GEFORCE NOW - a cheap way back into PC gaming, but it is any good?

[nst68]

I want to get back in to PC gaming but can't justify buying a decent rig if I'm not going to stick with it.

Would GEFORCE NOW via my work laptop give a decent experience? It's got a wired connection and I'm on Virgin 300mb.

I'm looking at games like Transport Fever 2, Cities:Skylines, World of Warships etc

 

[chrismscotland]

There's a free membership level? Why not give it a go?
Do you already own the games?

 

[hood1971]

I had a go a while ago, mostly playing non FPS games and it worked well - signed up for founder can canceled within the 90 free trial. Not sure if that option is still available. At the time I had an aging gaming laptop and was contemplating building desktop, buying new laptop or streaming.
The main reason I did not continue with streaming is that I love mods, and until GEFORCE NOW can integrate this I do not think it can really replace a pc. If you just want to play unmodded games it does that reasonably well, and you can test it free. I

 

[ic1male]

I keep meaning to give this a go again. I only have one RTX game (Quake II) but you need to pay a fiver to get access to an RTX card. I think this service will come in very handy next gen with the new RTX I/O thing. Their servers will probably be configured for it better than a local PC, maybe? If it works well, it means I could get an Apple Silicon Mac and still play most of my PC games.

Does it say anywhere what the actual specs are of the configuration you are playing on? Have they said anything about upgrading to Ampere cards?

 

[Poneros]

Should be fine for those games, just make sure they're supported first and available through that platform. Oh and you'll definitely want to buy membership if you play during busy hours, otherwise the wait times can be quite long.

 

[bayo000]

Does it say anywhere what the actual specs are of the configuration you are playing on? Have they said anything about upgrading to Ampere cards?

There is a way to check but can't remember how. Think you need to run Steam rather then starting a game. Not used it for a while but worked pretty well with few games I tried, shame it doesn't support Steam Workshop as I do like to mod my games.

 

[nst68]

There's a free membership level? Why not give it a go?
Do you already own the games?

No, I don't own the games, presume I have to buy then through Steam?

 

[nst68]

I had a go a while ago, mostly playing non FPS games and it worked well - signed up for founder can canceled within the 90 free trial. Not sure if that option is still available. At the time I had an aging gaming laptop and was contemplating building desktop, buying new laptop or streaming.
The main reason I did not continue with streaming is that I love mods, and until GEFORCE NOW can integrate this I do not think it can really replace a pc. If you just want to play unmodded games it does that reasonably well, and you can test it free. I

The modding thing might be an issue further down the line, but then gives me an excuse to buy a PC if I get in to games that need them

 

[ic1male]

No, I don't own the games, presume I have to buy then through Steam?

Yes, I think you can play all the Epic freebies as well if you have any of them. Or any on Uplay that you own there.

 

[Guest2]

I cant imagine FPS games being playable at high refresh rates and high resolutions with gsync over a stream.

Could be wrong though, would certainly like to play COD MW over a cloud service on a 240hz config to see what it's like. I put money on it being rubbish

 

[ic1male]

I cant imagine FPS games being playable at high refresh rates and high resolutions with gsync over a stream.

Could be wrong though, would certainly like to play COD MW over a cloud service on a 240hz config to see what it's like. I put money on it being rubbish

At the moment it maxes out at 1080p60 or 720p120.

 

[varkanoid]

I want to get back in to PC gaming but can't justify buying a decent rig if I'm not going to stick with it.

Would GEFORCE NOW via my work laptop give a decent experience? It's got a wired connection and I'm on Virgin 300mb.

I'm looking at games like Transport Fever 2, Cities:Skylines, World of Warships etc

I would have thought you could pick them up cheap and buy the games. WOW is free and it worked fine on my work laptop with Intel GPU. Even with details turned down its still probably better playing it than over game streaming.

I didnt think Geforce Now had any games left after the companies pulling out. They are clutching at straws if they got WOW in there !

 

[Guest2]

At the moment it maxes out at 1080p60 or 720p120.

So not great. I imagine some basic laptops can do 1080p@60fps including ones like my 5 year old work Surfacebook
Coupled with (by the sounds of it) companies pulling out then it doesnt sounds like a great service

 

[mid_gen]

I cant imagine FPS games being playable at high refresh rates and high resolutions with gsync over a stream.

Could be wrong though, would certainly like to play COD MW over a cloud service on a 240hz config to see what it's like. I put money on it being rubbish

If you want to play high refresh rates and gsync, then you aren't the customer for streaming services.

 

[ryhoper1]

I have an nvidia shield I tried it on, this was the early days.

I tried a couple of games at 720 and I wasnt too impressed. There was allot of input delay and it seemed more like watching a low quality video of a game, this was when it first came out and my connection is no where near as good as yours.

 

[DONOHUE07]

I'm using a combination of Moonlight game streaming (from my own PC) Geforce Now and Google Stadia, on a chromebook and all three of them are absolutely fantastic, they all feel as though playing locally on the machine.

This is on a sub 30mbps connection on a ISP router too