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ShadowPlay And Benchmarks

Nvidia's Shield Revisited: Console Mode, Streaming, And More
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ShadowPlay doesn't have anything to do with Nvidia's Shield update, but the company's proprietary NVEnc encoder is a critical piece of GameStream, so we still wanted to test its capabilities.

Like GameStream, ShadowPlay is controlled from Nvidia's GeForce Experience software. You can set it to Manual mode (start and save recordings on-demand), Shadow mode (always record the last one to 20 minutes of video, and save on-demand), or a combination of both. In-game, controlling ShadowPlay is easy; Alt-F10 saves the Shadow recording and Alt-F9 begins/ends a Shadow recording. A small green dot on the screen indicates a recording in progress, if you want visual confirmation.

Nvidia claims that, unlike Fraps, the performance hit attributable to ShadowPlay is negligible due to its hardware-based nature. Despite initial skepticism, during gameplay, I couldn't tell whether the feature was running or not. In the interest of getting more specific, let's look at the benchmark data at 1920x1080 and 2560x1600. Note that the higher-resolution tests are run at lower detail settings so we can compare playable frame rates around 60 FPS. In addition, it's worth noting that ShadowPlay is currently limited to 1920x1080, so a 1600p stream gets scaled down. Moreover, all of these tests were performed on a platform driven by AMD's $110 FX-4170 CPU.

Regardless of resolution average frame rates take a roughly 10% with ShadowPlay enabled. Given enough performance, I couldn't tell the difference. The higher-resolution result ran into more of a hit to its minimum frame rate, though.

Does encoding video in real-time affect frame time variance?

ShadowPlay has a negligible effect on any of our frame time variance measurements. You can see a few spikes in the over-time chart, but we're already limiting the chart's sample size to 300 frames for readability, and Far Cry 3 inherently demonstrates more variance than other titles.

Next, let's see if the GeForce GTX 660 fares better or worse than a Titan when it comes to ShadowPlay. We again vary the detail levels to keep frame rates in the same ballpark.

Because NVEnc is a fixed-function hardware block, its performance doesn't appear to scale. Instead, we see similar deltas with ShadowPlay on or off.

At the end of the day, ShadowPlay's ability to offload video encoding is very impressive. Capturing boss kills in a game like World of Warcraft is popular, but every genre can enjoy visual commemoration of epic moments. Previously, this was very processing- and capacity-intensive. Now, it's not bad at all. If in-game video capture is important to you, ShadowPlay might be a very compelling feature. In addition, Nvidia will add one-click broadcasting of ShadowPlay to Twitch, a popular online provider that specializes in game video.

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  • -5 Hide
    Jordan Nwokolo , October 28, 2013 7:34 AM
    This is The Real Next Gen Gaming System..Stream,Cloud and A.R.S.E(Android Revolutionary System Entertaiment) Based Console,No Doubt about it !!
  • 0 Hide
    rwinches , October 28, 2013 8:07 AM
    Here is some competition just in case, you know, you happen to own a smartphone or Tab.
    http://www.phonearena.com/news/10-game-controllers-for-smartphones-and-tablets_id39901#10-iControlPad-2

    And, with Miracast you can send 1080 to your TV too.
  • -2 Hide
    Peacelol , October 28, 2013 8:27 AM
    Where exactly are these reduced prices linked from? As of 0800 Pacific I don't see any reduction in pricing from any of the major retailers. All I've seen are updates regarding the holiday game bundle deal.
  • -1 Hide
    damianrobertjones , October 28, 2013 8:35 AM
    Still won't buy it as I'd then have yet another device.

    Hey Tom's hardware... Microsoft, one of the biggest companies in the world, recently released a Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro... No article?
  • 1 Hide
    cangelini , October 28, 2013 8:37 AM
    @ Peacelol: The prices will be in effect starting tomorrow morning
    @ damian: We have one and are in the process of reviewing it!
  • 0 Hide
    Peacelol , October 28, 2013 8:50 AM
    Thank you Cangelini
  • 0 Hide
    Zachasaurs , October 28, 2013 10:01 AM
    i love these bundles im getting a 760 withing the week
  • 0 Hide
    rwinches , October 28, 2013 11:01 AM
    Price Drop For Nvidia!!!!
    http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-gtx-780-price-drop,24886.html
  • 0 Hide
    funtasticguy , October 28, 2013 11:02 AM
    I have a question. Does the mapping software work when you're in "console" mode and using a Bluetooth controller?
  • 0 Hide
    BranFlake5 , October 28, 2013 4:28 PM
    Good to see Nvidia really working on the Shield. It has potential.
  • 0 Hide
    SWEETMUSK , October 28, 2013 4:37 PM
    OMG the new shoadowplay is so awesome!use more less energy then fraps!!!
  • 0 Hide
    bigcyco1 , October 28, 2013 5:17 PM
    Thanks for the review.
  • 0 Hide
    whyso , October 28, 2013 9:49 PM
    Are you using a 4170 on the titan system? How about testing on a less CPU bound platform.
  • 0 Hide
    gopher1369 , October 29, 2013 6:09 AM
    "Personally, I have very little interest in GameStream, if only because I'd never pick a gamepad and 5" screen over a mouse, keyboard, and full-sized monitor if I was in Wi-Fi range of my PC."

