The collection and use of personal data by tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft is a topic of frequent discussion. Recently, while exploring GeForce Experience, I stumbled upon an option that enables me to view the data that NVIDIA has collected on me. To my surprise, I found that some of the information collected is quite concerning.
GeForce Experience is a software tool that comes pre-installed with any NVIDIA graphics card. Its primary purpose is to update drivers, optimize games, and capture screenshots within games. However, the tool also collects a significant amount of data, beyond just our game settings.
Data NVIDIA Collects Through GeForce Experience
As someone who had early access to NVIDIA GeForce Experience, I was given a chance to test and document the software’s configuration recommendations and how it works. I found the experience to be positive and the optimizations to be effective. However, I recently discovered an option that lets me download the information NVIDIA has on me, and I was surprised by some of the data it collects.
One of the things that caught my attention was that it had my complete date of birth, which it obtained from my Google account. While I understand that this data can be used to identify age ranges of users, I find it concerning that NVIDIA collects this data from Google. Additionally, it knows that I installed GeForce Now on my mobile two years ago, but I uninstalled it and don’t use it anymore.
Another worrying thing is that it has my location, but the city it lists is incorrect. Although it got the country (Spain) and autonomous community right, it listed a location that is about an hour away from my current location. I also find it interesting that it doesn’t list all the locations where I have lived, despite having moved five times in the last two years.
Complete hardware and configuration breakdown
The GeForce Experience tool, which is included with NVIDIA graphics cards, collects a significant amount of user data, much of which may be surprising to users. As an early user of the software, the narrator was given access to documentation on how it worked and how configuration recommendations were given.
However, when exploring the tool’s options, they discovered an option to download the information that NVIDIA has about them. The information collected includes the user’s full date of birth, which is taken from their Google account, the fact that they installed and uninstalled GeForce Now on their mobile, and their location, although the city listed is incorrect. NVIDIA also has a record of the user’s last two computers, including the processor model, graphics card model, amount of RAM memory, monitor model, resolution, and refresh rate. However, it does not collect information on storage capacity, which applications the user uses to access games, or compatibility information for Ray Tracing and DLSS.
Time played and other information about it
What surprised me the most in the entire report was the information provided on the games I have played. Unfortunately, not all of the games I have played were included in the report, as it did not list FIFA 23 or Warzone 2, which I have been playing recently. Additionally, only Crysis 2 was listed, even though I have also played the first one.
Despite this, the report did collect data on some of the games I have played, and the information gathered was quite interesting. It included the number of minutes I spent playing each game, the number of sessions I had, and the average FPS. However, I did notice that the data did not match what was listed on Steam, where I have all of my games.
Out of all the games I have played, I have dedicated the most time to PES 17 with around 57 days of my life spent playing it. I have also spent about 53 days playing CSGO, 12 days playing FIFA 22, and 10 days playing Minecraft. It’s worth noting that I have played Minecraft a lot more than the report suggests, as I started playing it from version 0.4 and have spent countless hours on it.
I find the data provided on my gaming habits to be super interesting, particularly since some of it is not readily available to the user. Even though the report did not include the maximum and minimum FPS rate, I still believe this data would be useful, as it would give me a better understanding of how well my games are running. For instance, it’s not surprising that Minecraft ran at an average of 4 FPS, as the game tends to lag when loading biomes.
How to obtain this data?
The truth is that it is not very difficult to obtain them, although it is a bit tedious. From the same GeForce Experience we can access the web page where we can request this information. These are the steps:
- We open the GeForce Experience software
- We go to Settings, clicking on the gear wheel at the top right or clicking on our profile and accessing Account
- Click on NVIDIA Privacy Policy
- A web opens in our browser where different information about this policy appears
- We scroll down to find Data sharing for personalized advertising and click
- It takes us to another page where Request my data appears and we click on this option
- Now we go to a page where it tells us Select an account and we must click on Continue
- A new website tells us different services from which we can download the collected information, which in our case is that of NVIDIA
- We are asked to indicate our account , which will be used in GeForce Experience
- We have to go to the email to obtain the PIN that they have sent us to request the information
- Now, we just have to wait for them to send us the information. This can take up to a week , approximately.
It is a simple process, but the truth is that it is quite tedious. Please note that we also cannot guarantee that this is all information collected by NVIDIA, only what they tell us they have collected.
