NVIDIA’s GeForce Now with RTX 5080 GPUs is a cloud gaming revelation

If you had informed me 5 years in the past that enjoying PC video games over the cloud would quickly look  indistinguishable from utilizing a strong rig, I’d have known as you a idiot. But after diving into NVIDIA’s new RTX 5080-powered GeForce Now servers for a number of hours, I feel we have reached a serious milestone for cloud streaming. From a New Jersey server nearly a thousand miles away from my Atlanta-area dwelling, I used to be in a position to play Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K at 170 fps (with NVIDIA’s DLSS 4 body era) and Overwatch 2 at a blistering quick 360 fps in 1080p. I genuinely could not inform the distinction between this souped-up GeForce Now server and my very own RTX 5090-powered desktop.

That obtained me considering: What’s the purpose of investing hundreds in a desktop when cloud streaming can look this good for $20 a month? That’s the value for GeForce Now’s top-end Ultimate plan, which is required to make use of the RTX 5080 servers. And if you happen to do not want that degree of energy, you may as well get a reasonably stable gaming expertise with the $10 Performance plan, which is restricted to 1,440p/60 fps at finest.

During my testing, I used to be consistently astounded by how sharp each sport appeared. The neon lights and reflective surfaces of Cyberpunk’s Night City lit up my Alienware OLED monitor. A couple of minutes into my first session, I utterly forgot I used to be streaming the sport. There have been not one of the video compression artifacts or occasional stuttering I’ve seen on different streaming companies. Hell, I used to be even in a position to rip by means of a number of Overwatch 2 matches with out noticing a lot lag. I solely observed a little bit of latency once I turned on multi-frame era whereas enjoying Cyberpunk in 4K — that pushed my body price as much as 160 fps from 70 fps, however these interpolated frames made every thing really feel extra sluggish.

We’ve clearly come a great distance from Microsoft and Sony’s foray into sport streaming for consoles. I’ve used Xbox providing on and off over time, and whereas it is sometimes been simple to make use of, it all the time felt a bit low-res (it tops out at 1080p/60 fps) and full of blotchy video compression. Even right now, it is apparent you are getting a second-rate expertise. Sony’s streaming for PS Plus Premium subscribers can now attain as much as an admirable 4K/60 fps for some PS5 titles, and it additionally turned the PlayStation Portal right into a extra viable handheld. But Sony’s cloud gaming appears extra helpful for letting you play older PS3 video games, as an alternative of supplying you with an entire gaming expertise untethered from its core console enterprise.

GeForce Now has all the time had a technological benefit over the competitors, as it is easy for NVIDIA to stuff servers filled with high-end GPUs. But it is lagged behind a bit in relation to usability, since enjoying video games includes connecting to your accounts on storefronts like Steam, adopted by downloading and putting in these titles in a distant connection window. It’s not as simple as hitting a button on the Xbox Windows app. GeForce Now is clearly geared toward PC players who have already got massive collections of video games and are used to struggling by means of the indignities of Steam’s interface.

For these gamers, NVIDIA’s newest upgrades have turned GeForce Now from a “nice to have” service to one thing that may very well be important. There’s the uncooked energy inherent within the leap to RTX 5080-level GPUs, which ends up in greater body charges and the flexibility to lean into demanding options like ray tracing. The precise “Blackwell” GPU {hardware} NVIDIA is utilizing in its servers additionally sports activities a whopping 48GB of VRAM, a serious leap from the 16GB of VRAM the consumer-grade RTX 5080 playing cards are caught with. Technically, you possibly can see higher efficiency in GeForce Now in comparison with operating a 5080 regionally.

NVIDIA has additionally bumped its decision and body price limits as much as 5K/120 fps (which is at the moment solely supported by one LG monitor), 4K/240 fps and 1080p/320 fps. That covers the gamut of people that need the very best high quality potential, to those that demand essentially the most frames for fast-paced shooters. 

And in an effort to make cloud gaming look a bit much less such as you’re simply streaming video, NVIDIA has additionally developed “Cinematic Quality Streaming” options, together with assist for higher shade depth with 4:4:4 chroma subsampling. There are additionally “AI-powered” video filters to assist make textual content clear, in addition to assist for AV1 encoders for environment friendly streaming that may adapt to community adjustments.

If you’re caught with an ageing video card, it could make extra sense to subscribe to GeForce Now Ultimate for $20 a month, as an alternative of shelling out $1,200 or extra for a real RTX 5080. 

As standard for cloud streaming, although, the Achilles heel of GeForce Now is its exorbitant bandwidth calls for. NVIDIA bumped up its most video bitrate to 100Mbps, which may add as much as 45GB of bandwidth over an hour. You’ll want a beefy web connection to stream video games with out slowing down the web for everybody else in your house, and you’ll simply quit on the thought fully if you happen to’re restricted by bandwidth caps. If you have been considering of an excuse to improve to an uncapped gigabit web connection, that is it.

Streaming Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K consumed 29.5GB over an hour of gameplay. GeForce Now hovered between 60Mbps and 80Mbps for a lot of the session, but it surely often peaked to 100Mbps. I’ve obtained a dependable AT&T fiber connection within the suburbs, however I’d undoubtedly be nervous if I used to be nonetheless utilizing a finicky cable web in Brooklyn, the place the general bandwidth is shared with everybody in your cable node. A single GeForce Now session may take down web speeds to your total block, or you possibly can end up with out sufficient bandwidth to play easily throughout peak utilization.

It’s additionally value noting that GeForce Now additionally doesn’t assist each PC sport on the market. You can entry greater than 4,000 latest titles, however you might run into points looking for obscure older video games. NVIDIA is increasing its streaming library a bit with a brand new “Install to Play” function, which helps you to set up some video games in persistent cloud storage. I used to be in a position to arrange and play 1000xResist with none bother, and I’m hoping extra indie titles can be added ultimately.

The want for killer bandwidth and the truth of shoddy web infrastructure are the most important points holding cloud gaming again from really changing native play. If my usually secure web goes down, which means no gaming in any respect. And the identical is true if NVIDIA’s servers get slammed. For most individuals, choosing up a console or gaming PC will merely be extra dependable.

Even with these caveats, GeForce Now nonetheless makes a compelling case for gaming away out of your foremost rig. Perhaps you’re itching to place a dent in your Steam library whereas on trip, otherwise you simply wish to hold enjoying Mafia: The Old Country in your sofa. It’s all potential, so long as your web holds up.