whether you’re mounting it in a second dedicated capture PC or your main gaming PC, this card can provide incredibly high quality pass-through, high quality capture, and crucially can work with multiple apps at once.

So, if you want to capture video, stream to Twitch and to Zoom at the same time, you can with this card. What’s more, it can provide pass-through video of up to 8K at 60Hz and 4K at 240Hz. Oddly, though, it actually has slightly lower capture quality settings than the Elgato 4K X. That card tops out at 1440p240 and 4K144 whereas the 4K Pro stops at 1440p144 and 4K60.

The other limitation here is that it is an internal card so isn’t as easy to use with a variety of devices or take with you to capture output from other devices elsewhere. For a dedicated streaming setup at home, especially if you have a 240Hz 4K monitor, it’s a top choice.

This is probably the cheapest capture card you can get that’s actually good. Go any cheaper and you risk using unreliable products from dodgy, unknown brands. NZXT, of course, is well known for creating fantastic components for gaming PCs and this capture card is not below the standard you’d expect from them.

Admittedly, you’ll get a lower fps rate and the picture quality won’t be quite as impressive as the more premium options on the list. Nonetheless, it still boasts zero-lag passthrough support for 4K at 60Hz in addition to HDR and 1080p at 240Hz. It’s not like you’ll get potato-quality footage.

Meanwhile, this is also a good choice for anybody purchasing their first capture card. It’s easy to use and install and doesn’t require that you download any further pieces of software to stream or record your gameplay. Considering all of that and its low price, it’s hard to criticize the NZXT Signal HD60.

Need a tiny capture card that you can easily transport and swap between devices? You’ll struggle to find something as nifty and convenient as the Genki Shadowcast. You just plug it into the device you want to capture footage from via an HDMI out port, then stick a USB into the other end to connect it to the device you want to stream through.

Once that’s all set up, you use the Genki Arcade app on your PC or laptop and you can then do whatever you want with the footage you’re capturing.  This will be particularly appealing to anyone who wants, not only to stream PC games, but also PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch content.

This a very cheap capture card, and as a result, the capture quality won’t be quite as good as you’ll see with other devices. On top of that, the quality will vary from device to device, but because of its size and convenience, we remain very impressed with it.