Times are hard. Finding a latest generation graphics card is already rare, but finding it at its advertised price is a miracle. Also it is not uncommon, as I write these lines, to see a stock of RTX 3080 arriving at the price of 1400 euros (nVidia had announced $ 699 for these models). Rather than breaking the bank, why not wait for the arrival with the Cloud Gaming offers available. Geforce Now is one of them and allows you to "rent" a state-of-the-art RTX, or even play.
Even with a weak connection
If you me follow on Youtube, then you know that my meager ADSL connection is limited to 8 Mbps in download and less than 1 Mbps in upload. Not necessarily better, my 4G box has a slightly higher upload rate, but remains limited to 10 Mbps in DL. It is also very unstable, and it is therefore with the ADSL connection that I test the nVidia service.
Let's be clear, if a lot of YouTuber will praise you for cloud gaming by hiding behind fiber connections or ADSL at more than 20 Mbps, this will not be the case for me. I am testing the offer with line characteristics far below the recommendations of the Californian manufacturer.
My connection allows me to play in 1280 × 720 at 30 fps stably and consistently. The big advantage I will get from the service is to be able to tune any game to its maximum graphics capacity. Cyberpunk 2077 goes cream in Ultra. Farming Simulator? Let’s not even ask the question, it’s obvious. The games see a powerful virtualized graphics card and shouldered 16 GB of RAM.
Evolution of the service
Since its launch and my previous video, published in February 2020, nVidia's service has changed a lot. In the past, you had to log into an account such as Steam, to install a game from your library, no matter which one. Now, all the games are no longer available, and the publishers validate one by one the titles that we can access. It was impossible for me to launch Red Dead Redemption 2 for example because Rockstar does not grant the rights to use their launcher to nVidia. But playing SnowRunner with the Epic Games library is no problem.
The advantage is that the games are preinstalled. There is no longer any waiting to start a game now. While at the start of the service, you really had to connect to your Steam or Epic (or others ...) interface and start the (admittedly fast) installation of the game you wanted to play.
By the way, if we take games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey and its 70 GB of installation, tell yourself that it will take 0 bytes on your PC. What to save not only on the purchase of a graphics card, but also of a hard disk.
Offers
If there is one thing that has not changed, it istariff offer. FREE for a one-hour game session, you will have to take a subscription for less than 5 euros per month to play without limitation, or about sixty euros per year (against more than 1000 euros for a latest generation graphics card). This subscription also allows you to activate RTX mode in compatible games.
Players using the Free Tier must always wait (a few minutes in the worst case) before they can start a game. There is a waiting line system. When you are on a paid offer (founder), you go in front of everyone. Free has its limits but allows you to test the service, that's an excellent point!
What more can I say if it is only on a personal basis, I find cloud gaming really very interesting in mobility, whether on an office PC (during the lunch break) or on a mobile phone, where a resolution of 1280 × 720 is more than sufficient. The non-nVidia service being the only one that can be tested without obligation and free of charge, I was not able to try out competing solutions. I can't take this risk with my background campaign connection, and Google Stadia seems to be cautious when asked for the necessary equipment for the test ...