Why do people's FPS drop so much with Fraps?

[MrSparkzz]

Hello, I have a $380 computer and when I record with Fraps at 720p my FPS only drops about 1-5 FPS. (Specs. below) For example; in COD4 at the Max settings with the resolution set to 1280x720 I get around 80-140FPS, while recording I get about 75-130FPS, I have a 7200RPM 6GB/s Drive and it performs just fine... Then I go on YouTube and watch someone who has a high end graphics card recording at 720p and their FPS drops down by like 100 FPS. I don't get it?

I want to upgrade to a GTX 660TI, but I'm afraid I'll get serious FPS drops while recording. Not sure what to do, any ideas? And why doesn't my FPS drop like everyone else's?

My System
Processor: AMD A10-5800K 4.2GHz Quad Core
Motherboard: ASROCK FM2A75M-DGS Micro ATX FM2
Memory: PNY XR8 DDR3 2133 8GB (4GB x 2)
Graphics: [Integrated] AMD Radeon HD 7660D 950MHz
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0GB/s
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 430W PSU
CPU Cooler: Stock Cooler
Case: Cooler Master Elite 371

 

[yassarikhan786]

It depends on the resolution you're recording at and what settings you're using. It's also recommended to record to a separate hard-drive. The resolution you're recording at coupled with your settings is why you aren't getting massive FPS drops.

 

[seumasbeathan]

Well I don't use frpas often but when I have I have found that it seems to depend on the game, some games and you can barely notice a difference others and it is near unplayable

But also what yassarikhan786 said

 

[StandingOlive]

The 7870 is great for your budget, if your looking for a new card.

 

[andrewmchugh]

With the dedicated graphics card you have a few overheads A additional load on the gpu with it sending the framebuffer and B bandwidth, the framebuffer( 24bit bitdepth per pixel normally. So at 1080p (24bits===3Bytes)*1920*1080 = 6220800 Bytes === ~6MB ) is coming back off the GPU over PCI-E to memory(ram) on a per frame (some times less) basis which is slow. Then it has to be saved to disk.

You have an integrated GPU so the framebuffer will be in cpu side memory(ram) so it doesn't have to go far to get in to application memory.

 

[MrSparkzz]

The 7870 is great for your budget, if your looking for a new card.

I was leaning more towards nVidia, for their Cuda and other technologies.

 

[seumasbeathan]

For the current generation of cards apart from maybe the 670, Amd all the way I say, have a look at the 7870 Tahiti LE Tom reviewed, cracking price for a cracking card - http://www.lambda-tek.com/CGAX-7876...DMI-DX11-GAMES~cs/B1575376&origin=gbaseGB15.4

 

[andrewmchugh]

op y u no read all posts?

 

[MrSparkzz]

op y u no read all posts?

Sorry I didn't see your other post!

With the dedicated graphics card you have a few overheads A additional load on the gpu with it sending the framebuffer and B bandwidth, the framebuffer( 24bit bitdepth per pixel normally. So at 1080p (24bits===3Bytes)*1920*1080 = 6220800 Bytes === ~6MB ) is coming back off the GPU over PCI-E to memory(ram) on a per frame (some times less) basis which is slow. Then it has to be saved to disk.

You have an integrated GPU so the framebuffer will be in cpu side memory(ram) so it doesn't have to go far to get in to application memory.

Thanks, this really clears things up. If I do end up upgrading I will plan on getting a pci-e recorder with a built in processor, so the input will all be processed directly on that chip, instead of using the CPU.

 

[SuB]

Use something like an Avermedia card mate, they're excellent for this and compress on the fly

 

[MrSparkzz]

Use something like an Avermedia card mate, they're excellent for this and compress on the fly

That's what I was thinking of getting, it looks great and seems to perform amazingly.

 

[Recon-UK]

Woah....

Recording is almost completely CPU and HDD limited, i record lots of stuff...

I use my RAID-0 setup for my recordings and can record 4K res natively at maximum quality with just 1 480..

There is an FPS drop, but not enough to make things ridiculous...


It all depends on your hardware setup, and the settings you choose.

 

[Recon-UK]

A few examples of my own, this is full quality 4K res and 2560x1440:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aQCQIUYvOs

Some games cannot handle it due to them utilizing more CPU threads, and i must save at least 1 thread dedicated to recording...

This game hates recording, so i had to dial the quality a lot lower:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRbM3Bp7sJE



And then, there is also the inaccuracy if you are benchmarking, i however provide real results within the video from not recording first, if that is what you plan to record for