Nvidia has announced a new graphics card feature, RTX IO, which promises to offload the CPU by allowing the graphics card to process data from high-speed SSDs.

RTX IO is an accelerated, high-throughput decompression on Ampere RTX 30 series GPUs that, according to Nvidia, offers 100 times the throughput and 20 times lower CPU utilization compared to traditional CPU decompression. This technology is very similar to the technology introduced in the Xbox Series X and also found in the PlayStation 5. [Nvidia RTX IO supports Microsoft DirectStorage for Windows, which is exactly the same technology found in the Xbox Series X. When Microsoft announced the specifications for the next Xbox, the DirectStorage API s desktop plans from the very beginning when Microsoft announced the specifications for the next Xbox, it is not surprising that this technology is coming to PCs so soon.

Essentially, this API and the GPU acceleration found in the RTX 30 series are intended to accelerate data decompression tasks, thus placing the responsibility for rendering high-fidelity, high-resolution scenes on the GPU rather than the CPU The CPU is fast but dedicated blocks of hardware placed on the GPU are sure to be faster, meaning that vast, beautiful worlds can be loaded more quickly as a result.

"This brings us to GPU-based lossless decompression," Nvidia's blog post states. As we did with RTX and DirectX Raytracing, we are partnering closely with Microsoft to ensure that RTX IO works well with their DirectStorage on Windows API. with DirectStorage, next generation games will be able to take full advantage of RTX IO-enabled hardware, speeding up load times while reducing CPU load and delivering larger open worlds.

In theory, RTX IO means less waiting for data to hit the GPU, allowing the GPU to focus on what it does best: processing polygons and pixels. It will also mean that demand for high-bandwidth SSDs, like those found in next-generation consoles, will soon increase for PCs. Samsung's 7,000 MB/second 980 Pro SSD will be released soon.

The PlayStation 5 uses a similar decompression block to RTX IO, although it does not use Microsoft's DirectStorage. Both consoles will also adopt hardware decompression using AMD RDNA 2 silicon, and AMD is expected to follow suit with its next-generation PC graphics cards.