Don't you need a GPU for afterburner?
I was actually trying to show you that a lot of the other recommendations are far from simple and barebones (Like afterburner), which is what you seem to be wanting. OBS is made only for streaming and video recording, and the more advanced features let you capture multiple windows at once, while resizing and placing them where you want on the screen, effectively eliminating the need for most video editing. The UI is also significantly better and more intuitive.
Fraps is also paid and has gigantic filesizes that need to be encoded into another format like MP4 for proper use. OBS converts directly into MP4 with fine-tunable customizable settings for things like quality, fps, and dimensions.
The thing with OBS is I have to play with the codecs to find out which one best fits my computer
OBS has 5 codecs, but you only need 1 or 2. MP4 and possibly Quick Sync. I think what you're thinking of is the settings. Let me explain the encoding settings:
Encoder: You should probably use x264. This is the mp4 filetype and is one of the most efficient codecs ever made. Quick Sync is (I think) a hardware implementation of this but all my experiences with it have been negative as I've never been able to use it right.
Use CBR: Leave unchecked.
Quality Balance: Leave it at around 5-7. This will make it so low-motion scenes take up less filesize than high-motion scenes.
Max Bitrate: This is the quality of the video. If you're recording 1080p full HD 30fps video and want very good quality set this to around 8,000-10,000. 720p should be around 4000-5000. Anything lower should be around 2000-3000. If you want 60fps, the general rule of thumb is add on 2000-4000, depending on how much quality you want to keep.
Use Custom Buffer Size: Leave unchecked.
Audio Codecs: Leave on AAC. The other option is MP3, which is a bad choice when you have the option to use AAC, which is a much more efficient codec.
Format: Leave at 44.1kHz.
Bitrate: Leave at somewhere 128-190 depending on the quality you want. 128 is good quality and 190 is great quality.
Channel: Leave at Stereo.
