Earlier this month at CES, NVIDIA announced the launch of GeForce NOW, its cloud gaming service, for Linux in beta. This marked a significant expansion of its cloud gaming service and met a long-standing request from the Linux community. The new Linux native app provides access to a library of over 4,500 games, including DOOM: The Dark Ages and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Ultimate members ($19.99 per month) can also leverage Blackwell GeForce RTX 5080 features, enabling high-performance streaming at up to 5K resolution and 120 fps.
The beta application, which we have been able to test out early, works best on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or later and requires a modern GPU with H.264 or H.265 Vulkan video codec support, such as GeForce 10 series or newer. The minimum hardware requirements include a dual-core x86 or x64 CPU at 2.0GHz or faster and at least 4GB of system memory.
For the best performance, the company recommended installing driver version 580.126.09 or higher for its own GPUs, while Intel and AMD users were asked to use Mesa version 24.2.8. GeForce NOW supports both X11 and Wayland windowing systems, though NVIDIA GPU users are advised to log in with X11 for current compatibility.
To install NVIDIA Driver 580.126.09 or later using a graphical interface, we had to follow these instructions:
- Open Software & Updates
- Go to the Additional Drivers tab
- Select NVIDIA driver 580, choose either the open kernel modules variant (nvidia-driver-580-open) or the proprietary/tested variant (nvidia-driver-580). Prefer the open module on Turing architecture and above.
- Click Apply Changes
- Reboot
- Verify after reboot. ‘nvidia-smi’ in the Terminal should show version 580.126.09
The native app unlocked advanced graphical features for Linux, such as YUV 4:4:4 Chroma subsampling and Cinematic Quality Streaming mode. These allow Linux gamers to achieve visual parity with high-end Windows gaming rigs through the cloud. The launch on Linux comes amid a broader rollout of NVIDIA’s Blackwell architecture to its Ultimate membership tier, providing the infrastructure needed to support 360 fps streaming and advanced DLSS features on the new platform.
To try out the new beta, we had to perform an installation of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on Steve"s computer using a spare SSD. Here are the specs of that machine:
After the installation of Ubuntu, the drivers and the NVIDIA GeForce NOW beta, this is what we were presented with the following. Do note that the monitor used has a 4K resolution, so things look quite small in the screenshot:
There was more information in the GeForce NOW settings, which showed the frame rate, resolution, filters and so on:
Having a good network connection is non-negotiable for cloud gaming. Here is how the network test tool looks in GFN for Linux:
Below, you can see a video recording of Cyberpunk 2077 running using the native Linux-based NVIDIA GeForce NOW client with the above graphics drivers installed. You can see at the start of the video that Ray Tracing Ultra and DLSS Super Resolution are selected.
We also tried out Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which you can see in the video below. The settings used are the default set by GeForce NOW, but you can get a feel for the type of performance you can expect if you play via NVIDIA GeForce Now on Linux:
The arrival of GFN for Linux is a big event for gaming on Linux. Sure, Linux users have been able to play GFN in the web browser, but the native client takes things up a notch.
Historically, there have been three big reasons Windows users don"t switch to Linux: Microsoft Office, Gaming, and Adobe programs. With the launch of the native GFN app, gaming becomes less of a reason not to use Linux, but it still doesn"t address the lack of native games.
Let us know in the comments if you are looking forward to using GFN on Linux.