Windows 11 Will Be Required to Run DirectStorage on PC
Microsoft revealed today that the new DirectStorage API, which will aim to greatly improve load times, will only be available in Windows 11.
wccftech.com
With a high performance NVMe SSD and the proper drivers, Windows 11 can soon load new games faster than ever thanks to a breakthrough technology called DirectStorage, which we also pioneered as part of the Xbox Velocity Architecture featured in the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
With DirectStorage, which will only be available with Windows 11, games can quickly load assets to the graphics card without bogging down the CPU. This means you’ll get to experience incredibly detailed game worlds rendered at lightning speeds, without long load times. “DirectStorage Optimized” Windows 11 PCs are configured with the hardware and drivers needed to enable this amazing experience.
Well, the key word there is beneficial and I think it will be very much so. Faster read access doesn't just allow for faster loading times, but also faster asset streaming. So that not only seems to promise more content in the environment but potentially more varied content as large assets such as high resolution textures and geometry are able to be paged in and out more rapidly. That will hopefully be boosted even more by the smart content fetching possibilities offered by tech like Sampler Feedback. So yes, I think we are seeing some very nice new technologies coming up that really open up the potential of that kind of storage.