1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:07,980
games are going to look better and play better thanks to this new tech powered

2
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:12,120
by The Humble SSD that might not make any sense like for years we have been

3
00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:16,500
saying that storage speed does not matter for gaming but now that

4
00:00:13,740 --> 00:00:22,439
Microsoft's direct storage API has finally been released to developers that

5
00:00:19,260 --> 00:00:25,980
changes it's now possible for your GPU

6
00:00:22,439 --> 00:00:27,420
to load data directly from your SSD and

7
00:00:25,980 --> 00:00:32,340
it's only a matter of time before games support it but why does it matter where

8
00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:36,480
your GPU gets its data from and how is this going to make your games better and

9
00:00:34,739 --> 00:00:41,579
how am I going to load this sponsor segue directly into your brain dot Tech

10
00:00:38,940 --> 00:00:45,120
last year dot Tech domains gave away a ton of awesome prizes with their break

11
00:00:43,140 --> 00:00:49,140
the code puzzle contest and this year they're going to take it to a whole new

12
00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:53,180
level try and break the code to win today using the link down below

13
00:00:59,780 --> 00:01:04,860
in my opinion direct storage and Sony's

14
00:01:02,879 --> 00:01:09,299
equivalent have always been underrated because we can't turn it off we can't do

15
00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:13,799
a side by side to see how much of a difference it makes so it's always been

16
00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:18,780
this weird nebulous thing that we can't feel you know and now that it's finally

17
00:01:16,740 --> 00:01:23,640
on the PC we can get some real answers now we don't have games to test right

18
00:01:21,299 --> 00:01:27,960
now but Microsoft did give us a peek at what it can do first there's a simple

19
00:01:25,799 --> 00:01:31,860
hello direct storage that's designed to get developers acquainted with the API

20
00:01:29,700 --> 00:01:35,880
but more importantly there's a Mini Engine model viewer this is intended to

21
00:01:34,439 --> 00:01:39,900
show developers the difference direct storage can make when loading assets

22
00:01:37,740 --> 00:01:44,040
with a real world example why don't we have a look for ourselves

23
00:01:41,340 --> 00:01:48,780
is the model viewer what this lets us do is basically show the difference between

24
00:01:46,619 --> 00:01:53,759
direct storage and not direct storage so the SE two commands that I'm cycling

25
00:01:50,579 --> 00:01:56,579
between here have the non-direct storage

26
00:01:53,759 --> 00:02:00,119
and direct storage versions respectively so let's launch the non-direct storage

27
00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:05,640
version first and see how long that takes to load

28
00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:07,560
okay not too bad and we can look around

29
00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:12,120
it's not a very complicated scene it's actually quite

30
00:02:09,300 --> 00:02:16,379
uh quite small for what it is it's not like the Unreal Engine 5 demo

31
00:02:14,819 --> 00:02:21,860
but it is a whole bunch of assets they're

32
00:02:19,140 --> 00:02:29,180
just loaded in here we can see that took 0.33 seconds for everything to start up

33
00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:29,180
now let's go with direct storage

34
00:02:29,340 --> 00:02:37,080
okay you can see the same thing is happening

35
00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:37,080
here we've got the the same overall

36
00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:46,019
set of assets and if we get out

37
00:02:41,780 --> 00:02:48,840
0.08 seconds I cannot overstate how much

38
00:02:46,019 --> 00:02:57,180
of a difference that is this one little scene just 52.4 Megs uncompressed is

39
00:02:52,379 --> 00:02:59,459
loading nearly three times faster now

40
00:02:57,180 --> 00:03:04,980
true we're talking fractions of a second here but expand that out to hundreds of

41
00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:07,560
Megs even multiple gigs of assets loaded

42
00:03:04,980 --> 00:03:14,040
by modern games and that's a lot of time saved but now I have two questions first

43
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:18,599
how does it save so much time on the same hardware and second how will it

44
00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:22,019
scale with those more detailed game environments in order to understand

45
00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:26,280
what's going on here we have to understand how assets are loaded into

46
00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:30,780
video memory the reality on PC up until today has been that the asset is first

47
00:03:28,140 --> 00:03:35,099
read from Storage to the CPU then Place into system memory your RAM from there

48
00:03:32,819 --> 00:03:39,300
it's copied through the CPU again to the GPU now this sounds like a roundabout

49
00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:43,560
process and as we've seen in our demo it definitely slows things down but up

50
00:03:41,580 --> 00:03:47,159
until the mid-2000s this wasn't a major issue because you'd usually load

