Preliminary information
Before going into the details of the procedure on how GeForce NOW works, I think you may be interested in learning more about this service. Below, therefore, you can find all the details of the case on compatible devices, requirements, offer and prices.
Compatible devices and requirements
NVIDIA GeForce NOW is a service of cloud gaming which - without getting too technical - through the use of a good Internet connection allows you to take advantage of the performance of powerful gaming PCs from computers, smartphones and tablets. But not only.
Put simply, the user interacts with his device (which doesn't have to have advanced technical specifications), but all game processing work is done by NVIDIA's remote servers. The servers - that is NVIDIA's computers - send the video stream of the game to the user's device, which receives the input entered by the user via pad / keyboard and sends it back to the servers with more than good latency times (always at pact to use a good connection).
As regards the requirements, the most important is clearly the one relating to Internet connection: NVIDIA says they are needed at least 15 Mbps in download to play the resolution 720p is 60 fps, while they serve at least 25 Mbps for the 1080p is 60 fps. In addition, the use of a wired connection (via Ethernet cable). Alternatively, the use of one is recommended 5 GHz Wi-Fi network. If you do not meet the requirements, there may be visual artifacts, high latency and other aspects that could compromise the gaming experience.
For more details on how to check if what you have available complies with the aforementioned requirements, I suggest you consult my tutorials on how to see the speed of the Internet connection and how to see the GHz of Wi-Fi.
Otherwise, the requirements reported by NVIDIA state that you must have a PC Windows with operating system 7 64 bit Windows or higher 86 GHz X2.0 dual-core processor or higher, at least 4GB RAM it's a video card with DirectX 11 support (GeForce 600 series onwards, AMD Radeon HD 3000 series or later or Intel HD Graphics 2000 series onwards). Within Mac a computer produced from 2008 onwards with macOS 10.10 or higher.
When it comes to mobile, you need to have one smartphone or tablet us Android 5.0 or higher, At least 2GB RAM and support to OpenGL ES3.2 or higher; The iPhone must be updated at least to iOS 14.2, the iPad a iPadOS 14. Finally, there is support for devices such as the Android TV Box NVIDIA Shield TV and to consoles that allow you to use the service from a web browser (but I'll talk more about this later).
I compatible controllers with the service are then different, including the Sony's DualShock 4 and Xbox controller. Find the complete list of specifications on the official website.
NVIDIA GeForce NOW offering and pricing
Now that you are aware of the requirements to access GeForce NOW, I would say that it is time to take a look at what NVIDIA's service offers.
Well, GeForce NOW offers the user a vast catalog of compatible games (including triple A titles as well), which is constantly expanding (typically, support is added to new titles on a weekly basis). You can see the full list here.
Now you are surely wondering which one price you can access this service. If so, you need to know that games are purchased individually and are not included in the subscription as, for example, in Microsoft's Game Pass. Indeed, GeForce NOW provides the "brute force" of its infrastructure, but then it is necessary to connect the Steam, Epic Games and / or Uplay accounts to access the games purchased on the aforementioned platforms.
This is very interesting, as it allows you to play, for example, the last triple AAA of the moment by paying only the cost of the game. In fact, NVIDIA GeForce NOW has a free plan which allows you to play without paying anything, but there is a limit of a maximum of one hour per single session e they lack advanced features like Ray Tracing. You may also have to wait your turn to play, as you will not have a priority access to servers.
If, on the other hand, you want the latter, you intend to carry out prolonged gaming sessions and want to have access to visual impact features such as RTX, you can subscribe to thePriority subscription at a price of 9,99 per month or 99,99 euro per year.
How GeForce NOW works
After giving you all the preliminary information of the case, I would say that it is time to take action and start using GeForce NOW. Below you can find all the indications of the case, ranging from the registration of the account to the use of various devices, passing through the connection of profiles relating to the main digital video game stores.
How to register for GeForce NOW
To start using the service offered by NVIDIA, you need register a specific account. Don't worry - this procedure takes little time.
In fact, you just need to connect to the official GeForce NOW portal, choose the piano you want to subscribe and press the appropriate button PARTICIPATE. You will then be prompted to perform the login with your account. To log in quickly, you might think about proceeding with one of your profiles between Google, Facebook and Apple.
