Variable Refresh Rate Support Comes to NVIDIA’s GeForce Now Cloud Streaming Service

Today NVIDIA has brought variable refresh rate support to its GeForce Now cloud gaming service. The company initially promised variable refresh support on GeForce Now back in early January during CES, and has seemingly waited so that it could launch alongside GeForce Now Day Passes, which are also now available.

Variable refresh rate (VRR) technologies, including NVIDIA's own G-Sync, have been around for around a decade now, and allow a monitor to synchronize its refresh rate to the instantaneous framerate of a game. This synchronization prevents screen tearing, when two or more frames are present on a display at the same time. Without a VRR technology, gamers either have to tolerate the visual incongruity of screen tearing or enable V-Sync, which solves screen tearing by locking the framerate to the refresh rate (or a fraction thereof). VRR became popular because V-Sync added latency and could depress framerates due to it effectively being a framerate limiter.

Dubbed "Cloud G-Sync", NVIDIA touts not only a screen tearing-free experience for GeForce Now thanks to variable refresh rate support, but also lower latency thanks to “varying the stream rate to the client, driving down total latency on Reflex-enabled games.” Prior to VRR’s debut on GeForce Now, users either had to enable V-Sync in-game, enable a stream-level V-Sync setting that had the benefit of not locking the game framerate, or accept screen tearing. GeForce Now Ultimate members will also be able to pair VRR with Reflex-powered 60 FPS and 120 FPS streaming modes.

According to NVIDIA’s technical documentation, variable refresh rate support on GeForce Now can work with both Mac and Windows PCs hooked up to a VRR-capable monitor. This includes G-Sync monitors on Windows, as well as VESA AdaptiveSync/FreeSync monitors, HDMI 2.1 VRR displays, and even Apple ProMotion displays, such as the panels built into their recent MacBook Pro laptops. The biggest compatibility hurdle at this time is actually on the GPU side of matters; Windows machines need an NVIDIA GPU to use VRR with GeForce Now. Intel and AMD GPUs are "not supported at this time."

Although G-SYNC originally came out in 2013 and GeForce Now has been available since 2015, the two never intersected until now. It’s not clear why NVIDIA waited so long to bring G-Sync to GeForce Now; the company’s original announcement merely states “newly improved cloud G-SYNC technology goes even further,” implying that it wasn’t possible before but doesn’t exactly explain why.

Microsoft to Bring Game Pass Games to NVIDIA's GeForce Now

Microsoft on Sunday announced plans to bring select PC Game Pass games to NVIDIA's GeForce Now cloud streaming service later in 2023. The move will allow gamers to enjoy Microsoft's curated collection of PC games on high-end hardware in the cloud without purchasing either the games or a high-end gaming device (PC, Xbox), all for a monthly fee. 

"Game Pass members will soon be able to stream select PC games from the library through NVIDIA GeForce Now," wrote Joe Skrebels, Xbox Wire Editor-in-Chief, in a blog post. "This will enable the PC Game Pass catalog to be played on any device that GeForce Now streams to, like low-spec PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, mobile devices, TVs, and more, and we will be rolling this out in the months ahead."

NVIDIA's GeForce Now is a cloud gaming service known for offering cutting-edge gaming hardware, including the highly acclaimed GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card that is offered in the top tier subscription ($19.99 per month) aimed at demanding gamers. Meanwhile, Microsoft's PC Game Pass subscription ($9.99 per month) gives access to over 100 titles of different genres and a library of Electronic Arts games. The value proposition of Game Pass on GeForce Now is evident as it allows to play high-quality PC games on an advanced rig for $30 a month, or $360 a year, which is considerably cheaper than buying a gaming PC.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind though. Microsoft has only confirmed that a "selected range" of Game Pass PC games will be compatible with GeForce Now. Also, the question of whether EA Play games will be supported is yet to be clarified. Thus, it remains uncertain how many games from Microsoft's subscription will eventually be compatible with the GeForce Now platform.

Furthermore, cloud game streaming comes with its own quirks, such as longer loading times and increased latencies, so its overall experience is not exactly the same as that provided by a local gaming PC with a high-end CPU and a GeForce RTX 4080 graphics board. Still, NVIDIA's GeForce Now with the GeForce RTX 4080 tier provided better experience than Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service, offering higher performance and lower latency, according to a comparison by The Verge.

Bringing PC Game Pass games to NVIDIA's GeForce Now platform — which currently supports Epic's Game Store and Valve's Steam — could potentially enhance the appeal of both services for gamers. Meanwhile, some might perceive this move as a strategic effort to pacify regulators in light of Microsoft's ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In general, the move shows that the software giant is willing to distribute its services and games on platforms beyond Windows and Xbox.

In separate news, Microsoft introduced a new, larger capacity version of its Xbox Series S console. The all-black Xbox comes with a 1 TB SSD - up from 512GB on the base model - and carries a $50 price premium, putting the final price tag at $349. The new system will be available starting September 1, 2023.