51
00:03:45,299 --> 00:03:51,900
everything you needed all at once what changed streaming assets as open worlds

52
00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:56,640
became larger and as consoles available video memory shrank in comparison to PCS

53
00:03:54,360 --> 00:04:00,780
it became increasingly common to need to use more textures and 3D models than

54
00:03:58,739 --> 00:04:05,340
could be held in memory at once this was foreseen as early as 2001 when Sony

55
00:04:03,239 --> 00:04:08,819
filed a patent to seamlessly load game worlds as boundaries are crossed

56
00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:12,180
eliminating the need for reloading screens fast forward to today and

57
00:04:10,739 --> 00:04:16,560
loading screens are seen as an unnecessary inconvenience in an age

58
00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:21,060
where seamless asset streaming is the norm you usually only see the first one

59
00:04:18,660 --> 00:04:24,840
and then again when you die or when you fast travel ever notice how today's

60
00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:29,040
games connect areas with elevators or tunnels or hallways yeah that's why

61
00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:32,580
there have been attempts to help with this over the years compression was one

62
00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:36,600
of the first such Concepts introduced and in fact one of the earliest methods

63
00:04:34,380 --> 00:04:40,080
is still in use today prior to that you had to either shrink the dimensions or

64
00:04:38,460 --> 00:04:43,860
use a color map to reduce the memory footprint of textures and after its

65
00:04:42,300 --> 00:04:48,780
introduction and adoption by the industry it enabled larger more detailed

66
00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:52,680
assets to be loaded more quickly even if they still had to be copied from the CPU

67
00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:57,900
to the GPU compression paved the way for graphics to LEAP out of the crunchy 90s

68
00:04:54,900 --> 00:04:59,880
visuals and into Brown muddy 2000s

69
00:04:57,900 --> 00:05:03,540
visuals hey it was good for the time it also paved the way for another attempt

70
00:05:01,380 --> 00:05:07,620
to improve performance this time in the same way that direct storage does by

71
00:05:05,460 --> 00:05:11,639
cutting the CPU out as much as possible texture atlases effectively rounded up

72
00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:15,540
all the little textures a scene would need and then plopped them into one

73
00:05:13,500 --> 00:05:18,540
giant texture the end result being a dramatic reduction in the number of

74
00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:23,100
textures that needed to be copied to the GPU and more importantly for the time

75
00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:26,639
the number of draw calls that had to be made sounds like a great solution what

76
00:05:25,199 --> 00:05:32,160
do we need direct store search for him all right well texture atlases have some

77
00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:35,820
drawbacks you can't tile them colors will blend together around the edges of

78
00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:40,199
each subtexture in the atlas and perhaps most importantly swapping one or two

79
00:05:38,340 --> 00:05:44,880
individual textures requires swapping out the whole Atlas which is really

80
00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:49,020
inefficient since they're so big the nail in the coffin texture atlases were

81
00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:53,520
becoming a thing around the same time that streaming assets became popular

82
00:05:51,300 --> 00:05:58,139
talk about bad timing direct storage solves all of those problems it allows

83
00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:02,400
the GPU to read directly from Storage without any intervention for the CPU

84
00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:07,320
meaning that an entire copy step is just being removed from the pipeline for each

85
00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:11,759
and every asset loaded this way which as we've seen leads to a significant

86
00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:16,080
reduction in load times that means that not only can game worlds be larger and

87
00:06:14,100 --> 00:06:20,280
more detailed with shorter or even no loading hallways but you won't need a

88
00:06:18,479 --> 00:06:24,300
massive GPU for it either since lower end gpus with less vram will be able to

89
00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:28,319
swap Assets in and out more efficiently I can see game engines becoming more

90
00:06:26,580 --> 00:06:32,280
aggressive in terms of how they tweak asset streaming according to available

91
00:06:29,639 --> 00:06:36,600
vram how maximize the effect and I could see you in a swaget from ltdstore.com

92
00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:39,600
seriously it's comfortable for most of the year and doesn't look half bad

93
00:06:37,860 --> 00:06:45,180
either but what about our second question will direct storage scale for

94
00:06:42,479 --> 00:06:50,639
larger assets well for it to be able to the GPU first needs to fetch the assets

95
00:06:47,639 --> 00:06:53,940
and decompress them this is a problem

96
00:06:50,639 --> 00:06:56,460
well yes I said before that gpus support

97
00:06:53,940 --> 00:07:02,400
compressed assets this is a different type of compression with games being as

98
00:06:59,699 --> 00:07:06,900
massive as they are assets are typically stuffed into giant compressed archives

