Thursday, February 22nd 2024
NVIDIA App Doesn't Need a Login, Unlike GeForce Experience
We found out that the new NVIDIA App doesn't need an NVIDIA Account login, and yet gives you nearly all of its functionality. NVIDIA today rolled out the GeForce 551.61 WHQL drivers, and with it, the new NVIDIA App, as we detailed in the driver's news report. NVIDIA App is the company's latest take on a Control Panel application that combines the functionality of the over 20-year-old NVIDIA Control Panel Win32 application, and the modern GeForce Experience app (GFE). The former focuses on settings related to the display head, with one or more settings for the GPU, but has no hardware monitoring or performance overlay features. GFE is more of a concentric outer layer focused on the games installed in your PC, to which you can figure out and apply optimal settings. The new NVIDIA App essentially combines the functionalities of the two, but it has an ace up its sleeve—you don't need an NVIDIA Account to use it.
One of the biggest drawbacks of GeForce Experience is that it mandates you to create an NVIDIA Account, and keeps you logged into this account to use its functionality. Not everyone wants an app that does this; and so some gamers would want to skip installation of GFE altogether during the GeForce driver installation. NVIDIA App takes a refreshingly different approach. It is currently a public beta, isn't part of the driver package, isn't found on Microsoft Store, but is being distributed as a standalone app with its own installer.
Upon installation and the first run, the app greets you with a selection between the two main driver trunks—GeForce Game Ready and GeForce Studio. Gamers should stick to the first option. The second screen asks whether you want NVIDIA App to automatically apply optimized settings for all the games installed in your system that it can detect. By default, this option is selected, but if you feel NVIDIA's optimal settings are a bit too conservative, you can simply uncheck this toggle and click on "next." The next screen asks you whether you want NVIDIA Performance Overlay enabled. This is an important step, as you get to enable the most important feature of the NVIDIA App—Performance Overlay. When enabled, the key combo "Alt+Z" is bound. At any time, including in the middle of a game, you press these to bring up a Sidebar overlay that gives you access to the most relevant NVIDIA features for capturing, screengrabbing, or streaming your gameplay; as well as a shortcut to NVIDIA's all important Statistics service.
The last screen is what won our confidence, and convinced us that NVIDIA App isn't GeForce Experience with a different name and a slightly different UI. This screen presents you with an incentive to log into your NVIDIA Account, but doesn't impose the login upon you. You have the ability to skip this, and go straight to the home screen of the NVIDIA App. We've been exploring this thing for the past half an hour, and we find that nearly all functionality of the NVIDIA App is available to us without the login. If you do want to log in, NVIDIA rewards you with a promotion under the GeForce Rewards tab—a double XP event for Call of Duty MW3. It's not much, but it's quite welcome, and it's not in-your-face. We plan to do a slightly longer article for the weekend, so stay tuned!
You can download the NVIDIA App from here.
One of the biggest drawbacks of GeForce Experience is that it mandates you to create an NVIDIA Account, and keeps you logged into this account to use its functionality. Not everyone wants an app that does this; and so some gamers would want to skip installation of GFE altogether during the GeForce driver installation. NVIDIA App takes a refreshingly different approach. It is currently a public beta, isn't part of the driver package, isn't found on Microsoft Store, but is being distributed as a standalone app with its own installer.
You can download the NVIDIA App from here.
74 Comments on NVIDIA App Doesn't Need a Login, Unlike GeForce Experience
Jokes aside, it was high time. CP is highly outdated, and I never understood why the need for an online login just for using some functionalities of your graphics card.
Doubt the replacement will be as lightweight or streamlined.
Also, where is the OC and power settings menu? Why do you still need a separate program for such a basic thing in 2024?
Edit: I also don't get why we still have bullshit settings, like the performance setting, where you can select "power saving" or "adaptive" which are the exact same thing, while "prefer maximum performance" runs your card at 100% in every workload. Why would you need such a bonkers thing, really?
25 years late is better than never - so, Welcome to the 21st Century, Nvidia!
Old CP is fine only need it to do two things
Disable g-sync
Switch to best quality or performance if benchmarking.
Done.
I much prefer developers focus their time and attention on better products (although to be fair the amount of software RTX features being released recently is impressive, offline AI, RTX HDR etc.), not marketing dress up with data collection schemes, tying in GFE to become bloated into an "everything you need" dumbed down application, typically with a loss of the granular control possible with actual, functional, useful, clean software.
If this app was optional like the modern UI equivalents of legacy software, that's fine, more choice for all. But it won't be.
Noobs shouldn't be messing around with voltages and OC either, if you're smart and experienced enough to do that, you're capable of downloading afterburner.
I find it frustrating that the complaints of a minority "it looks old", get considered over an excellent existing system, and used to excuse more privacy and performance affecting changes.
Don't get me wrong, AMD's driver isn't perfect, either, but that doesn't make Nvidia's one any better.The ones that start at £800? No, thanks.
- nvidia app.exe
- nvidia overlay.exe
- nvcontrainer.exe
And there are 2 new additional services -- NVDisplay.ContainerLocalSystem - if you stop this from starting
- NVIDIA FrameView SDK service
Other issues I have spotted -- Just like the bloated AMD driver app, the nvidia app is full of marketing shite via the 'Discovery' panel.
- The interface as its too spread out (just like Win11) and just liek Win11 it requires more clicking and navigating then the current nV cp does.
- The app went and browsed my computer for games WITHOUT asking for my consent, or asking where it should look.
- And the privacy panel has a settin you cannot disable, so for that reason alone this app should not have access to the ineternet imho.
- I have zero f***s to give about the notification section, especally about the rewards line.
- WTF is the system info section displaying anything other than details about my GPU? I do NOT need it telling me what the specs of my f***ing PC are and I am not happy it has scrapped this info.
The "Graphics" section as it stands is a shit show -- Program Settings - its only detecting some of my games, unlike the old CP.
- Global Settings - This is blank UNLESS you give it access to the internet, er WTF!... This is core functionality, this should be built in FFS. Hiding core functionality behind internet access is not going to FUCKING fly.
I tried to provide feedback via the app, but that functionality is broken, shocker.uninstalled.
Edit: Although, I find some of your criticisms a bit excessive. I mean, "system details menu displays system details"... why is that bad?
Any GPU control panel should NEVER need to access the internet, so right now this new Control panel replacement is a joke.And OBS dosent..?
Why is space between objects bad? I mean, is moving your mouse half an inch further before you click really such a chore?
The current layout of the nV Cp is very efficent, I only have to move a few centimeters atm compared to the NvApp requiring several inches or a portion of the desktop.
And now I have to go and reinstall the the driver again after the f***ing app removed the control panel...Indeed, I have used nvcleaninstall to remove GFE, Telemetry and any other crap I dont want, bar the driver and the CP.
This new 'nVapp' will be a serious problem if moving forward its going to hide core functions behind internet access.