GeForce Now Ultimate RTX 4080 Tier Tested
Nvidia’s GeForce now (opens in new tab) Your subscription game streaming service has been upgraded again. Existing users of the service on his previous RTX 3080 level will be automatically switched to the new GeForce Now Ultimate level. Pricing remains the same, $19.99 per month, or $99.99 for 6 months. We were able to test the new hardware to see how it handled the latest games. This naturally includes support for DLSS 3 with the Ada Lovelace architecture.
what’s the catch? Not if you’re already a GFN subscriber, but we’re trying to sort out what these upgrades mean for the other tiers. ), we know there were three classes of hardware:they are all similar to fast mobile However, although the exact specs vary, real 3080/2080/2060 GPUs running locally are generally faster.
Does the introduction of the 4080 tier phase out the lower 2060/1080 equivalents and shift everything down? Not sure, but one possibility. We know the RTX 4080 is one of the best graphics cards out there, despite the price hike. But how do the cloud variants compare?
Let’s start with streaming performance. I ran his five game tests of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry 6, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Watch Dogs Legion on both a local RTX 4080 and a GeForce Now Ultimate RTX 4080. Real GPUs are not the same. , but there are no exact specs other than 24GB VRAM. I know cloud 4080 supports his DLSS 3 etc. It’s likely an unannounced data center variant of the AD102 chip instead of the AD103 used in the retail RTX 4080. .
All tests were done at 4K 120 fps on GFN and run on a Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 monitor (4K 240 Hz). We basically maxed out the game settings, including the ray tracing options, with DLSS quality mode enabled as needed. Unfortunately, games that use DLSS 3 frame generation don’t have built-in benchmarks, so we weren’t able to get performance metrics for those games.
assassin’s creed valhalla
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is one of the games to report an “AMD Ryzen 16 Core” CPU with an “Nvidia Graphics Device” for the GPU. That’s pretty much the details I can glean about what his new RTX 4080 hardware requires, I tested it using the Ultra preset.
Performance at GFN was 105 fps, but on a Core i9-13900K test PC with a real RTX 4080 Founders Edition, it hits 98 fps. wait, seriously?Yes, GeForce Now is actually out Faster Better than the local RTX 4080 in this case, but not always. This particular game may be optimized for Ryzen CPUs instead of 13900K.
Cyberpunk 2077
It’s interesting that Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the games that will support DLSS 3, but it’s still not available in public builds more than three months after the RTX 4090 launched. That’s why I’m using his DLSS 2 in Quality mode with the RT-Ultra preset.
And the results are pretty close. GFN cloud was 55 fps, local RTX 4080 was 57 fps. Most gamers won’t notice the difference. Of course, you can change the settings to get more than 60 fps. When frame generation is exposed, it can reach 120 fps.
far cry 6
Next up is Far Cry 6, with Ultra preset HD textures and both DXR (DirectX Raytracing) reflections and shadows enabled. This time GeForce Now’s “RTX 4080” managed 68 fps, while the RTX 4080 running locally recorded 94 fps. This is a big difference and a complete reversal of what we’ve seen in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Moving on to Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we are using the maximum settings (including ray tracing and other items that are typically set one step below maximum) and running with DLSS quality upscaling. It’s an older game, so expect pretty high performance, but that’s exactly what we got.
Both the GeForce Now and the local RTX 4080 scored the same 138 fps average, but in the details (bottom right) the numbers for the individual elements (CPU Gaming, CPU Rendering, GPU) differed between the first two and the latter GFN. But actual performance metrics are generally more important than detailed data.
Watch Dogs Legion
Finally, we have Watch Dogs Legion. Again, both the RTX 4080 and GeForce Now score pretty similar. Running in DLSS quality mode, including DXR reflections, at near max settings (50% extra object detail).
The local RTX 4080 scores slightly higher at 75 fps compared to 72 fps, but close enough to call it a tie. So out of the 5 games we were able to benchmark, 1 favored GFN, 1 strongly favored local RTX 4080, and the remaining 3 were basically a tie.
GeForce Now Image Quality and Latency
The game test above uses built-in benchmarks to assess the real-world FPS of various games, but what happens when you actually play with GeForce Now?
Latency to GeForce Now data centers on the West Coast was consistently around 40ms for me. Ideally, it should be close to that location and less than 30 ms, but RTX 4080 hardware was not yet available elsewhere. Yet I live in northern Colorado, and the best ping I’ve achieved was 36 ms to the US central location (which didn’t have 4080 hardware yet).
