Just updated to the latest nvidia 331.65 drivers and noticed that it has this nifty fraps-like ShadowPlay thingy. Unfortunately, it is only enabled for desktop cards, and naturally it wouldn't work on my laptop. More info -
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/geforce-experience-1-7-launches-with-geforce-shadowplayHowever, there's an easy way to enable it. You do need to have geforce experience installed, though (not sure it works without). Find the Gefore Experience executable first, for me it's in
"C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA GeForce Experience\GFExperience.exe"
So, how to enable it. Right-click on the exe file and choose "create shortcut". Being in the Program Files folder, it will likely complain it can't create files there and ask if the desktop is ok - say yes. If not, the shortcut will be created in the same folder and you can move it to the desktop, or any location of your choice.
Then, right-click the shortcut, choose Properties, and in the Target field you have
"C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA GeForce Experience\GFExperience.exe"
Change this to
"C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA GeForce Experience\GFExperience.exe" -shadowplay
then Apply/OK.
Run the shortcut, you will get geforce experience starting up with an extra control window for ShadowPlay. Flip the switch on the left to enable it - for me this caused the screen to flicker a few times (probably installing some extra video filter driver, who knows). Then you will be able to play with the (meager) settings.
Why is this better than Fraps/etc.? It uses the graphics card built-in hardware encoder to create 1080p/60fps video without stressing the cpu. This results (apparently, not tested) in only 10-15% performance drop and since it is done on the fly, it doesn't generate large files (and hence removes the need for superfast SSDs and loads of space to record to).
I'll let people more experienced in frapsing to test this further and discover any further advantages or disadvantages. I tested it on Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Enslaved - Oddysey to the West, and played back the recordings in MPC-HC with no noticeable visual issues, or stuttering.
Enjoy
🙂