Textbooks, bedding, a year’s supply of instant noodles – packing for uni means prioritising the essentials, and often, that means that your full gaming setup gets left behind at home. As such, your gaming opportunities are likely at the mercy of a distinctly average hardware built into your laptop. However, there is a way to still enjoy the latest releases and your go-to games as a student, all thanks to NVIDIA’s cloud gaming service, GeForce NOW.
GeForce NOW is a platform that allows you to stream games from the cloud straight to the device of your choice, including laptops, mobiles, tablets and more, without the need to purchase any additional hardware.
GeForce NOW enables you to play games you already own by accessing them from across your gaming libraries in the cloud. With no need to download bulky data and updates locally, precious storage space on your uni laptop can be reserved for papers and coursework, keeping the parents happy. What’s more, you’re also able to use the latest graphical technologies like NVIDIA DLSS, Reflex, Multi-Frame Generation and more as GeForce NOW gives you remote access to GeForce RTX 50-series tech via NVIDIA’s servers, letting you play the latest graphically advanced titles like CONTROL: Resonant without having to buy an all-new gaming setup.
Whether you’re a gearhead, FPS devotee, or RPG adventurer, there are over 4,500 games available in the GeForce NOW cloud. The majority are ready to play immediately (R2P), and those that do require installation (flagged as I2P) can be downloaded onto the service’s cloud hardware. Plus, you’re not platform-restricted either – whatever library your game of choice resides in across Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox Game Pass, Battle.net and more, with GeForce NOW, you can jump in and play across multiple devices, picking right up where you left off.
Best of all, GeForce NOW membership has a free tier, so you can enjoy the perks of remote game access and juiced-up graphics performance without spending a penny:
Free Tier (Basic Rig)
- Access to 2000+ games (including R2P)
- 1 hour gaming sessions (unlimited sessions per day)
- Up to 1080p resolution
- Up to 60 FPS
To go ad-free, upgrading to the Premium Tier costs just £9.99 per month (aka forgoing a couple of coffees or pints at the student union). This then gets you additional perks:
Premium Tier (£9.99/month, GeForce RTX)
- Access to 4500+ games (both R2P and I2P)
- 6 hour gaming sessions (unlimited sessions per day)
- Up to 1440p resolution
- Up to 60 FPS
- 8 vCPU cores 28 GB DRAM
- NVIDIA RTX Ray Tracing
- No ads
- Priority access to queue
- HDR10 and SDR10
- Ultrawide monitor support
- In-game settings persistence
- Surround 5.1 audio
And for top-tier cloud gaming, you can experience maximum performance with GeForce NOW’s Ultimate Tier. Priced at £19.99 per month, this membership grants you the full suite of GeForce NOW features and capabilities:
Ultimate Tier (£19.99/month, GeForce RTX 5080)
- Access 4500+ games (both R2P and I2P)
- 8-hour gaming sessions
- Up to 5K resolution
- Up to 360 FPS
- First priority access to queue
- 16 vCPU cores, 56 GB DRAM
- NVIDIA RTX Ray Tracing, NVIDIA DLSS 5 & NVIDIA Reflex
- HDR10 and SDR10
- Ultrawide monitor support
- In-game settings persistence
- Surround 5.1 / 7.1 audio
- Cloud G-Sync
If you don’t want to commit to a monthly plan, you can even grab yourself a GeForce NOW Day Pass and experience how well the service performs on your no-frills workbook. A Performance pass is just £3.99, and 24 hours of Ultimate will only set you back £7.99 – ideal if you’re determined to play a big term-time drop on day one.
Bust through your backlog between lectures and enjoy the latest releases in high-resolution – without having to relocate your home rig or shell out for new hardware – thanks to GeForce NOW. With thousands of games to choose from, you only need an internet connection to play from your accommodation, the library or wherever suits you best. Visit nvidia.com/geforce-now to check out the membership and pass options in full.