Only two years ago, the thought of a 4K-capable game console seemed like a pipe dream. Then came the PS4 Pro, followed by the newly released Xbox One X— two consoles capable of running some games in 3840x2160 resolution, at 60 frames per second. While there’ve been a few professional-level solutions to capture this footage, including the DeckLink series from Black Magic Design and Magewell Pro Capture HDMI 4K Plus Video, those products are often prohibitively expensive, finicky, and lack basic quality-of-life features needed for video game recording.
Elgato Gaming things it has a solution with the 4K60 Pro— a $399 internal capture card, which is slotted into an open PCIe slot on a PC motherboard. That motherboard, and just about everything else in your PC, needs to be relatively recent and powerful. The company recommends a 10-Series Nvidia GPU (which only hit the market in mid-2016) and at least a 6th generation Intel i7 CPU. To put that into perspective, the minimum rig necessary to capture 4K video is in excess of $2,000.
If you’re wondering why Elgato requires such a beastly rig to run the 4K60 Pro, it’s because the capture card lacks hardware encoding. Unlike prior iterations of Elgato’s video capture line, footage is encoded using either the CPU or GPU, not the internal components of the card itself. This is likely to keep costs low, as hardware encoding would drive the 4K60 Pro out of the reach of most consumers. It’s a trade-off that, while not ideal for everyone, strikes a good balance.
Elgato lists those specifications as “required,” but I found them to be closer to “strong recommendations.” Using a 5th-generation Intel CPU (the 8-core 5960X) and a 12GB Maxwell Titan X, I was able to get usable footage using software encoding, though my CPU saw 50%+ usage while under load. GPU encoding was an entirely different story, and I found that I could only capture stuttering, choppy footage with this setting, even after the Titan X- specific patch that was released shortly after launch.
Halfway through my review, my motherboard failed (definitely NOT a fault of the 4K60 Pro— just an unlucky coincidence) and I decided to use the opportunity to update my aging PC with a liquid-cooled 1080 TI, 8700K six-core processor, and a brand new X299 motherboard from MSI. These updates dramatically improved my experience, leading to buttery-smooth 4K60 footage using both GPU and CPU encoding. If you have an older PC that fails to meet Elgato’s high requirements, you’re better off foregoing the 4K60 Pro and instead investing in the company’s HD60 Pro— a 1080p, hardware-encoding, internal capture card.
All of this 4K footage is captured through a new program, creatively named “4K Capture Utility.” This software is both a replacement and addition to the current Game Capture HD, depending on your desired use. Sadly, this is where things get messy.
If you’re a streamer, you’ll still need to use Elgato’s aging Game Capture HD software to pipe video to Twitch or YouTube, and that program is limited to 1080p60. In fact, it can’t even display 4K60 footage, so recording in 4K and streaming in 720p or 1080p is out of the question.
The software limitations are even more glaring in 4K Capture Utility, which is as bare bones as it gets. Though the software has a far better video management system than Game Capture HD, it lacks basic features like webcam and chroma key support, video overlays, and audio commentary. This means you’ll have to use something like OBS or XSplit to capture 4K footage that isn’t just straight gameplay. For most, this won’t be a huge problem, but those (like myself) looking for a one-stop-shop solution will be disappointed.
The footage I captured using the 4K60 Pro was crisp, clear, and miles ahead of 1080p60 video. Every little detail, from individual blades of grass to distant power lines, were rendered in all their glory. And while I would have liked the option to bump up the quality even more via software options, it’s more than adequate for any web use, whether that’s Twitch, YouTube, or Mixer.
The Elgato 4K60 Pro is a device that’s chock-full of compromises. There’s no hardware encoding, the 4K Capture Utility software is unstable and buggy, it requires a beastly rig to run, and it becomes alarmingly hot after only short periods of time. But even with those limitations and concerns, the 4K60 Pro is the best 4K capture card under $1,000. It crushes its competitors in ease of use, software support, and overall quality. While early adopters will be eager to flood YouTube with 4K footage, I’d recommend waiting until some software bugs and limitations have been straightened out.
8.5/10