    Try using a mouse, keyboard and full sized monitor whilst on the loo, in the bath or in bed, for example.

    Try gaming when your wife is using your HTPC to watch Eastenders on iPlayer and your daughter is using your desktop to stream Dora the Explorer on Netflix.

    In short: I love my 3DS and would also absolutely love Shield, if it was about £100 cheaper.
  • 0 Hide
    awesomedude911 , October 29, 2013 8:42 PM
    Sony and Nintendo make bad portables with small amount of good games. Glad Nvidia has come to the rescue!
  • 1 Hide
    xbins00 , October 29, 2013 10:40 PM
    Thats depressing...I paid 400 for a 770 in the middle of august and only got splinter cell. If i waited I could have had three games and 100 off a shield while saving 70 bucks on my card.
  • 1 Hide
    cleeve , October 30, 2013 6:26 AM
    Quote:
    "Try using a mouse, keyboard and full sized monitor whilst on the loo, in the bath or in bed, for example.

    Try gaming when your wife is using your HTPC to watch Eastenders on iPlayer and your daughter is using your desktop to stream Dora the Explorer on Netflix.

    In short: I love my 3DS and would also absolutely love Shield, if it was about £100 cheaper.


    Try playing Android games on Shield if you need portability instead of a half-assed and frustrating PC-ish experience without a mouse and keyboard.

    You miss my point. I'm not saying there's no place for a portable console. I'm saying I'd rather play Android, or 3DS instead of futzing around with the limitations of gamestreaming from a PC.

    Speaking of which: streaming Dora from Netflix... GameStream doesn't work with that. The PC has to be dedicated to the task of gaming.

  • 0 Hide
    gopher1369 , October 30, 2013 7:28 AM
    Hello Cleeve, thanks for replying.


    Quote:

    You miss my point. I'm not saying there's no place for a portable console. I'm saying I'd rather play Android, or 3DS instead of futzing around with the limitations of gamestreaming from a PC.


    You're right, I misunderstood you. I thought you were talking about handheld gaming in general. Apologies.


    Quote:
    Try playing Android games on Shield if you need portability instead of a half-assed and frustrating PC-ish experience without a mouse and keyboard.


    I play most of my games with a 360 controller! Currently playing Darksiders (thanks Humble Bundle). Deadly Premonition and Enslaved have just been released on Steam so they will be my next 2 games. I can't imagine using a KB and mouse for any of them. Does Shield work well for these kinds of games?
  • 1 Hide
    cleeve , October 30, 2013 8:05 AM
    Quote:

    I play most of my games with a 360 controller! Currently playing Darksiders (thanks Humble Bundle). Deadly Premonition and Enslaved have just been released on Steam so they will be my next 2 games. I can't imagine using a KB and mouse for any of them. Does Shield work well for these kinds of games?


    Yes, absolutely. If it's a game that uses a 360 controller, it's an ideal Shield candidate. In some cases there are still limitations, you may have to launch with your PC, but if you control it with a game controller exclusively, it's ideal.

    Different strokes for different folks. Granted, my opinion is subjective, hence the word "personally" in my quote. Others may feel differently. But As a PC gamer who prefers a mouse/keyboard combo even for console ports, and only uses a gamepad for racing titles, I will always choose the PC for PC games, and mobile games for a mobile platform *when I'm at home*.

    Should the day come when Nvidia has a cloud-streaming service that works over, say, an LTE connection from my smartphone... well, that'd be a different story altogether. If I'm out of the house, and I don't have direct access to my PC, I may appreciate the Shield's gamestream capabilities more.
  • 0 Hide
    navas22 , November 21, 2013 3:47 AM
    Since it takes at least a GTX650 to enjoy the stream function, I understand better why they come to renew their offer by including a discount for buying a Shield.

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