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Nvidia Pushes Cloud Gaming Into the Future · Connecting the Dots

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to Connecting the Dots. I'm
• 0:02
  Alex. And I'm Morgan. Thanks for tuning in. It
• 0:04
  is Tuesday, August 19th, 2025. Hope you're having
• 0:07
  a good start to your day. Absolutely. Let's quickly
• 0:10
  check in on that weather. Nationally, there are
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  tropical storm and storm surge watches up for
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  the North Carolina Outer Banks. Looks like conditions
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  could get dicey there late Wednesday. Yeah. And
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  Hurricane Aaron is still out there kicking up
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  some dangerous surf and rip currents along the
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  East Coast beaches. Stay safe out there, folks.
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  Definitely. And Closer to home for many, the
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  southern plains and Mississippi Valley are dealing
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  with some really intense heat. Hot to extremely
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  hot temperatures expected there. Meanwhile, here
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  in sunny Sacramento, looking pretty good. Clear
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  skies, high of 91 degrees today. Can't complain
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  too much. Nice. All right, quick market minute
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  for you. The Dow Jones saw a positive bump yesterday,
• 0:49
  up about 95 points. That's 0 .21%. It's actually
• 0:53
  up almost 2 % for the week. The S &P 500, though,
• 0:56
  dipped just a tiny bit yesterday, down 0 .10%,
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  but still managed a weekly gain of about 0 .78%.
• 1:02
  And Bitcoin? Well, it's having a bit of a rough
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  patch, down about 1 % daily and over 4 % for
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  the week. Oof. Okay, shifting gears to some happier
• 1:13
  news, especially for baseball fans around here.
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  Oh, yeah. The San Francisco Giants. They pulled
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  off a win against the Padres yesterday, August
• 1:21
  18th. Nice. What was the score? Four to three.
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  A close one. Shout out to Robbie Ray for getting
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  the win. Good stuff. Any standouts? Haley Ramos
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  had a great game, two for five with a home run.
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  Love to see it. Awesome. Always good when the
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  Giants win. Absolutely. OK, so today on the show,
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  we're diving into some major tech news. We're
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  going to connect the dots between these updates
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  and how they might actually affect your life,
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  whether you're working, managing family stuff,
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  or running a business. Yeah, lots happening,
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  particularly from NVIDIA. We'll be looking at
• 1:49
  their internal Morningstar report for the key
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  details. All right, let's jump into our first
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  big story from the Morningstar that's got everyone
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  talking. NVIDIA's GeForce N -NOW. their game
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  streaming service. It's getting a pretty massive
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  upgrade. That's right. Starting in September,
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  the ultimate tier, that's the $20 month one,
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  is getting a serious boost with new RTX 5080
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  class GPUs powering the servers. And the kicker
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  is no price increase, right? Still 20 bucks.
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  Exactly. No price hike, which is pretty amazing
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  considering the performance leap we're talking
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  about. So what does this actually mean for someone
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  using this service? Well, visually, it's going
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  to be stunning. You'll be able to stream games
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  at up to 5K resolution at 120 frames per second.
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  Wow, 5K 120? Yeah. Or? Or if you prefer raw speed,
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  say for competitive shooters, you can go 1080p
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  at a crazy 320 frames per second. 320 FPS, that's...
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  That's faster than most high -end monitors can
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  even display. Right, it's incredibly smooth,
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  incredibly detailed, we're talking gameplay that
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  rivals, and honestly probably surpasses a lot
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  of very expensive local gaming PCs. So the performance
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  jump is legit, then? Oh, absolutely. These new
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  servers are apparently up to 2 .8 times faster
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  than the older RTX 4080 systems they're replacing.
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  2 .8 times? A big part of it is improvements
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  in their AI stuff, specifically frame generation.
