Recently, NVIDIA unveiled its highly anticipated RTX IO. This suite of GPU-based decompression technologies was first announced in 2020 alongside the launch of the RTX 30 Series graphics cards. However, it wasn’t until this week that it made its debut with the surprise release of Portal: Prelude RTX.
RTX IO revolutionizes the way game data is accessed by allowing games to offload CPU-intensive tasks to the GPU. This shift is a response to the growing asset size of modern games and the bottlenecks that occur between the CPU and RAM. With the rise of NVMe SSDs in computers, the traditional I/O process of sending assets from the hard drive to the CPU and then decompressing them through system memory before feeding them to the GPU is no longer efficient.
With RTX IO, data is compressed and sent directly from the hard drive to the GPU, minimizing the need for extensive staging in system memory. The GPU then utilizes the GDeflate open compression standard to efficiently decompress the data. This process significantly improves throughput and alleviates the CPU’s workload, allowing it to focus on other tasks.
NVIDIA highlighted the benefits of RTX IO, such as faster texture load times and reduced disk space usage. For example, in Portal: Prelude RTX, RTX IO demonstrated 5X faster texture load times and a 44% lower disk space requirement.
One of the significant advantages of RTX IO is the potential reduction of stuttering in games. By relieving the CPU from texture and geometry loading, RTX IO allows the CPU to focus on other important tasks. NVIDIA acknowledged this potential in a statement:
RTX IO can aid in improving stuttering issues by minimizing the CPU’s dependency on loading textures and geometries, freeing it up to perform other tasks.
This is great news for PC gamers who have been plagued by stuttering in recent game releases. However, it’s important to note that Portal: Prelude RTX may not be the ideal game to test this potential as it follows the same loading process as the original mod, albeit faster with RTX IO.
In the upcoming release of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on PC, developed by Insomniac and Nixxes, gamers will have the opportunity to experience RTX IO in action. This game will be the first to support DirectStorage 1.2 with GPU-based decompression, taking full advantage of RTX IO through the latest Game Ready driver.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was initially designed for the PlayStation 5, which also features a revamped storage architecture that aligns with the goals of RTX IO. It will serve as an excellent test case for determining whether NVIDIA’s new technology can effectively reduce stuttering.
We are eager to compare an RTX IO-off build with the official RTX IO-on build and provide our findings. Stay tuned for our analysis.
Denial of responsibility! TechCodex is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
Eugen Boglaru is an AI aficionado covering the fascinating and rapidly advancing field of Artificial Intelligence. From machine learning breakthroughs to ethical considerations, Eugen provides readers with a deep dive into the world of AI, demystifying complex concepts and exploring the transformative impact of intelligent technologies.
