Hardware for fraps - Minimum/Recommended [Archive]

sourjo

11-06-2006, 05:31 PM

So I have been wondering about this for some time.
I used FRAPS for my first movie earlier this year http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4340544840243324943

As you can see I have big problems with the fps.

My current hardware is:
2 GHz AMD Athlon XP
1 GB DDRRAM 333 MHz
400 MHz FSB motherboard
nVidia 6600GT AGP card
Creative SoundBlaster Live!
And I was capturing the video on my Seagate USB 2.0 100 GB external hard drive (5400 RPM)

What is the minimum hardware I would need to capture video with decent fps. And at a resolution of atleast 800x600. What would I need for higher resolutions? 1024x768? I used the external hard drive because someone said I shouldnt be running the game from my internal hard disk and capturing on the same disk.

Also, for those of you frapsers who have been doing it for a while and getting good fps, please post your system specs.

I would appreciate any replies. I am sure there are other machinima noobs like me who could benefit from this information :)

Btcc22

11-10-2006, 10:24 AM

I have no idea what model Athlon XP that is unless you post the number, but if it's 3000/3200 it should do.

It looks like the graphics card is the main thing that could do with a bumping up there to improve your FPS during capture.

keVn

11-11-2006, 12:38 AM

Haha, I'm having the same problem as well... I'm getting 50 fps ingame, but when I turn on Fraps it drops me down to 25-30.

My Fraps Settings:
Half-Size
25 fps
No Cursor, No Sync

My system spec:
3gh Pentium 4
3.19 GHz, 1GB of RAM
GEForce 6200
Creative Soundblaster Live

Haha anyone know how to tweak my fraps or WoW or something to get better FPS

Clashez

11-11-2006, 07:23 AM

I run my fraps on 512DDR <-- one single stick and its actually not that bad, use windows mode, maximized and it runs pretty damn well.. I've made a few practice clips if you guys wanna see =p

Bascially the requirement should be i hear 1gb RAM and 128mb graphics but you can always work around things like that. Give it a try and see

Your hardware is fine... Fraps just eats away at memory which reduces fps, at least yours is above 5.. ive had to run mine on 3 =[

Thiras

11-11-2006, 09:02 AM

What matters there is the harddisk.

External = no

Better to record to a internal drive then copy them out manually i'd think

EDIT: If you set fraps to 25 fps, your ingame fps will drop down to 25 fps. This is normal.

keVn

11-11-2006, 07:17 PM

So should I set it to soemthing other than 25 fps?

Btcc22

11-11-2006, 11:39 PM

I think your Geforce 6200 is the bottleneck for your FPS. Doubt you can do anything, except replace it.

keVn

11-12-2006, 02:45 AM

Haha are you saying that it sucks?

Andehx

11-12-2006, 11:12 AM

actually no, the graphics card does not affect Fraps performance at all.
If your graphics card can manage 50fps, then essencially you can record at 50fps provided that all your other hardware is top notch.
Your hard drive speed is the main factor in Fraps performance, if you have a 5200rpm ide drive then you're never going to see anything higher than 20-25fps.
On the other hand if you have a 10,000rpm raptor drive then you could potentially get the full 50fps that your graphics card can do.
1gig of memory and a 3200 athlon XP (64bit highly recommended) should be perfectly fine.

Quazimodo

11-12-2006, 12:02 PM

It depends what game you're recording, exc: Tetris will go smooth on a cheap computer rig, Dark Messiah will require some quality :P

Andehx

11-12-2006, 12:17 PM

true, it also depends on how CPU intensive the game you are trying to record is, in which case WoW requires an extremely fast CPU since its one of those rare games that relies heavily on CPU speed and RAM rather than graphics card for its performance.
But in most cases, the faster your hard drive is, the better fps you will get from a Fraps recording.

Quazimodo

11-12-2006, 12:59 PM

Exactly. Didnt know WoW required a fast CPU tho? :P

Andehx

11-12-2006, 01:17 PM

very much, yes. Im sure you've noticed, WoW is not a very graphics intensive game, when you consider games like Doom 3 and Fear which are far far superior in graphics. Now when you think those 2 games can give you in excess of 70 - 80 fps with a geforce 6800, but WoW can barely manage 60fps? well thats because WoW relies heavily on CPU speed an memory more than graphics. Think of how big Kalimdor is, and how much your CPU has to work to render those areas without any loading times, thats where you CPU and memory really show their colors.

Quazimodo

11-12-2006, 01:22 PM

Yea, but what I'm saying is that you dont need a AMD Athlon X2 4400 like I have to play WoW without lag. :P

Andehx

11-12-2006, 01:26 PM

obviously, yeah, you dont need a super fast CPU to play WoW, that would be silly, but in the case of recording Fraps videos of WoW, you are going to need a very fast CPU and hard drive to record and run the game simultaniously, and keep the fps up to an acceptable standard

Quazimodo

11-12-2006, 01:29 PM

I remember back in time when my friend had little RAM he used to call Orgrimmar: Lagrimmar :P Then he got 2G ram and he was like... WoW..

keVn

11-12-2006, 06:15 PM

Haha, can I get an answer to my question =D.
Or some help to fixing my lag during recording.

