Is Shadowplay worth using with an i7-3770?

[Foxhack]

I'm currently building a new rig, and it will very likely have an i7-3770 CPU on it (I've almost finished a deal here for one.) I'm trying to choose a video card and I'm unsure if I should go with a GeForce GTX 750 ti or a Radeon R7 265 - see, I like to record game videos, and I've heard that Shadowplay can do great captures with very little CPU overhead, but the Radeons have slightly better video processing power in the same price bracket according to online reviews. But they don't have Shadowplay.

All I know about the 3770 is that it's a very capable CPU, and a quad core. My current rig is a dual core and it struggles whenever I try to record stuff and play at the same time. I know most games don't use all the CPU cores so I'm wondering what the general opinion on this is - if it's worth buying a Geforce for the recording capabilities, or if I can leave that to the CPU and not worry about it.

Thoughts? Sorry for the newbie questions. I haven't built a new PC in five years, I'm damn overdue for a new one.

 

[IncoherentOrange]

The i7-3770 is a bit much for a rig using a 750 Ti or an R7 265. Of course, if you can get it at the same price or cheaper than an i5, then go for it, but with such a beefy chip you'd probably do best (and record better-looking gameplay) with a more powerful GPU, like an R9 280X or GTX 770. You could certainly leave recording to the CPU, to answer your question, but it seems like an unbalanced combination to me.
I haven't used Shadowplay with my GTX 660 very much, but it seems to be alright in terms of performance. I've heard it both strongly recommended and the opposite, so I couldn't tell you if it's right for you. However, it is free with the card and doesn't have watermarks or anything like that if you don't want it to.
Many modern games use two cores at least, and the 3770 features hyperthreading, making its effective thread count eight. Your recording software won't go wanting for a thread to run on.

 

[socK]

Some programs (like OpenBroadcaster) support using QuickSync to encode - performance wise, recording will be cheap like Shadowplay.

 

[Foxhack]

The i7-3770 is a bit much for a rig using a 750 Ti or an R7 265. Of course, if you can get it at the same price or cheaper than an i5, then go for it, but with such a beefy chip you'd probably do best (and record better-looking gameplay) with a more powerful GPU, like an R9 280X or GTX 770. You could certainly leave recording to the CPU, to answer your question, but it seems like an unbalanced combination to me.
I haven't used Shadowplay with my GTX 660 very much, but it seems to be alright in terms of performance. I've heard it both strongly recommended and the opposite, so I couldn't tell you if it's right for you. However, it is free with the card and doesn't have watermarks or anything like that if you don't want it to.
Many modern games use two cores at least, and the 3770 features hyperthreading, making its effective thread count eight. Your recording software won't go wanting for a thread to run on.

I've been stuck with this Athlon 64 x2 5000 Black Edition for years, so I want to future proof my computer for a good while. The 5000 was a good CPU but it's been keeping me back for quite a bit.

I'm actually thinking of splurging on an R9 270 (not an X, that's way over my budget). I think that if the CPU's powerful, then I can grab a better video card a few years down the road and not be set back by it, ya know?

Though, again, I'm still not sure if I'm getting the CPU. I'm waiting on the seller.

Some programs (like OpenBroadcaster) support using QuickSync to encode - performance wise, recording will be cheap like Shadowplay.

I just looked QuickSync up. Interesting! If Open Broadcaster supports saving to disc then I may have a winner here.

 

[sobe88]

I'm quite fond of ShadowPlay, the latest update finally allows desktop recording/streaming so anything on the screen can be shown instead of having to open a game and then start ShadowPlay.

Having used OBS, etc. ShadowPlay is MUCH MUCH more user-friendly as well as simplistic. That advantage though can also be seen as an disadvantage, not being able to choose the "Source", adjust as many settings as you can in OBS, etc.