NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW just leveled up to RTX 5080 — here’s what that means for gamers

NVIDIA GeForce NOW is about to receive its biggest update yet. NVIDIA just shared details about a massive boost to the platform that will deliver NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080-class performance to the cloud streaming service.

With the bump up to RTX 5080-class performance, those streaming games through GeForce NOW will have access to NVIDIA DLSS 4 Multi-Frame Generation for gaming at 5K and 120 FPS.

Support for 360 FPS gaming at 1080p with NVIDIA Reflex is also on the way. NVIDIA Reflex reduces latency by syncing a system's CPU and GPU.

A newly announced Cinematic Quality Streaming mode will deliver improved graphical fidelity over the cloud as well as better color accuracy.

Other performance improvements include GeForce NOW supporting 90 FPS on Steam Deck and fully taking advantage of the 120Hz displays on select LG TVs.

NVIDIA also announced that the library of games available through GeForce NOW will more than double, reaching 4,500 titles, with the release of Install-to-Play.

A GeForce NOW Ultimate membership is required to use the RTX 5080-class GPUs.

GeForce NOW Ultimate's upgrade will start rolling out in September. The subscription service will continue to cost $19.99 per month (or $99.99 for six months) even after the upgrade.

Other tiers of GeForce NOW will remain at their current prices as well.

What is NVIDIA GeForce NOW?

GeForce NOW is a streaming service that allows you to play games on a wide range of devices. Because it relies on the cloud to stream games, it is often compared to services like Xbox Cloud Gaming, which comes with Xbox Game Pass. But there are some key differences between GeForce NOW and its competitors.

GeForce NOW does not sell you games or provide access to a specific library of titles. Instead, it connects to your other accounts, such as Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Uplay. That setup makes GeForce NOW an attractive choice for people who already have a backlog of games to play or who regularly purchase the best PC games.

In short, with GeForce NOW you pay for remote access to a powerful gaming PC. That structure also makes a free tier possible for GeForce NOW, though it has limits.

GeForce NOW is supported on Windows 11, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, and ChromeOS. You can use it on select LG TVs, on an Apple Vision Pro or Meta Quest, or through a web browser. Heck, there's even a Windows on Arm version in beta right now.

Several of the best gaming handhelds are also supported, including the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally.

40% OFF

NVIDIA GeForce NOW Ultimate (per month): $19.99 at nvidia.com

NVIDIA GeForce NOW doesn't sell games directly; it offers you the equivalent of a high-end PC to play your owned games through the cloud. It's perfect for gaming handhelds, and it supports your existing Steam, Epic Games, Ubisoft, and Xbox PC (including Game Pass) libraries.

✅ Perfect for: You want high-end gaming performance without spending thousands on a gaming PC, and you already own a bunch of games on Steam, Xbox and other compatible services.

❌ Avoid if: Your ISP throttles speeds or you have high latency, cloud gaming won’t provide a smooth experience for you.

👉See at: NVIDIA.com

Cinematic-Quality Streaming

NVIDIA promises a "noticeable leap in graphics fidelity" to those who use Cinematic-Quality Streaming. Color accuracy, smoothness, and clarity should all improve when using the new feature.

Cinematic-Quality Streaming supports the YUV color model with 4:4:4 chroma sampling and 10-bit high dynamic range. In layman's terms, streaming games with the feature on will deliver richer colors and deeper contrast.

The feature can also automatically detect a display's resolution to deliver the highest possible streaming quality for that device.

NVIDIA GeForce NOW will support up to 100 Mbps streaming, which helps deliver detailed gameplay, assuming you have a quick and stable internet connection.

Install-to-Play

Install-to-Play is a new feature that downloads games directly to cloud storage. GeForce NOW Ultimate and Performance members will receive 100GB of single-session cloud storage for Install-to-Play as part of the memberships.

When Install-to-Play games are saved in persistent storage, they can launch right away without needing to download or reinstall the game each session.

Members can also expand their storage with add-ons:

• 200GB for $2.99 per month
• 500GB for $4.99 per month
• 1TB for $7.99 per month

Install-to-Play also greatly increases the number of games available to GeForce NOW subscribers. NVIDIA confirmed that over 2,200 additional Steam titles will be available through GeForce NOW thanks to Install-to-Play.

RTX 5080 vs. RTX 5080-class

The distinction between RTX 5080 and RTX-class is more about how NVIDIA delivers high-level gaming performance to users than clever marketing speak. It's not like NVIDIA is slapping the RT 5080 label in a dishonest way.

Rather than use consumer GPUs, NVIDIA uses data center equivalents to replicate the performance of gaming-focused graphics cards. For example, the NVIDIA L40G data center GPU powers NVIDIA GeForce Now when set to RTX 4080.

I'll see if NVIDIA will confirm the specific GPU that powers the RTX 5080-class experience.

According to NVIDIA, the RTX 5080-class GPUs powering GeForce NOW will deliver 62 teraflops of compute performance and have a 48GB frame buffer. The graphics cards will also enable several AI enhancements to improve the gaming experience.