Windows 11 Will Be Required to Run DirectStorage on PC

[UPDATE #2] The official specifications accept been amended once again.

DirectStorage requires a PCIe three.0+ NVMe SSD to shop and run games that employ the "Standard NVM Express Controller" commuter and a DirectX12 GPU with Shader Model half-dozen.0 support.

[UPDATE] It looks like having an NVMe SSD with 1 TB or greater capacity will be required also to use DirectStorage on Windows 11, according to the official specifications.

DirectStorage requires ane TB or greater NVMe SSD to shop and run games that uses the "Standard NVM Limited Controller" commuter and a DirectX 12 Ultimate GPU.

This is curious since the Xbox Series S only has half that capacity and supports the new API just fine. We've contacted Microsoft for clarification and will update this story if and when we hear back.

[ORIGINAL STORY] Today, Microsoft pulled the lid on Windows xi, the new version of the operating organization confirmed to exist launching afterward this Fall.

Microsoft too wants Windows 11 to be 'the best Windows ever for gaming', every bit Sarah Bond (CVP, Game Creator Experience and Ecosystem) wrote in a blog post. She confirmed features similar AutoHDR (currently available in a Windows 10 Insider preview build) and the fact that the Xbox app volition come preinstalled with the new Windows.

However, past far the biggest news tidbit is that the upcoming DirectStorage API will be exclusively available on Windows xi.

Buckle Upward for Gaming at Amazing Speeds

With a high performance NVMe SSD and the proper drivers, Windows 11 can soon load new games faster than ever cheers to a breakthrough engineering science called DirectStorage, which we likewise pioneered as part of the Xbox Velocity Architecture featured in the Xbox Serial Ten and Xbox Series S.

With DirectStorage, which will only be available with Windows 11, games tin can quickly load assets to the graphics carte du jour without bogging down the CPU. This means you'll get to feel incredibly detailed game worlds rendered at lightning speeds, without long load times. "DirectStorage Optimized" Windows xi PCs are configured with the hardware and drivers needed to enable this amazing feel.

Granted, there's going to be a gratis upgrade offer in place simply like for Windows x. Still, if you want to take reward of the DirectStorage API, y'all'll demand to bound onto Windows eleven right abroad instead of waiting until the operating system is more mature, equally many prefer to practise.

Just earlier this week, we talked to 4A Games Senior Rendering Programmer Ben Archard about DirectStorage, which he reckons will exist very beneficial to PC gaming.

Well, the key discussion there is beneficial and I think it volition be very much so. Faster read access doesn't just allow for faster loading times, but as well faster asset streaming. So that not just seems to promise more content in the environment simply potentially more varied content equally large avails such equally high resolution textures and geometry are able to be paged in and out more rapidly. That volition hopefully be boosted even more than by the smart content fetching possibilities offered by tech like Sampler Feedback. And so yes, I call up we are seeing some very nice new technologies coming up that actually open upward the potential of that kind of storage.