One such service is GeForce Now from Nvidia, which we had the opportunity to try. It is possible to play with this platform on practically any machine, even a laptop that is several years old, which was not originally intended for games.
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This was exactly the case, we played all the titles on a three-year-old ultrabook, which was originally intended more for office use. So logically it doesn’t offer nearly the same performance as the mentioned consoles from Sony and Microsoft or a thoroughbred gaming PC. However, Nvidia boasts that GeForce Now works reliably even on a mobile phone.
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On an office computer
But the ultrabook – in our case from Dell – doesn’t even need it in practice. It is also possible to play the latest titles on it, in a resolution of up to 4K. In this case, the laptop is basically only used to mediate the transfer of images from powerful servers from Nvidia directly to your screen.
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The only limit is the speed of the Internet, GeForce Now requires a speed of at least 15 Mb / s in 720p resolution at 60 FPS and 25 Mb / s in 1080p resolution at 60 FPS. However, it is clear that the higher the speed, the better. We worked on the 50 Mb / s connection without any problems in full HD resolution.
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It should be emphasized that there are several similar gaming services on the market. The choice fell on GeForce Now mainly because it offers ray-tracing and DLSS technologies, which is missing from the competition.
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Ray-tracing is a faithful representation of lights and shadows, thanks to which the game creates a more faithful impression. DLSS is a technology that uses artificial intelligence to render an image. The same system is also used by Nvidia graphics cards, so the image has a significantly higher frame rate and is sharper.
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If we used GeForce Now together with the Nvidia Shield Pro console, we could easily enjoy the 4K image.
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There are more than enough games
We spent a few hours on the ultrabook playing Cyberpunk 2077, which ran significantly smoother than on last-generation consoles. Given that really powerful sets with a price of tens of thousands of crowns are otherwise needed for this game, it is a very decent result.
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We were also seduced by the title of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, in which the advantages of ray-tracing stand out in full. Shadows in the game look more natural thanks to this technology. The atmosphere is significantly underlined by shadows cast by smaller light sources, such as beams, candles and artificial lighting of urban scenes. The game has an almost cinematic impression.
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You also don’t have to worry about the lack of games, thanks to the support of the Steam, Epic and GOG game stores, the supply of interesting titles is practically unlimited.
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Trailer for the game Cyberpunk 2077.
Video: archive of the creators
The future belongs to streaming?
Until a few years ago, it was a matter of course that you need a really powerful machine for the best gaming experience. Currently, the reality is completely different, GeForce Now shows that streaming services definitely have something to offer. Their advancement has been further accelerated by the unavailability of next-generation consoles and modern graphics cards.
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As a result, similar gaming platforms will be significantly cheaper. While you will pay more than ten thousand crowns for the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, and even a few tens of thousands of crowns for a solid gaming computer, GeForce Now will cost CZK 269 per month. The annual plan is even cheaper, it costs 2690 CZK.
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