If you've got an Nvidia graphics card then get over to their website now and download the open beta for the GeForce Experience. It's been in closed beta since before Christmas and now Nvidia has now opened it up so that anyone can have a go.
I've been playing with the GeForce Experience on my rigs for a few months and I think it's an excellent, unobtrusive bit of software.
The more of us that get on the beta, the more accurate the results are going to be, so get on there, test the optimal settings and report back your findings. There's a feedback button built into the client and it's comments-based so you can go into full detail about how you find the service and what you think needs to be changed.
Up until now the optimal settings have been based on what Nvidia's experts reckon to be the best fit for your hardware, but the real test is what you guys think needs to be the ultimate PC gaming experience.
Do you want frame rates prioritised? Do you want native resolution to be the most important? Is is all about anti-aliasing for you?
Even if you're a hardcore PC gamer there's a good chance that GFE has something to teach you. You may still enjoy tweaking your settings, so they're exactly how you want them, but GFE will give you a great starting point to move forward from.
The software is also good at teaching you what the different in-game graphics settings mean, using highlighted screenshots to show you what different options mean for specific games.
To get the optimised settings stuff though you'll need an Nvidia card from the last two generations, so any GeForce card from the 400 series upwards.
I genuinely think this is an incredible bit of software and important for PC gaming moving forward.
As PC gaming moves ever more into mainstream consciousness (last week I had Rupert Murdoch's representatives and other mainstream press breathing down my neck asking what this PC gaming thing was...) I think it's important to have software that simplifies the increasingly complex graphics options without ever taking away choice for the enthusiast.
Granted most of us are pretty clued-up on our games and hardware, but there's a good percentage of people playing games on PC that might not ever delve into the options screen; there's folk still playing CoD on the low-res settings it boots with. These people are PC gamers too, and if we can help them get the most out of their gaming experience that can only be a good thing.
Whatever your pre-conceptions are about GeForce Experience, if you've got an Nvidia graphics card - especially if it's not a top of the range one - then get downloading and give it a looksee.
It's in beta so this is the time to make your opinions heard.
