As one major game streaming service shuts down permanently this week, NVIDIA is enhancing GeForce Now with several new capabilities courtesy of the release of new SuperPODs outfitted with RTX 4080 GPUs. The added support for high refresh rates and ultrawide resolutions makes GeForce Now a truly high-end cloud gaming app. Let’s find some of the service’s new features.
For those who missed the initial announcement back at CES, GeForce Now’s recently renamed Ultimate plan (formerly the RTX 3080 tier) now includes several new features, such as support for refresh rates of up to 240Hz at full HD or 4K at 120 fps and an expanded range of usable wide-screen resolutions (3840×1600, 3440×1440 and 2560×1080).
Additionally, NVIDIA is improving the compatibility of supported games with full ray tracing with DLSS3 and HDR on both Macs and PCs. This immediately puts GeForce Now ahead of competitors like Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is limited to 1080p/60fps. However, in current use, the service’s new capabilities have a greater impact because they make it simpler to maximize the potential of a wider variety of games and gaming configurations.
An outdated RTX 2080 card (GPUs aren’t cheap, y’all) and a 4K/120Hz display are the centerpieces of a current gaming PC. Graphics cards simply lack the power to reach 120 fps at higher graphics settings in more recent AAA games, thus after constantly adjusting the settings till the game runs smoothly. But now that GeForce Now Ultimate has increased resolution support, users can play a game with all the bells and whistles on while still making the most of their monitor’s capabilities.
This effect was most noticeable when a user played the fast-paced, dystopian-future first-person slasher demo Ghostrunner. It’s exactly the kind of game where quick thinking is required to avoid gunfire while mowing down your adversaries. Unfortunately, a user had to drop things like texture settings and anti-aliasing on their desktop to get 120 frames per second, which prevented a user from fully appreciating the game’s stunning cyberpunk design. But in GeForce Now, we can maximize the visuals and maintain 120 frames per second. The gameplay was so crisp and responsive that within only a few minutes
The addition of NVIDIA’s Competitive Mode toggle in GeForce Now provides you more freedom to hit incredibly high refresh rates (up to 240Hz at 1080p) regardless of how fast (or sluggish) your PC is. And even though a user could only get up to 120 frames per second on their monitor while playing League of Legends and Apex Legends, only experienced one stutter over several matches, which is astounding even if a user were dependent on local hardware, much less a server located thousands of miles away. The entire experience was made much better when you consider that the service also utilizes the company’s Reflex technology to reduce latency.
There are now a few significant caveats. You must have a quick internet connection to start. The minimum bandwidth recommended by NVIDIA for gaming at 1080p at 240 frames per second is 35 Mbps. If you like and want to maximize at 4K/120 frames per second, you’ll need at least a 45 Mbps connection, not to mention extra bandwidth to handle any more users that may be online at the same time. This also means that even while playing 4K games while traveling sounds fantastic, you’ll still be dependent on the slow or unreliable network of your hotel or Airbnb.
The new SuperPODs’ initial availability may be constrained after the new Ultimate tier launches today, which is another important consideration. Four locations will host the new servers with 4080 GPUs at launch: San Jose, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Frankfurt, Germany. The Ultimate tier of GeForce Now will therefore only be available to residents of the United States and Central Europe, and even then, if there are too many users online, you might be relegated to a server with 3080 graphics cards. (Tip: Press CTRL + N to view statistics including your server type and network specifications if you’re using GeForce Now and want to know what hardware your cloud games are running on.
The last obstacle is that GeForce Now UItimate is a touch on the expensive side at $20 a month compared to $12 for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (which includes cloud streaming). However, the adage “you get what you pay for” applies here. NVIDIA’s most recent update to its game streaming services offers improved performance, more control over your resolution and refresh rate, and support for glitzy features like ray tracing and Reflex for an additional $8 per month. Although it may seem strange to consider specifications for hardware you don’t actually own, GeForce Now’s new Ultimate tier is pitching itself as the enthusiast’s choice for cloud gaming for those who want their games to look as nice as possible, regardless of the hardware they’re playing on.
