Gaming on the go? We tried NVIDIA GeForce NOW, it replaces both your gaming PC and console.

You probably know the scenario. You’re going on vacation, the weather is terrible, and you’re bored. All you have with you is a small laptop that weighs just a kilogram and lasts all day, but you can’t play games on it. Or do you? There are dozens of similar situations where NVIDIA GeForce NOW, or streaming games, can come in handy. Thanks to Nvidia’s support, I’ve tried it out and will tell you about the benefits, as well as the obvious drawbacks that are still associated with streaming games.

Play the games you already own

A few years ago, when Microsoft released the Xbox One and the company’s management thought that a constant connection would be necessary, competitors just laughed. And, of course, gamers cursed the Xbox. Not to mention that sharing game DVDs was and remains a part of gaming culture. In fact, some of us still take over entire gaming accounts and share our libraries with friends.

It was from its experience with NVIDIA that the company learned lessons when creating GeForce NOW. Instead of making an additional purchase for a new platform, players can use the games they already own in game stores. This was paid for, for example, by Stadia, which is now one of Google’s many buried projects.

Compared to streaming games from Xbox and PlayStation, you get a much wider selection of games. You are not tied to one console platform, but instead have access to a larger portfolio of PC games, where most console exclusives are also released today. On GeForce NOW, you can, for example, play Starfield, which will be available on PC and Xbox consoles for a long time to come.

Currently, you can download games from four major stores on GeForce NOW. These are Steam, Epic Games, Ubisoft, and Xbox. What I missed here is definitely GOG, where I have, for example, Cyberpunk 2077 and a few other games collected in events. Hopefully, this store will be integrated soon.

The integration itself is simple and takes a few minutes. Just log into the stores. Afterwards, you will see everything I recommend using in the app. GeForce NOW also works in the browser, which you will appreciate on devices where the client is not supported.

GeForce NOW works not only on Windows PCs, but also on Mac, Android, and iOS devices or TVs. NVIDIA has apps for Chromecast, Android TV, LG, Sony, and Samsung TVs. The list of supported devices is available here. Personally, I tried playing Dying Light 2 on an LG OLED TV a year ago and had no issues. More on that later.

Fast internet as the only condition

Because of its really broad device support and ability to run existing games, GeForce NOW has only one catch that is the same for all services of this type. That is, of course, the connection speed. So, what internet speed do you need?

The most important data is responsiveness and loading speed. The image goes to your device, and all the signals sent by the mouse, keyboard, or controller come from you. The image requires bandwidth, in other words, connection speed. Signals from the computer (mouse, keyboard, controller, etc.) do not require much bandwidth, so a small download is enough. On the other hand, you want the data to get to the server and back to you as quickly as possible, which minimizes response time.

NVIDIA mentions a minimum connection speed of 15 Mbps for gaming at 720p and 60 FPS. In fact, at this image quality, you can play slowly even on modern devices without dedicated graphics. For 1080p and 60 FPS, you need 25 Mbps. This value surprised me a lot, because I was playing at 3440×1440 pixels (aspect ratio 21:9) and 120 FPS, while with a maximum allowed speed of 70 Mbps, GFN declared a maximum of 35 Mbps.

So I can say that if you have a download speed of more than 40 Mbps, you will be able to play in higher resolutions without any problems. And such speeds are achieved, for example, by LTE/5G mobile communications in rural areas.

I was also pleased with the native support for an ultra-wide monitor and at the same time a high refresh rate. After turning on, there were no stripes on the sides of the screen or switching to another resolution. It was as if I was playing on a local PC.

All you need is a gamepad and a smart device.

To avoid being stuck on your computer, you can also play on a number of other devices. In fact, almost anything that can be called a smart device with an operating system. For example, an iPad with iPadOS 14.3 and later. All you need to do is connect a controller via Bluetooth. Support here is also very broad, and in addition to the official Xbox controller and DualSense, older controllers from DualShock 4, Razer, SteelSeries, Logitech and Nintendo are supported. And a few more, the full list of which can be found here. For Android, driver support is similar: Android 5.0 is all you need.

Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw, Razer Edge, and Logitech G Cloud also have direct official support.

My experience is connected to the game on the TV with the Xbox controller connected. Here I would highlight the fact that the TV has only a weak processor, specialized in adjusting the image and running simple applications. The performance cannot even be compared with mobile phones. However, you can comfortably play on the TV without connecting any external console.