After playing enough games to test, the increased latency became immediately apparent.it wasn’t bad It’s certainly not unplayable, but just moving the mouse cursor around the main menu in the various games I tried was noticeably slower. But what if you got into the actual game? you adapt quickly.
I played the prologue of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide on GeForce Now at max settings, and it was typically above 60 fps. This is one of the games that also supports DLSS 3 frame generation, which might potentially lead to high latency, but the fact is he doesn’t enable FG. felt similar to, but with a slightly smoother cadence of video frames.
Without FG (with DLSS quality upscaling) performance tended to be slightly above 60 fps. With FG on, it jumped to 100-120 fps. A 120 Hz (or higher) display was enough to make the game’s overall look a little smoother. felt It was faster and more responsive, but looked a little smoother on the display.
How’s the image quality? Regular game distribution. The new Ultimate tier supports 4K and 120 fps, but everything looks a little softer thanks to video compression and decompression. ) is like playing around with DLSS performance upscaling.
GeForce Now Bandwidth Requirements
GeForce Now requires a good internet connection. Even the new Ultimate tier at 4K 120 fps only uses about 45 Mbps, so we’re not too crazy about downstream bandwidth requirements, but latency is a big factor. You probably aren’t going to cut it for anything that needs decent responsiveness, just be aware that 45 Mbps means an hour of play can consume up to 16 GB of data Please give me. So if you have a data cap, skip game streaming.
Lower quality settings can reduce bandwidth requirements. Nvidia has three default settings: Balanced, Data Saver, and Competitive. Balanced is the default, uses about 16GB per hour and supports 4K 120. Data Saver cuts it down to just 4GB per hour with a 720p 60 fps stream. Competitive is primarily for multiplayer esports games and uses a 1080p 120 fps stream, but currently also expects 240 fps support (which seems to be missing). Uses about 10 GB per hour.
Related to this, I would like to avoid using wireless networks if possible. This introduces additional delays and may not give you the ideal experience. But you want the fastest and most stable connection possible, especially for 4K 120 fps.
GeForce Now Ultimate (RTX 4080) availability
The GeForce Now RTX 4080 tier has officially rolled out, but is not available for GeForce Now installations. Nvidia has this page (opens in new tab) This shows where RTX 4080 hardware is currently available. At the time of writing, in data centers in San Jose, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Frankfurt, all others are on RTX 3080 or lower hardware.
Nvidia will continue to upgrade its GeForce Now data centers, but there is no official timeline for how that will happen. We also don’t know how many active GeForce Now subscribers there are or how many of his RTX 4080 slots are available in various data centers.
GeForce Now Ultimate Summary
The cost of PC gaming hardware has skyrocketed over the past few years, especially for graphics cards. The RTX 3080 had a nominal launch price of $700, but mostly sold for his $1,500 through 2021 and early 2022. Now improved, the 3080 has been discontinued and is now replaced by his RTX 4080 which sits on the former side. RTX 3080 Ti price: $1,200.
Performance is arguably better than previous-generation GPUs, but the value proposition is arguably worse. increase. Never mind that you’ll need the rest of your PC along with your graphics card.
Considering these prices, the idea of game streaming starts to look more reasonable. At $100 for 6 months, it’s equivalent to a 6-year GeForce Now subscription at the price of the RTX 4080. Three more GPU upgrades (5080, 6080, 7080) are likely to come in the next six years. You can skip all the worries about hardware upgrades and instead use the hardware you already have and get a great cloud streaming experience.
But the GeForce Now experience isn’t quite the same as local gaming. It does some things better (less heat and noise from the system). Elsewhere it’s decidedly bad: Gaming choices are plentiful but fundamentally limited, requiring high latency and a good internet connection (preferably with no data cap). At least this round of hardware seems to perform pretty close to his RTX 4080 in the real world.
You can always try the free GeForce Now tier, which currently offers “GTX 1080” class hardware. You cannot enable RTX effects or DLSS. Also, if the paid tier offers his 6 and 8 hours, you’re limited to an hour play session. I tried the free tier and it’s not as good as the RTX 4080 tier, but it’s certainly playable.
If it were upgraded to RTX 2080 hardware, the overall experience should improve dramatically, but Nvidia may leave ray tracing locked behind a paywall.60 fps Even if you only get 1080p on , it’s not a bad game streaming service.