(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); I have a good system, it can handle anything i throw at it... the poor thing.
Basically i'm interested in all the different ways people record their gameplay.

In the past ive used fraps and dxtory.

Fraps:
Ok it's easy to use, it's got all the features.. it's overall.. a great program to use.
But it hogs resources, while this isnt really a problem it usually reduces my frame rate from around 100+ to 30 ish... if i'm lucky.

DxTory:
This program i didn't really like, it wasn't as easy to use, it doesn't even look very good, it has problems detecting certain games.. Although it is a lot easier on your system it doesnt really lower the framerate too much. The quality of the outputted video is nowhere near as good as fraps in my opinion.

As for software for editing and finishing off videos, you know.. adding a little spice.

I've used Premiere Pro and Sony Vegas.

I won't talk about my experience with Vegas because I couldn't really use much of it, i didn't really give it a chance.

Premiere Pro:
It's easy to use, and thats a great advantage to me since i really just wanted to get all my editing done quickly and with a professional outcome. It always looked great when i edited in this program and it was always handy to have compatibility with all the other CS programs such as After Effects and Photoshop/Fireworks.

As for rendering settings.. No idea. I really just used a H.264 codec and hoped for the best i didn't really know what I was doing here..
I don't really care too much what the file size is when I'm uploading to youtube.. i just want the best way to get a great quality video with my voice over to upload. Whether it's 60MB/10mins or 16GB/10mins i don't really care!

Thanks for any input you guys give!

fraps is best so turn your settings down and btw youtube makes all vids 30fps

A drop that big should be looked into. You probably have a good GPU to handle games, but are lacking in the CPU department for the power to both record and play games. What CPU do you have? Better yet post your entire specs.

CPU: Intel Core i7 2700k @ 4.5Ghz
GPU: Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB OC Edition
MOBO: ASUS P8Z68-v pro/gen3
HD 1TB WD Caviar Black @ 7200rpm
PSU: 1000W Novatech Black Edition (Rebranded OCZ Supply)
COOLING: Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator + Fan
DVD/RW: Some generic Liteon Drive
RAM: G.Skill RipjawsX 4x4GB @ 1866mhz
MONITOR: 26" Generic Monitor
CASE: Coolermaster HAF-X E-ATX

Hmm, strange then. You shouldn't be getting that big of an FPS dropped. You don't have it locked at 30 whilst recording do you?

your 7950 isnt running at full strength due to ur cpu doesnt support pci 3.0 and that drop is unrealistic. so u have to have it locked to say 30fps or so

His motherboard and GPU both support pci 3.0

no i just looked it up the motherboard might support but the cpu doesn't since its a 32nm sandybridge cpu.

The PCIe 3.0 vs. 2.0 is hardly a problem. It will hardly increase the performance.

That drop is very significant, even my 580 does not drop like that. You must have a setting locked on Fraps. However it could also be your HDD that you are writing the files to. You will have less performance decreases if you are writing the files to a fast hard drive or a SSD. However I have the same hard drive you have and I write the files to that as well.

Just to add I personally use Fraps as I like my recordings to be of high quality, however the file sizes are very large.