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 PC-
building 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 UtilityA superb capture
card for serious
streamers
Elgato
4K60 Pro
9
VERDICT Elgato 4K60 ProPROFESSIONAL Good value;
accessible app; easy to set up.
CONFESSIONAL Runs hot; no backward
compatibility; software is limited.
$400, http://elgato.comSPECIFICATIONSConnectivity HDMI input/output
Compatibility PCIe x4
Encoding HEVC/H.265 HDR,
AVC/H.264
Supported Resolutions 1080p @ 240Hz,
1440p @ 144Hz,
2160p @ 60Hz
Maximum Bitrate 140Mb/sfor Windows tool. This is a stripped-
back 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
r ight now, Elgato is likely to add to it as 4K
streaming becomes more established.
Streamers with a penchant for over-
editing (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 practicalapplications 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 good-
quality 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 GUYTONin the lab
86 MAXIMUMPC DEC 2019 maximumpc.com