{"id":8,"date":"2018-03-02T19:43:52","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T19:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/?p=8"},"modified":"2018-03-02T19:48:55","modified_gmt":"2018-03-02T19:48:55","slug":"nvidia-geforce-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/?p=8","title":{"rendered":"Nvidia GeForce NOW"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a lot of aspects of technology, lines between professional and consumer get a little blurry.\u00a0 In businesses a technology has emerged called VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) that allowed companies to leverage the compute power available in a server and deliver it to a thin \/ zero client.\u00a0 Minimizing costs of PCs deployed to each individual worker and maintaining compliance and security in a centralized environment.\u00a0 This requires building out a fairly robust environment for these thin clients to work in.\u00a0 As anyone in IT will tell you, it’s far easier to build out servers than it is to spec out a desktop for each user.<\/p>\n

Recently the GPU manufacturer Nvidia started a closed demo of a product called GeForce NOW, where they are doing a gaming-centric VDI deployment.\u00a0 The premise of the service is simple.\u00a0 Pay a monthly cost and you have a top-of-the-line gaming PC in the cloud.\u00a0 You download and install the MAC or PC client (~55mb download \/ ~300mb install)<\/em>\u00a0 and you have access to (currently)<\/em> a subset of your Steam Library or Battle.Net games.\u00a0 After browsing the forums it is worth reminding that you must own the game on one of these platforms before you can play it on GeForce NOW.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago I signed up for the beta and earlier this week I received the welcome email.\u00a0 Got logged in to Nvidia, redeemed my code, and voila I had download links for either the PC or Mac.\u00a0 It is worth noting that this was initially conceived as a method to play PC games on a Mac easily.\u00a0 Install went smooth like you’d expect.<\/p>\n

I initially tried to run this at work, I knew it wouldn’t work as intended cause my IT staff maintains some pretty aggressive firewall policies.\u00a0 I expected it to not connect but to my surprise it connected and the process worked, albeit slowly (I will need to fix that later<\/em>).\u00a0 Immediately upon attempting to run a game, a network benchmark told me that latency would be a problem.\u00a0 I disregarded the warning and was on my way.\u00a0 The application presented a Windows 8\/8.1\/Server 2012 Kiosk environment that was pretty well locked down running the application that I requested.\u00a0 For all intents and purposes I had a gaming PC.\u00a0 At this point I was only testing connectivity, and how the interface works, I would have to wait to take it home to get a better feel for how things worked at full tilt.<\/p>\n

Messing around I figured out that through a ‘Manage Steam’ option I was able to log in to Steam proper and could see my entire library, and even install unsupported games.\u00a0 This is the game changer.<\/p>\n

Once I got my laptop home and finished up with lingering work I was anxious to get this up and running and see how it worked in it’s ideal environment.\u00a0 Over a fiber connection there is plenty of bandwidth for GeForce NOW to work as intended.\u00a0 Let’s give it a shot;<\/p>\n

Diablo III<\/h6>\n

First is the game that makes my laptop cranky.\u00a0 GeForce NOW let me in pretty quickly, and I was up and running in minutes.\u00a0 Since this is purely for\u00a0science<\/em> I wanted to see how it handled a GPU intensive workload.\u00a0 I loaded up the Demon Hunter with a Shotgun build and set off to do some rifts.\u00a0 After a couple GR75s it was clear that this was not enough to test.\u00a0 Switching over to the Witch Doctor, the build I am using here is fast build so there is a lot that gets rendered.\u00a0 No issues, I didn’t even notice any input lag.\u00a0 Okay, let’s see something more demanding if I can manage.\u00a0 Time for the Necromancer, moves almost as fast as the Witch Doctor and has pets.\u00a0 Results were exactly what I wanted them to be.\u00a0 So at this point I mark the test as a success!\u00a0 Now on to the next game.<\/p>\n

Fallout 4<\/h6>\n

I’ll not get into this one very far since I only did some preliminary testing.\u00a0 First mention, settings were set to Ultra pretty much immediately.\u00a0 ‘Install’<\/em>\u00a0went as smooth as could be expected, for first time run I had to wait less than a minute and was presented with the Launcher.\u00a0 A quick browse through Options to find everything set to maximum settings, time to click play and see how it works.\u00a0 Quickly I get reminded that I had disabled Steam Cloud for Fallout because of some save-game manipulation that I was doing previously so we get to start over.\u00a0 Reluctantly I took default settings for character and we were off to the races.\u00a0 I didn’t go too far, I wanted to see combat and speech and make sure that it all matched up.\u00a0 Sure enough everything was playable, and rendered at 60+ frames per second.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Crysis 2: Ultimate Edition<\/h6>\n

No gaming benchmark would be complete without something on the Crytek engine, be it Far Cry, Crysis or any of their other titles.\u00a0 I’ve got to say that this is no small feat.\u00a0 This is an un-supported game (You’ve got to go through ‘Manage Steam’ and install the game there and run it from Steam). The Geforce NOW\/ Windows interface gives you a warning saying; “This game is currently no supported by GeForce NOW. You may be able to install and play it. However, you may have to reinstall the game each time that you play, and your saved games will only sync if Steam Cloud is enabled.<\/em>” You do have to install the game each time, but don’t be too discouraged, Steam reported a max download speed of 114 MB\/s so it’s pretty quick.\u00a0 Not being a supported game you’ll have to set options yourself, tick all the boxes and you’re good to go.\u00a0 Started a new game and quality spoke for itself.\u00a0 I ran through about 30 minutes of game-play with no hiccups, drops in quality, or any noticeable input lag.<\/p>\n

Wolfenstein: New Order<\/h6>\n

I really liked this game when it came out, but I couldn’t really play it cause neither my aging PC or my laptop were capable of playing on high graphics.\u00a0 This is one of the supported games and it worked very well.\u00a0 Once again settings at max, running at 60+ Frames per second, without the pesky sound of fans dampening the experience.\u00a0 I played this for about an hour or two, I lost track, and there were no issues whatsoever.\u00a0 Everything just plain worked.<\/p>\n

Pros<\/h6>\n