AVerMedia has a long history of releasing excellent internal and external capture cards. As recently as last October we had the opportunity to test out the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1, a powerful, USB-C External card with HDMI 2.1 support. The good folks over at AVerMedia are at it again, this time with a pair of PCIe 4K cards designed to level up your content creation experience. The Live Gamer 4K 2.1 and the Live Streamer Ultra HD both offer some impressive features. Both support 4K capture and passthrough, low-profile designs, ultra-low latency and HDR/VVR support making them ideal for gamers wanting to push their capture or stream quality to the max.
While they vary in output and features, both the Live Gamer 4K 2.1 and Live Streamer Ultra HD aim to be the leaders in gaming content creation. While both look great on paper, it's only after some serious testing that we can see how they measure up. So grab that coffee kick back and check out our combined review of the AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K 2.1 and Live Streamer Ultra HD.
Specifications
Live Streamer Ultra HD (GC571)
- Current Price: MSRP $179.99
- 4K60 Pass-through HDR/VRR
- 4K30 Stream and Record As Pro
- Ultra-Low Latency
- Works with Twitch, Youtube, OBS
- Low Profile Design
Live Gamer 4K 2.1 (GC575)
- Current Price: MSRP $299.99
- 4K144 Pass-through HDR/VRR
- Variable Refresh Rate
- 4K60 High-Quality Capture
- Ultra Low Latency
- Works with Twitch, Youtube, OBS
- RGB Lighting Customization
- Low Profile Design
Solid But Different Design Philosophies
Both the Streamer Ultra HD and Gamer 4K sport a low-profile design to help minimize the real estate needed on the motherboard. The Streamer Ultra HD can be housed in any PCIe Gen 3x1 slot while the Gamer 4K will require a PCIe Gen 3x4 slot to maintain operation. While the Streamer Ultra HD looks fairly standard with an exposed circuit board and the AVerMedia Logo the Gamer 4K opts for a sleeker look that includes an enclosure and RGB lighting. Both cards feature a black mounting rail that clips easily into your PC case.
As for installation and setup, the process takes about a minute with each card. Thanks to their low-profile design it's fairly easy to slide the card into a free PCIe slot even with a larger GPU taking up much of the motherboard real estate. Each comes with a high-speed HDMI cable to help get you up and running. While it would have been nice to see the same style of enclosure on the Streamer Ultra HD, this card seems to be much more geared toward plug-and-play function without any additional features.
This seems to be the biggest difference in design philosophy. The Streamer Ultra HD is focused primarily on helping streamers create solid live content while still enjoying a 4K 60FPS experience. The Gamer 4K, on the other hand, opts for a more top-end gaming experience while providing a powerful capture tool for gamers wanting to help push their uploaded content to the next level. The beauty in this is that it gives gamers options and allows them to purchase the card that is going to best cater to their needs.
Under the Hood
Both the Gamer 4K and the Streamer Ultra HD are built as 4K capture cards. The former opts for 4K144 passthrough and 4K60 capture with HDR(High Dynamic Range) and VRR(variable Refresh Rate) support. The latter, on the other hand, scale it back slightly with 4K60 passthrough and 4K30 capture capability, again with HDR and VRR support. With full support for OBS out of the box, each is easy to set up and use without much work.
For those new to HDR, it essentially means that both bright and dark objects can be displayed on the screen with a much more dynamic range. The result is a much more vibrant, colourful experience for gamers. PC Magazine has a great article diving into all the details but suffice it to say both the Gamer 4K and Streamer Ultra HD leverage the power of HDR in passthrough to make sure you’re leveraging all the power of your monitor.
VRR on the other hand, is a technology that dynamically adjusts the refresh rate of displayed images to reduce screen tearing. Both cards leverage this technology to help create a smoother, more consistent gaming experience. Digitaltrends also did a great write-up that explains VRR in depth. The goal of both cards is to create a rich, crisp gaming experience both for the creator and the viewer.
This is further bolstered but the inclusion of ultra-low latency present with both cards. This helps to reduce the input lag present in all modern devices so that the time between initial input and response gets as close to unnoticed as humanly possible. This is an important feature for both cards, especially as they hope to target the pro gamer market.
The Gamer 4K also offers a couple of unique features not present in the Streamer Ultra HD. For starters, the Gamer 4K has full HDMI 2.1 support which allows for the aforementioned 4K144 passthrough. While we are starting to see a few cards on the market with this capability, AVerMedia seems to be leading the charge not only with the Gamer 4K but also the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 we reviewed last October. Finally, the Gamer 4K also comes with customizable RGB lighting that looks exceptionally sharp, sharing some of the same design elements of the Live Gamer Duo we reviewed back in 2020. It's a fun little extra, especially for those who love RGB in their setup.
Performance
As for performance, the Live Streamer Ultra HD is a solid capture card that focuses its performance on streaming. With 4K60 passthrough and 4K30 Stream and capture, the Live Streamer Ultra HD allows creators to produce a quality stream while still enjoying the benefits of 4K60 for themselves. It is less resource-intensive than its counterpart and is easy to set up and use.
Even without full driver or software support at the time of review(the software and drivers should be dropping once the card has been officially released), OBS immediately recognized the Live Streamer Ultra HD. After tweaking a few settings in OBS to optimize recording, the Streamer Ultra HD had no problem recording at 4K30 while maintaining 4K60 passthrough.
The Live Gamer 4K 2.1 likewise performed exceptionally well. OBS immediately found the Gamer 4K, even without full drive or software support. Once recognized and set up the Live Gamer 4K 2.1 performed flawlessly. In the demo below you can see the card in action easily capturing some DOOM Eternal Gameplay at 4K60 while the signal passed through to my 4K144 monitor. As an aside please don’t judge my gameplay too harshly, I’m a mouse and keyboard guy so playing with a controller is an exercise in humility every time.
The Live Gamer 4K 2.1 is the Cadillac of PCIe capture cards and when compared to the Live Streamer Ultra HD, pulls way ahead. Yet it's important to maintain perspective in a comparison like this. It seems, based on the specs, that these cards are targeting two different audiences. The second hint that this might be the case is in the names of the cards themselves. The Live Streamer Ultra HD is arguably the better card for pure streaming especially if you have a low to mid-range system or are concerned about taxing your system. It provides everything needed to create a solid streaming and gaming experience.
While the Live Gamer 4K 2.1 is a powerhouse, for streaming it's almost too much card. 4K60 streaming isn’t generally ideal in many places with slower internet speeds so the chances of leveraging all the card has to offer in the at setting is unlikely. However, if you are a creator who wants to produce high-quality capture then Live Gamer 4K 2.1 makes a whole lot of sense.
Both cards, regardless of your needs, perform exceptionally well. The Live Streamer Ultra HD handled all the titles thrown its way and consistently captured 4K30 without hesitation. Likewise, the Live Gamer 4k 2.1 managed every test thrown its way with ease. Both cards are a testament to AVerMedia’s experience and innovation for capture cards.
Final Thoughts
The Live Gamer 4K 2.1 and the Live Streamer Ultra HD are excellent PCIe capture cards. Providing an exceptional 4K capture and passthrough experience while maintaining low latency sets them up to be solid contenders in the ever-growing genre of capture cards. While I would easily recommend each, the biggest determining factor will be your need. If you are looking for a solid streaming experience that requires less investment and resources the Live Streamer Ultra HD is an excellent option. If you are in the market for the preverbal Cadillac of capture cards then the Live Gamer 4K 2.1 is the way to go. Priced at $179.99 and $299.99 respectively the latest PCIe capture cards from AVerMedia are excellent upgrades to consider.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes.
