Nvidia’s new PC gaming app gets nerdy upgrades, PC Game Pass freebie

Do you have a GeForce graphics card in your PC? Then you’ll want to check out the new Nvidia App, which unifies the longstanding Nvidia Control Panel and GeForce Experience mish-mash into a more singular interface. We’ve tried it and the Nvidia app is awesome, bringing some much-needed new ideas and cohesion to your gaming experience. And unlike GFE, you don’t need to log in to use it—correcting a key enthusiast gripe.

The Nvidia App remains in beta, but Nvidia wants more people using it. So at Computex 2024, Team Green revealed some nifty new Nvidia App goodies that might just woo you into making the switch from GeForce Experience (which, again, you should totally do anyway).

First and foremost, if you install the Nvidia App, you’ll be able to claim three free months of access to hundreds of games via Microsoft’s PC Game Pass. That’s a $30 value and an offer you normally only see attached to new gaming hardware, such as a laptop or graphics card. Yes, you can download and play PC pass games locally, no streaming needed – though Nvidia says you can stream over 130 PC Game Pass titles on GeForce Now these days, too, complete with up to 240 FPS speeds, 4K resolution, real-time ray tracing, and DLSS 3.

The offer kicks in starting June 4 at 6am Pacific Time and is also available to existing GeForce Experience users — you’ll find it in the Redeem section of the Nvidia App or GFE. You’ll need to have an Nvidia account to claim the three free months of PC Game Pass, and can’t already be a Game Pass subscriber.

But the awesome freebie isn’t the only benefit. Nvidia announced that it’s also bringing over the one-click performance tuning option from GeForce Experience, joining existing hardware monitoring options. You’ll find the option in a new Performance tab in the also-new System section.

“Power users may also adjust voltage, power, temperature and fan speed targets, which will change the parameters used by our advanced tuning algorithms,” Nvidia says. “This is useful, for instance, if you wish to maximize performance without going above a certain temperature threshold, or want fans to spin at 70% max.”

Additionally, owners of RTX 40-series graphics cards can now capture video using the AV1 encoding format.

“Utilizing the eighth-generation Nvidia” Encoders (NVENC) on GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics cards and laptop GPUs, AV1 improves encoding efficiency by 40%, producing higher quality videos without requiring more disk space,” Nvidia says. We agree; both NVENC and AV1 rock.