Recording videos in WoW

[Droodeffekt]

Hi Guys,

I really wish to start making videos and putting them on youtube etc.

My question for everyone is what specs would I need on my computer to do this.

Currently I have:

AMD 1090T Processor 3.20ghz
8gb Ram
64 bit system
Radeon 6970 (2gb)

Dunno what else to put here. The thing is I only have 1 HDD, (my SSD seems to not be working I think it got broken in transport). My question is what do I need to do with my computer to record a decent video. I have been told all I should need is another HDD to record to, but want to get an idea here from what I NEED to record. I realise I could upgrade things to make it better but as a sort of "minimum" from what I have.

Thanks guys

[vesseblah]

Two discs will help big time with recording high quality video. Rest of the computer is ok for it, although not spectacular. When recording 25man raids for example you can expect 10-20 lower fps than while playing normally.

Why not get your SSD fixed btw?

[Droodeffekt]

Two discs will help big time with recording high quality video. Rest of the computer is ok for it, although not spectacular. When recording 25man raids for example you can expect 10-20 lower fps than while playing normally.

Why not get your SSD fixed btw?

I thought possibly that the SSD would cost way to much to fix to bother with. Also, I only want it for arena and bgs, nothing too intense like 25 man raids, would this rig be okay with a new HDD?

[Jeethi]

What program do you use for recording? I'd like to record for youtube uploads aswell!

[Droodeffekt]

What program do you use for recording? I'd like to record for youtube uploads aswell!

The only one I know of is fraps, fraps take a reason strain on your machine, hence why I am trying to get the questions answered lol. (Just something for you to keep in mind).

[refire]

I thought possibly that the SSD would cost way to much to fix to bother with. Also, I only want it for arena and bgs, nothing too intense like 25 man raids, would this rig be okay with a new HDD?

I'm not sure if you understood. It's not about a new hard drive, it's about a second hard drive. Frapsing would have the hard drive reading and writing from the same source which is difficult for a spin drive. You need a second hard drive so that one can be read while the other gets written to.

[Deleted]

The only one I know of is fraps, fraps take a reason strain on your machine, hence why I am trying to get the questions answered lol. (Just something for you to keep in mind).

It's not that bad if you've got 2 separate drives, one you record to and one you play from. If you record to the same drive you play on you're gonna be hit with a pretty heavy performance drop because reading and writing to the same drive you play a pretty read-heavy game on is not gonna go down that well, it'll put a huge strain on the drive and it most likely is not capable of keeping up properly and thus the recorded video will end up choppy.

[Droodeffekt]

It's not that bad if you've got 2 separate drives, one you record to and one you play from. If you record to the same drive you play on you're gonna be hit with a pretty heavy performance drop because reading and writing to the same drive you play a pretty read-heavy game on is not gonna go down that well, it'll put a huge strain on the drive and it most likely is not capable of keeping up properly and thus the recorded video will end up choppy.

To this comment and the one above it, I am completely aware that I should have a second HDD for smoother recording. My question was however, would this be all that I need or with the current system + the second HDD would I be able to record, decent quality whilst my gameplay still being smooth, with my current setup?

Thanks.

[Deleted]

To this comment and the one above it, I am completely aware that I should have a second HDD for smoother recording. My question was however, would this be all that I need or with the current system + the second HDD would I be able to record, decent quality whilst my gameplay still being smooth, with my current setup?

Thanks.

With 1 hdd it's highly unlikely it would be smooth and decent quality with fraps.

e: Would depend on how fast your hdd can read/write.
e2:

[Droodeffekt]

With 1 hdd it's highly unlikely it would be smooth and decent quality with fraps.

e: Would depend on how fast your hdd can read/write.
e2:

I realise that this probably seems like you are talking to a brick wall, but unfortunately, I am not overly compute savvy.

I completely understand not being about to do it with 1 HDD, but if I were to get another one, would this be enough?

If the speed of the HDD is any issue, could you recommend the minimum I would need on the second HDD.

WITH the second HDD (that you recommend a minimum speed for) PLUS my current setup, WOULD I be able to record, decent quality videos, whilst maintaing a smooth gameplay?

Thanks. I am sorry if that seems like I am being rude, but this sort of thing frustrates me as I do not completely understand it and just need direct answers, rather then computer-heavily jargon.

I really appreciate this, thank you!

Droodeffekt!

[a21fa7c67f26f6d49a20c2c51]

Thanks. I am sorry if that seems like I am being rude, but this sort of thing frustrates me as I do not completely understand it and just need direct answers, rather then computer-heavily jargon.

