Skip to main content

Nvidia GeForce Now uses DLSS to hit 4K on Windows and Mac

As part of the weekly GFN Thursday, Nvidia announced that 4K streaming is coming to the GeForce Now apps on Windows and Mac, which is enabled by Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology. As of now, the increased resolution is only available for GeForce Now’s RTX 3080 tier.

DLSS has been a staple of high-end PC gaming for the past couple of years, leveraging the dedicated Tensor cores inside RTX graphics cards to upscale games with AI. Although you can enable DLSS with games in GeForce Now, this is the first time Nvidia has explicitly confirmed that the technology helps power its cloud gaming platform.

GeForce Now on a MacBook Air.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Presumably, DLSS has been at work in the background of GeForce Now for years. The service has supported 4K streaming on the Nvidia Shield for a while, and it’s possible that DLSS has been functioning behind the scenes to achieve that. In its announcement, Nvidia didn’t clarify whether DLSS is helping the service in supported games or across the GeForce Now library.

Recommended Videos

We expected Windows support, but Mac support is a bit of a surprise. Nvidia just released a native M1 GeForce Now app at the end of April, suggesting the company was waiting on rolling out the 4K update until the app was ready.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

In addition to 4K streaming on Windows and Mac, Nvidia announced that RTX 3080 members can now take advantage of 120Hz streaming on more mobile devices. These include the Samsung Galaxy S22, S22 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold3, and Flip3, as well as the OnePlus 9 Pro.

As is typical of GFN Thursdays, Nvidia also announced several new titles joining the list of the best GeForce Now games. The highlights include multiple Star Wars titles in honor of May 4, as well as the recently released samurai adventure Trek to Yomi. You can find the full list of new titles below.

  • Bakery Simulator 
  • Oaken 
  • Dinosaur Fossil Hunter 
  • Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters
  • Trek to Yomi 
  • Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit 
  • Frozenheim
  • Star Wars Battlefront II 
  • Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 
  • Star Wars: Squadrons 

Nvidia has slowly been building its RTX 3080 tier for GeForce Now with support for 1440p resolution and 120Hz gaming. The cheaper Priority tier has received far less attention, restricted to 1080p streaming at 60 fps since it launched. GeForce Now’s Free tier hasn’t grown much, either, limited to one-hour session lengths.

Although Nvidia has continued to grow the platform with new features, the future of cloud gaming is uncertain with portable devices like the Steam Deck. With higher resolutions and features like ray tracing, however, GeForce Now is a sign that Nvidia still thinks this is an area worth investing in. GeForce Now is available, including the RTX 3080 tier, now without a pre-order period.

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…
DLSS 4 could be amazing, and Nvidia needs it to be
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU.

I won't lie: Nvidia did a good job with Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 3, and there's almost no way that this success didn't contribute to sales. DLSS 3, with its ability to turn a midrange GPU into something much more capable, is pretty groundbreaking, and that's a strong selling point if there ever was one.

What comes next, though? The RTX 40-series is almost at an end, and soon, there'll be new GPUs for Nvidia to try and sell -- potentially without the added incentive of gen-exclusive upscaling tech. DLSS 3 will be a tough act to follow, and if the rumors about its upcoming graphics cards turn out to be true, Nvidia may really need DLSS 4 to be a smash hit.
When the GPU barely matters

Read more
New Nvidia update suggests DLSS 4.0 is closer than we thought
A hand holding the RTX 4090 GPU.

Nvidia might be gearing up for DLSS 4.0. A new update for Nvidia's Streamline pipeline includes updated files for DLSS Super Resolution and Frame Generation that bring the version to 3.7.

This is a fairly small update aimed at developers. I haven't had a chance to try out DLSS 3.7, but like previous updates, I assume this includes some small tweaks to performance and image quality. Nvidia commits these updates pretty frequently, usually centered around reducing visual artifacts in games.

Read more
Nvidia is bringing ray tracing and DLSS 3 to your car
Cyberpunk 2077 running in a Tesla.

I know it sounds crazy, but a new MediaTek chip powered by Nvidia graphics promises to bring AAA gaming, ray tracing, and the coveted DLSS 3 to your car. The chips I'm talking about are MediaTek's new Dimensity Auto Cockpit, which integrated an Nvidia GPU, along with a host of AI and gaming capabilities.

It's not clear what Nvidia graphics are packed on MediaTek's chips, but clearly, they're using some variation of the Ada Lovelace architecture we see on RTX 40-series GPUs. Those are the only GPUs that support DLSS 3's frame generation capabilities, and they're extremely efficient -- important for a chip packed into a car.

Read more