Best capture cards for PC gaming

It’s fall, which means there are tons of video games coming out, and that if you’re planning to stream them, you might also be thinking about picking up one of the best capture cards for PC. A capture card is one of the first, least risky investments you can make to step up your Twitch and/or YouTube game: It lets you record or stream consoles through your PC, bypassing restrictions imposed by those tools, and allowing you to customize your frame-up in OBS or XSplit. If you’re already pretty serious, it also allows you to set up dual-PC streaming, which helps your broadcasts run smooth.

The best capture card for you, specifically, will depend on what kind of content you plan to make. Are you streaming or recording footage to edit later? Some recorders are better for one or the other. Video resolution, particularly for streaming, varies from card-to-card. We recommend most people look for 720-1080p—there are also good 4K capture cards, but they’re expensive and most people aren’t streaming a ton of 4K video. Most capture cards also come with some kind of software: While most streamers use some form of OBS or XSplit, video work is nothing if not unpredictable so it doesn’t hurt to have a good software as a backup.

In general, our selections cover a few different scenarios, but we leaned toward recommending as many good all-around options as possible. You never know what kind of content you’re going to want to make in the future, so these cards will hopefully prepare you for anything. If you’re picking up a capture card as part of a larger build for a streamings setup, take a look at our picks for the best webcams and the best microphones for streaming.