The basic gist of the method is simple. Using an Internet enabled device, you’ll jack into certainly one of Pentanet’s respectably beefy on-site “rigs”, access your overall library of games (Epic, Steam or Ubi), after which stream it back to a nearby device that you pick. Understandably, there’s always some latency involved, but otherwise the knowledge is supposed to be fairly seamless for those however the most anal retentive, frame-counting gamer.
In a little more layman’s terms: play games that always need a HAL-9000 to look this good…but deployed on your potato. Said root vegetable might be your smartphone, a tablet, a laptop or a browser-enabled TV. Also, your controls will be handled by either a Bluetooth controller, wireless mouse and keyboard, or those touchscreen control mappings that my kids somehow expertly play Minecraft with.
Pentanet recommends users play over a wired Ethernet connection for best results, having a 25mbps minimum connection for 1080/60fps gaming, “at least” 15mbps for 720p/60fps gaming, and membership comes in two tiers.
Basic (free) let’s you do 1-hour sessions, but you’re in for a bit of a queue during peak times. Priority, meanwhile, could be a monthly subscription for $19.99/month or a yearly deal that actually works out to $17.99/month, and has a selection of first-class citizen benefits. Obviously, you’ll now skip cues quicker than the usual Maccas Karen who’s been dealt a less-than-happy-meal. Your max session time is quadrupled, too.
More importantly, everything will appear shmicker. You get access to NVIDIA's RTX platforms which include dedicated RT Cores for ray tracing and Tensor Cores for AI that enable groundbreaking graphical technologies at breakthrough speeds.
GETTING SET UP
The setup phase wins points to be fast and relatively pain-free. You just download the dedicated desktop client or app, enter your GeForce Now deets, after which go about entering (and two-factor approving) the info regarding your other Steam/Ubi/Epic accounts.
If you have games in your library which are supported, GeForce Now will auto-populate a Library tab for you. The current listing of what's supported is about 400-odd during the time of writing, though I wouldn't call it bleeding edge in terms of new release title support. Used to do however appreciate the use of freebie games like Apex Legends, Rocket League and the like. (Note: the full list is here now)
It's also worth noting that GeForce Presently has a gamified launcher ecosystem. Doing things – whether it is adding an account pic, surrendering your likes and dislikes, etc – will enable you to get XP, levels and little rewards. That could amuse some, but I lost interest quick, immediately after it asked me to complete three surveys in a row.
Once you have selected the sport of your choosing, you'll simply click launch and enter a queue. Mileage is going to vary greatly here. Probably the most I ever waited was 5 minutes on Basic when i watched the “users ahead” tick down to 0. With Priority, I was often instantaneously zipped towards the virtualized desktop of a GeForce Now rig.
A BUMPY RIDE
Now, it’s worth noting which i didn’t begin my GeForce Now relationship within the Beta phase. I wasn’t aware of that which was behind the curtain until that red material parted on opening hour one (4 p.m. local time). I have to say, it looked like a few key bits of scenery had yet to be rolled onto the stage and the odd actor was in a state of undress.
First of all, my two network speed tests (Google’s and speedtest.net) were more or less matching one another, but varied wildly from the metrics shown in the dedicated GeForce Now client. After i was rocking 89 Mbps down, 35 Mbps up and 6ms ping, Now insisted my ping was just right, but my bandwidth was approximately 28 to 47 Mbps. The reply to that issue: I was told not to trust the metrics as they’re not currently giving real world feedback. Shrugging man emoticon.
Unfortunately, something was definitely screwy here. When I linked my Steam account to the service and dialled into Witcher 3, I had been greeted having a rig not exactly raring to go. By using their machines Steam frontend, I had to physically download all 12GB of CDPR’s masterpiece onto that GeForce’s rig, and then bloody well wait for everything to install.
Honestly, my gaming experience did not improve 20 minutes later, when I could finally actually play my game. Though I had the customer set to Balanced (“takes full advantage of available bandwidth to deliver the best possible image and gameplay”), I had been greeted with a rather mosaic, smudgy looking picture.
