Well sort of… for the masses as of this writing.
At CES a couple weeks back we got to take a tour with NVIDIA as they showed us their latest NVIDIA Studio tools, new RTX 4080 GPUs, and what’s going on with their GeForce NOW cloud gaming service. They have been making major strives with the service year after year and they are looking to take it one step further with what they are calling GeForce NOW Ultimate.
Ultimate will be taking the place of the RTX 3080 Members tier but bringing so much more behind it. For starters an auto upgrade to RTX 4080 servers (rolling out in Q1 2023). This brings along features such as streams up to 4K 120fps with DLSS3 and RTX ON and ultrawide support up to 3,840 x 1,600 resolution and 120fps.
Luckily me and my fellow G Style member Mike were able to test out the Ultimate membership with its RTX 4080 SuperPODs before release to get a feel of what the public was getting. We each played different games, so our experiences are quite unique.
Jason:
For my testing I utilized games that I have on my Epic Game Store account which were “Control”, “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” and “Fortnite” to name a few. These games I tried on both my PC and via my TV(with a NVIDIA Shield TV attached). On my PC I would stream resolutions of 2560×1440 based on my monitor via all three games I played. I would also get a consistent 60fps all through without much lag while hardwired via Ethernet. I was also able to toggle on options such as full ray tracing and DLSS.
On my TV I was getting 4K with 120fps (HDR on Fortnite and Tomb Raider) with those same titles. I would experience some drops during Shadow of the Tomb Raider from 4K to 1440 to 1080p at times when it got chaotic, but this is also utilizing a wireless connection as you have to maintain at least a 45Mbps connection.
Unfortunately, as I don’t have a 240Hz monitor I was unable to test out the Reflex modes.
I used the Ultimate Tier with a 300×300 Verizon Fios wired/wireless connection in New York City.
Mike:
As a PC gamer I have a particular preference for playing all of my games in the 1080p resolution. Why? It’s simple consistency and overhead rules above all else for me so I’ll take the hit in fidelity if it means I can play my games without hiccup.
With the GeForce NOW Ultimate upgrade I didn’t necessarily get ridiculous framerates but I did get a consistent experience with literally no frame drops or skips. This for me was a big deal because I don’t have the greatest internet connection and I’m doing this over WiFi. I mostly played Destiny 2, Elden Ring, The Division 2, and Evil West.
It’s also a plus for me because as of the moment an RTX 4080 isn’t in my budget so to be able to use one and experience the capability even if it’s only at 1080p is super important to me as an everyday PC gamer. While I may not be physically using a 4080 GPU, even the simulated experience is top tier quality.
I’d be lying however if I didn’t say that I didn’t try to game in higher resolutions. I did. I’ll say this, for anyone who can’t get their hands on an RTX 4080 and you have a library of PC games at your disposal, this is an awesome investment if you wanna swing it. Just my opinion.
I used the Ultimate Tier with a 300×300 Verizon Fios wireless connection in New York City.
Ultimate Tier Requirements:
Internet connection speed of:
- at least 45Mbps for streaming up to 3840x2160p at 120fps.
- at least 35Mbps for 2560x1440p at 120 FPS for most iMacs or 2560x1600p at 120 FPS for most MacBooks.
- at least 35Mbps for 1920×1080 at 240fps.
240Hz monitor if you want to use Reflex
An account with games on either Epic Games, Ubisoft, or Steam
Now it comes down to if $20/month for this service is worth it. This realistically depends on your gaming library and what titles can ultimately take full advantage of the service. If you don’t have the strongest gaming rig or decidedly chokes on you at times, it maybe something to try out. Honestly gaming on it for a few hours I forgot I was even on a streaming service for the most part.
There is other services such as Xbox Game Pass Ultimate that has a multitude of titles and cost $14.99. But I don’t think I have experienced the quality of streaming I have with them like with NVIDIA GeForce NOW Ultimate(so far). Also Stadia has just closed its doors completely leaving those users to venture elsewhere for streaming goodness.
With the Ultimate now rolling out to the public it will first tap into areas such as San Jose, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Frankfurt Germany with more cities to be posted in the upcoming weeks on its server map.
