AverMedia Live Gamer Extreme 2 GC551 is another product in the line of capture cards from Avermedia that promises a full power pack recording performance combined with a highly portable form factor. It promises low latency, fast connectivity, new pass-through technology, etc. EXTREME 2 GC551 pitches more about 4K pass through at 60fps, allowing the user to record 1080p video with 60fps stability. However, our test found that it is great at 1080p and doesn’t push to 4K due to some reasons. I will go into more detail in the performance section, AverMedia Live Gamer Extreme 2 GC551 is a good solution for those who need an external capture solution instead of a fixed screen capture card. Due to its external design, it is easy to set up, easy to carry and most importantly, it doesn’t require any hardware modifications.

AverMedia Live Gamer Extreme 2 GC551 comes in a simple package with a single HDMI cable, USB 3.1 cable and manual. For easy customization, it comes with a removable LID on the top, you can add your own covers and place them to give a pro-streamer look. Creating covers is easy with the help of the Cover Creator tool integrated in RECentral, the central recording and streaming software for GC551.

HDMI-in and HDMI-out ports are located on the back with a single USB3.1 connection. AverMedia Live Gamer Extreme 2 GC551 promises a very easy installation, RECentral is the control center to do everything. We were able to set everything up quickly and easily and had no major issues during use. In such a small form factor it promises you a 4K pass-through, but we recommend you to stick to 1444p max for smooth performance, it is a portable product with its own limitations.

A lot depends on the graphics card you are using in your system, Live Gamer Extreme 2 GC551 alone cannot give you the best. It is a good capture card at 1080p @60fps smooth and according to the specs it requires at least an Nvidia GTX 660 card with 4GB or more of video memory. 8GB of RAM is required for smooth output, 660 is very low, something in the Nvidia 10-series with at least 4GB is recommended. We got a chance to check it out on Nvidia RTX 2070 Super FE and the output was quite amazing.