Btcc22

11-12-2006, 10:47 PM

Andehx

11-12-2006, 11:35 PM

as far as I know, WoW does not have an fps cap for any machine, whoever told you that, is quite mistaken I can asure you.
when its comes to general ingame performance, indeed your hard drive speed is not very important, but when recording a fraps movie, you are going to need a very fast hard drive to get anything higher than 30fps. Your videos can only record as fast as your hard drive will allow them to be written.
of course GPU and CPU are important, but GPU is not AS important as CPU and hard drive speed, i can asure you that.
If your GPU can render the game at 30fps or above, then providing you have a CPU and hard drive fast enough, you'll get a 30fps movie.

Do you think I would go to the trouble of explaining these things, if I had no idea what I was talking about? :)

keVn

11-13-2006, 12:04 AM

Haha, not to be rude but I would like a straight answer to solving my problems =]

Andehx

11-13-2006, 08:23 AM

ok well, firstly you said you had fraps set to 25fps. change that to 30.

secondly, what resolution is the game running, and do you have fraps set to "Full size" or "Half size" ?

askeladden

11-13-2006, 03:21 PM

Thiras

11-13-2006, 06:34 PM

My original answer stands. Andexh is wrong on several levels.

1) WoW has a cap at 64 FPS for some machines, not because it's CPU intensive, which it isn't.
2) Hard drive speed is not the main factor.
3) GPU and CPU speed IS important, and I would say, the main factors.

So a 5400 RPM external drive wouldnt make a huge difference from a 7200 rpm internal? Who are you trying to fool?

WoW has no cap as far as I know. Went to this net cafe today, got over 200 fps on their brand new computers. Turn vsync off properly if the fps seems to be limited.

GPU and CPU ARE important factors, noone said otherwise.

Andehx

11-13-2006, 08:36 PM

Hey,
I'm having FPS-loss / lag when i try to run fullscreen recording in Fraps. My computer spec is as followed:
AMD Athlon 64 +3500
1024 MB DDR-RAM Dual channels'
RADEON x800 256MB
Maxtor 280GB 7200 RPM

What I might think be the problem is either:
* I'm running 32bit in windows, haven't bothered to install Windows x64 Professional Edition
* Warcraft and windows are on different partitions, but at the same harddrive, so shouldn't really matter? (both NTFS)

ok well, you have a very similar setup to me, except I have a 250g 7200rpm drive and a geforce 6800

I would seriously suggest getting Windows X64 edition.
The latest versions of Fraps have some nice x64 only performance enchancments, and you can really see difference in fps when recording.

when recording at 1024x768 I can just manage 25fps with my setup.
800x600 i can easily manage 30fps.
If you cant get that kind of performance from Fraps recording, get Windows x64

Btcc22

11-14-2006, 02:17 AM

Thiras, I said it wasn't the main factor.

Also, Andexh, I know it does have a cap set on some machines (dual core AMD to be precise). It's stuck at 64 FPS on my own, and during PTR this was removed and I hit around 130 FPS on max settings. ;)

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=warcraft+64+fps&meta=

I used to use an AMD Athlon XP 3000, Radeon 9200SE and a 7200RPM drive and had awful trouble recording, despite the fact 30 FPS wasn't a problem when not recording.

Took the card out, fitted a then spanking new X800 XT PE and it recorded like a charm. ;)

keVn

11-14-2006, 05:13 AM

ok well, firstly you said you had fraps set to 25fps. change that to 30.

secondly, what resolution is the game running, and do you have fraps set to "Full size" or "Half size" ?

I changed it to 30, and I tried recording at 1024x768. My fraps is set to Half Size.

Thiras

11-14-2006, 08:35 AM

Main factor...

Its really all about which component is a bottleneck, it can be your gfx card, cpu, hdd or otherwise, neither matters more than the other (wow is at 100% usage for me btw, amd 64 3700+ :X )

Tried windows 64 but the incompatibility with older programs is just.. blergh. Drivers in particular. Daemon tools sure as hell dont work with x64, at least they didnt back then. :(

Andehx

11-14-2006, 08:35 AM

I changed it to 30, and I tried recording at 1024x768. My fraps is set to Half Size.

ok, and what was the result?

Andehx

11-14-2006, 08:36 AM

Daemon tools sure as hell dont work with x64, at least they didnt back then. :(

there is a seperat x64 version of daemon tools now

keVn

11-14-2006, 06:30 PM

Slight lag, 30 FPS, not the best of quality. Sometimes freezes for a split second, and when I'm done recording. And when I look at the video, sometimes the video speeds up for no reason.

Andehx

11-14-2006, 08:44 PM

if its freezing for a split second every now and then, try closing all other programs you have running

kiahann

11-14-2006, 08:48 PM

Try restarting your comp too that could help.

keVn

11-14-2006, 08:51 PM

Haha tried that, not very succesful.

Gaffonis

11-19-2006, 09:39 AM

P4 2.4Ghz
1.5GB Ram
nVidia GeForce 6800GT 256mb
Onboard Soundcard :P
Seagate 120 + 120 (7200rmp)

As i think, the problem in FPS is not because of bad HDD. Imo if you get maximum of 60fps in game, like me... When recording for example at 30fps with fraps, you can see that 30fps of theese full 60 will stay in game, other 30 go to fraps. So 30=30, if the fps is less than 25 somewhere, there are already little lags :)