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  It's now doing 4x the work, compared to 2x on
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  the 4080s. We're talking like, 62 teraflops of
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  compute - huge numbers. Okay, so the power is
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  there. But cloud gaming sometimes struggles with,
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  like, the picture quality, right? Colors looking
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  washed out, maybe a bit blurry. Yeah, that's
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  always been the Achilles heel. But Nvidia seems
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  to be tackling that head -on with something they're
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  calling Cinematic Quality Streaming, or CQS.
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  CQS. Okay, what does that do? Well, it uses a
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  few key technologies. First, YUV 4 .4 .4 Chroma
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  subsampling. Basically, it makes sure all the
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  color information for every pixel gets through
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  accurately. No more washed out look. OK, better
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  colors. What else? It also uses the AV1 codec.
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  That's a newer, really efficient video compression
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  format so you get smoother video with less data.
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  Plus, there's AI video filtering to clean up
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  any blocky artifacts you might sometimes see
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  in streams. Interesting. And I saw something
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  about DPI optimization. Right, it can automatically
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  adjust the stream to match your screen's DPI,
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  dots per inch. That's super helpful on laptops
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  with those really sharp, high -res screens, so
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  text and UI elements don't look fuzzy. Gotcha.
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  Now, is there a catch? Like, internet requirements?
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  Oh, yeah, there is. To get the absolute best
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  out of CQS, you'll need a pretty beefy connection.
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  The stream can go up to 100 megabits per second.
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  100 megabits. OK, so ideally, you'd want, what,
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  a gigabit connection? Pretty much. A gigabit
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  or faster connection is ideal. If you're on a
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  slower plan or have data caps, you might not
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  get the full CQS experience. It's definitely
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  aimed at the high end of internet speeds. Something
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  to keep in mind. But if you do have the bandwidth,
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  what kind of games can you play with this new
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  power? Good list already lined up for launch.
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  Think Doom, The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones and
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  The Great Circle, Cyberpunk 2077 Flight Simulator.
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  Wow, some heavy hitters there. Yeah. And they've
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  mentioned upcoming stuff, too, like Borderlands
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  4, the next Call of Outer Worlds 2, all set to
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  leverage these 5080s. So stepping back a bit,
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  what's the bigger picture here? Why does this
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  matter beyond just hardcore gamers? Well, I think
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  it really democratizes high -end gaming. You
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  don't need to spend thousands on a gaming rig
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  anymore. You can play these cutting edge, visually
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  demanding AAA games on a regular laptop, a handheld,
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  even your TV, as long as you have that good internet
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  and the subscription. It makes that top -tier
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  experience much more accessible. Exactly. And
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  compared to how much streaming TV services cost
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  these days, $20 a month for this kind of power,
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  it actually seems pretty competitive. Yeah, that's
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  a fair point. I remember lugging a giant desktop
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  tower to college just to play games. Now you
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  could just take a thin laptop on vacation and
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  get an even better experience. No more clunky
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  rigs for trips. Precisely. Now, speaking of upgrades,
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  NVIDIA isn't just juicing up GeForce and W. They're
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  also giving their main software for PC users
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  a pretty big overhaul. Ah, right, the NVIDIA
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  app. They launched that beta a while back, didn't
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  they? Yeah. What's new there? They're basically
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  trying to pull everything together. You know
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  how settings used to be scattered between the
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  GeForce Experience app and the old -school NVIDIA
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  control panel? Oh yeah, that could be annoying.
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  Well, they're consolidating more of that into
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  the new single NVIDIA app. The goal is user convenience,
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  making things simpler. So what are the key changes?
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  OK, the big one, I think, is the global DLSS
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  override. DLSS, that's the AI upscaling thing,
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  right? Boosts frame rates? Exactly. Deep learning,
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  super sampling. Before, you usually had to go
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  into each game's settings menu and turn DLSS
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  on, pick your quality mode, et cetera. Right,
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  game by game. Now you can just set a global preference
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  in the NVIDIA app, like always use DLSS quality
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  mode if available, and it'll just apply automatically
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  to all supported games. There's even an overlay
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  to show you it's working. Oh, that's actually
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  really handy. Less fiddling, more playing. That's
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  the idea. And they're pulling more of those classic
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  control panel settings into the app, too. Things
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  like anisotropic filtering, anti -aliasing, ambient
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  occlusion. stuff you might tweak for older games.