99
00:07:04,620 --> 00:07:11,160
to save space and for more efficient distribution prior to direct storage the

100
00:07:09,060 --> 00:07:15,000
CPU handle all of this and that was fine because it was all going through the CPU

101
00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:18,720
anyway unfortunately direct storage in its current form doesn't include a way

102
00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:23,460
for the GPU to do that decompression at least not on PC but it is possible

103
00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:28,380
NVIDIA has something similar to how Sony's dedicated PS5 Hardware handles

104
00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:32,520
this which they call rtxio when it's enabled decompression via custom hard

105
00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:38,220
Hardware Via the GPU itself will be significantly faster than it is via the

106
00:07:34,919 --> 00:07:40,680
CPU at all full stop and as a bonus it's

107
00:07:38,220 --> 00:07:44,460
decompressed straight to video memory so that performance boost we saw earlier

108
00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:49,259
will be Amplified because we're skipping two steps instead of just one but as

109
00:07:47,340 --> 00:07:53,460
long as data has to pass through the CPU direct storage won't be super useful

110
00:07:51,300 --> 00:07:57,240
Microsoft says that fixing this is a priority so hopefully we'll see it

111
00:07:55,020 --> 00:08:02,880
before games go live the alternative is games that ship with uncompressed assets

112
00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:05,880
which I mean with how big Call of Duty

113
00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:08,340
has gotten with compression I sure hope

114
00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:12,780
you got a big SSD why is it taking so long though Microsoft has had Direct

115
00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:18,419
storage on Xbox for ages now and we're still getting table scraps on PC well

116
00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:22,139
it's easier to implement a brand new API like this on a fixed platform that you

117
00:08:20,460 --> 00:08:25,800
can control both the hardware and operating system for and consoles are

118
00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:30,300
usually the platforms with the greatest initial lead asset streaming for example

119
00:08:28,500 --> 00:08:34,440
was to my recollection anyway for seriously explored on consoles at a time

120
00:08:32,700 --> 00:08:39,539
when the available vram compared to contemporary PCS was laughable

121
00:08:37,500 --> 00:08:43,800
regardless it was a problem at the end of every generation since then and even

122
00:08:41,940 --> 00:08:48,899
the 8 to 10 gigs of memory that the Xbox series is and the PS5 have is going to

123
00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:53,700
seem extremely Limited in five to ten years to stay relevant for longer than

124
00:08:50,820 --> 00:08:57,959
the Xbox One and PS4 did they need tech like direct storage that will offer game

125
00:08:55,740 --> 00:09:03,120
developers the flexibility they need to crank up the visual Fidelity or create

126
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,920
ever more sprawling open worlds We crave

127
00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:10,320
supporting direct storage on both Windows 10 and 11 is also no easy feat

128
00:09:07,620 --> 00:09:13,800
but Microsoft says that Windows 11 will work better thanks to enhancements to

129
00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:17,040
the storage subsystem something that we're going to have to test in more

130
00:09:15,060 --> 00:09:21,779
detail when games get released get subscribed so you don't miss that by the

131
00:09:18,540 --> 00:09:23,459
way and that's really it it'll be a

132
00:09:21,779 --> 00:09:28,260
while yet before we see games coming out with support on PC but it's getting

133
00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:33,420
really close you guys and when it does finally drop it's legit going to change

134
00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:37,860
the way the games are made won't change my sponsor Segways though NZXT their new

135
00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:41,339
function mechanical keyboards are perfect for those looking to join the

136
00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:45,899
mechanical keyboard Community you can choose between mini 10 keyless 10

137
00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:50,339
keyless and full size models all the keyboards come with hot swappable switch

138
00:09:47,700 --> 00:09:55,500
sockets a detachable USBC keyboard cable and per key RGB plus they're rated for

139
00:09:53,399 --> 00:09:58,920
up to 50 million key presses the NZXT function retail keyboards come with the

140
00:09:57,300 --> 00:10:03,480
option of white or black colors with gadaron red key switches but countries

141
00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:07,019
with NZXT build can choose from five different kinds of switches and a

142
00:10:05,279 --> 00:10:11,279
variety of color options for a custom look to match your desk learn more and

143
00:10:09,420 --> 00:10:15,300
purchase your own NZXT function keyboard using the link below thanks for watching

144
00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:19,440
guys go check out our recent video on the Radeon Pro SSG for an earlier

145
00:10:17,459 --> 00:10:24,800
approach to this kind of thing different purpose and didn't quite catch on but

146
00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:24,800
hey you never know what the future holds