SHIELD TV owners know that NVIDIA GameStream is the best way to enjoy your graphics intensive PC games on your TV. The technology enables you to cast PC games from your NVIDIA GeForce GTX equipped system to your big screen TV, allowing you to kick back and experience the action from your couch without any loss in quality. But while it’s easy to set up and effortless to use, there’s actually quite a lot of advanced technology involved.
Here, we delve deeper into the various hardware and software components that allow you to enjoy a smooth and reliable GameStream experience. Whether you’re technically minded or simply curious, it’s an eye-opening glimpse into one of SHIELD TV’s most impressive features.
GeForce GTX Architecture
GameStream is widely compatible on GTX hardware, and will run on previous generation GeForce GTX GPUs dating back to the 2011 Kepler-based GTX 600 series of cards. Of course, if you own a higher-end GPU like the GeForce GTX 960, your GameStream experience will be backed up by features like 1024 CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) Cores, a 7.0 Gbps memory clock, and support for GDDR5 video RAM. The 960 is also the entry point for 4K gaming, which means you could, for a reasonable price, realize 4K gaming in your living room.
If you game on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series GPU, you’ll have more performance headroom to enable advanced settings. While a GeForce GTX 960 or higher meets the minimum requirements to cast in 4K, the GTX 1080 or GeForce Titan X are recommended if you want to play with all your game settings maxed out. Casting 4K HDR games to your TV is an exclusive feature of the SHIELD TV that no other device can offer, which is yet another reason why it’s the best streaming device you can buy. To cast your games in HDR, you will need the latest GTX 10-series GPU.
Tegra X1
The other powerful ‘engine’ at the heart of SHIELD TV and GameStream is Tegra X1—NVIDIA’s most powerful mobile processor to date. It’s built on the 25nm (nanometer) Maxwell architecture and boasts some mighty specs. A 256-core GPU, four multi-core 64-bit CPUs, and 4K video capabilities are all features of this lightweight, power-efficient chip. It’s why SHIELD TV is such a capable streaming device for delivering high-quality movies, TV shows, and games to your TV.
Games
NVIDIA has tested and optimized over three hundred of the most popular PC games to ensure they work flawlessly with GameStream on SHIELD devices. Games include everything from triple-A franchises such as Mass Effect and Call of Duty to critically acclaimed indie hits like Abzu and Don’t Starve. But you’re not just limited to those titles: if your favorite games aren’t yet on the list, you can add them yourself. To top if off NVIDIA has added Steam Big Picture mode on SHIELD TV which allows you to access your entire Steam library or purchase additional titles directly from your SHIELD TV.
A Connected Experience
The SHIELD TV is designed with multiple ports and connection methods to ensure the best GameStream experience possible. HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 2.2 and CEC support ensures you’ll get the best picture and audio while casting your games. 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet also guarantees a fast connection between your SHIELD TV and your gaming PC, so you can enjoy GameStream without any hiccups. To get the best possible experience, we recommend you connect your SHIELD TV to your network via a wired Ethernet connection. Also note that a wired Ethernet connection is a requirement for casting in 4K resolutions, as the extra bandwidth is necessary to handle the stunning visuals.
Haptics
One major benefit of owning SHIELD TV is that it comes with a SHIELD Controller. This full featured gamepad doesn’t just let you comfortably play your favorite PC games while on the couch: it also rocks advanced haptic feedback features, which add another layer of immersion to your gaming experience. We’re not just talking about simple vibrations or rumble either: haptic feedback is often encoded into games to offer more tailored and meaningful sensations. Thanks to the SHIELD Controller, you’ll get the full effect when you cast games that support it through GameStream.
GeForce Experience
If the features above are all parts of the GameStream ‘body’ then consider GeForce Experience to be the central nervous system that makes it all tick. This refined software suite provides the ‘bridge’ that lets data from your gaming PC flow to your SHIELD TV. If that’s all it did, it would be an impressive bit of technical wizardry, but GeForce Experience does a lot more. The software also keeps your drivers up to date, optimizes your game settings, and allows you to take amazing in-game screenshots and video while sharing them on Facebook or Twitch.
Those are just some of the many impressive hardware and software components that enable SHIELD TV owners to cast their favorite PC games directly from their gaming rig to their TV. NVIDIA has engineered its products to work seamlessly together in order to provide gamers with useful features like GameStream and grant them the freedom to game the way they want.
Go here to learn more about NVIDIA GameStream and how it can elevate your gaming to new heights. As powerful as it is easy to setup, it’s the best way to enjoy your PC games on your big screen TV.
Sponsored by Nvidia
