Nvidia GeForce Now on FreeBSD - How to Set It Up For Old PCs
If you had been trying to set it up Steam on FreeBSD via installation of Linux or Windows compatibility layer but ended up too cumbersome due to unpredictable changes in the software that makes most of method of attempting to run in native environment are now obsolete, then you would gonna try this one - The Cloud Gaming Solutions...and one of them are Nvidia GeForce Now cloud gaming service.
Nvidia GeForce Now is the cloud gaming service that provides you to enjoy PC Gaming on any kind of device and also on-the-go, as long as your device have a faster internet access at least 25Mbps and above. You can also enjoy it on decade-old hardware, but it should be strong enough to process a very continuous of high speed data streams. While Nvidia officially stated that dual-core CPU required for this, but I think that it needs some further details on what kind of CPU which are used for this service. Hence, here's the suggestion that I made for making the game cloud service experience better on minimum hardware (including old PCs).
Minimum Hardware suggestions:
1. RAM: 4GB DDR3 in dual-channel with 1600Mhz speed
2. CPU - Dual-core with hyperthreading (for Intel CPUs) or quad-core without hyperthreading (for AMD). Minimum single thread rating (STR) 1200+. Must be at least 3.0Ghz or higher. A CPU with SSE4.1 will benefit the most.
3. GPU: Nvidia GeForce 600 series, AMD Radeon HD3000, Intel HD graphics 2000 (taken from official Nvidia site page).
4. Internet - 30Mbps for full HD streaming in 60FPS. Please refer to your internet plan for upgrading if available.
5. Browser - Chrome only (including its derivatives eg. Chromium and Iridium), (Pulseaudio backend now provided by default on FreeBSD 14.1).
Before you do, make sure that:
1. You have set it up GPU hardware correctly, must be not running in fallback mode.
2. Have your own game collection from Steam, Epic, and Xbox.
3. Have faster internet access.
4. Have a suitable internet equipment eg. Wifi router with Wifi-6 technology or better.
What you should not do:
1. Having a very old and slow PC (Intel Core2Duo era and earlier) and even Celerons (except DDR4-era ones) and also having a PC with RAM speed less than 1600Mhz.
2. Having a slow internet access below minimum recommended speed.
3. Attempting to use services via VPN from unsupported regions.
Subscription may vary depending on your region and some of the region under Alliance Partner will only showing few types of subscription but it doesn't points towards cloud rig spec, instead it have its tiers for customer for particular services and non-customer for particular services eg. mobile network subscriptions.
To set it up is fairly easy, all you will need is:
1. Open up Chromium/Iridium browser first, install it if you don't have one.
2. Register to the Nvidia Geforce Now service site if regions supported by Nvidia or going to specific site if the region supported under "Alliance Partners". See the list of supported regions: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5023/~/what-are-the-supported-locations-for-geforce-now%3F
3. After sign up and subscribing to the service, link your Xbox, Steam and/or Epic accounts into the service. You must have the game library that you bought. See this link here for full list of PC Games provided in this service: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce-now/games/
4. Head to GeForce Now library website: https://play.geforcenow.com/mall/#/layout/games
5. Add the game into the library.
6. Launch the game!
NOTE: You have to use keyboard all the time because controller support wasn't available for FreeBSD builds of Chromium/Iridium. Alternatively, you can set it up its keyboard mappings to the controller by using Antimicro app.
Cloud Gaming Experience Tips:
1. Always using LAN cable connection when possible. This usually performs much better than Wifi. If you're using Wifi, make sure that both wifi router and receiver uses Wifi-6 technology for very low latency experience.
2. Use lightweight desktop environment eg. XFCE, Openbox, LXQT etc. to make your CPU focusing on cloud gaming stream and also overcome issues when switching between full-screen browser and also other programs.
3. Make sure that no other upload/download activity before starting the cloud gaming session.
4. Use custom DNS for better connectivity. You can configure it out via /etc/resolv.conf file. May requires a special hook files that need to be created to stop configurations inside /etc/resolv.conf from being changed.
Known Issues:
1. Some of GPU models might not work with GFN service where after you entering full screen steam menu and you will definitely "kicked out" from the fullscreen. If you're experienced this issue, consider to swap it your current GPU with better ones.
2. Avoid from using low-end old GPUs. It doesn't really work with GFN service.
3. Avoid from using over-spec GPUs onto such old motherboards, such heavy bottleneck will occur.
4. If stuttering occurs on 1080p, try to reduce the display resolution to 720p.
Video Demos:
Kernel tuning configurations for cloud gaming enhancements and misc.
#/boot/loader.conf
kern.ipc.shmmni=1024
net.link.ifqmaxlen="2048"
net.inet.tcp.soreceive_stream="1"
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