Razer Ripsaw HD Capture Card Review

How Much Does it Cost?

The Razer Ripsaw HD is available now on Amazon for just £169.99 in the UK and $159.99 in the US. While that doesn’t seem cheap, it’s very competitive for a device of this specification, and with the extra bits and bobs you get. It was actually launched as the cheapest of its class. However, rivals at Elgato and AverMedia dropped their prices, so they’re all now within about £10 of each other.

Overview

Overall, there’s certainly nothing to fault about the latest capture device from Razer. It’s a noticeable improvement on the ergonomics, design, features, and performance of their previous models. Of course, the key features here being that it now captures 1080p (Full HD) not 720p (HD). Plus, with 4K pass-through, you can game at higher resolutions, rather than drop to 1080p gaming just to match your stream.

Ease of Use

That’s the biggest selling point of these devices. They just plug and play and pretty much any gamer can work out how to use them. Of course, keep in mind that if you are streaming consoles, you still need a PC or similar device like a laptop to actually capture the footage. Sure, you could use built-in capture on the console, or even something like Nvidia Experience to capture. However, these come with a different compression, performance overheads and other limitations. Having a dedicated device means zero lag, and even less so when used with a dual PC setup, one to game, one to capture.

Should I Buy One?

Razer is on the ball here, it’s a quality product that does exactly what it promises. However, it’s got some strong competition from Elgato and AverMedia who all offer fairly similar features. I do think the Razer device looks more aesthetically pleasing though, and their software works really well, plus the 4K pass-through is a winner for me. If that’s what you desire, you really can’t go wrong with Razer on this one.