Elgato 4K60 Pro

A superb capture card for serious streamers

Elgato Gaming— acquired by hardware giant Corsair in June 2018—has a few capture cards on the market, and if you’re into streaming, there’s a reasonable chance you already own one. The 4K60 Pro is its latest and greatest, compatible with both PCs and 4K consoles (that’s the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, for those not in the know). As you might have guessed from the name, it’s capable of capturing 4K footage at 60fps, and the prerequisites for using it are fairly demanding—in addition to a 4K display to capture the footage, you also need a high-end machine to do the actual video capture. The minimum requirements for this card are a sixth-gen Intel or Ryzen 7 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1000-series or newer GPU, or Radeon RX Vega, and Windows 10.

The good news is that the 4K60 Pro is one of the cheapest high-end 4K capture cards on the market—a mere $400, making this a no-brainer purchase for the hardcore streamer. There are likely users out there who will find uses for this card beyond gaming, but that’s the primary focus; thanks to integration with Twitch and YouTube, using this card to stream or save high-quality gameplay footage is a breeze.

The 4K60 Pro is easy to set up— slide it into a PCIe x4 slot on your motherboard and screw it into the rear I/O slots of your case, just like a conventional GPU or soundcard. The interface is effectively idiot-proof, with two HDMI ports clearly labeled “in” and “out.” In fact, the design on the whole feels pretty survivable; a solid steel cover and adjustable high- or low-profile rear I/O make for a product that doesn’t demand experience in PCbuilding to use—something that makes a lot of sense, given that console gamers are part of the target audience here.

Elgato’s usual capture software isn’t compatible with the 4K60—it’ll register the card, but won’t be able to capture anything better than 1080p—so you need Elgato’s own 4K Capture Utility for Windows tool. This is a strippedback version of Elgato’s usual capture software, and is only compatible with Windows 10, but it’s straightforward to use, and there’s nothing stopping you from making further adjustments using third-party software. Elgato’s 4K capture software links easily to the likes of Twitch and YouTube, so for straight uploads, it’s a cinch to use.

Power play

While the capture software is barebones right now, Elgato is likely to add to it as 4K streaming becomes more established. Streamers with a penchant for overediting (we still love you guys, don’t worry) might find the current state of the software frustrating, but we’re willing to give Elgato the benefit of the doubt for now. That leaves the only real drawback as the need for a powerful PC, but if you’re dropping several hundred dollars on a capture card, odds are you’ve got the system to support it. The 4K60 Pro also has no active cooling, and can get fairly hot after extended use, so a well-cooled case is a necessity.

Even if you’re not looking to capture 4K footage, the 4K60 still stands out as the best of the bunch. Thanks to improved pass-through support, the 4K60 can record 1440p gameplay at up to 144fps, or 1080p at a whopping 240fps. There’s also the option to install multiple 4K60 Pro cards at once, with interconnected compatibility, although the practical applications of this are limited for all but the most dedicated streamers.

On the whole, there’s only so much we can say about this product. It’s a capture card. Like a toilet plunger or an umbrella, it’s only meant to do one thing, and it does that well. The market is anything but saturated when it comes to goodquality capture cards; even less so in the regions of 4K streaming. Elgato doesn’t have much competition, so it would have been easy for it to phone it in with this one. Thankfully, it hasn’t; the 4K60 Pro is a great capture card, albeit one aimed decidedly at streaming enthusiasts with high-end PCs.

–Christian Guyton

Connected Performs decently; operates as a Bluetooth speaker; Alexa works well.

Detached Software needs work; not ideal for every layout.

$220, www. asus.com