Nvidia is giving its GeForce Now cloud gaming service a big boost in performance with the new RTX 3080 membership.
While most people are familiar with the RTX 3080 as being a powerful (and often sold out) GPU used to play PC games, Nvidia is now using one of its most powerful consumer GPUs to provide the company’s game streaming servers with abundant performance for GeForce Now users.
In fact, Nvidia actually created an entirely new class of server to support GeForce Now’s upgraded capabilities. It’s called the SuperPod, and it crams huge stacks of RTX 3080 graphics cards into a single unit. This configuration allows each GeForce Now customer with an RTX 3080 membership to get access to a dedicated 3080 GPU in the cloud, which provides a significant performance boost over existing GeForce Now subscription tiers.
Compared to a single RTX 3080 GPU, which features 8704 CUDA cores, Nvidia says each SuperPod boasts a whopping 11,477,760 CUDA cores, which when combined delivers so much power Nvidia says its SuperPod is “the most powerful gaming supercomputer ever built.”
Previously, GeForce Now’s top-tier Priority subscription offered performance that tops out at 1080p at 60fps. But now, Nvidia’s RTX 3080 membership allows for game streaming at up to 1440p at 120 fps on Macs and PCs, or 4K HDR at 60 fps with 7.1 sound on Nvidia’s Shield TV devices. You can also stream games via GeForce Now at 120fps on mobile devices, assuming your phone or tablet has a high refresh rate display.
On top of that, Nvidia says the added performance from its SuperPods is able to bring the total latency of GeForce Now game streaming down to just 60ms, which Nvidia claims is similar to the kind of latency you’d get from a typical home console. And when compared to a home PCs, Nvidia says its RTX 3080 membership offers seven times better performance than the most popular desktop configuration listed on Steam’s hardware survey, and 13 times better performance than an M1 MacBook Air.
Nvidia says its RTX 3080 membership for GeForce Now also supports adaptive sync technology, so GeForce Now can better match the frame rate of your gameplay with the refresh rate of your display, to provide smoother and more fluid gameplay and visuals.
And to support improved game streaming around the world, Nvidia and some of its partners are opening up new data centres in Russia, South America, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
The GeForce Now RTX 3080 membership will cost $US100 (A$133) for a six-month subscription, which includes support for gameplay at up to 1440p at 120fps and a dedicated 3080 GPU powering your games in the cloud. For those who really like binging games, the RTX 3080 membership will be limited to sessions of eight hours or less.
Early access to GeForce Now’s RTX 3080 membership will be available to GeForce Now founders and current GeForce Now Priority subscribers in the U.S. starting today, with wider availability slated to open up sometime later in November.
Editor’s Note: Prices and release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local pricing and availability as soon as we know more.