Microsoft DirectStorage API Makes Older PCIe Gen 3 SSDs As Fast As New Gen 5 SSDs

Forspoken is the first title to feature support for Microsoft's DirectStorage API which offers a huge boost to load times on various generations of SSDs. Tech channel, Compusemble recently posted a benchmark video, showing the game's difference in load times and frames per second utilizing Microsoft's DirectStorage 1.1 programming interface.

Microsoft's new DirectStorage 1.1 API assists with increasing the load time of software, including games, with the use of compression and decompression asset algorithms that are managed by not only the graphics card used but also the solid-state drive controller while reducing the strain on the processor. This process produces a higher level of data transfer, as any instructions from the NVMe would be reduced.

In the test below, Compusemble tests three generations of PCIe SSDs utilizing Microsoft DirectStorage 1.1 to see how each interface handled the new software. The drives used were the ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro (PCIe 3.0), Samsung 990 Pro (PCIe 4.0), and the Phison E26 (PCIe 5.0). What was found was quite surprising.

The test results showed that the ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro produced a total load time of 13.838 seconds. The Samsung 990 Pro had 10.872 seconds, and the Phison E26 had 10.483 seconds. The difference between the third generation of PCIe SSD and the fifth generation of PCIe SSD was slightly over three seconds. However, the throughput of raw data between the two varying generations was a difference of four times the improvement on PCIe 5.0 compared to PCIe 3.0.

Forspoken is the only game supporting the new Microsoft DirectStorage 1.1 API. However, the new software is showing that no matter which of the three generations — PCIe Gen3, Gen4, and Gen5 controllers — that users will have in their PC systems, the differences in processing are almost unnoticeable when more games become supported, allowing for solid state drives to possibly see a significant boom in sales, overtaking and perhaps replacing hard disk drives as the storage medium for next-gen PC systems.

News Source: Compusemble