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  So less digging through menus for those specific
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  settings. Exactly. Even the setup tool for NVIDIA
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  surround, you know, for multiple monitors is
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  being integrated, just making it a one -stop
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  shop. OK, that sounds genuinely useful. What
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  else? There's also news about smooth motion.
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  Remember that feature? It was supposed to be
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  only for the new RTX 50 series GPUs. Yeah, kind
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  of like an AI frame interpolation thing. Right.
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  It basically uses AI to insert extra frames,
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  making games feel smoother, even if they don't
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  natively support DLSS frame generation. It can
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  essentially double the perceived frame rate.
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  So like making a 3040X game feel like 60 foopies.
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  That's the goal. The big news is it's not just
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  for the 50 series anymore. They're bringing it
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  to all RTX 40 series owners, too, via driver
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  update. Oh, wow. That's a big deal for current
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  owners, especially since Nvidia seems to be shifting
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  focus to the 50 series, maybe even stopping production
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  on some 40 series cards. That's the report. Yeah.
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  So making the software better for existing 40
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  series owners is definitely a good move. It adds
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  value to the cards people already have. Good
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  point. Anything else on this app update? Just
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  a quick note. Their AI assistant, Project G -Assist,
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  is apparently getting more efficient, uses about
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  40 % less memory, responds faster, so little
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  tweaks there too. When can people get these updates?
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  The beta app gets updated today, August 19th,
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  and the general public release is planned for
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  next week. So connecting the dots here, this
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  really just streamlines the PC gaming experience,
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  doesn't it? Makes it easier for everyone, not
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  just tech experts, to get good performance. Totally.
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  Less hassle, easier optimization. It's about
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  making the tech work for you, rather than you
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  having to work the tech. Okay, interesting stuff
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  on the software side. Now you mentioned Nvidia
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  isn't done with GeForce NW. There's another big
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  update there. Yeah, and this one might be even
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  more impactful in the long run. It's a new feature
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  called Install to Play. Install to Play, what
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  does that mean? Okay, so currently with GeForce
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  and W, you can only stream games that Nvidia
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  has specifically onboarded and pre -installed
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  on their servers, right? Right, there's a curated
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  library. This new feature basically blows that
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  wide open. It allows you to install games yourself
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  directly onto cloud storage linked to your GeForce
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  and Now account. Whoa. So you're not limited
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  to their list anymore? Not entirely. There's
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  a condition. The game needs to have opted into
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  Valve's Steam Cloud play system. But Nvidia says
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  this immediately adds thousands of compatible
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  titles. Thousands. How many are you talking?
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  They claim it will effectively double the existing
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  library. It goes from about 2 ,300 pre -installed
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  games to over 4 ,500 total playable games. It's
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  huge. doubling the library instantly. Yeah, it's
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  a massive expansion. And it also means you can
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  potentially play games or even demos the day
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  they release without waiting for NVIDIA to add
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  them officially. Just install it yourself. OK,
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  but how does the install part work? Do you have
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  to download it every time you play? Good question.
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  Initially, yes, you'll likely need to download
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  the game for each session, kind of like installing
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  it fresh. However... There's a catch, or rather
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  an option. Exactly. They're offering persistent
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  cloud storage. Ultimate and performance tier
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  members get 100GB for free to start. 100GB free.
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  OK. And if you need more, you can pay for upgrades.
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  It's like $299 a month for 200GB, $499 for 500GB,
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  or $799 for a full terabyte. So you can pay a
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  bit extra to keep your installed games ready
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  to launch instantly, just like on a local drive.
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  Pretty much. It's like having your own personal
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  gaming hard drive sitting in NVIDIA's cloud data
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  center, ready to go. That really changes the
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  game for cloud streaming. What about devices?
