GPU decompression boost
Blackwell‑era Nvidia GPUs show a real-world edge in DirectStorage when they handle GPU decompression, which can cut game load times and improve asset streaming — but the win depends on developer adoption. Early tests suggest Blackwell can accelerate streaming pipelines, so GPU choice now matters for fast load times as much as raw FPS. (tomshardware.com)
Microsoft used GDC 2026 to ship DirectStorage 1.4, which adds native Zstandard (Zstd) support and a new Game Asset Conditioning Library (GACL) so developers can package assets with Zstd and choose CPU or GPU decompression at build time. (tomshardware.com(tomshardware.com)) The DirectStorage repo on GitHub includes a GDeflate reference implementation and a GpuDecompressionBenchmark sample that compresses and then measures decompression bandwidth on CPU vs GPU for real files. (github.com(github.com) github.com(github.com)) NVIDIA documents that Blackwell’s fixed‑function Decompression Engine (DE) targets Snappy, LZ4 and Deflate streams and is exposed via the nvCOMP library; nvCOMP usage requires specific CUDA memory allocations such as cudaMemPoolCreateUsageHwDecompress or CU_MEM_CREATE_USAGE_HW_DECOMPRESS. (developer.nvidia.com(developer.nvidia.com)) 3DMark’s DirectStorage feature test measured GDeflate storage‑to‑VRAM throughput as high as about 13 GB/s while noting an uncoupled DirectStorage cap near 5.85 GB/s on ordinary PCIe 4.0 setups. (tomshardware.com(tomshardware.com)) Older comparative runs using Compusemble/PCGH showed GPU decompression throughput differences between cards — Intel’s Arc A770 hit roughly 16.8 GB/s in that test while a Core i9‑12900K managed about 5.2 GB/s, and reported load‑time examples dropped from about 5.0 seconds to ~0.5 seconds with GPU decompression. (tomshardware.com(tomshardware.com)) Multiple outlets and Microsoft have warned that publisher uptake remains the gating factor: TechPowerUp reported that few retail games had adopted DirectStorage’s GPU paths early on, and Tom’s Hardware flagged that DirectStorage’s limited real‑world use has been a motivator for the newer 1.4 features aimed at developers. (techpowerup.com(techpowerup.com) tomshardware.com(tomshardware.com))
