Is there a less demanding alternative to FRAPS?

Hey, I want to record some in-game footage, but FRAPS seems insanely demanding. I have a decent system (2.2dual core and 2g 667 RAM), but FRAPS still gives me lagginess when I try to record. Is there a less demanding alternative?

 

Don't know about other programs, but think about this:

If fraps records at 60fps, then it is writing 60 images of at least 1024x768 (or your own resolution) big. Thus, assuming that each pixel is 3 bytes big (1 byte for red, green and blue each), then it is writing 3 x 1024 x 768 x 60 bytes / sec ~ 135 MB/s to your HD. That's a lot! No wonder it causes lag (even on high end systems)..

 

Try hypercam

 

I've tried almost everything. The only thing that doesn't tac your system, is if you have DVR of some sort, I happen to have a handheld DVR that connects directly to my Svideo port on my GFX card and writes to mini DVD-RW's or SD cards..

Other than something external like that, I dont think you can record video that doesn't severly tax your system.

 

If you set it to record to another hd, you might lessen the blow. My performance doesn't take a hit when im recording on my raid array, only on a single drive

 

To record videos, GameCam is much better than Fraps. I don't know if you can display FPS and stuff, though.

 

My system core specs are similar to yours, and I found that there was only lagginess when recording if I recorded sound. Turning off sound felt much smoother.

 

The thing with Fraps is, that if you set it to record at 20fps, it will lock your game FPS to 20fps and record, same for all the other FPS settings. Try using 60fps option or custom fps option. Of course the video files will be much bigger so you have to look for a compromise. Also if you have a 7,200rpm HDD it would help.

 

What program can you use to just tell you your FPS in a game?

 

Unless you want to record an HD picture, just lower the resolution of the game to 640x480 while recording. Performance issue solved.

 

There is not much point recording at a resolution like 1024x768. It's way too large, you don't need to read fine text, and especially for gaming it hardly makes a difference. Stick to 640x480, or for widescreen users, 640x400.