# Terrible News, Cloud Gaming is Good Now

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3xYHYuMqZU
Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/I3xYHYuMqZU
Generated: 2025-11-01T17:33:08.832+00:00

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## Quick Overview

NVIDIA's GeForce Now RTX 5080 tier delivers an impressive cloud gaming experience that is nearly indistinguishable from local hardware for many users, achieving low latency results (e.g., 25.6ms average in Apex Legends with competitive settings) that significantly outperform older cloud tiers, despite some minor visual artifacts in highly detailed scenes like Borderlands 4 with film grain enabled.

**Key Points:**
- The GeForce Now RTX 5080 tier provides performance that is often indistinguishable from local hardware, particularly in competitive shooters like Apex Legends.
- Latency testing in Apex Legends showed an average of 25.6ms (min 22.4ms, max 33.3ms) with competitive settings, a significant improvement over previous tiers.
- Testing Borderlands 4 showed higher latency (71.7ms average during the shoot test) when using the visual 'film grain filter', suggesting compression overhead affects image quality more noticeably in certain titles.
- The local setup used for comparison featured an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU and an MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X 12G OC GPU.
- Frame Generation is a key feature of the new tier, which, when enabled, can significantly boost in-game FPS (e.g., 261 FPS in Borderlands 4) even if the stream output is limited (e.g., 120 FPS).
- The high-end tier supports up to 4K at 120 FPS, or 1080p at 360 FPS, provided the user has the necessary network bandwidth (up to 100 Mbps recommended for 4K/120Hz).
- The video implies that the cost of the subscription ($20/month or $200/annually) over five years ($1000 total) is vastly cheaper than upgrading a local PC with an equivalent RTX 5080-class GPU.

![Screenshot at 0:04: Gamer reacting intensely while playing Borderlands 3 on the GeForce Now service, demonstrating the fast-paced action being tested.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-00-04.png)

**Context:** The video evaluates the new NVIDIA GeForce Now RTX 5080 cloud gaming subscription tier, comparing its performance, particularly latency and image quality, against playing games locally on high-end hardware. The testing involves running demanding titles like Borderlands 4 and Apex Legends while using NVIDIA's LDAT tool to measure actual end-to-end latency, contrasting the results with previous cloud service tiers and local hardware performance.

## Detailed Analysis

The reviewer tests NVIDIA GeForce Now's new RTX 5080 tier, concluding that the performance is impressive and often indistinguishable from running games locally, especially for fast-paced competitive titles. Latency testing using an LDAT device showed Apex Legends achieving an average latency of 25.6ms on the cloud service, which is only slightly higher than the local hardware's performance (which the reviewer implies would be around 10-15ms better, averaging 10.8ms in a separate test). However, when testing Borderlands 4, the cloud latency was significantly higher (71.7ms average during shooting) compared to local play (50.5ms average before the test). The visual quality difference was minimal in some tests, but enabling the 'film grain filter' in Borderlands 4 made the cloud stream appear noticeably worse and slightly blocky compared to local play. The reviewer notes that the new tier supports up to 4K at 120 FPS and 1080p at 360 FPS, and the inclusion of Frame Generation helps maintain high in-game frame rates. The video concludes with a cost comparison, showing that subscribing annually for five years ($1000 total) is far cheaper than upgrading a local PC with an equivalent GPU (estimated at $1000+ for the GPU alone). The video also features a sponsor segment for DeleteMe, a data removal service.

### GeForce Now RTX 5080 Performance

- Performance is nearly indistinguishable from local hardware in competitive games like Apex Legends (25.6ms average latency)
- Borderlands 4 tested at 4K/120Hz but showed slightly worse image quality with film grain enabled
- Frame Generation (DLSS 3) is enabled by default on the new tier, boosting in-game FPS significantly.

### Latency Testing Methodology

- Used an LDAT device attached to the monitor to measure end-to-end latency (click to fire to muzzle flash)
- Apex Legends latency averaged 25.6ms on GFN vs. ~10ms locally
- Borderlands 4 latency was higher on GFN (71.7ms shoot test) than local (50.5ms test).

### Visual Quality & Features

- 4K at 120 FPS and 1080p at 360 FPS supported
- Film grain filter in Borderlands 4 looked 'yellowy' and worse on the stream compared to local 4K
- The local test machine used an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and MSI RTX 3060.

### Cost Comparison

- $20/month subscription equates to $1000 over 5 years, cheaper than buying an RTX 5080-class GPU locally
- The subscription model avoids buying new hardware every few years.

### Sponsor Segment (DeleteMe)

- Promotes data removal service
- Offers 20% off with code LTT20
- Highlights removing info from 850+ data brokers
- Family plans cover 4 people for CA$57.33/year.

![Screenshot at 0:00: Gamer playing Borderlands 3, showing the general setup with the large vertical monitor.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-00-00.png)
![Screenshot at 0:18: The 'devil' character promoting the RTX 5080 subscription as a $1000 deal.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-00-18.png)
![Screenshot at 0:44: Graphic showing the cost comparison: $20/month x 50 months = $1000 for the subscription versus buying the GPU.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-00-44.png)
![Screenshot at 1:21: DeleteMe advertisement showing a blurred face and stating 'Your Personal Data is Yours Again.'](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-01-21.png)
![Screenshot at 2:00: Reviewer showing the RTX 4090/5080 comparison with the 4090 being far more expensive.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-02-00.png)
![Screenshot at 2:34: PCGamesN headline stating 'I tested the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GeForce Now tier, and it's phenomenal'.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-02-34.png)
![Screenshot at 3:30: Close-up of the test PC components, including the Noctua cooler and RTX GPU, listing specs.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-03-30.png)
![Screenshot at 4:34: Steam System Information window showing the cloud server is running on an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 with 48GB of VRAM.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-04-34.png)
![Screenshot at 5:27: Split screen comparison \(4x Slower\) showing the input lag difference between local play and cloud streaming in an adventure game.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-05-27.png)
![Screenshot at 6:28: Overlay showing high FPS \(164 game, 121 stream\) and low ping \(10ms\) during gameplay on the 5080 tier in Control, despite some compression artifacts noted later in Borderlands 4 testing \(07:40\). A separate small window shows the reviewer testing latency on a local setup \(07:41\). Final latency test results showing GFN latency around 25.6ms vs. local latency around 10.9ms \(15:01\). The final latency comparison in Apex Legends shows GFN latency averaging 25.6ms vs. local latency averaging 10.9ms.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/I3xYHYuMqZU/00-06-28.png)