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  Does this help? People using, say, a Steam Deck?
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  Oh, absolutely. Nvidia specifically highlighted
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  this. They have a new native GeForce End Now
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  W app for the Steam Deck, which now supports
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  up to 95p streaming, by the way. 95p on the Deck
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  Nice. And with install -to -play, Steam Deck
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  users can access way more of their Steam library,
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  plus games from other stores like Xbox, PC Game
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  Pass, Epic Games, GOG, all streamed through GeForce
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  End Now W. So it helps bypass the deck's own
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  hardware limits for really demanding games. Exactly.
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  And it saves battery life, too. They're saying
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  four or five hours of streaming gameplay versus
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  maybe two hours running a heavy game natively.
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  That's a significant difference for a handheld,
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  for sure. And it's not just the deck. The Mac
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  client gets these upgrades, too. And they mentioned
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  4K streaming coming to LG OLED monitors and TVs.
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  It's broadening access everywhere. OK, one more
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  thing I saw mention something about Discord.
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  Right. A new partnership with Epic Games and
• 11:42
  Discord. This is pretty clever. What's the deal?
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  For a limited time, Discord users will be able
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  to launch and play Fortnite directly within the
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  Discord app, streamed via GeForce and now W.
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  Wait, directly in Discord without downloading
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  Fortnite or even having a GeForce and W account?
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  That's what they're saying. No download, no GeForce
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  and W membership needed for this trial. It's
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  a way to let potentially hundreds of millions
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  of Discord users just click and try a high profile
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  game instantly. Wow. That's frictionless gaming
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  right there. Super easy way to get people to
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  try cloud gaming. Exactly. It removes almost
• 12:16
  every barrier. So connecting all these dots,
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  the RTX 5080 upgrade, the app simplification,
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  and now this install -to -play feature. It really
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  feels like Nvidia is trying to make high -end
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  gaming accessible to almost anyone, anywhere.
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  That seems to be the core strategy. Break down
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  the barriers. You don't need the $2 ,000 PC.
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  You don't need to wait for games to be curated.
• 12:36
  You can access your libraries easily across the
• 12:39
  different devices. It really democratizes things.
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  Whether you're a professional just wanting to
• 12:43
  unwind, a student on a budget, or a family looking
• 12:45
  for entertainment without buying multiple consoles
• 12:47
  or PCs. Yeah, the idea of having your whole Steam
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  library or Game Pass library just available wherever
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  you have a good connection. That's a really compelling
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  vision. Less focus on owning the hard more focused
• 12:59
  on accessing the experience. It definitely feels
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  like a major shift. A powerful move towards the
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  cloud, making these cutting -edge experiences
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  much more mainstream. All right, that pretty
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  much wraps up our look at today's big tech stories.
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  We started with that huge GeForce Ennobu upgrade
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  RTX 5080 power coming to the cloud without a
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  price hike. Then we looked at the Nvidia app
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  updates, making things simpler for PC gamers
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  with global DLSS and bringing smooth motion to
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  more cards. Finally, that potentially revolutionary
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  install -to -play feature for GeForce Now W set
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  to massively expand its game library and make
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  accessing your games easier than ever. Yeah,
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  all these pieces together really show how technology,
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  especially cloud tech, is becoming more accessible,
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  more convenient, and frankly more powerful for
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  everyone, gamers, professionals, casual users
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  alike. It certainly makes you wonder about the
• 13:53
  future, doesn't it? Is owning that high -end
• 13:55
  local hardware going to become less and less
• 13:57
  necessary? It's a fascinating question, and the
• 14:00
  trend seems to be pointing in that direction,
• 14:02
  at least as an option for many people. We'll
• 14:04
  definitely keep watching it. We absolutely will.
• 14:06
  Thanks so much for tuning in today. We're here
• 14:08
  to help at Snarful, so reach out on our website
• 14:10
  if you have any more questions.