Should You Use Nvidia’s Shadowplay Game Recording Feature?

Shadowplay is Nvidia’s novel new game recording feature, using functionality built into the GTX 600 and 700 Series cards. However, there have been reports of players suffering severe framerate drops because of it while using it, in this case, for Battlefield 4. Is it a good idea to use Shadowplay? Let’s look into it further.

First, let me explain Shadowplay in more detail. Bundled with GeForce Experience 1.7, Shadowplay makes use of the H.264 encoder built into those GTX cards. It save the last ten to twenty minutes of gameplay into a temporary buffer in your hard drive. You need only press Alt + F10 to save it permanently, allowing you to capture your best gameplay the moment you click those keys. The recorded video is H.264 mp4, 1920 x 1080, and 60 FPS. You can watch the trailer for it here.

Now, a post on reddit double checks earlier claims that Shadowplay caused significant framerate drops. With the help of FRAPS for benchmarking and EVGA Precision X to check consistency of GPU memory/core clock speeds, the program was tested recording gameplay three times at the highest settings.

This test is not a double blind, but it was the first serious test since rumors spread around that it worked poorly. Essentially, the program works as expected, with only a 3 to 5 % framerate drop as confirmed by Nvidia themselves. Most players should not experience these issues, but considering the program is still in beta it is expected that some would have issues.

Of course, this is the sort of feedback Nvidia needs to make sure the program works for everyone as well. If you have a compatible card and a copy of Battlefield 4, or any other recent PC release, give Shadowplay a try and make sure to share your results to Nvidia. Clearly, Nvidia intends to volley a shot against the new consoles for the benefit of PC gamers.