If I squinted at the screen in George Costanza fashion, I saw something that resembled Geralt kneeling in a main menu campfire. Actually, it might also have been a horse or Seinfeld’s cousin Jeffrey.
Sure enough, every visual option in The Witcher 3 was cranked to Ultra and the game itself was surprisingly playable and responsive – but it was still being a dog’s breakfast, visually. That opening balcony vista looking out over Kaer Morhen? I could have thrown up off of it.
Fortunately, this false start represented the cheapest point of my experience. Like many new babies, GeForce Now had some teething problems that I managed to first salve and then solve. Quick example: Irrrve never needed to go through the “virtual installation rigmarole” ever again, that leads me to think it had been a one-off bug.
The first pro tip I'm able to give you for Now – yes, do disregard the inbuilt metrics but additionally do not trust the Balanced setting to complete its job. Upon switching items to Custom and boosting to the more 1920 x 1080 @ 60 FPS and a Max bitrate of 50 Mbps, the primary course of an infinitely more appetising visual feast started to roll my way.
I certainly wouldn’t recommend playing anything on the 60-inch 4K TV (I then dropped down to the following smallest TV within my house, a 1080p 32-inch). If you ignore that advice and persist, you’ll find everything in your immediate vicinity – like HUD, gun arm and weapon – to become acceptably crisp. However, everything beyond 5 metres of in-game vision receives a little too cubist and artefact-y around the edges. Motion only exacerbates this.
On the 32-inch (and later on my 16-inch laptop screen), a at their maximum Destiny 2 looked more than presentable. More importantly, it served as the perfect test case in my input latency experiments. I’m moderately embarrassed to state that I’ve sunk almost quadruple digit hours into this franchise. My brain just knows how my hunter – and Bungie’s phenomenally kinetic gunplay – should feel through my fingertips.
What I got wasn’t 100% exactly the same feedback and response expected. But it am near to the genuine thing, something within me recalibrated inside of 5 minutes, and it was the typical dreg shredding blastfest.
Would I play elite level Trials of Osiris multiplayer through this service? No. Would I risk being booted from a get group due to me under-performing in a raid? Also no. I would, however, happily play “everyday Destiny 2” via Now with my regular, understanding fireteam mates. This performs absolutely well enough for low-stakes missions and smashing out those daily bounties.
Mind you, Used to do feel the sting of this session timer. Picture it: Now has politely told me I've 10 mins left, but I’ve just started a lucrative Public Event with some randos. Sure enough and though I fought like a demonic Zavala, the customer boots me in the server when I'm metres away from that limited-time victory loot chest.
It also has to be asserted I got a wonderfully decent experience across a multitude of devices, game genres, connection types (wired / wireless) and distances to my router. And some of the time which was with at least one other member inherited cranking Netflix, Spotify or something else.
THE BIG QUESTION…
Is GeForce Now for you? Honestly, that will depend on two major factors. The very first, obviously, pertains to your online bandwidth as well as your distance to wherever Pentanet has its own two main servers. Personally, I had been testing from the foot of the Blue Mountains, on the western fringe of the Greater Sydney Region, utilizing a 100Mbps/40Mbps plan and it worked remarkably well.
The second note is really a question of options. Are you, like many of us, already resting on a large Steam pile of shame? Or possibly a legendary account that you simply probably only log into to redeem the free weekly games on? Otherwise, would you perhaps be better served going the path from the competing Xbox Cloud Gaming service that isn't BYOG[ames]?
After a very ignominious start, GeForce Now managed to become – for the most part – GeForce Wow for me. Providing I played utilizing a decent connection and a sensibly-sized screen, the visuals and responsiveness I acquired were quite impressive.
If you're out on the go having a very generous data plan, or you've been banished out of your PC or main telly because it's been commandeered for lame, spouse purposes, then having GeForce like a backup can be a godsend. This this is a fairly priced, viable replacement alternative to help you stay in the sweet spot of gaming.
Will it act as well for you? Thankfully, you are able to figure that out for your own personel good self – go and check out GeForce Let's focus on nada before deciding to subscribe.
