For those struggling to get their hands on one of Nvidia’s flagship GPUs, they can now access all that raw firepower in the cloud as the company has opened the RTX 3080 tier of its GeForce Now streaming service to the masses. Earlier this year, Nvidia started offering a new tier of its cloud-based game streaming service that put a GeForce RTX 3080 as the server backbone. Priced at $99 for a six-month spell, the Nvidia offering leapfrogs rivals like Google Stadia when it comes to raw graphics power.
The announcement came as a stop-gap consolation for those looking to tap into the RTX 3080 power for the ultimate gaming experience, but couldn’t buy it due to the severe shortage of graphics cards out there. Such is the state of things that Nvidia had to bring back older GPUs like the GTX 2060 to fill in some portion of the demand gulf. However, even upgrading the GeForce Now to a higher tier has proved to be cumbersome for enthusiasts, as it has remained exclusive to existing subscribers.
New customers no longer have to grapple with an uncertain pre-order caveat. Nvidia has announced that the GeForce RTX 3080 tier of its game streaming service is now open to everyone in regions where the service is available, opening the doors to 1440p gaming at 120fps on PCs. For the tiny class of people that want to experience gaming on Mac hardware, they can play games natively at 1440p or 1600p at 120fps. For those with a Shield TV, they can enjoy 4K HDR visuals at a 60fps output.
A Temporary Fix To A Larger Problem
Another benefit of the new membership tier is the extended gaming session length. Nvidia says subscribers who fork out around $200 per year can continue playing games for up to eight hours in one sitting. Nvidia is also throwing in a copy of Crysis Remastered as a freebie. Furthermore, members of its streaming service's top tier also have exclusive access to new servers that promise faster game rendering and comparatively lower latency, irrespective of whether playing games via Chrome, Safari, or Microsoft's Edge browser. Mac users can take advantage of the 120Hz ProMotion tech on their machines to play games at 120fps goodness.
For those new to the GeForce Now service, there are three tiers available — free, Priority, and RTX 3080. The Priority tier is priced at $10 per month or $50 for six months, but limits games to 1080p resolution at 60fps, and gaming sessions are capped at six hours. The free tier only allows one hour of gaming per session and doesn’t offer any ray-tracing benefits, unlike the Priority and RTX 3080 tiers. Pushing one of its flagship GPUs in the cloud is a creative way to tackle a crippling GPU shortage and offer the best gaming experience to users scrambling to buy a physical Nvidia card at stores, while also helping to make some money from subscriptions in the process.
Source: Nvidia