The New NVIDIA App Will Replace GeForce Experience And Here’s A Preview
A lot of people seem to have a great many strong opinions about NVIDIA's software. They complain that the Control Panel is archaic and outdated, while whining that GeForce Experience is heavy, bloated, and cumbersome to use. We like NVIDIA's Control Panel around here, but we do have to admit it would be nice to have a single app that combined the functions of the different programs, and one that didn't require an online login to use. Today, NVIDIA says "yeah, actually, that would be killer. Let's do that."
The "Discover" area lets you download other NVIDIA apps, like Omniverse and Broadcast.
Naturally, the new NVIDIA App is exactly that: a freshly-developed modern application that combines all of the features of GeForce Experience with most of the functions of the NVIDIA control panel. It doesn't require an online login, but don't despair, login lovers—all of the online-enabled features you loved from GeForce Experience, like account-based rewards and game bundle redeems, are still available in the NVIDIA App.
Team Green tells us that the NVIDIA app installs in half the time, is "50% more responsive," and occupies 17% less disk space than GeForce Experience. You can really feel the difference when using the app. It indeed installs nearly instantly, and launches very quickly. Pages open and load instantly, instead of having to wait a few moments for things like game profiles to load in the old Control Panel. The UI is clean and intuitive without being overly sparse, which is nice to see.
Your author is a rare breed, a Control Panel curmudgeon who loves the existing program for its simplicity and reliability. Knowing that, it may surprise you to know that he actually really likes the new App. To be clear, there are a few Control Panel functions that haven't made their way over to the app yet, like the ability to set the default refresh rate for legacy fullscreen apps, or the option to toggle the Vulkan/OpenGL present method.
However, NVIDIA tells us that updates are coming, and that more functionality from the Control Panel will indeed find its way into the NVIDIA App. NVIDIA also says that there are all-new functions on the way too, like overclocking options, additional DLSS controls, and AV1 support, although we don't know when, exactly.
In the meantime, there's a whole pile of fantastic features from GeForce Experience and the RTX Experience apps that many people may not have been able to take advantage of until now. This includes things like the highly-customizable NVIDIA overlay, the game recording and instant replay features (now with 120 FPS support), the NVIDIA Ansel photo mode function, and Freestyle game filters, tuned by ReShade developer Crosire himself. That includes the new Freestyle RTX HDR, which uses AI to perform colorspace conversion and make any game HDR.
The cynical might note that, in a certain sense, NVIDIA's really just playing catch-up here as rival AMD has had a centralized app that consolidates overlay, video capture, and game settings into a single place for some time now. We like AMD's software, but have to say that NVIDIA's app simply has more features; you won't find anything like Freestyle RTX HDR in the Radeon software.
NVIDIA tells us that the original vision for GeForce Experience was to build in "a number of account-based features, such as Gamestream." The company says that "the scope of the NVIDIA app is different," and that it is instead intended to provide a modern, unified app that can host all of NVIDIA's software in one place. In that sense, the company has clearly succeeded, and we're eager to see what else comes to the new GeForce software.
For now, you can try it out yourself by grabbing it from NVIDIA's website. Do note that the app is still considered a beta, and that for now, the Control Panel and Experience apps will soldier on. The NVIDIA App is intended to replace both of them eventually, though. There's also a new GeForce driver today, so it makes the perfect opportunity to try out the App's automatic update feature.
