However, it will only make sense on modern devices, so it’s a good idea to target it.
Microsoft even in the spring of last year A detailed explanation of the PC DirectStorage APIWhich became available last week The first public development environment. This is not fully functional yet, as GPU decoding acceleration is not yet available, but the latter deficiency will be filled by the end of the year. What’s important with the current development tool is that studios can control their content designed for the final runtime environment, and this is clearly an important consideration when it comes to novelty deployment.
On the user side, perhaps the biggest question is what requirements must be met in order to run a game that supports DirectStorage API on this particular computer, so we asked what hardware to build. However, there is one thing worth clarifying at first. Microsoft tried to make the system public so that enough hardware would be compatible for purely technical reasons. So in principle, even with HDD and DirectX 12 Ultimate Even with a GPU that does not support the API, the application will not run, and the real question is whether the provided speed can be considered sufficient.
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So on paper, the minimum requirements are pretty low, but it removes the core of the DirectStorage API. However, there is no point in building on this if we are not trying to take advantage of its capabilities. Here comes the point where you can raise the minimum recommendations made by applications that support DirectStorage API, and three factors can be considered separately in this regard.
In terms of storage, you should get at least one PCI Express 3.0 NVMe SSD. It doesn’t matter if it works on two bands, but the extra bandwidth provided by the four bands is better. However, the NVMe protocol is very important because it works optimally with the new I/O API. It is best to have a working x4 PCI Express 4.0 NVMe SSD on your device, as the principle here is that data can be decrypted faster from a faster storage device.
There will also be an easy-to-implement recommendation for wizards. Although many people associate DirectStorage API and GPU with accelerated decoding, in reality, there will still be fragmented data using the CPU, and having at least four cores does not hurt, but the advantage is that there is more.
For GPUs, DirectCompute API will be a prerequisite, through which the decompression algorithm works, but it will not be an unbeatable step for users, since computing shaders, including the required version 6.0, have been supported by GPUs for a very long time. , very long time. However, there is a more important factor, as the DirectStorage API will be more efficient with DirectX 12 Ultimate, including devices that support the sample feedback feature, as the two systems complement each other.
With the help of sample feedback, not only speed plays a major role, but the GPU memory also mainly contains the data that is absolutely necessary to calculate the specific frame, so the current VRAM can be handled more efficiently. There are two options for sampling comments, it has a TIER_0_9 level and a TIER_1_0 level. The DirectStorage API accepts both commands, but only devices that comply with the latter level guarantee that the feature will work in all texture processing modes, which will have the advantage that devices that support TIER_1_0 will handle much less VRAM than TIER_0_9.
Finally, there will be a difference between Windows 10 and 11, as the storage model of the latter operating system is already designed to be compatible with the DirectCompute API.
In general, the realistic minimum to get into DirectStorage is Windows 10, a GPU that supports TIER_0_9 sampling notes, a quad-core CPU, and a PCI Express 3.0 NVMe SSD. If at all possible it is worth striving for the right in all cases, but you will likely have a good experience with those.
