Online gaming’s true potential is unlocked by Nvidia.
GeForce Now Ultimate, launched this morning by Nvidia, is a game-changer that brings RTX 4080 gaming to the cloud with 64 teraflops of processing power.
As discussed by our very own Sean Riley in a recent article about how Nvidia solved Apple’s gaming problem (not that they care), Nvidia is now rolling out these new servers over the next few weeks and months, with the majority of them going live by the end of the first quarter.
I had hands-on time with it before its release, and it is the cloud gaming experience that proved the concept is the future. With support for ray tracing, DLSS3, 240 FPS FHD, and even 4k at 120 FPS, I couldn’t wait to jump online and start playing.
Ultimate gaming experience from GNF
Thanks to Nvidia’s AV1 encoding, which conserves bandwidth, my gaming experience was quick and lag-free. It was comparable to using my gaming console and superior to a gaming laptop. I was astounded by how silky smooth and responsive the GhostRunner demo was while I was playing.
Ultimate’s ability to generate an ultra-widescreen gaming experience is another cool feature. I played GhostRunner on a 34-inch, 60 Hz, 4K monitor. In all honesty, the resolution was stunning, the colors were perfectly saturated, and I did not observe any noticeable latency or frame loss.
In addition, I was surprised by how quickly everything worked because I was using an older, first-generation wireless router with a 5GHz connection that was also broadcasting signal to our home television while my fiancé was watching a movie. Not a single bug, hiccup, or sluggish performance to report.
All of this gorgeous gaming was taking place while my M1 MacBook Pro 13-inch was connected to two 4K monitors, one for the game and one for work. Let me reiterate: you can play AAA games on your MacBook while simultaneously performing other tasks. This is absurd, but wait, there’s more!
GNF Ultimate on additional platforms
As mentioned in the article written by our managing editors, you can now enjoy GNF Ultimate on multiple devices, including Android-powered tablets and Chromebooks, much to the dismay of our editor-in-chief. Using the new Nvidia Ultimate servers, you can play games on your smartphone with the same lightning-fast speeds, low latency, and high frame rates.
Therefore, I retrieved my OnePlus 10 Pro, downloaded GNF, logged in, and played GhostRunner on it, and the experience was identical.
I was without words. Now, am I a good gamer? No, I’m not, but GNF Ultimate is so simple and quick to set up that it makes you want to play.
Nvidia’s new GNF Ultimate enables you to enjoy console- and near-gaming-laptop-level gaming virtually anywhere on a variety of devices you may not have used to game on before, such as an Android tablet, which I tested and found to work marvelously.
Outlook
GeForce Now Ultimate (opens in new tab) costs $20 per month, but you can save some money by purchasing a 6-month plan for $16.67. Imagine not having to pay the average price of $1,500 or more for a good gaming laptop, or $500 for an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5.
Also, you are not required to own a specific console or laptop to play the games you desire. This alone creates a great deal of value. It is a bargain to be able to play games at a high level on multiple devices you already own for only $20 per month.
In the coming months, Nvidia will work tirelessly to roll out the new GeForce RTX 4080 servers in their entirety. I can’t wait to battle friends, family, and strangers while using my MacBook Pro, my smartphone, or even my tablet, thanks to Nvidia’s GNF Ultimate, which gives me a multitude of options.
