DirectStorage 1.1 brings support for the GDeflate compression algorithm that is optimized for use on GPUs.
Microsoft teased the next version of DirectStorage technology back in mid-October , saying that it was „coming soon“. Well, the developers weren’t kidding around, because it’s barely three weeks later and DirectStorage 1.1 is now available and ready to use.
This saves not only on limited PCIe bandwidth, but also on CPU usage, and it can significantly accelerate decompression, too. That means game developers can make use of the technology to have more detailed assets in the same hardware. The CPU usage benefits could also help out developers with games that are becoming increasingly CPU-limited, at least on the lower-end of their performance spectra.
The requirements to make use of DirectStorage aren’t too hard to pass. You need a DirectX 12 GPU—anything reasonably current from Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA will do—as well as a PCIe 3.
