8 Best Clipping Software That Doesn't Affect FPS [Low-End PCs]
Check these lightweight game recording software for seamless captures on low end PCs
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Key notes
- Streaming your gameplay can be a great way to connect with your fellow gamers and build a community as the demand for such content is increasingly growing.
- Unfortunately, some of the screen recording tools available can take up too much disk space and hence not be great options for low-end PCs.
- Below you’ll find a list of screen recording software that can be used with no issues on low-end PCs.
Playing video games on PC is already a resource-intensive task or should I say a graphics-intensive job, and if you want to record the gameplay on top of it, your PC would need at least 20% extra power to record gaming sessions in all its glory. That is because the game recording software does take its share of processing ‘cake’ to get the work done.
Unfortunately, not everyone has a gaming beast either due to budget constraints or because they failed to justify the hefty price tag that gaming PC components are tagged with (courtesy of crypto miners).
Irrespective of the reasons, a low-end PC or laptop is bound to have a hard time recording game sessions without hampering the computer’s performance resulting in lower FPS and semi-smooth gameplay.
Fortunately, there is quite a few game recording software for low-end PCs that can capture gameplay with minimal impact on your PC’s performance.
We have previously written on best game recording software for YouTube and game recording software for PC topics, but this guide is precisely for low-end PCs.
We have gathered the best game recording tools for slow PCs that will help you mitigate the slowing down of your computer.
This guide consists of both free and paid game recording software, but most of them do offer 15-30 days free trial. Make sure you give these tools a shot before committing to the one that meets your requirements.
How do you record clips on low-end PCs?
Just make sure you use the right tools. Although it can be more challenging to record on lower-end PCs, it’s not impossible.
You need to make sure you have good and lightweight recording software that is compatible with your hardware. Luckily, there are plenty of options available.
Which is the best recording software for low-end PC?
Movavi Screen Recorder – best lightweight screen capturing software
Movavi is a screen recording software with robust features that are available both offline and online.
The program allows you to record system sounds and it can also capture the sound from your microphone, even separately, making it a great choice in case you want to speak while you stream or add the audio later.
Movavi offers you full freedom to draw on the video while you record or show your keyboard and set up the mouse display. Moreover, you can record two streams simultaneously with one click.
With Movavi you can stay well organized as it has a scheduling feature. You can choose a day and a time for the screen recording to start and set a time limit for capturing.
It is easy-to-use, plus it offers built-in tips and tricks about how to use the features. You can always enable or disable these features, depending on how comfortable you feel with using the software.
Other key features of Movavi include:
- Keystrokes and mouse views
- Draw on Videos
- Only audio recordings
- Webcam recording and overlay
- Various interface languages
- Useful online support center
The screen recording software has a free version with certain limitations, but you can opt for the premium version once you test its capabilities.
Movavi Screen Recorder
Record all your games and use the easy editing features to deliver professional results.Bandicam – easy-to-use recording software that doesn’t lower FPS
Bandicam is featured in our earlier game recording software guides and makes an appearance here as well. It is a game recording software that offers 4K UHD recording at 144 FPs. The tool can be used to record anything on your screen and not just games. Bandicam is premium software but does offer a trial version with limited features.
This lightweight game recording tool supports games based on DirectX/OpenGL/Vulkan graphics technologies. You can record either full screen or a selected area, add doodles, record both game sound and your own voice. It also has webcam support if the user wants to add a webcam overlay to the video.
There are no editing tools, but you can add your logo and mouse effects while recording. For slower PCs, Bandicam offers customization options where the user can change the recording resolution, FPS, and codes for better-optimized gameplay recording.
To reduce the lag, tune down the recording options in the Video Options. Apart from lowering the resolution and refresh rate, you can record in Window mode as well.
Furthermore, go to the video tab, and select Half Size in Size section, change the video and audio codec options, and also play with the quality numbers.
Bandicam
Record your screen in UHD, overlay your webcam footage, and more with Bandicam.Dxtory
Dxtory is one of the lightest game recording tools available for PC and has minimal impact on PCs performance as it records from the surface memory buffer.
This clipping software is premium but offers a trial version, and it works great with low-end PCs. It comes with limitations that include a Dxtory watermark in recorded videos.
Dxtory can record games in 1080p resolution at 60 FPS. The recorded files are usually large but smaller than Fraps in comparison. You can further use video encoders to compress the files if needed.
The recording options can be tweaked from the setting panel. Users can record audio from the game as well as external mic and audio streams are saved separately for easier editing. You can further change recording resolution and frame rate along with file format for video recording and screenshot capture.
Other key features of Dxtory include:
- Supports third party VFW codecs
- Recordings accessed as video source in the DirectShow menu in the UI
- Compatible with Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista & Windows XP
As mentioned above, Dxtory has a premium, license-based version. One license can be installed on more computers.
FBX Game Recorder
FBX Game Recorder is a new tool but does offer impressive features, and it costs nothing, at least for now. It can record gameplay at 144FPS in 1440p resolution.
