In response to Microsoft's previous proposal to minimize CPU resource usage, allowing the system to access more storage device data at the same time, the subsequent addition of GPU decompression function will further improve game execution efficiency.DirectStorage technologyUL Solutions announced that it has added a DirectStorage function score to the Storage test project of its 3DMark performance testing software, allowing users to confirm whether the SSD storage device on the device supports this technology and the corresponding performance.
DirectStorage basically only works in the Windows 11 environment. At present, there are still not many games that support this technology. For example, Capcom plans to officially launch "Monster Hunter: Wildlands" on February 2025, 2. However, it is expected that as the number of games corresponding to Microsoft's DirectX API continues to increase, more and more games will be added to support this function. At the same time, related hardware such as SSDs will also be optimized for this function.
The operating principle of DirectStorage technology is currently to first transfer game data through the PCIe channel to the GPU for decompression and acceleration, and then directly use the GPU to handle tasks such as image rendering after decompression is completed.
Compared to the traditional method of first transferring data through the memory channel to the CPU for decompression, then transferring the decompressed data to the display memory, where the GPU handles tasks such as rendering, and finally returns it to the CPU to process the actual image presentation effect in the game, the processing complexity can be greatly reduced.
Under the operation of this technology, the workload of the CPU during game execution will be greatly reduced, thereby improving the overall access efficiency of the game.
Only PCIe Gen 4 SSDs will experience significant improvements.
However, this feature will only significantly improve performance on PCIe Gen 4 SSDs. While the transfer bandwidth has improved under PCIe Gen 5, the overall improvement is still not as noticeable as when jumping from PCIe Gen 3 to Gen 4.
Currently, 3DMark users can upgrade the DirectStorage function test for free. The test results will also show the performance of whether the DirectStorage API is called, allowing users to better understand the difference in execution efficiency when the hardware supports this function.
Added support for French and new background music for specific test items
UL Solutions also announced the addition of French support to the 3DMark user interface, making 3DMark's testing features more accessible to over 3 million French-speaking users worldwide. UL Solutions also announced the addition of new background music to the "Speed Way," "Wild Life," and "Wild Life Extreme" tests.
