Nvidia Upgrades GeForce Now With RTX 5080 GPUs for 5K Cloud Gaming

Nvidia unveiled a major upgrade to its GeForce Now cloud-gaming platform at Gamescom, bringing RTX 5080-class graphics based on the company’s new Blackwell architecture to its servers starting in September. The hardware refresh targets subscribers on the $19.99-a-month Ultimate tier and is billed as the service’s biggest performance leap to date, delivering what Nvidia says is up to 2.8-times the gaming throughput of the existing RTX 4080 instances. The new Blackwell SuperPods will allow cloud streams at up to 5K resolution and 120 frames per second, or 360 fps at 1080p, with Nvidia quoting end-to-end latency of about 30 milliseconds in titles such as Overwatch 2. A Cinematic Quality Streaming mode adds YUV 4:4:4 color, AV1 encoding and bandwidth of up to 100 Mbps to improve image fidelity. Nvidia is also expanding game availability through an ‘Install-to-Play’ feature that lets users load any Steam title whose publisher opts in, doubling the library to more than 4,500 games. Ultimate and Performance members receive 100 GB of temporary cloud storage, while persistent storage can be added for $2.99 to $7.99 a month, depending on capacity. Device support is widening as well: a native GeForce Now app on the Steam Deck now streams at 90 fps, LG’s newest OLED TVs can handle 4K/120 Hz, and the company’s 5K monitors support full resolution streaming. Nvidia said it is working with Comcast, T-Mobile and BT to integrate low-latency L4S networking, and emphasized that the Ultimate tier’s monthly fee and 100-hour play-time cap remain unchanged despite the hardware upgrade.