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00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom the tech chap and this is cyberpunk streaming on a MacBook Pro over Wi-Fi
00:06In a hotel room and normally that would be impossible on a MacBook like this
00:10So I am of course streaming it via GeForce now
00:13This has been around for a few years now
00:16But they are starting to roll out one of the biggest updates to the streaming service
00:20It's an all-new top-tier mode that lets you stream your game library and up to 1440p
00:25120 Hertz and from your own RTX 3080 based virtual gaming rig
00:31So between my brother Pete back in the office in the UK and me working out of hotel rooms currently, I'm in California
00:37I've been to Hawaii recently as well for work
00:40I promise but we have been testing GeForce now on a whole bunch of devices
00:44and so given just how hard it is to buy a new GPU or at least for a reasonable price and also the consoles are
00:51still pretty hard to find is
00:52Signing up for something like GeForce now with this new top-tier mode
00:57Actually worth doing and if you do enjoy the video a cheeky little like and subscribe would be very much appreciated
01:02So as a quick refresher because it does feel like GeForce now has maybe fallen under the radar a little bit in the last couple
01:08Of years it basically allows you to play games
01:10You already own on the likes of Steam Epic, GOG, Ubisoft and EA although there isn't any battle.net support
01:16Currently you then link or log in to each of your store
01:19Accounts as you boot up each game for the first time and you get cloud saves as well
01:23So you can carry on where you left off
01:25You also don't have to buy games through GFN and there's also a selection of free games to play with a lot of the usual
01:30Suspects like fortnight apex legends and destiny 2 now as I'm recording this video and videos say there's about
01:371,100 or so games that can be streamed via GeForce now
01:41But not every game can be there are some rights issues or copyright issues
01:45So do check that the game that you want to play will run on this first
01:50So how much?
01:51Well, the free membership tier is a really good starting point for testing just how well this works over your connection
01:57Although game performance and resolution is more limited than the premium options
02:01Also queues to play games will be longer and you can only play for an hour at a time
02:05But it is free so you can't really argue with that
02:08Then we have the priority tier which was previously the top-end founders tier and this is 45 pounds off
02:14$50 for six months and gets you a more powerful virtual rig with RTX ray tracing support in compatible games
02:21Extended six-hour sessions and a 1080p 60 FPS stream
02:25And finally we have the new RTX 3080 level which gets you the full
02:301440p 120 Hertz on PC and Mac with adaptive sync providing your screen supports it eight-hour gaming sessions
02:374k HDR if you're using Nvidia shield TV and of course access to a faster 3080 based rig
02:43So performance should be closer to an actual high-end PC experience
02:47However at twice the price so ninety pounds or a hundred dollars for a sixth month subscription
02:53It is a lot more money for this
02:553080 tier and on the one hand you could say well over three years
02:59You could just buy a ps5 or a series X with that kind of money or a very basic gaming PC
03:03And then you would own that because of course this is an ongoing subscription
03:06But then on the other hand the component shortages and the pricing that goes with that also the fact that this is much more
03:11Affordable it's over time you don't have to you know drop
03:142,000 pounds or something on a gaming PC or 500 on a console and so well
03:18I don't think this is for everyone it depends on your situation if you already have a console or a good gaming PC setup
03:23This is definitely worth considering now as for the actual tech behind all this
03:28Nvidia have just taken their apps off their super pod supercomputers
03:31Which house around a thousand RTX 3080s each which is probably why the tear is currently only available in limited quantities
03:38And each virtual rig gets the equivalent of an 8 core 16 thread CPU
03:4327 gigs of DDR4 RAM and a fast PTI for SSD
03:48But as you guys know that's only half the story you can have all those fancy fast supercomputers
03:53But if your connection at home or wherever you're using it like in a hotel room isn't fast stable and also low latency
04:00You're gonna run into trouble now Nvidia reckon that you'll need a 35 meg connection to run this 3080 tier
04:06But with the usual variances in connection quality
04:10I say maybe 60 to 100 is probably a safer bet and also bear in mind that you're looking at 9 to 11 gigs of
04:16Data per hour, so you're probably gonna want an unlimited data cap although of course you can go for one of the lower tiers
04:21Which use less data?
