DirectStorage was heralded as a "game-changing" technology four years ago. Intended as a direct link between the storage and GPU, it claimed to dramatically lower loading times, reduce CPU overhead, and boost the bandwidth available to the GPU. Over time, we saw some of these claims come to fruition in a handful of titles, but by and large, DirectStorage joined the ranks of revolutionary PC innovations that disappeared from the consumer consciousness. Due to developed struggles with GPU decompression and API restrictions, DirectStorage hasn't fulfilled its promise, at least not yet. However, as game developers optimize newer titles for faster SSDs, DirectStorage will undoubtedly affect which SSD specs consumers value the most. Gen5 SSDs may finally make sense for gaming, and drives with high-end controllers and DRAM cache could further boost overall performance.

Sequential speeds will finally be worth it

Gen5 SSDs going mainstream may be closer than ever

While Gen5 SSDs took sequential transfer speeds to unprecedented heights — high-end models touch 15,000 MB/s — gaming didn't care much. We've seen Gen5 sequential speeds fail to reduce loading times more than what a Gen4 or even Gen3 SSD does. Gaming has always depended on random speeds instead, which haven't seen a drastic improvement on PCIe 5.0 SSDs. All things considered, Gen4 NVMe SSDs have been the sweet spot for gaming PCs, providing a great mix of peak performance and affordable pricing (at least before the current AI-induced DRAM crisis). With DirectStorage, however, the SSD bandwidth assumes greater importance than ever for gaming. And it's directly linked to the blazing-fast sequential speeds of Gen5 SSDs.

High-end modern games involve tons of heavy texture files that need to be uncompressed from the storage before they can be rendered by the GPU. Today, almost every game heavily involves the CPU and RAM in the rendering pipeline. DirectStorage allows the CPU to take a backseat by handling I/O requests and transferring the decompression responsibilities to the GPU. The RAM is still part of the pipeline, but its role is relatively reduced. DirectStorage enables the GPU to leverage all the extra bandwidth of high-speed NVMe storage to not only accelerate asset decompression but also improve performance. Hence, you get the dual benefit of faster loading times and greater FPS. The blazing-fast sequential speeds of Gen5 SSDs may not directly improve gaming performance, but the higher throughput will start to deliver real benefits when developers are able to improve the implementation of the DirectStorage API.

Controller quality and heat management will be essential

DirectStorage won't be easy on your SSD

When DirectStorage becomes mainstream in games, we will see significantly more parallel requests coming from newer titles. Your SSD will start to experience a higher degree of stress than ever due to the massive throughput requested by the GPU, making the controller more important than ever. A high-end controller will be able to sustain parallel requests and high queue depths without stalling the entire pipeline. With the GPU communicating with storage more directly, you can't afford a budget controller becoming the bottleneck. A quality controller will ensure that latency remains minimal, and the storage keeps up with the high throughput required to meet the GPU's demands.

Another component of your drive that will become essential to sustained performance will be the cooling hardware. Many Gen5 SSDs already demand overkill coolers to keep themselves from thermal throttling. If you don't run too many productivity workloads on your Gen5 drive, you probably haven't encountered performance penalties due to throttling. However, DirectStorage could change that as newer games start to hammer the SSD with more parallel requests. Your drive's cooler, combined with your PC's airflow, could play a much bigger role than ever in gaming performance.

DRAM SSDs will have an edge

For sustained performance

The kind of workload DirectStorage will create on your SSD will make a dedicated DRAM cache a highly coveted feature. SSDs without DRAM cache use a part of the system's RAM as a Host Memory Buffer (HMB), but they are prone to slowdowns when hammered with multiple requests simultaneously. DRAM cache ensures your SSD knows exactly where to look when fetching game assets during GPU requests, so there's no waiting around. DRAM cache is used to store the mapping tables that keep track of your data, helping the SSD controller read the NAND cells without being forced to hunt for the data during an I/O call. Many newer Gen5 drives forego DRAM cache to keep costs low, but you may want to opt for a DRAM SSD to ensure predictable sustained performance in the future.

DirectStorage may finally make high-end Gen5 SSDs worth it

Gen5 SSDs have been pointless for gaming ever since they came out. If DirectStorage becomes mainstream in the near future, it could leverage the high bandwidth of Gen5 drives for better gaming performance. The specs that will gain more importance, aside from sequential speeds, will be the controller quality, cooling capabilities, and the presence of DRAM cache. We may still be far away from DirectStorage making high-end SSDs count for something, but we're firmly on the way.