Gaming
Cloud gaming internet requirements: what the vendors state
Short answer: NVIDIA GeForce NOW asks for 15 Mbps for 720p at up to 60 FPS, 25 Mbps for 1080p at 60 FPS, 35 Mbps for 1440p at 120 FPS and 45 Mbps for 4K at 120 FPS, with under 80 ms latency to its data center. Xbox Cloud Gaming asks for at least 10 Mbps, and 20 Mbps for best quality on consoles, PCs and tablets, on 5 GHz Wi-Fi.
Vendor requirements side by side
Figures below are copied from NVIDIA's GeForce NOW system requirements page and Xbox's cloud gaming page, both read on 2026-11-07 (NVIDIA, Xbox). The data-use column is our arithmetic: Mbps × 3,600 seconds ÷ 8 ÷ 1,000 = GB per hour at a constant stream rate. Real streams vary with the scene, so treat it as an upper-planning figure.
| Service and tier | Stated bandwidth | GB per hour at that rate |
|---|---|---|
| GeForce NOW 720p, up to 60 FPS | 15 Mbps | 6.75 |
| GeForce NOW 1080p, 60 FPS | 25 Mbps | 11.25 |
| GeForce NOW 1440p, 120 FPS | 35 Mbps | 15.75 |
| GeForce NOW 4K, 120 FPS | 45 Mbps | 20.25 |
| Xbox, mobile best quality | 10 Mbps | 4.50 |
| Xbox, console/PC/tablet best quality | 20 Mbps | 9.00 |
Latency matters as much as bandwidth
NVIDIA states a requirement of less than 80 ms network latency to the nearest GeForce NOW server and recommends wired Ethernet or a 5 GHz Wi-Fi router. A 500 Mbps plan with 120 ms latency or heavy bufferbloat will play worse than a 30 Mbps plan with 20 ms. Run a test and read the ping and loaded-latency figures, not only download; see what ping means if the numbers are unfamiliar.
Worked example: a shared household
A household streams one 1080p GeForce NOW session (25 Mbps) while another person watches 4K video. Using our streaming bandwidth calculator for the video, the two together can need 50 Mbps or more of steady download. On a 100 Mbps plan that leaves headroom; on a 50 Mbps plan the game competes with the video and stutters. Cloud gaming uses roughly 11 GB per hour at 25 Mbps, so three hours a night is about 34 GB, or about 1 TB over 30 days, which matters on capped plans.
Which tier should you pick for your plan?
Match the tier to the speed you measure at the play location, not the plan on the bill. Keep at least 30% of your measured download free for other devices, so divide your measured speed by 1.3 to get the stream you can safely run. A measured 40 Mbps divides to about 31, which fits GeForce NOW 1080p at 25 Mbps but not 1440p at 35. A measured 100 Mbps gives about 77, comfortable for 4K at 45 Mbps. A phone on 4G or 5G at a measured 15 Mbps gives about 11.5, in line with Xbox's 10 Mbps mobile figure. This headroom rule is our own rule of thumb, not a vendor figure.
Common causes of stutter on a fast plan
- 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi or a weak 5 GHz signal. Both vendors recommend 5 GHz or Ethernet; distance and walls cut throughput and add retries that show up as latency spikes.
- Background uploads. A cloud backup running during play can fill the upstream queue and delay the small control packets; see backup upload speeds.
- A 100 Mbps link. A console on a bad cable negotiates 100 Mbps and tests near 94, which is enough for the stream but leaves little spare capacity.
- Distance to the data center. Latency is set by the path to the vendor's server, which your speed test server does not always represent.
Test routine before you blame the service
- Test by Ethernet if you can; otherwise test on 5 GHz Wi-Fi in the room where you play (Wi-Fi testing guide).
- Compare download against the table row for your target quality, with spare capacity for other devices.
- Check ping and jitter; if latency is high only under load, pause other downloads and retest to see if the router queue is the cause.
- Remember upload is small for streaming games but not zero; see download vs upload.
Related
Router placement · Ethernet stuck at 100 Mbps · Mbps vs MB/s · Converter · Methodology