I've tried Nvidia GeForce NOW - it's a superb alternative to high-end gaming PCs with some caveats

Gaming is turning into an increasingly expensive hobby right now because of how much it costs to buy a console or decent PC. Existing consoles are unprecedentedly going up in price rather than depreciating.

The price of producing this hardware is costing companies more due to soaring component costs caused by RAM and memory shortages with part of this price increase being passed on to consumers.

And it looks like it's going to get worse before it gets any better.

But one way around having to fork out a fortune for hardware to play your digital library is by being able to access and play your games without needing to buy your own unit of hardware at all.

Enter GeForce NOW which is Nvidia's cloud gaming subscription service that lets people play digital PC games on devices that wouldn't usually be able to run them.

And on the whole, it's brilliant - although there are some caveats.

GeForce NOW basically turns any compatible device into a high-end gaming PC. Either through apps or web browsers, your digital PC libraries can be accessed after linking accounts.

At the time of writing, there are six accounts you can link, which are Steam, Epic Games, Ubisoft, Battle.net, XBOX and Gaijin.net. GeForce NOW connects to whichever platform your games are on, runs them and streams that to you.

GeForce NOW has different subscription tiers, which are Free, Performance and Ultimate. For the purposes of checking out GeForce NOW, Nvidia provided access to the Ultimate tier.

Breaking the tiers down, the Free tier allows standard access to servers, performance up to 1080p at 60fps (frames per second), each session lasts an hour and there will be ads.

Performance is priced at $9.99 (£9.99) per month and provides priority access to servers, up to 1440p at 60fps, six hour session limits, no ads, ray-tracing is supported and GPUs up to Nvidia's RTX 4500 spec are available.

Then there's Ultimate, which costs $19.99 (£19.99) per month and gives the highest priority access to servers, up to 5K resolution or 360fps, eight-hour session limits, no ads, ray-tracing is supported, Nvidia's RTX 50 range levels of performance and DLSS 4.5 support.

There is one drawback though - subscribers who are not founders (in other words if you weren't subscribed before 17 March 2021) have a playtime limit which is capped at 100 hours each month. Those who subscribed on or before that date retain unlimited playtime.

Extra 15-hour blocks can be purchased, along with 24-hour access passes, but not having the freedom to play your games as much as you want to is something to bear in mind. Access is limited.

Aside from that, it all sounds quite promising, right? But what's it really like in practice?

Well, running with the theme of the above, brilliant - again, with some caveats.

I found 007 First Light to run fantastically well through Nvidia GeForce NOW / IO Interactive, Amazon MGM Studios

Nvidia GeForce NOW has more than 5,600 games available to stream across various different platforms at the time of writing. With some of these games, data will need to be installed before you can play them though.

I tried out GeForce NOW by streaming a number of games through my 43inch Samsung TV, which runs up to 4K and 60fps, my iPhone 16 Plus with Backbone controller and through my 2024 MacBook Pro with a XBOX controller connected. I have 350Mbps WiFi, using an ethernet cable into the back of my TV ad using WiFi for my iPhone and MacBook.

First up, I tried 007 First Light. This was the game I put through its paces the most using GeForce NOW and it was very impressive. I primarily played this one on my Samsung TV and the highest resolution I could get through the GeForce NOW app this was 1080p and with my TV being 60hZ, I was capped at 60fps.

With that in mind, I maxed out all the other settings I could to see how far I could push it and 007 First Light is a great game to play this way. The colours, lighting and shadows were really strong, with reflections excellent too.

Not once did I notice the resolution or frame rate dip. Although you'd expect strong performance from a stream using high-end gaming PC specs with a strong, stable connection, to still pull it off without a beat being missed is impressive.

Even action heavy sequences and dense areas with loads of NPCs couldn't knock it off its stride.

Next up through my TV, I tried out Forza Horizon 6 through XBOX and it was a similar story. The visuals looked fantastic, performance was buttery smooth and I didn't have any problems with latency at all. The same could be said for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 too.

I had issues with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 through Nvidia GeForce NOW / Activision

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Call of Duty. I had a few games on Black Ops 7 multiplayer and noticed frequent resolution dips, frame rate stutters and latency was actually a big issue here. With a split second deciding if you get a kill or die, I frequently found myself on the wrong end of gunfights I'd usually come out on top in.

I then fired up my MacBook Pro to try out Crimson Desert and was hugely impressed. Frame rates were smooth on the whole with a slight dip here and there. I did stream this while running a TV show on another device at the same time to test it and the quality was still strong.

I was warned before firing up the game that resolution would be capped at 1440p, although my MacBook could handle more, but this remained stable. For such a demanding game, this was again impressive across the board.

Then I fired up my iPhone and Backbone controller to try out South of Midnight. I tried this again while streaming a TV show and resolution was capped here at 1600x900 but it still looked good. I did encounter the odd bit of stuttering when there was a lot happening on stream but again, it was impressive on the whole.

And I couldn't help myself but firing up Assetto Corsa Rally through my iPhone either. This is usually a game I would only ever play on PC with a wheel connected but I was intrigued to see how this would run.

And it was flawless. Latency was a lot better here than I anticipated going into it. There was the odd frame rate dip but resolution remained stable.

Crimson Desert ran really well when streaming the game through Nvidia GeForce NOW through a MacBook Pro / Pearl Abyss

On the whole, I've been incredibly impressed with Nvidia GeForce NOW Ultimate tier.

It really does allow for people to play their digital library of games pretty much however they want without the need for a console or gaming PC, which are getting ever more expensive.

In all honesty, I personally wouldn't use Nvidia GeForce NOW for playing competitive multiplayer games like Call of Duty and it's a shame there are overall limits to the amount you can play each month before having to buy more time.

But it's a superb way to play the latest single-player titles without the need for the latest hardware, as well as games where a very slight input lag doesn't matter as much.

Elsewhere from Indy100:

• XBOX CEO reveals crucial Project Helix update amid 'component crisis'
• 007 First Light sequel update revealed by Amazon boss

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