GeForce NOW combined with a Smart TV can easily replace a dedicated gaming console or PC. You can often play the latest games at higher detail levels than you would on a Sony or Microsoft console.

Surprisingly versatile

Looking through my combined libraries (and a number of unfinished games), I was surprised to see that GeForce NOW can play competitive games like Counter-Strike 2. I was initially skeptical about online gaming, where every detail and millisecond matters. But as it turns out, Nvidia knew exactly why it was adding games like this to the menu.

I was the first to turn on Ubisoft’s colorful and detailed Avatar. As a single-player (or co-op) game with plenty of graphical detail, it was a great example of GeForce NOW’s performance.

The GeForce NOW Ultimate version I used during testing has the performance of a GeForce RTX 4080 and therefore offers resolutions up to 4K and 240 fps. In practice, you will be limited by your display and its parameters.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora ran completely smoothly, and as a single-player game it was playable from start to finish without the slightest hitch. However, the limitations of image compression began to show slightly. Even a 45 Mbps data rate attack did not prevent artifacts and occasional texture blurring.

In short, this is a limitation of current image encoding and I think even the AV1 codec won’t help much. In any case, this is a pretty extreme example. Avatar offers a lot of particle effects, small movements of bushes, grass and insects.

I also tried a game from the opposite spectrum, good old Counter-Strike 2. As you can see in the comparison below, the image quality is almost identical to the eye.

If you bring the image closer to the viewfinder and to a distant figure, again no visible differences are observed.

Ping plays a big role here, and it is, of course, a little higher when playing through GeForce NOW. On the other hand, I can’t say that it will slow you down significantly. If you have a high rank in the game, you will be aware of a few extra milliseconds. GeForce NOW for semi-professional games simply does not exist. But you can easily get into the classic ranking.

Several use cases

GeForce NOW supports a wide range of devices and over 1,000 games, so you can almost certainly play whatever you want on the device you already own. That could be Assassin’s Creed Mirage on your TV or Baldur’s Gate 3 on your tablet with a controller. But why would you want to use this service?

The only real limitation is your internet connection. In the Czech Republic, you can reach 30 Mbps on a mobile connection, and if you have unlimited data, you can play almost anywhere.

There are many specific scenarios. You can get GeForce NOW, for example, when a new game is released, if you have old or no gaming hardware. You’ve been using a PS4 for years, but are you tempted by the new Star Wars? Play galactic adventures directly on your TV without having to upgrade your console.

GeForce NOW can also help fill the transition period. Are you waiting for the new GeForce RTX graphics line or the post-Christmas sales? In that case, a convenient six-month membership will come in handy. You can play now and buy a new slot machine later, perhaps during a sale.

In essence, it’s also a timeless computer that doesn’t need to be upgraded. You only pay a monthly subscription and always get the best. After all, GeForce NOW started with RTX 3080 performance, and now the servers are running RTX 4080, so you always get the latest, latest-gen gaming machine.

And of course, we have on-the-go gaming. At home, you can play on an old PC running GeForce NOW for Windows, and on-the-go you can play games via the Android app, all you need is a controller and an internet connection. You can play while waiting at the airport, at your hotel in the evening, or at your grandma’s while she watches the latest episode of Ordinas.

NVIDIA also offers various memberships, including the ability to try the service completely free without entering credit card information. But you’ll only be able to play for an hour and at lower detail settings.

The Priority Membership will allow you to use ray tracing in Full HD resolution at 60 frames per second for up to 6 hours at a time. It costs CZK 299 per month or CZK 1,499 for six months. The Ultimate option for CZK 599 combines the performance of the GeForce RTX 4080, the best servers, resolution up to 4K, refresh rate up to 240 FPS and playtime up to 8 hours at a time. A great six-month subscription will cost you CZK 2,990.

There is also a daily Priority membership for CZK 119 and an Ultimate membership for CZK 239. But the best value is the six-month subscription.

The benefit of the Priority and Ultimate membership is undoubtedly that you get all the available RTX and DLSS features. So it’s not just about higher performance, but also higher detail thanks to ray tracing and DLSS ray reconstruction, as well as more frames per second thanks to DLSS frame generation and super resolution.

GeForce NOW has stood the test of time and is now the most widely used game streaming service, offering gamers easy access to the highest quality games, so I can highly recommend it.