This HDMI gadget lets me play Switch 2 and PS5 games on my PC

• How does a capture card work?
• The experience so far

I’ve been a PC gamer my whole life, and while I love building desktop PCs for myself and friends — and playing games at higher graphics settings and frame rates — I still enjoy gaming on consoles. I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of my PS5 since launch, and more recently, the Nintendo Switch 2.

That said, one thing I’ve always wanted is an easy way to play my Switch 2 and PS5 on my PC whenever I don’t feel like using my TV, without sacrificing audio or video quality. Sure, I could just hook the consoles directly up to my monitor, but what I really wanted was to be able to play them through Windows itself, almost like they were just another app running on my PC.

The solution turned out to be surprisingly simple: a capture card — the same kind of hardware content creators use for streaming and recording gameplay.

Capture cards are HDMI devices that can record gameplay while also supporting video passthrough. If you want to play a console on your PC with zero lag and high-quality video and audio, simply put, a capture card is the way to go.

With that in mind, I looked for one that could handle everything I wanted, mainly 4K 120Hz support, and ended up choosing the Elgato 4K X. I snagged it on sale for $200, down from its regular $250 price, and while that is admittedly still pricey, I’ve found it to be worth every penny so far. Since hooking it up to my PC, it’s made gaming on whatever console I want more fun and more convenient.

How does a capture card work?

It captures the console’s video signal and displays it on your PC

There are two types of capture cards: internal ones that plug directly into your PC’s PCIe slot, and external ones that sit outside your PC. For this story, I’m focusing on external capture cards since they’re more common. Two big brands dominate the market: AVerMedia and Elgato. Since I’m using an Elgato, I’ll walk through its setup process and software specifically.

The Elgato 4K X, along with other cards in Elgato’s lineup, have three ports: an HDMI in, an HDMI out, and a USB-C port. The HDMI in connects directly to your console, while the HDMI out goes to whatever display you want your console to appear on — usually a TV. If you want to play your console on your PC, you don’t actually need to plug the HDMI out into your monitor. I still have my HDMI out hooked up to my TV, which lets me play on my PC while keeping the option to play on my TV whenever I want.

That brings us to the USB-C port (which is a USB 3.2 Gen 2), where all the magic happens. It plugs into your PC, letting you see and play your console through the Elgato Studio app (as you can see in the image above with my PS5), so you can play your console on your PC just like any other app running on Windows. The Elgato Studio app is free to download from Elgato’s website, and once you hook up your capture card via USB-C, gameplay from the console you connected to its HDMI in port appears immediately, with no latency.

The caveat is that your PC needs a USB-C port capable of supporting the video and audio bandwidth from the Elgato. The Elgato 4K X specifically requires a USB Type-C 3.2 port for 4K 144FPS capture, while some of Elgato’s other capture cards have less stringent requirements but offer less quality, like the Elgato Game Capture Neo, which requires a USB 3.0 Type-C port and supports only 1080p capture. If you’re not sure which type of USB-C port your PC has, the easiest thing to do is double-check your motherboard manual or, for a laptop, its spec sheet.

The experience so far

Switch 2 and PS5 games look great on my PC through the Elgato, with no latency

I picked up the Elgato 4K X in December and have been using it almost daily to play console games on my PC, and so far, I’ve found the experience to be fantastic. I’ve played games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and MLB The Show 25 on the Switch 2 and PS5, respectively, all connected through the capture card at 4K with zero latency. While I enjoy playing console games on my TV, sometimes I just want to game late at night at my desk on my PC — and this capture card has been perfect for that.

Sure, you could use an AUX cord to get console audio on your PC and connect it directly to your monitor — but I’ve found the Elgato method much smoother. As I mentioned earlier, it’s basically like running my console as an app right in Windows.

One of the biggest perks of the Elgato 4K X is that it captures both audio and video. I can hear my PS5 or Switch 2 through Elgato’s Studio software, so all console audio comes through my PC headphones without a hitch. Sure, you could use an AUX cord to get console audio on your PC and connect it directly to your monitor — but I’ve found the Elgato method much smoother. As I mentioned earlier, it’s basically like running my console as an app right in Windows.

Of course, capture cards are capable of recording gameplay as well, so if you want to stream to platforms like YouTube or Twitch, or record gameplay to use in videos, they can do that effectively as well.

The Elgato 4K X I’m using is a pricier model at $250 because it supports capturing console gameplay at up to 4K at 144 FPS in SDR, with VRR support, but there are also cheaper models, such as the Elgato 4K S, which lets you capture gameplay at 4K 60 FPS for $160.

Overall, if you want to capture console gameplay on your PC — whether for personal use, recording videos, or streaming — a capture card is definitely worth checking out. I have zero regrets about picking one up, and it’s made me enjoy console gaming even more.