Today NVIDIA announced new lineup of their AMPERE graphics cards. RTX 3070/80/90 cards will offer huge boost in ray tracing and rasterized performance but more importantly will offer new I/O solution that will decrease loading times and speed up SSD data throughput similarly to next generation console’s I/O tech. This is extremely good news as it will bring PC gaming closer to super fast I/O solutions on both PS5 and Xbox Series X. RTX I/O also supports Microsoft’s new Direct Storage API.
Direct Storage API is an essential part of Xbox Series X’s Velocity Architecture which not only reduces loading times in games but also allows to build bigger and richer worlds.
“…We’re excited to bring DirectStorage, an API in the DirectX family originally designed for the Velocity Architecture to Windows PCs! DirectStorage will bring best-in-class IO tech to both PC and console just as DirectX 12 Ultimate does with rendering tech. With a DirectStorage capable PC and a DirectStorage enabled game, you can look forward to vastly reduced load times and virtual worlds that are more expansive and detailed than ever….”
We still don’t know what will be AMD’s response to NVIDIA’s announcements. However, let’s hope that new NAVI cards will pack not only ton of performance but also some hardware accelerated I/O solution that would support Direct Storage API too. At the end of the day AMD designed Xbox Series X chip and is fully aware of ins and outs of this technology. Having this new tech all across next generation consoles and PC cards would be a huge win for us gamers as developers would take a better advantage of it, creating better games.
