Now I've been a FRAPS user for years and years and never really enjoyed it as a program but it really was the only thing available to us for what we do here.
I was always on the lookout for something else and found this software by utter chance, Having had my new system since November, I considered the bedding in period to be over and decided to begin trying to eek a little more from the components. I downloaded MSI Afterburner as the over-clocking tool of choice for my Nvidea GeForce GTX 470. While playing with the options and settings I noticed a tab 'Video Capture'.
So, lets put these 2 pieces of software side by side and see how they stack up.
First up,
The Machine.
Processor: Intel i7 930
RAM: 12gb
Video Card: Nvidea GeForce GTX 470
Display Settings:
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (1080p)
The GameAces High, Obviously.
I used full graphics settings, shadows, etc. everything checked except the ground detail, which was set to it's lowest setting
Offline mode
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
FreeTrack (think TrackIR but with a homemade headset and webcam.)
ResultsWith both programs set to capture at half screen FRAPS came out just a hair ahead in the FPS department, 2 FPS ahead in the weeds and 3 FPS ahead at altitude but it was close.
Fraps Results:Average FPS 40 OTD
Average FPS 58 at alt
MSI Afterburner results:Average FPS 38 OTD
Average FPS 55 at alt
I did not do a recording from film. There are reasons for this, the main one being that FPS isn't really an issue when taking caps from .ahf as most of us reduce film speed to 33%-50% for capture anyway.
The interesting part come when we examine the results.
FRAPS recorded 3 minutes of footage, the file ending up at a massive 2.7gb or 0.9gb/minute
Afterburner recorded 3 minutes of footage, the file size, 1.72gb or 0.57gb/minute
QualityI can find no immediate difference between the two as far as graphic quality. Afterburner presents slightly darker but the icons are easily read which is not possible with FRAPS.
FRAPS records it's film in blocks, splitting larger files up, this gives both a stutter when recording and when playing back that I have always found unforgivable.
Afterburner records its film, as far as I been able to tell, in one file.
SummaryI didn't want Afterburner to do well. I paid money for FRAPS because it was the only thing available. MSI Afterburner is completely
free and for
free holds it's own very well against the commercial alternative.
Afterburner also comes with a handy-dandy overlay which can present either on your Logi-keyboard or OSD. This will put information over your game including the time (i know, lame, but it's handy for hangers) processor and video-card temps, workload, fan speeds, etc.
Try it for yourself:
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/index.htmRemember, the video capture program comes as part of the over-clocking software. After installing, click 'settings' and then scroll through the tabs to find 'Video Capture'. You do not have to OC your card to use the software.
I didn't want to use YouTube for this as it really borks the quality but I have uploaded one capture from each FRAPS and MSI for some form of comparison.
MSI -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQmXRSTeKBMFRAPS -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ8zUKMRIyk