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Nvidia opens up GeForce Now RTX 3080 tier to all, no pre-orders required

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GeForce Now’s RTX 3080 tier is now available without a pre-order waiting period. Nvidia launched the new tier, which offers 1440p streaming at 120Hz, in October, but the company has funneled interested buyers into a pre-order tunnel. Now, the RTX 3080 tier is available to everyone instantly.

The RTX 3080 tier is the highest GeForce Now plan Nvidia offers. It comes with a cloud-based gaming PC with an RTX 3080 inside, as well as eight-hour session lengths and support for 4K HDR streaming to the Nvidia Shield TV. Six months runs $100, and unlike the cheaper Priority tier, you can’t pay month-to-month. GeForce Now Founders have “Founder for Life” status, entitling them to 10% off the price.

RTX 3080 graphics card on a table.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The big difference with the RTX 3080 tier over the Priority tier is support for 1440p resolutions at 120 frames per second (fps) — erm, kind of. Nvidia intentionally caps the frame rate of multiple games available on GeForce Now, including titles like Guardians of the Galaxy and Cyberpunk 2077. These caps don’t apply to the RTX 3080 tier, but it’s possible that future titles will pose a problem.

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Outside of resolution and frame rate, the RTX 3080 tier also works on MacOS devices, including support for the 1600p resolution of the latest MacBook Pro. There aren’t any restrictions on the Mac version, either. You can stream the same library of over 1,100 games that you can on PC.

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The announcement comes on Nvidia’s normal GFN Thursday, where the company unveils new features and games arriving to the service. This week, Nvidia highlighted Arc Raiders and GTFO, both of which were featured in The Game Awards. Arc Raiders is launching on the service in 2022, and GTFO was just updated to its 1.0 version, which works on GeForce Now.

Here are the other titles arriving this week:

We called GeForce Now’s RTX 3080 tier an antidote to the GPU shortage. It’s not perfect — with streaming artifacts and the occasional stutter still showing signs that this technology needs to mature — but it’s the closest cloud gaming has gotten to native, especially when backed by a library of excellent games.

GeForce Now is available in several countries around the world, but the RTX 3080 tier is limited to the U.S. and sections of central and northeastern Europe. If you’re in a supported location, Nvidia will forward your connection to the nearest RTX 3080-enabled location, which may be further from you than a Priority server.

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Jacob Roach
Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
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