Nvidia App reaches version 1.0 milestone and exits beta — GeForce Experience and Control Panel now deprecated
One interface to rule them all — the GPU settings, we mean.
The Nvidia App has been in open beta since February 2024, but today marks the official 1.0 release of the full product. The Nvidia App has officially left beta status and represents a full replacement for both GeForce Experience and the Nvidia Control Panel. It's also much faster to install than GFE, and it links to your browser for user login, perhaps saving an extra step and authentication.
For the time being, GFE and the Nvidia Control Panel will continue to exist, but only in a legacy state. If you're still hanging on to GeForce Experience and the Nvidia Control Panel, their days are numbered. We asked for clarification from Nvidia and were given the following official statement:
"Nvidia App is intended to be a replacement for GeForce Experience and the Control Panel. With the launch of Nvidia App 1.0, we will no longer be supporting GeForce Experience. GeForce Experience can still be used, but we will not be adding new features or addressing bugs. Nvidia App 1.0 will be packaged with the Game Ready Drivers instead of GFE going forward."
The Nvidia App features a completely overhauled user interface compared to GeForce Experience, featuring a home screen with quick access to Nvidia advertisements, your game library, and other Nvidia-focused apps such as GeForce Now, Nvidia Broadcast, ChatRTX, and FrameView. Logging in to the Nvidia App with your Nvidia account is optional, and unlike GeForce Experience.
The left side of the interface has a new menu bar that gives access to all the main functions, with driver, graphics, system, redeem, and settings sub-menus. The driver menu offers driver updates right in the app, just like in GeForce Experience, so there's no need to go to the GeForce website. It also gives users the option to choose between game ready drivers and studio drivers, and users can easily switch between either category.
The graphics menu is home to all the same graphical options as in GeForce Experience, with the ability for the Nvidia App to automatically optimize graphics settings based on a user-controlled slider. However, the Nvidia App has now merged select Nvidia Control Panel settings into the graphics options, including low latency mode, max frame rate, driver-based v-sync and more.
Likewise, the system menu also includes many of the main display functions ported from the Nvidia Control Panel, like G-Sync options, refresh rate, RTX Video, and display resolution manipulation. GPU overclocking, fan controls and system specs can also be viewed and adjusted from the system menu.
Another major change is the Nvidia in-game OSD (on-screen display), which has been revamped to look the same as GeForce Now's in-game OSD. Alt+Z opens a sidebar with all the OSD functions, including highlights, game filters, photo mode, and recording functions. The frame rate counter and GPU monitoring OSD have also seen a significant overhaul, with a simplified UI that's less cluttered, and user-customizable colors and font sizes.
Depending on what you want to do, one of the biggest features that's exclusive to the Nvidia App is AV1 120 FPS recording. While you could use tools like OBS to capture 120 FPS gameplay, GFE ShadowPlay only allowed AVC/HEVC capture at up to 4K and 60 FPS, With the App, you can record gameplay at up to 4K and 120 FPS on supported hardware (RTX 40 series and newer). 8K support is limited to 60 FPS — not that there are many displays or games that would need more than that right now.
RTX HDR and RTX digital vibrance are also included in the Nvidia App. RTX HDR auto-converts SDR gaming content into HDR, while digital vibrance enhances visual clarity. Both can be manipulated in-game with the Nvidia app OSD.
Overall, the Nvidia App has been shaping up decently. It's not radically different from the GFE layout, but it installs and loads faster and does away with the need for the old Control Panel. We've been using it and testing it for a while and like some of the changes, and most of the bugs have now been squashed. Going forward, Nvidia will focus exclusively on improving the App with new features and bug fixes, while GFE will apparently hang around for the holdouts.
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Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.
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-Fran- Well, was about time.Reply
Also, what benefit does ShadowPlay bring over OBS? Can you use the CPU instead of your GPU using ShadowPlay?
I don't use AMD's own thing to record either, because of the same reason, plus it has way less options than OBS for fine tunning the recording, even using their own HW, which is kind of funny.
Anyway, I have no recent experience with nVidia recording, outside of OBS.
Regards. -
abufrejoval "App" in the context of Windows usually means you need the M$ store and supporting services.Reply
I very much dislike having that on my systems generally and some editions of Windows do not include it, e.g. the server variants I run on some workstations.
"No login" may hint at a reduced level of phoning home, but some need or prefer no phoning home.
I'm expecting that at least the CUDA editions will respect that need, but disappointment is a constant with IT giants, especially when it comes to data grabbing or GDPR compliance.
Does anyone have any data on this already? -
JarredWaltonGPU Reply
The main advantage of ShadowPlay is that it's very easy to use to capture gameplay. If you already have OBS set up and you know how to use it, I don't think the Nvidia App will matter much.-Fran- said:Well, was about time.
Also, what benefit does ShadowPlay bring over OBS? Can you use the CPU instead of your GPU using ShadowPlay?
I don't use AMD's own thing to record either, because of the same reason, plus it has way less options than OBS for fine tunning the recording, even using their own HW, which is kind of funny.
Anyway, I have no recent experience with nVidia recording, outside of OBS.
Regards.
The Nvidia App is not an MS Store application. It's a standalone thing. It also installs very fast, I can confirm. But as far as phoning home or data mining? I have no idea.abufrejoval said:"App" in the context of Windows usually means you need the M$ store and supporting services.
I very much dislike having that on my systems generally and some editions of Windows do not include it, e.g. the server variants I run on some workstations.
"No login" may hint at a reduced level of phoning home, but some need or prefer no phoning home.
I'm expecting that at least the CUDA editions at least will respect that need, but disappointment is a constant with IT giants, especially when it comes to data grabbing or GDPR compliance.
Does anyone have any data on this already? -
abufrejoval Reply
Well, the first part is good news, the 2nd part can be measured: thanks for the quick response!JarredWaltonGPU said:The Nvidia App is not an MS Store application. It's a standalone thing. It also installs very fast, I can confirm. But as far as phoning home or data mining? I have no idea. -
TheHerald But they completely removed gamestream from the new app, only Geforce experience has it. Damn...Reply -
Kamen Rider Blade Is the nVIDIA App 100% Feature Matched with the old Control Panel?Reply
I know there were previous complaints of some features being missing that were still in the old Control Panel. -
umeng2002_2 How many features did they strip out? But as long as nVidia Profile Inspector keeps working, it's not that big of a deal.Reply