Thursday, December 5th 2024

UL Adds New DirectStorage Test to 3DMark

Today we're excited to launch the 3DMark DirectStorage feature test. This feature test is a free update for the 3DMark Storage Benchmark DLC. The 3DMark DirectStorage feature test helps gamers understand the potential performance benefits that Microsoft's DirectStorage technology could have for their PC's gaming performance.

DirectStorage is a Microsoft technology for Windows PCs with PCIe SSDs that reduces the overhead when loading game data. DirectStorage can be used to reduce game loading times when paired with other technologies such as GDeflate, where the GPU can be used to decompress certain game assets instead of the CPU. On systems running Windows 11, DirectStorage can bring further benefits with BypassIO, lowering a game's CPU overhead by reducing the CPU workload when transferring data.
It can be difficult to accurately measure the performance benefits of DirectStorage in a typical game scene, as the engine is performing many other tasks in addition to loading game assets, such as rendering geometry. As no game is the same it can be very difficult to measure the benefits DirectStorage has, as there are often many other factors in a game that limit its benefits.

This test simulates a near-best-case scenario for a DirectStorage implementation, where asset loading is not impacted by other variables such as the game's asset management system or other tasks being performed by the GPU. This means you can see a demonstration of the near-maximum potential performance benefits enabling DirectStorage could have for a system.

The DirectStorage feature test generates results showing the bandwidth differences when the DirectStorage API is used, compared to without.

3DMark now available in French
3DMark is the go-to benchmark for testing gaming PCs, with millions of users using it to determine their PCs' speed, compete with their friends, and show off their crazy overclocks.

After breaking into the double-digit numbers of supported languages in 2022, we're continuing to bring 3DMark to even more gamers, overclockers and tech-heads around the world - this time to the over 300 million French speakers globally.

Can you hear that?
Finally, we've added new soundtracks to the Speed Way, Wild Life and Wild Life Extreme Benchmarks. You can enable these through the audio toggle on the benchmark page.

3DMark for Windows (Steam, Epic Games, Standalone)
The 3DMark DirectStorage feature test is a free update for the 3DMark Storage Benchmark DLC, sold separately on Steam, Epic Games, or directly from UL Solutions. You need to own 3DMark on the same platform in order to use the 3DMark Storage benchmark DLC.

3DMark and the Storage Benchmark DLC are available from Steam, the Epic Games Store, or directly from UL Solutions
Source: UL 3DMark
Add your own comment

10 Comments on UL Adds New DirectStorage Test to 3DMark

#5
rusTORK
@Tomorrow Interesting results! Your DirectStorage "ON" is faster, but our CPU and SSD are same.

NVMe SSD => RAM faster
and
NVMe => GPU VRAM faster.

Maybe because my SSD have got only ~400GB free space or because it's not system (D drive).
Posted on Reply
#6
Tomorrow
rusTORK@Tomorrow Interesting results! Your DirectStorage "ON" is faster, but our CPU and SSD are same.

NVMe SSD => RAM faster
and
NVMe => GPU VRAM faster.

Maybe because my SSD have got only ~400GB free space or because it's not system (D drive).
That may be because both my RAM and VRAM and OC'ed. The benchmark only shows amount, not speed.
RAM is running at 3733Mhz and tight timings. VRAM is running at 15Gbps (tho yours at 19Gbps is still faster).
I have also disabled various SSD power saving measures and windows bloat. This too might help.
Posted on Reply
#7
rusTORK
Tomorrowboth my RAM and VRAM and OC'ed.
I see. I got only RAM OC (3800CL15), but didn't touched VRAM. I also enabled Data Link Feature Exchange, but since i got everything PCIe 4.0 (CPU, GPU, SSD).
Posted on Reply
#9
TheLostSwede
News Editor
Going to have to try my game drive next.

Posted on Reply
#10
THU31
I wonder why DirectStorage hasn't taken off.

If I remember correctly, Nixxes mentioned it has a significant compute cost (the GPU decompression part) without providing much benefit. It's interesting, as R&C: Rift Apart has shorter loading times on PS5 compared to the PC version. It is a revolutionary feature on PS5, but the console does have a dedicated hardware block for decompression. I wonder if a dedicated block would help on PC if it was a requirement, part of the API.
Posted on Reply
Dec 11th, 2024 22:48 EST change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts