Nvidia announces RTX 5080 upgrade for GeForce Now, new ‘cinematic’ quality option and more

Nvidia is kicking off Gamescom week with a band. Today, Nvidia announced a bunch of GeForce-related updates. Here, we break down all of the upgrades coming to the GeForce Now cloud gaming platform, with Ultimate tier subscribers soon to see an upgrade from RTX 4080-powered servers to RTX 5080.

The first big announcement for GeForce Now this week is the RTX 5080 rollout. Previously, GeForce Now Ultimate subscribers have had access to RTX 4080 GPUs, but from September onwards, Ultimate subscribers will be getting upgraded to RTX 5080 servers. This move also brings along access to the latest GeForce-powered features, like DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Generation.

The next major update for GeForce Now is the new Cinematic Quality Streaming mode. In this mode, you'll be able to use up to 100Mbps of bandwidth for unmatched stream quality. The extra bandwidth gets you access to HDR10, 4:4:4 Chroma, and AI features to sharpen up finer details like HUD lines, while an AI video filter will also clean up any noise or artefacts from the image.

Nvidia has also made some crucial upgrades to improve game responsiveness. Ultra-low-latency streams use Nvidia Reflex and Rivermax HW Packet Pacing on the server side. With this option, you'll be able to stream up to 360FPS with just 30ms of delay, which is less than the input delay from a PS5 controller to your TV.

I've talked about GeForce Now being a great option for gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck, as you'll often get access to much greater performance compared to downloading the game and running it natively. Soon, Nvidia will expand the GeForce Now app to more devices, including LF TVs and monitors. Additionally, GeForce Now will soon support bespoke peripherals beyond the standard keyboard, mouse and gamepad. GFN will soon support Logitech Racing Wheels and pedals, making GeForce Now a more friendly service for those with racing sim setups.

On top of that, GeForce Now will soon introduce ‘Instant Play'. Through integration with Discord, you'll be able to ‘instantly launch' a game on GeForce Now through Discord, skipping the download and install times to join your friends quicker. The first Instant Play title is Fortnite, with other major F2P titles to get support later down the line. Most of the top free-to-play titles are already supported on GeForce Now, so this is starting with Fortnite, but we could see support extend to the likes of Call of Duty, Apex Legends and more.

Finally, Nvidia is also adding an ‘Install to Play' option to GeForce Now. Essentially, Premium and Ultimate tier subscribers will get a slice of cloud storage space, which can be used to install games from your Steam library that aren't already available through GeForce Now. You can pay for a persistent-storage add-on that will keep the game installed across multiple streaming sessions. 200GB will cost $2.99 per month, 500GB will cost $4.99 per month and 1TB will cost $7.99. Games installed with persistent storage will remain accessible to you for as long as your subscription is active.

GeForce Now typically gets support for most major AAA releases nowadays. In 2025, a handful of the biggest games of the year will launch with support for GFN on day-one, including the likes of COD Black Ops 7, Borderlands 4, Hell is Us, Arc Raiders, Dying Light The Beast and The Outer Worlds 2.

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