To register with your email address instead, just click on the link Create account. You will then be prompted to fill out a form it requires email address, Visualized name, Password, password confirmation e date of birth.
You will also need to check the box I agree to the Terms and Conditions and complete the "test" I am a human being. Once this is done, all you have to do is press the button CREATE ACCOUNT and follow the instructions to complete everything (usually the classic confirmation e-mail is sent).
Once logged in, you may be prompted to set some options related to, for example, ai consigli personalizzati, to the sharing of information suitable for bug fix and upon receipt by e-mail of Offers and more. In this case, just check the boxes you deem appropriate and press the button SEND, to continue.
At this point, if you have chosen thefree subscription, the portal will welcome you and show i link to download the application official for the various platforms. In the case of subscription Priorityinstead, at some point you will need to set a valid payment method, such as card or PayPal, and continue with the transaction.
How to use GeForce NOW on a computer
If you are going to use GeForce NOW from Windows or macOS, this part of the guide is the one for you.
Starting from Windows, just connect to the download page of the GeForce NOW client and press the button DOWNLOAD. Once the download is complete, open the .exe file obtained, answer affirmatively to the User Account Control request and wait a few seconds: the program will start by itself.
In regards to MacOS, once pressed on the key DOWNLOAD of the site, wait for the download to finish, open the .dmg file ottenuto e trascina l'icona di NVIDIA GeForce NOW in the folder Applications on the Mac. At the first start, you will be asked to authorize the application to start.
Once the program has started, regardless of the operating system used, press the button ACCEPT AND CONTINUE and the client will show you the main features of GeForce NOW, showing you where the menu is and how to find the games. Press on the buttons NEXT e OK to end the tutorial.
At this point, click on the button LOGIN, located at the top right: the browser window with a login page will appear on the screen. Press the button NVIDIA ed log in with the account you created earlier.
Once the message appears on the screen You have authenticated yourself, you can close the browser window and you will see that the login has been completed. At this point, I advise you to press on the box Synchronize your games, In order to link your accounts to the NVIDIA profile.
Next, click on the icon Synchronize, present at the top right in the box linked to Steam, to link this type of account. A browser window will appear on the screen, asking you to login with your Steam account. In some cases, the NVIDIA GeForce NOW client may ask you to change some options related to the game details of your account.
Next, click on the ☰ icon present at the top left and select the option Toys, so as to return to the main screen. This will take you to the section My library, which includes all the GeForce NOW compatible games you have on Steam.
At this point, you are rightly wondering how to link other accounts, for example epic Games e Uplay, since there is no specific option in the settings, unlike what happens for Steam.
In this case, you should know that you will be prompted to log in when you first log into a game. Put simply, you don't have to worry: you will see that you will be able to connect without too much trouble.
In this regard, to start testing GeForce NOW, I suggest you try to start the first game, perhaps by choosing Fortnite (which is free to play). Press, therefore, on the search bar present at the top, type “fortnite” (or the name of another game) and select the outcome relevant più.
You can also add the title to yours library, by pressing the appropriate button, in order to find it immediately next time. For the rest, in the case of securities linked for example to epic Games, the program will warn you that you will need to log in with the appropriate account to play. So just press the button CONTINUED per I will proceed.
Then thenetwork analysis and the system will give you a response that will help you understand if you can actually get a good gaming experience, also providing you with advice to improve it (for example, switching to a 5 GHz Wi-Fi network, etc.).
Either way, just click the button CONTINUE / CONTINUE ANYWAY to start testing the service. If you have thePriority subscription, the game will essentially start instantly. In the alternative case, the number of users in front of you in the queue.
So you just have to wait your turn to be able to start playing. In the case of the first launch of Fortnite, you will be prompted to do the login to your Epic Games account (a browser will open inside the computer offered by NVIDIA, history and other features are obviously disabled so other players will not be able to access your data).
Once logged in, you can start playing. As regards the input methods, I remind you that, net of the differences between the various titles, you can generally use both mouse and keyboard that compatible controllers. For more details in this regard, you can refer to the preliminary chapter. In any case, in my experience, it was enough for me to connect an Xbox-like controller to the PC and I was able to start playing this way.
