It’s an exciting time to be into PC gaming. With upcoming Nvidia 30-series graphics cards, Intel Comet Lake CPUs hitting the market, the possibility of an AMD ‘Nvidia killer’ GPU, and Intel announcing that its new discrete Xe graphics will come with ray tracing capabilities, there’s plenty to be excited about. But all of these things will seemingly require money – and more than a little of it. Well, now there’s something a little lighter on the wallet to be excited about, too.
Nvidia has announced that “Chromebooks now wield the power to play PC games using GeForce Now. Chromebook users join the millions on PC, Mac, Shield, and Android mobile devices already playing their favourite games on our cloud gaming service with GeForce performance.”
So, if you own a Chromebook but can’t quite afford to build a gaming rig or drop a wad on one of the new RTX 30-series graphics cards upon release, you can now put that Chromebook to the task of high-end gaming using GeForce Now.
Nvidia’s GeForce Now is possibly the best way for a user that doesn’t own a high-end gaming rig to have a truly high-end PC gaming experience, providing their internet connection’s quick enough – even the best game streaming services are still somewhat bound by the end client’s internet speed.
And it certainly is one of the best game streaming services on the market at the moment, as we discovered when comparing GeForce Now to Google Stadia – it beat the Googley-eyed giant on almost all metrics.
In a press conference, Nvidia revealed that 80% of GeForce Now’s four million registered users are below the minimum specifications for gaming on a local machine. So, it seems like the primary market for GeForce Now (and, presumably, game streaming services in general) is the PC gamer that lacks a rig capable of playing games to their full potential – in comes GeForce Now to provide that capability. Expanding the range of devices that can use the game streaming service is a good move. Those students with Chromebooks who maybe can’t afford, or otherwise don’t desire, fully-fledged gaming PCs can now “instantly” transform their Chromebooks “into GeForce-powered distance gaming rigs”.
As Nvidia explains, it’s simple to get started. Head to the website and log in with your GeForce Now account or create one if you haven’t already – that’s all it takes. It’s also worth noting that Nvidia suggests a USB mouse for the best experience.
With GeForce Now offering a great-value HyperScape bundle at the moment, too, if you’re a Chromebook user there’s probably never been a better or easier time than now to try your hand at PC gaming.