I'll try and do the thinking for you and hopefully we'll come up with an answer that you find useful:

• Can you play warcraft at a reasonable frame rate now? I assume yes, otherwise you need a CPU and motherboard upgrade.
• If you lost 10-15 FPS would warcraft still be running at an acceptable frame rate?25 FPS is needed to record a smooth video but you might think that looks too choppy and so the "real" minimum frame rate might be 75 FPS (so that you can lose 15 FPS and still be at 60 frames/second). I'm going to assume you're getting at least 40 FPS in the situations you want to record and that 25 FPS is a reasonable recording and game-play frame rate.
• If both of the above are true then you can look at the charts posted and see what sort of disk performance you need in order to record at that frame rate. By the time you have a video edited and uploaded to youtube the difference between "high quality', "lossless" and "low quality" recordings are difficult to see. I'm just going to recommend you use Fraps at full frame size, 25 or 30 FPS, and you don't turn on the 'force lossless RGB' option.

At 1920x1080 at 30 FPS with RGB compression on then you'll need a hard disk capable of sustaining 60 MB/s write speed (I just read off the char to get that value).

60 MB/s is well within the reach of even really cheap "green" 5400 RPM disk drives. You can pretty much pick any 3.5" hard drive, stuff it in your computer and it'll be sufficient to record at those settings. That quality level is on par with pretty much any you tube video you're likely to have seen. You might want something a little quicker than the cheapest/slowest drive but pretty much anything you'd buy today will be fast enough. it's almost impossible to screw up. if you want a recomendation: I'm using a set of these (1.5 TB versions) in Raid 0. Even a single drive is more than twice as fast as what you need for 1080p30 fraps video. They're cheap, reasonably reliable, and perform well. If you prefer some other brand that's probably fine too as nearly any drive is fast enough for your requirements.

A faster disk subsystem (like raided 7200 RPM drives or SSDs) will allow you to record with less compression, at higher frame rates, with greater resolution (if you have multiple screens or a 27" 1440p monitor for example) but if your final destination is YouTube then advantages in frame rate or video fidelity are greatly diminished. If you know you're going to crush the life out of your video before you send it to YouTube then squishing it just a little when you initially record doesn't really matter that much. It's kinda like how it doesn't matter if you bruise your finger if you're planning to cut off your arm tonight.

[Droodeffekt]

I'll try and do the thinking for you and hopefully we'll come up with an answer that you find useful:

• Can you play warcraft at a reasonable frame rate now? I assume yes, otherwise you need a CPU and motherboard upgrade.
• If you lost 10-15 FPS would warcraft still be running at an acceptable frame rate?25 FPS is needed to record a smooth video but you might think that looks too choppy and so the "real" minimum frame rate might be 75 FPS (so that you can lose 15 FPS and still be at 60 frames/second). I'm going to assume you're getting at least 40 FPS in the situations you want to record and that 25 FPS is a reasonable recording and game-play frame rate.
• If both of the above are true then you can look at the charts posted and see what sort of disk performance you need in order to record at that frame rate. By the time you have a video edited and uploaded to youtube the difference between "high quality', "lossless" and "low quality" recordings are difficult to see. I'm just going to recommend you use Fraps at full frame size, 25 or 30 FPS, and you don't turn on the 'force lossless RGB' option.

At 1920x1080 at 30 FPS with RGB compression on then you'll need a hard disk capable of sustaining 60 MB/s write speed (I just read off the char to get that value).

60 MB/s is well within the reach of even really cheap "green" 5400 RPM disk drives. You can pretty much pick any 3.5" hard drive, stuff it in your computer and it'll be sufficient to record at those settings. That quality level is on par with pretty much any you tube video you're likely to have seen. You might want something a little quicker than the cheapest/slowest drive but pretty much anything you'd buy today will be fast enough. it's almost impossible to screw up. if you want a recomendation: I'm using a set of these (1.5 TB versions) in Raid 0. Even a single drive is more than twice as fast as what you need for 1080p30 fraps video. They're cheap, reasonably reliable, and perform well. If you prefer some other brand that's probably fine too as nearly any drive is fast enough for your requirements.

A faster disk subsystem (like raided 7200 RPM drives or SSDs) will allow you to record with less compression, at higher frame rates, with greater resolution (if you have multiple screens or a 27" 1440p monitor for example) but if your final destination is YouTube then advantages in frame rate or video fidelity are greatly diminished. If you know you're going to crush the life out of your video before you send it to YouTube then squishing it just a little when you initially record doesn't really matter that much. It's kinda like how it doesn't matter if you bruise your finger if you're planning to cut off your arm tonight.

Thank you so much! This is exactly the sort of straight to the point answer I was looking for. I really appreciate this response as it looks clear that a second HDD will be needed and then recording shouldn't be too much of a problem, once again, thank you!

Kind regards,

Drood.