Page 3 - Performance Tests
Our test configuration is as follows:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
CPU Cooling: be quiet! Dark Rock Elite
Motherboard: ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator WiFi
RAM: Crucial Pro Overclocking DDR5-6400 2x16GB
Graphics: EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti XC3 ULTRA GAMING
Chassis: SilverStone SETA A2
Storage: Lexar Professional NM800 PRO 2TB, Kingston NV3 2TB
Power: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200W
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
The purpose of capture cards can be broken down into two primary ones. The first is to provide a way for people to record their gameplay for documenting and later sharing. The second is it enables people to stream their gaming to share their experiences publicly. In the past, both PC and console gamers used a second PC to do this, which is why capture cards were a necessity. Today, computer games can be played and captured on the same system, but this creates an additional load on the single PC. Modern hardware with multiple cores has helped in this regard, but a capture card can still be useful. Today we will only be evaluating the AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S GC553Pro for the first use case in capturing console output, which is the Nintendo Switch. I primarily recorded with AVerMedia's Streaming Center software, but I also ensured OBS Studio functioned as expected.
Looking at the Nintendo Switch footage, it only outputs 1080p at 60fps, so it does not really stretch the capabilities of this capture card. Also, YouTube maxes out at a frame rate of 60fps too. Even so, I was quite happy with the recorded footage. I did not notice any artifacts in the original recording, so if you do see anything, I would attribute it more to the compression algorithm used by YouTube. Audio was captured and synchronized well with the video, although this should be expected.
Playing with the Switch through AVerMedia Streaming Center was also pretty seamless, and I did not notice any perceivable input latency or lag. I appreciated the option to pop up a preview window to make my viewing even larger on my computer. Passthrough was also straightforward, and again, I did not notice any lag while playing. It may not be a huge difference between passthrough and playing through Streaming Center, especially when playing single player games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but I do appreciate having it as an option.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
