Microsoft's DirectStorage 1.1 API has revealed that the performance difference between solid-state drives with different PCIe interfaces may not be as significant as previously thought.
According to Compusemble's built-in Forspoken benchmark, DirectStorage's asset compression and decompression algorithms, coupled with a reduction in CPU load when dealing with NVMe requests, have effectively leveled the playing field for solid-state drives with different interfaces.
The benchmark showed that even when combining the load times of seven different levels/scenes, the difference between a Phison E26-based SSD with a PCIe Gen5 x4 interface and an Adata XPG SX8200 Pro with a PCIe Gen3 x4 interface was a mere three seconds. Coming from a Gen 4 driver, it's only 400 ms. Although on paper, the PCIe Gen3 drive is slower, in practical use, the difference is almost unnoticeable.
This is a major shift in the solid-state drive market, as DirectStorage's compression algorithms blur the line between drives with different interfaces. Currently, there is only one game that supports DirectStorage, but as the API gains more traction, solid-state drives with lower interfaces may soon be able to compete with their more advanced counterparts in DirectStorage-enabled games.
While it still would be appealing to invest in a PCIe Gen5 x4 drive for a new build, DirectStorage has made it possible for drives with lower specced interfaces to perform just as well.