For the rest, once your session is over (which, I remind you, has a maximum duration of 1 hour for the free plan), you can return to the initial GeForce NOW menu by simply exiting the game as you usually would.
If you want to take a look at the options offered by the client program, you can do so by clicking on the ☰ icon in the top left and clicking on the tab SETTINGS. From here you can best configure your gaming experience.
More precisely, you can select the server location (I advise you to leave Car), as well as make a test your connection pressing the button TEST NETWORK. In addition, you will be able to manage the type of your subscription, if Free or Priority, activate any promotional codes, enable or disable the indications related to network status during the game and choose the keyboard layout.
There is also the possibility to choose whether show others what you are playing at using GeForce Now on Discord, as well as choosing the streaming quality. There are four options: Balanced, Data saving, Competitive e custom. Upon choice, the program also returns an indication relative to how much data is "consumed" every hour of play.
As for the setting custom, you can choose various interesting options, from the full speed to resolution, passing through the fps and for the V-Sync. In short, the possibilities of choice are certainly not lacking.
For completeness of information, you must finally know that it is possible to use, for the moment in beta mode, GeForce Now also directly from the Google Chrome browser. If you want to test the service in this way, the link to follow is this.
How to use GeForce NOW on mobile devices
If you are going to use GeForce NOW from mobile devices, the procedure changes depending on the system you want to use.
Su Android is availableofficial application of GeForce NOW. To download the latter, just open the Play Store, type “geforce now”, To tap on 'icona dell'app and press the corresponding button Install.
The use of the service is particularly simple and immediate. In fact, that's enough for you log in with the account you created earlier and then everything is very similar to what I explained in the chapter on the computer.
The differences with the PC version are really minimal. To be clear, on Android, after pressing the button LOGIN and having performed the login sync with Steam can be done by pressing theicona dell'ingranaggio, present at the top right, and selecting the option Game synchronization.
Once synchronized, the games will appear in the section My catalog. At the top there is also a search bar to search for the titles, while to start the latter just press on the appropriate box. Essentially that's all, since the application does not allow you to make particular settings.
In any case, then during the game it will be possible to use the input methods provided by the individual titles, but the differences in terms of ease of use are really minimal with the PC variant. In any case, the advice is to use a controller. For the rest, the pages of the individual games refer to the required input method, so you shouldn't have a problem with that.
For iPhone e iPad, everything happens directly from the browser Safari. Due to the rules imposed by Apple on its store, in fact, an official GeForce NOW app is not available. To use the service you must therefore act through the official website. There is nothing too difficult even in this case: once you reach the appropriate web page that I showed you earlier from Safari, just tap on the button ACCEPT AND CONTINUE and press onaccount icon present at the top right to perform the login.
Once logged in, press the button end, present at the top left, and you can start using the service just as if you were on a PC. For example, you can press the ☰ icon, present at the top left, and access the tab of the Settings to adjust all game parameters.
If you want advice, add a quick access icon to the GeForce NOW site on the Home screen: to do this, once logged in, just press the icon of sharing (the square with the arrow) at the bottom and select the option Add to Home Screen from the menu that opens, confirming everything by pressing the key Add. Convenient, right?
How to use GeForce NOW on Xbox
How do you say? You've heard that GeForce NOW can also be used directly from Xbox series s e Xbox Series X, which is Microsoft's ninth generation consoles? I know, it seems a bit absurd to be able to access this service, which also allows you to access PC games, from consoles, but they didn't lie to you: I'll tell you how to do it right away!
In this case, you need to go for Microsoft Edge, pre-installed browser on the aforementioned Xboxes. In any case, I want to clarify that at the moment it is about an "unofficial" feature, discovered by enthusiasts following the arrival of Edge in versione Chromium for those who have theaccess to the test phases trial related to Xbox.
If you are interested, to access this feature you need to log in from Edge Chromium su Xbox at this specific link. However, in order to have this browser variant available, it is currently required be part of the Alpha program Skip-Ahead for Insiders.
This means that you must be invited by Microsoft to test the new features to access this possibility. For more details on the Insider program, I suggest you take a look at the official guidelines.
How GeForce NOW works