04:23so I've been testing this out on my
04:25120 Hertz MacBook Pro 16 a
04:27Surface Pro 8 as well as a couple of phones and a gaming laptop and I even tried it via an app on my
04:332021 LG OLED TV and in most situations it is pretty impressive
04:37But really for the best experience you're gonna want to connect via Ethernet
04:41Oh
04:42And also the full 1440p 120 Hertz mode is reserved for Mac PC and Nvidia shield TV, but more on that in a moment
04:50So how well does this new 3080 tier actually work? Well, let's start with the best-case scenario
04:56300 meg fiber connection via Ethernet
04:59I left the quality mode to the default balanced and jumped into a bit of cyberpunk which was smooth and responsive to my inputs
05:05But it didn't look like 1440p or 120 Hertz
05:09It was still using 1080p 60 which actually is helpful as this is simulating how the lower priority tier will look
05:15but then in the custom settings
05:16I manually set the resolution to 1600p in the case of my 16 by 10 Mac and
05:22120 Hertz and the difference was pretty huge
05:25The graphics looked much crisper the RTX effects look good
05:28And it was close enough to playing the game locally on a PC that after a while. I forgot this was being streamed
05:34Occasionally and with other games I tested compression artifacts and some muddy textures would pop in reminding me that I was streaming in
05:41Rainbow Six Siege at the max res and refresh rate
05:44It looks pretty similar to running it on my RTX 3070 gaming laptop up close
05:49It is less sharp, but it's not far off and I was surprised how the input lag felt pretty similar
05:54Though I am a 31 year old amateur gamer. I'm sure competitive gamers would notice a difference
06:00The launcher allows you to enable manual graphics settings and games, but more often than not I couldn't change the refresh rate in-game
06:06so it was tricky to tell if I was actually getting that full 120 and
06:10Sometimes even in less demanding titles it felt more like 60
06:14But then over my admittedly fast Wi-Fi 6 connection things were more hit-or-miss
06:20Distant textures looked lower res due to the extra compression
06:23though it was the increased input lag that was most obvious and if your Wi-Fi isn't that great then
06:29Latency or packet loss can mean the stream is stuttery or laggy. Ethernet is kind of a must-have on PC and Mac in my experience
06:37Games can also be a little bit slow to boot up over GFN
06:40But once you're in load times are very quick
06:43Although of course you also don't have to worry about any long downloads big file sizes or updates
06:47It was also a little bit difficult to tell if adaptive sync was working with my display
06:51Although I didn't see much in the way of tearing artifacts overall
06:55But then my next plan was to download it on my pixel 6 Pro and try it out
06:59But then it turns out it doesn't support it only Samsung Galaxy, which is a bit frustrating
07:04Although I do have an s21 ultra I can test it with and it did seem to work pretty well
07:08But like the PC, it's not always obvious. I'm getting that full 120
07:12You also have less control over the graphics and stream settings
07:15But even so playing games that could never run on a phone with an Xbox controller felt great input lag was okay
07:22But obviously slower than if it was running locally, but even so it was easily playable as for iOS
07:27There isn't currently a specific app
07:29Although there is a fiddly workaround install and also currently no 120 FPS support on my TV though through the new GFN app
07:36Which isn't actually widely available just yet
07:38Things were a little bit less rosy as my ethernet cable couldn't actually reach I had to fall back on my TV's Wi-Fi
07:45And it was pretty laggy and the graphics looked quite compressed
07:48But then when I retried it with ethernet, it was pretty much a return to regular service
07:53So I think as with many things in life
07:56GeForce now is a case of managing expectations
07:58If you have a strong reliable connection and don't already have a gaming PC or next-gen console
08:04Then yeah, this definitely is worth considering and it feels a bit of a niche
08:08Although of course, we do have strong competition from Xbox cloud gaming and also Google stadia
08:13But then in terms of this new 3080 tier, it's a little bit tricky because it is twice as expensive
08:18Although perhaps that's worth it if you are a keen gamer and want the best graphics and refresh rate
08:22But then bear in mind the hardware has to match it
08:25If you don't have a 120 Hertz screen on your laptop
08:28Then you're not gonna have that benefit either
08:30And of course if you haven't got that connection then it looks like it will dynamically reduce that refresh rate and resolution as well
08:36So it does feel like only in the sort of tightest best conditions
08:40Are you really gonna get the full potential out of this but there is still something magical about this
08:45I shouldn't be able to play cyberpunk as well as this or at all indeed on a MacBook with you know
08:51No fans worrying without the battery draining because of course it's all being streamed
08:55So you're not really using the local hardware
08:57It is very impressive and playable almost to the same level as playing it locally
09:02Although it all comes down to that connection
09:05180 pounds or $200 a year for a service that does a close enough job
09:09Maybe all you need especially if you just like the idea of playing on an alternative or portable device
09:14But what do you reckon?
09:15Would you be tempted to sign up for GeForce now?
09:17Give it a try and also would you pay for that top 3080 tier or not really bother stick to the priority?
09:23Let me know what you make of this in the comments below and again if you did enjoy this video
09:26Which hopefully you did because you watch it to the end then a like and subscribe would be amazing
09:30Thank you so much for watching guys, and I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat
09:34You