FRAPS

Fraps is video capture software that allows you to record your gameplay video and audio as well as take screenshots.

Whether you're looking to record gameplay for later viewing and analysis or if you're looking to kick start your YouTube career, you'll need some sort of video capture software. Fraps is a program that's been around for a while now and it's really stood the test of time. If you've ever noticed the little FPS counter, usually in yellow in the top corner of gameplay videos on YouTube, chances are it's Fraps that's recording. It's hugely popular amongst all levels of gamers and for good reason.

For recording Fraps has everything you need in a light, easy to use package. In the unregistered version you have the option to record 30 seconds of watermarked footage and take screenshots in BMP format. If you upgrade to the licensed version you will be able to take unlimited length videos, unwatermarked, as well as taking screenshots in BMP, JPEG, PNG and TGA format.

Due to the streamlined nature of Fraps, recording high quality video and sound doesn't impact too heavily on your hardware. Recording footage of gameplay can be quite memory intensive and more clunky, over-featured apps can require a lot of spare resources to record at higher resolutions, Fraps makes do with a very small amount. This means if you're not running the most expensive and cutting edge rig, you can still record video that matches your machines capabilities.

Recording sound is easy as well and you have the option of recording just the sound coming from your PC or also recording your microphone as well. This means you can begin recording playthrough straight away and you don't have to worry about adding your commentary on after the video, giving a much more lively spontaneous feel to your playthroughs.

With an inbuilt FPS counter Fraps makes excellent benchmarking tech. If you're looking to see exactly how well your gaming PC copes under the weight of a brand new game or if that new GPU is giving you the boost you expected, open Fraps before you start up your game and you'll get a good idea of your average FPS.

One of the major drawbacks of Fraps is the file size it produces. For each minute of video you're looking at about 1GB of data and with no in built video conversion, you'll be needing separate video conversion software to convert your raw data into something a little more manageable.

For good, all in one video capture software though Fraps is hard to beat. It does everything you need with the minimum amount of fuss and whilst the file sizes it produces can be a little gargantuan, fixing that isn't too big of a problem.