Nvidia announces RTX 5080 performance upgrade for GeForce NOW at Gamescom 2025

Nvidia has announced a major upgrade for its GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, bringing RTX 5080-class performance to Ultimate membership tiers. The upgrade, powered by the new Blackwell RTX architecture, will begin rolling out in September. The development marks the service’s most significant performance leap, allowing gamers to access next-generation visuals, AI-driven features and enhanced responsiveness without additional costs.

What's changing with RTX 5080 upgrade

The Blackwell RTX upgrade delivers 62 teraflops of compute performance, a 48GB frame buffer and 2.8x faster frame rates compared to previous-generation servers. This translates into more than three times the performance of current consoles. Advanced ray tracing, DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation and Reflex technology enable streaming up to 5K at 120fps and competitive gaming at 360fps with latency under 30 milliseconds.

Visual fidelity also improves with a new Cinematic Quality Streaming mode, which brings richer colors and sharper scenes through AI sharpening and AV1 encoding. The service extends support across devices, including 90fps streaming on Steam Decks, 4K 120fps on Lenovo Legion Go S handhelds and 5K 120Hz on supported LG monitors. Mac users will also benefit from the full RTX 5080-grade performance upgrade.

Install-to-Play and library expansion

Alongside the performance boost, Nvidia is introducing Install-to-Play, a new feature allowing direct game installations in the cloud. This doubles the supported library, taking GeForce NOW’s catalog to more than 4,500 titles. Over 2,200 Steam games are already opted in, expanding instant access for members. Storage options include 100GB free with memberships, with add-ons for persistent storage up to 1TB.

Several upcoming titles will be optimized for RTX 5080 performance, including Borderlands 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Dying Light: The Beast, The Outer Worlds 2, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, Arc Raiders, Hell Is Us and Cinder City. These will be available to stream instantly on GeForce NOW at launch.

Pricing

The Ultimate membership remains at $19.99 per month or $199.99 annually, while the Performance membership continues at $9.99 per month. Nvidia emphasized that despite the upgrade, pricing for both tiers will stay the same.