It is also one of the lightest game recording tools I have ever used. FBX uses hardware acceleration to record the gameplay, as a result, it has minimal impact on the game performance.
FBX only works with games. To use it, launch a game and press Ctrl + F12 to start recording. Press the same hotkey again to stop the recording. For low-end PCs, the settings can be tweaked to reduce CPU usage. In the video tab, change the encoder, FPS, quality, and resolution option as per your need.
The audio can be recorded from both the game and the microphone. It also supports webcam capture, custom hotkeys, markers, and the ability to select instant gameplay save duration.
Other key features of FBX Game Recorder include:
- Can add stickers, sounds, text captions to your footage
- Video Speed up and Slow motion
- Freeze Frame
- Integrates Giphy GIFs
- Assisted livestream to different platforms
FBX has a free and a Pro version. You can get the Pro version by purchasing a lifetime license or an annual subscription.
NVIDIA ShadowPlay
NVIDIA ShadowPlay is the game recording software made by NVIDIA for GeForce owners. It now comes integrated with GeForce Experience. As you may have guessed, it only works with NVIDIA GPUs.
ShadowPlay comes with its own unique set of features like Instant Replay Mode that automatically saves the last 30 seconds of GamePlay whenever the user hits a hotkey.
This is one of the best clipping software and supports up to 4K resolution recording at 60 FPS, even on low-end PCs.
Being a hardware-accelerated program, it does reduce the impact on your PC’s performance.
For game broadcasters, it offers easy live broadcasting options to Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and Twitch along with custom graphics overlay support for a personalized live stream.
ShadowPlay comes bundled with an NVIDIA Geforce experience suit which is about 100MB in size and is available on the official website.
Other features of NVIDIA Shadowplay include:
- Automatically captures key moments like clutch kills and match-winning plays
- Captures GIFS and 8K screenshots
Shadow Play by NVIDIA is an easy-to-use, free software created specifically for video game recording.
MSI Afterburner
MSI Afterburner is not specifically designed as a game recording tool, but it’s considered the gold standard of overclocking utilities.
Apart from the overclocking features, however, Afterburner offers FPS checking, benchmarking, and game recording. Thus, it’s a must-have on the list of best game recording tools for low-end PCs.
Afterburner is free to download and use. It works with graphics cards from all brands.
With Afterburner you can easily record gameplay in 1080p resolution at 60 FPS. However, lowering the resolution and frame rate can give better performance on low-end PCs. The recorded videos are saved in .WMV and .AVI format.
Other video recordings and editing features provided by MSI Afterburner include:
- Lets you set the quality of the image in percentages (as opposed to low-medium-high)
- Record both game sounds and microphone
- Adjust frame size and frame rate
MSI is free software, compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and Windows XP.
D3DGear
D3Gear is another lightweight yet functional game recorder that can be used on Low-end PCs to record gameplay.
It can record gameplay in 1440p resolution at 120 FPS on maximum setting. Its compatibility with even the old version of Windows OS makes it the best game recording software for Windows XP and Vista if you are still running it.
The functioning of D3Gear is pretty straightforward with a start and stop button to capture and save crisp videos. The videos are compressed in real-time to reduce the file size but do preserve quality.
Other usual features supported by D3Gear include internal and external audio recording, hardware acceleration, live streaming on YouTube, Facebook Live, and Twitch and webcam support.
D3Gear looks like an underdog but is one of the best game recording software for low-end as well as high-end gaming PCs with a simple user interface and all the necessary options on disposal. D3Gear comes with 15 days free trial, which lets you get the full experience of the software, so you can see how it works for you.
Mirillis Action Game Recorder
Mirillis Action is a gameplay recording software and is ideal for low-end PCs. It can record both Desktop screen and gameplays in 4K quality at 120FPS. It also supports live streaming for the broadcaster to Facebook Live, YouTube and Twitch and comes with a game benchmarking tool as well.
There is a green screen mode that lets you cut out the background from the webcam footage when recorded with a solid color background and replace it with some cool still graphics.
Selected Application recording is another interesting feature that only records the pre-selected screen providing complete privacy. Just like ShadowPlay, Action uses hardware acceleration to provide smooth gameplay with minimal impact on performance.
The Action game recorder offers all the features needed in a game recording software and also provides a fully functional trial version for 30-days with a watermark. The software is a one-time purchase.
⇒ Get Mirillis Action Game Recorder
How to deal with large game-recording video files?
Despite the fact that most of these game recording software use real-time compression the end videos are mostly in GBs, making it that much more difficult to upload to YouTube if you have a slower internet connection. Then there is the editing and rendering task as well.
This problem can be solved with the help of a video transcoder like HandBrake. It is a free open-source encoding tool that lets you compress videos in web-optimized settings without having to compromise on quality.
HandBreak may not the most user-friendly tool to use, but if you are into visual content creation, this is a must-have video and audio encoding tool.
Conclusion
These are some of the best game recording software for low-end PCs that we have tested and found to be working. Do let us know your go-to software for game recording on PC in the comments below.
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