I got a powerful PC (GTX 670, intel i5 core 3570k, 8 GB RAM) that handles 60 FPS modded Skyrim on max settings with the highest possible AA you can get, yet when I record, the recordings are laggy. The recordings don't necessarily lag in-game, but when I view them, there is quite a bit of lag and "skipping" in the video. I want to show a gameplay run with my weather mod (it's so hard to show it off properly in screenshots), so that's why it would be nice to do a lag-free video. A laggy video just ruins everything...

I use Bandicam, which is supposed to be not so resource intensive, but I also tried MSI Afterburner, but it wasn't as good as Bandicam. I use the highest video recording settings. I've tried all different kinds of FPS video recording settings, from 10 to 60, but to not that much avail (although 30 FPS seemed the best).

Is there anything I can do to reduce the video lag without comprimising video quality (or in-game visuals)? I mean, I got a powerful PC that should be able to handle a lag-free video... so I don't know what's wrong. Why do I experience such a lag in the recorded videos?

I had troubles recording recently until I recorded to another HDD. If you have a second HDD or an external one (Though preferably one connected through SATA) and record to that it will probably help a lot. I would get up to 60 FPS, but when recording it would skip around, dropping as low as 5-10. Recording on a different drive (Than the one loading my OS, and Skyrim, etc.) fixed this and I had no problems getting a smooth 30FPS.

Another hard drive to record to would help. It may even be advantageous to have it on the same controller (same set of SATA ports).

Also, any background apps can cause problems, just like a game can, so do this under a clean boot.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

When you say recording to another HDD, do you mean that I should make it so the videos are saved into another HDD? Because right now they are saved in the C drive (C:\Users\Documents), which is on my SSD (so it should be really fast), while Skyrim is on my HDD.

Yes. I have my main C drive, which contains everything. Games, OS, you name it. Then I have a backup drive with just some backups of mod related stuff. I made it save to this drive while it recorded. However, if you're recording to an SSD then that's most likely your problem...

Question: You said you don't lag ingame while recording. Keep an eye on the actual framerates. If they stay up, but viewing the video is laggy, it may just be the program you're using to view it. What do you record with? I use FRAPS, which creates huge uncompressed AVI files. Viewing them in Windows Media Player causes them to lag and be choppy, purely because the player can't buffer all the data. But actually using them in a video program, or viewing them with a more streamlines program like VLC works just fine.

I record with Bandicam and looks in VLC. The files are quite small in Bandicam, like 200 MB for one minute.
I don't understand though how it can be a problem to record to an SSD... SSDs are much faster than HDDs. Are you saying that I should make it so the recordings are saved on my HDD instead (which is the same HDD that Skyrim is on)?

Otherwise I don't know what to do... I think it would be strange if a powerful PC could not record lag-free in high quality.

Doh, dyslexia/destraction! Meant to say if you're doing an SSD then that's most likely not your problem. I'm not sure what would cause stuttering so long as you get smooth frame rates while recording.

Recording Video means rendering frames, about the most CPU intensive activity you can do on a PC. This is not a VCR where the electromagnetic spectrum being broadcast is just put down on a magnetic pattern. Each frame has to be captured, then buffered, then rendered, then compressed, then written to the HDD. Repeat this 60 times a second, and yea, it's going to be laggy.

What you might try is to use the Stutter Reducer and clamp Skyrim to 30 or 40 FPS for recording purposes. That might clear up CPU resources

Thanks, I'll try fixing the FPS later. But how are people on youtube able to record then? I see tons of gameplay videos in 1080p completely lag-free. I doubt they all have GTX Titan or something...

Something has to be set up wrong with your stuff. A setting somewhere or how things are being run. My computer is close to yours but I Don't think quite as good, and I can record at my monitor's native resolution which is nearly 1080p (1680x1050) and get 30FPS just fine. Don't record above that. You're wasting space and performance, keep game footage to 30.

Your software should be able to limit the frames. Maybe that's what's going on. It isn't limiting it, so you shoot up to 50fps, which boils your computer, shoving you back down to like 10, and it zigzags, causing the stuttering. Locking it at 30 would provide stable performance and could fix the issue.